Chris Robine

President and CEO

“I have the greatest pleasure – working with a talented, driven and dedicated team. Together, we will continue to establish strong client relationships and accelerate the deployment of solar across the country.”

Chris Robine brings executive leadership experience in building and scaling teams to drive growth and establish operational excellence. Chris spent over 14 years at General Electric (GE) where he most recently was the CFO for GE Renewable Energy. In partnership with the Commercial and Operations teams, GE Renewable Energy division became recognized as a global industry leader in renewable energy and more than doubled its multi-billion dollar revenue. Chris has also served on the board of PrimeStar Solar, an emerging solar thin-film technology and manufacturing company.

Since early 2010, Chris has made significant contributions to SPG Solar as SVP and CFO, where he has quickly established operational excellence and launched the Structured Finance group, providing a variety of additional solutions for customers.

Chris holds a degree in Finance and Management from the University Of Cincinnati College Of Business.

Fred Buckman

Executive Chairman

From 1994 to 1998, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of PacifiCorp, helping lead its evolution from a regional utility into a significant international energy company. Before joining PacifiCorp, Mr. Buckman was President and Chief Executive Officer of Consumers Power Company, the utility subsidiary of CMS Energy.

Mr. Buckman also serves as a member of the board of directors for StanCorp Financial Group.

Mr. Buckman received his bachelor’s degree in science engineering from the University of Michigan, received his doctorate in nuclear engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and attended Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Lin Johnson

General Counsel

“Being part of SPG Solar’s dynamic growth and expansion at a time of great change in the solar industry is incredibly exciting for me. I have been advising renewable energy companies and was very aware of SPG Solar’s national reputation for customer satisfaction and their ability to craft creative solutions to meet customer needs.   I look forward to teaming up with the talented and focused professionals for this expansion which I believe will deliver the highest performance in the industry and lead the way to be recognized as the premier solar energy company in the US.”

Lin Johnson has over 25 years’ experience providing legal advice to corporations and businesses with a focus in the energy industry. 

Ms. Johnson’s last position was as a Principal with MLJ Energy Group, a consulting company which focuses on advising clients regarding power plant acquisitions, renewable energy transactions, strategies for asset optimization in the wholesale power market, engineering analysis and supervision of turbine failures and NERC Standards compliance. 

During the six years Ms. Johnson spent at MLJ Energy she navigated diverse energy clients ranging from traditional utilities, combined heat and energy producers, independent power producers and project developers, venture capital and private equity funds and renewable energy clients through various transactional and strategic issues.  

Prior to forming MLJ Energy Group, Ms. Johnson’s practice included roles as in-house counsel to start-up companies and over ten years with Exelon Corporation, one of the largest utilities in the United States.  While at Exelon’s Power Team division, she led transaction teams through the development or acquisition of a diverse wholesale generation portfolio of over 5,000 MWs of unregulated capacity located in key power pools across the United States.  She also assisted in the purchase of merchant generation fleets from Texas Utilities, Sithe Energies and Midwest Generation. 

She holds a B.A., J.D. and LL.M degrees.

Michael Johnson

Vice President Structured Finance

“I joined the SPG Solar team because of their strong commitment to design, engineer and build the best quality solar facilities.  SPG Solar is able to uniquely address and mitigate investor’s concerns around technology and system performance as one of the most experienced solar partners in the industry.” 

Michael Johnson leads the Structured Finance team at SPG Solar.  With 20 years of experience in both tax equity investing and construction management, Michael brings a wealth of knowledge and financial tools.  Michael worked for the National Development Council (NDC) for 10 years on syndicating and placing direct investments into different tax credit products.  Before NDC, Michael was Vice President of LA Johnson Construction Company.

Michael has taught finance classes and lectured on renewable energy at Brown, Stanford and New York University.  He received his undergraduate degree from Alfred University and his graduate degree from New York University.

Denise Thompson

General Manager, TTi

“SPG Solar’s current standing as an industry leader and pioneer must be fortified from the inside out by staying responsive to the needs of our dynamic industry. I’m excited to get us to that next phase of expansion and continued excellence.”

Since joining the company in 2002, Denise Thompson has successfully developed and refined SPG Solar’s business operations, responding to the needs of both the fast- rising company and the comprehensive renewable energy industry.

As General Manager, she is responsible for overseeing TTi’s daily operations while formulating and supporting short-term and long-term objectives and strategies to expand its performance-based culture at a leading solar racking manufacturer based in the United States.

Denise holds a B.A. from San Francisco State University, CA.