Leadership Team

Toshihiko Fujioka

Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Fujioka is the Chief Executive Officer of Solarnet Holdings LLC, Stellar Energy’s parent company. As the General Manager of Itochu’s Solar Business Department he has been responsible for the tremendous growth of Solar in Europe. He also served as General Manager for Itochu’s Corporate Development, responsible for expanding new business and cross-company opportunities. His skills include corporate planning and administration. Past experience includes the position of President of Itochu’s affiliate Dicomed, a supplier of digital imaging systems for the photographic and graphic arts industries. Previously he served in leadership and business development positions for Itochu’s Industrial Machinery Section. He holds a Bachelor of Economics from Kyoto University in Japan.

David Michalek

President

Mr. Michalek is a long time member of the Stellar Energy team and responsible for strategic planning, finance, and daily operations. He is a corporate development expert with more than two decades of executive level management experience in business development, finance, contract negotiations, and budgeting.  Mr. Michalek previously held executive positions for businesses in the construction, manufacturing, and venture capital industries. He is a Certified Public Accountant with a B.A. degree in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.

Ralph Heimann

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Heimann has more than three decades of financial leadership experience serving as Chief Financial Officer for a variety of Itochu International, Inc. businesses in the energy, distribution and manufacturing industries. His skills include financial management, mergers, acquisitions, as well as cost analysis, inventory control, and organizational re-engineering. He holds a BS degree in Accounting from California State Polytechnic University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Matt Lugar

Vice President of Sales and Marketing

Mr. Lugar began his career in the solar energy industry in 1995, and is an industry veteran with almost 16 years of marketing, business development, and sales leadership experience. He was most recently a founding member and Vice President of Sales and Marketing at the solar energy financing developer, Tioga Energy.  He was responsible for all sales and related operational activities for North America in Sharp Corporation’s solar energy solutions division for over 4 years.  Mr. Lugar also held the position of marketing manager at the major US electric utility company, Entergy Corporation, focusing on several solar and green related initiatives. Other previous sales and marketing leadership roles in the solar industry have been held at Siemens Solar Industries (now SolarWorld USA), and Hutton Communications. He earned his BS degree in Natural Resources from the University of the South, and an MBA focused in Marketing and Finance from the Georgia Institute of Technology.  He has served as chair of the finance committee of the industry trade organization, Solar Tech, and has regularly been a speaker for the solar industry associations and various trade shows.

Michael Raspolich

Vice President Operations and Construction

Mr. Raspolich has over four decades of experience in large scale construction and engineering projects for the energy, government, military, utility, and hospitality sectors. Past projects include engineering and building solar PV power plants, wind farms, bridges, tunnels, off shore oil platforms, high rise buildings, multi-level parking structures, and more. In addition, he is a licensed A1 contractor in multiple states, certified building inspector, consultant, lobbyist, and expert witness on construction industry claims. He holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Sacramento and a B.S. in Construction Management from Golden Gate University, and received civil engineering training from the US Army Corps of Engineers.