Speakers

SPAN Founder & CEO Arch Rao is an energy technologist with expertise in commercializing clean energy technologies. SPAN has reinvented the home electrical panel. The electrical panel has seen little innovation over the last 75 years. SPAN is developing products that enable electrification and simplify the adoption of clean energy including solar, batteries, and electric vehicles. After a few years of pursuing a Ph.D. at Stanford, Arch decided to drop out and work on technologies that would have a non-linear impact on our efforts towards affecting climate change. Arch has spent over a decade working in clean energy.  Previously, Arch was the Head of Products for the Tesla Energy business where he helped develop and launch flagship products like the Powerwall, Powerpack, and Solar Roof. He also led the Global Application Engineering team responsible for the development of largescale solar & storage projects. In 2018, he left Tesla to found SPAN. Prior to Tesla, Arch was a Co-Founder at Verdigris Technologies, an energy monitoring & analytics company developing solutions for the commercial & industrial sector. Early in his career, as a Founding Engineer at Joby Energy he developed novel, airborne wind energy systems.  Arch earned his Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, where he worked on doctoral research on Energy Systems before starting his entrepreneurial path.