The chief executive officer Enfield solar manufacturing STR Holdings, Inc. will relinquish his post in favor of the company’s top executive from its solar division.
Dennis Jilot, president, chairman and CEO of STR, will step down as the company’s CEO and president to hand over those positions to Robert Yorgensen, who currently serves as president of STR’s solar business. Jilot will remain chairman.
Yorgensen assumes his new role Jan. 1.
STR had an up and down year as the company saw its revenues soar in 2010 and 2011 thanks to the growing market for solar power and the company’s solar encapsulants for panels. However, revenues from the solar market dropped steeply in the second and third quarters.
STR then accelerated the consolidation of its Florida facility into a new East Windsor facility; sold its quality assurance unit for $275 million; used proceeds from that sale to pay off a credit line; took out a new $150 million credit line with a better interest rate; and cautioned investors on its quarterly and yearly profit forecasts.
Jilot took over as CEO in 1997, when the company was focused on providing quality assurance services and specialty manufacturing. He focused the company on providing encapsulants to the solar industry, growing the company’s revenue from $26 million to $372 million. In 2009, the company held its first initial public offering.
Yorgensen started as president of STR’s solar business in 1997, growing the segment’s reviews from $5 million to $259 million.
