SolarCity appoints Brad Buss as Chief Financial Officer

SolarCity Corporation has appointed Brad Buss as chief financial officer. Buss, a 20+-year veteran of semiconductor and electronics manufacturing and longtime CFO of Cypress Semiconductor, will oversee SolarCity's global finance, accounting, structured finance and investor relations organizations and report to CEO Lyndon Rive.

Buss replaces Bob Kelly, who is retiring from SolarCity in August. Buss will assume his new role on August 11, and Kelly will work with him to transition activities over the next few weeks.

Lyndon Rive said:

"This is a tremendous addition to the executive team—Brad brings a combination of experience in semiconductor manufacturing, project finance and other key disciplines that we've been unable to find in any other executive. Brad is a perfect fit for SolarCity's next stage of growth as we vertically integrate manufacturing to significantly lower the cost of solar electricity."

"As CFO for the past two and a half years, Bob Kelly has played a key role in the development of our structured finance blueprint. We thank Bob for his contributions and wish him well in the future."

Buss served Cypress Semiconductor as chief financial officer from August 2005 to June 2014 and oversaw a range of significant achievements—from the IPO of the company's SunPower subsidiary to the issuance of the company's first dividend. Prior to joining Cypress, Buss served as vice president of finance at Altera Corp., and prior to that, as CFO of Wyle Electronics' Atlas Services Division. Buss also served as a member of Cisco Systems' worldwide sales finance team, and as chief financial officer at Zaffire Inc. Mr. Buss is currently a member of the board of directors and audit committee chairman for both Tesla Motors and Cafepress.