Amperesand, a leading innovator in grid infrastructure solutions has appointed three industry heavyweights to its executive leadership team: Gary Lawrence as Chief Executive Officer, Brian Dow as Chief Product Officer, and Tommy Joyner as Chief Technology Officer.
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Amperesand’s leadership team, including (from left to right) Gil Jr Opina, Co-founder & Senior Director, Engineering; Brian Dow, CPO; Tommy Joyner, CTO; Phil Inagaki, Co-founder & Board Chair; Gary Lawrence, CEO; and Anshuman Tripathi, Co-founder & VP, Engineering (Photo: Amperesand)
The company’s groundbreaking Solid State Transformer (SST) hardware and software solutions disrupt traditional electrical equipment by reducing time to power from 24-36 months to just 100 days. This innovation also significantly reduces CapEx and OpEx for data centers, Electric Vehicle (EV) charging systems, renewables, energy storage and other industrial solutions.
Amperesand’s SSTs are based on highly scalable modules with streamlined supply chains and replace multiple pieces of traditional equipment such as medium-voltage transformers, switchgears, and uninterruptible power supplies. The technology enables the integration of various energy resources and loads, as well as their management via a single AI-driven software controller, simplifying and optimizing control.
In late 2024, Amperesand successfully demonstrated its state-of-the-art 6MW SST platform and has multiple deployments planned in 2025. These include a pilot with the port of Singapore in collaboration with PSA International.
Visionary leader to scale SST technology and drive global market success
Prior to Amperesand, Lawrence spent 11 years at Schneider Electric, driving strategic growth. As global president of Schneider’s power and grid segment, he transformed relationships with utility customers and spearheaded its digitalization and sustainable energy initiatives. Under his leadership, the segment more than doubled revenue in four years to over €3.0B billion by 2024, becoming the company’s second-largest end-user segment. Earlier, he founded Schneider’s Global Major Pursuits group, specializing in securing large, complex customer accounts.
Before Schneider, Lawrence held senior leadership roles at ABB, managing large-scale global electrification projects across diverse markets and operational environments. Notably, he co-established and scaled ABB’s e-house business unit, achieving $900 million in sales within just four years.
“Over the past years, I have witnessed the rapid acceleration of demand for electrical infrastructure as the world moves toward massive electrification,” remarked Lawrence. “Yet, the energy bottleneck persists—delays in deploying power solutions are slowing progress at a time when speed is critical. As traditional solutions struggle to keep up, I believe our technology is the answer. By drastically reducing time to power, our SST solutions offer the flexibility, efficiency, and resilience to enable electrification on a global scale.”
Senior technical leadership to propel innovation and accelerate global scale
Dow is widely regarded as a trailblazer in clean energy innovation, consistently delivering high-impact results across projects ranging from large-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems to battery deployments. At Tesla, he spearheaded several high-profile projects, including the 129MWh Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia, completed in under 100 days. He also played a key role in developing and scaling the Tesla Powerpack and Megapack lines, part of a flagship product family that has redefined energy storage on a global scale.
His leadership extended to the design, validation, and manufacturing of Tesla’s Supercharger V3, which set a new industry standard in DC fast charging. In 2018, Dow’s 14-day overhaul of the Model 3 battery production line doubled throughput, enabling Tesla to meet its production target of 5,000 vehicles per week—a critical milestone in the company’s scaling journey. Dow also led Tesla’s 4680 cell formation vertical manufacturing at the Fremont pilot, establishing 10X capital and density improvements per GWh over existing state-of-the-art solutions, setting the foundation for cell scaling at the Austin Gigafactory.
“I have had the great opportunity of working on large-scale PV, battery, and EV design and deployment. I’m excited about the disruption Amperesand can drive with its SST solutions in both hardware and software through the removal and integration of prior point hardware solutions, as well as the implementation of AI-driven software optimization to maximize resiliency while monetizing diverse assets,” said Dow. “This technology represents a critical next step in the electrification revolution, and we’re thrilled to build a global company that draws on the best talent from Singapore, the U.S. and beyond to make a positive impact at scale.”
Joyner brings over 22 years of experience in electronic design, software development, automation, and manufacturing leadership. At Tesla, Joyner played a pivotal role in the design and manufacturing of key energy products such as the Powerwall 3 and 4680 cell formation. He led the delivery of 150GWh of 4680 cell capacity through a first-of-its-kind software routing engine. He also introduced novel industry-leading power architectures such as the first-ever dual-voltage (400V/800V) architecture for Tesla’s Cybertruck, setting a new industry benchmark. His leadership extended to test engineering and factory automation, where he developed scalable solutions that enabled Tesla to rapidly expand its global manufacturing capacity with consistency and excellence.
“Scaling advanced energy technologies requires manufacturing capabilities that are as innovative as the products themselves,” said Joyner. “At Amperesand, we’re bringing the same level of ingenuity that defines our transformative SST technology to manufacturing. Amperesand’s modular product architecture is inherently suited for streamlined supply chains and automated manufacturing, which will enable short lead times and cost reductions.”
Continued active support from Xora to drive future milestones
Phil Inagaki, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Xora, will step down as Amperesand’s founding CEO, passing the reins to Lawrence. Inagaki will continue providing strategic direction to Amperesand as Chair of Amperesand’s board, ensuring continuity and guidance as the company embarks on its next phase of growth.
Amperesand was incubated by Xora and veterans from ABB, General Electric, Siemens and Vestas, with decades of experience in power electronics, converters, renewables and energy storage. Co-founders Anshuman Tripathi and Gil Jr Opina led a pioneering SST R&D program at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, culminating in a 1.5MW system in 2023.
“When we spun Amperesand out of NTU after eight years of world-leading R&D, we believed that we had the foundation to build a business capable of surpassing $1 billion in revenue within the decade,” said Inagaki. “Our plan has always been to seek out exceptional talent with the right expertise to rapidly commercialize SSTs at gigascale. With Gary, Brian, and Tommy joining the team, bringing unmatched leadership across engineering, productization, manufacturing, and go-to-market execution, I am confident we now have the phenomenal team to realize our vision.”
About Amperesand
Amperesand’s infrastructure solutions, powered by novel solid-state transformer (SST) technology, enable efficient, intelligent, flexible, and resilient electrification on a global scale. Its core SST technology was pioneered at the Energy Research Institute at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. Amperesand was incubated by Xora and established in 2023. For more information, visit www.amperesand.io or contact us at info@amperesand.io.
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