Our Team

President and Chief Executive Officer — Joseph Bono
Mr. Bono is our President and Chief Executive Officer and has been an officer of the corporation since our incorporation in January 2008. Previously, from December 2003 to August 2006, Mr. Bono was the owner and franchisee of Oak Subs LLC, a Quiznos franchise in Walnut Creek, California. From November 2002 to December 2003, he was the owner and franchisee of Alameda Holdings, LLC, a Quiznos franchise in San Francisco, California; from October 2000 to November 2002, he was Consulting Manager for ViaFone, a mobile software company in Redwood Shores, California; from 1998 to October 2000, he was the owner of ICSG Consulting, a software consulting firm in San Francisco, California; and from 1996 to 1998, he was a consultant for KPMG Consulting, a software consulting firm in Palo Alto, California. Mr. Bono possesses a Bachelor’s degree from UCLA.

Chief Financial Officer — Steven L. Yeffa
Steven L. Yeffa has been Solar Universe’s Chief Financial Officer since in February 2011. Prior to joining Solar Universe, he served as President of Cartridge World Americas from September 2008 and, previously, as the Chief Financial Officer of Cartridge World’s global entity beginning in August 2005.

Vice President, Structured Finance — Suleman Kahn
Suleman serves as VP of Structured Finance with Solar Universe. Prior to this, Suleman was a founding member of a residential solar finance company (2008-2010), and held several advisory positions in the commercialization of biomass, carbon sequestration, fuel cell and solar technologies. He previously worked with the Financial Institutions M&A group and the Structured Credit Products desk at Citigroup (2004-2008). Prior to that he was a buy-side credit analyst at Prudential Capital Group and held a business development position with internet start-up KnowledgeStorm.com. Suleman has also worked with the United Nations within the fields of microfinance and international economic development. Independently, he has provided risk management and valuation advisory to U.S. commercial banks and international microfinance institutions, and has served in an advisory capacity to GSEs and federal agencies. He received a B.A. in Finance, Economics and Political Science from Emory University/Georgia State University and a M.S. in Finance from George Washington University.

General Counsel — Jeffrey C. Hoelsken
Jeffrey Hoelsken spent the first several years of his legal career litigating complex construction and environmental cases in state and federal courts throughout California (2000-2006). He also operated his own legal practice advising individual and corporate clients in matters concerning power purchase agreements, environmental investments, green building, business contracts, business management, and professional ethics (2006-2008). Prior to joining Solar Universe, Mr. Hoelsken was a co-founder and General Counsel for a wind energy development company focused on building distributed power facilities and wind farms using a tax equity-financed power purchase agreement model (2008-2010). He holds degrees from U.C. Berkeley in Rhetoric and Environmental Science, Policy and Management, and a Juris Doctor degree from the U.C. Hastings.

Franchise Advocate — Steve Padberg
Steve Padberg is responsible for providing transparent communication, open support, and general sales and marketing assistance to our franchisees. Mr. Padberg has been an integral part of successful growth for industry leading entrepreneurial companies. Steve has scaled service delivery models in the construction, business services, and hospitality industries. He has significant experience at driving sales and operations over widespread geographies. Steve has helped Clean Power Finance (2009-2010), Interior Specialists Inc. (2003-2007) and Kinkos Inc. (1993-2003) through periods of tremendous growth. Steve not only brings industry experience to Solar Universe, with his tenure at Clean Power Finance, but brings a construction background with Interior Specialists, where Steve established the capability to deliver over 2,000 installations per year in Washington and Oregon. Steve also spent a large portion of his career with Kinkos Inc., where he helped develop business to business and commercial fulfillment strategies, as well as scale the Kinkos business model in Northern California, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Operations Manager and Logistical Support — Michael L. Flood II
Mr. Flood is our Operations Manager and has been since February 2008. Previously from January 2008 to February 2009 Mr. Flood was a Journeyman Electrician for ARAM Solar, a Solar Contractor located in Manteca, California. From January 2007 to January 2008, Mr. Flood was a Journeyman Electrician for Stellar Power and Heating in Twain Harte, California. From March 2006 to January 2007 Mr. Flood has a Journeyman Electrician for Access Electric, Inc., an electrical contractor in Ceres, California. From February 2004 to March 2006, Mr. Flood was Project Forman for A.C.R.O. Electric, an electrical contractor in Oakdale, California.

Franchise Developer — Dan Panko
Dan Panko joined Solar Universe as a Franchise Developer in January of 2011. Prior to joining Solar Universe, from Mr. Panko was a country director in Haiti managing a sustainable building project for Givelove.org (2010-2011). From 2009 to 2010 he was enrolled in an MBA program at Dominican and also worked with Sirona Fuels, a bio-fuels company. During 2008 and 2009 Mr. Panko worked as a design contractor with Hornall Anderson Design Works, a branding firm. From 2004-2008 he worked as a marine science instructor.

Accounting Manager — Jack T. Mason
Mr. Mason is our Accounting Manager and has been since October 2009. Previously from March 2002 to May 2009, Mr. Mason was General Manager for Amigo Environmental, Inc. a recycling company in Richmond, California.

Head of Training — Josh Mariscal
Josh Mariscal started his solar career in 2005 and has been in the industry ever since, working as a Project Manager at both Akeena Solar & Sungevity. Josh has been in the construction industry his entire life having a father who owns a successful construction company in the Bay Area. Along with receiving a Contractor’s license of his own, Josh obtained a bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing from San Jose State University. Mr. Mariscal started at Solar Universe in early 2011, and is now in charge of developing, promoting and managing the training services offered by Solar University. When Josh isn’t overseeing the training department, he enjoys golfing, camping, fishing and anything else that will get him outside under the SUN.