Our Company
Management Team
An experienced team of professionals leads Canadian Solar with extensive business and technology experience in the solar and silicon industry.
Executive Team
Shawn Qu [download bio]
Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Dr. Shawn Qu is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Canadian Solar, one of the world's largest solar power companies. Dr. Qu has been chairman, president and chief executive officer of Canadian Solar since founding the company in 2001. Through his leadership Canadian Solar became a public listed company on NASDAQ in 2006 and has since firmly established itself among the top ranked manufacturers of solar photovoltaic products globally. Prior to founding Canadian Solar, Dr. Qu held various positions in product engineering, business development and strategic planning at ATS Automation Tooling Systems, Inc. and its solar subsidiary Photowatt International S.A. Prior to ATS Dr. Qu was a research scientist at Ontario Power Generation where he worked as a process leader in its solar product commercialization team. In 2011 Dr. Qu became a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, one of the most prestigious universities in China. Dr. Qu has published research articles in academic journals including IEEE Quantum Electronics, Applied Physics Letter and Physical Review. He received a Ph.D. in material sciences in 1995 from the University of Toronto, focusing on semiconductor super lattice and optical effects. He also holds a Master of Science in physics from University of Manitoba and a Bachelor of Science in applied physics from Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Michael G. Potter [download bio]
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Michael G. Potter is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Canadian Solar Inc. Mr. Potter became an independent director of Canadian Solar in September, 2007. He has worked in finance, controlling and audit positions with a variety of multinational companies for over 20 years, serving most recently as Corporate Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Lattice Semiconductor Corporation. Before joining Lattice, Mr. Potter was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NeoPhotonics Corporation and before that Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of STATS ChipPAC Inc., a leading semiconductor assembly and test services company based in Singapore. Before he joined STATSChipPAC, Mr. Potter held a variety of executive positions at Honeywell Inc. Mr. Potter is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Concordia University, Canada and a Diploma of Public Accountancy from McGill University, Canada.
Mr. Yan Zhuang [download bio]
Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer
Mr. Yan Zhuang is our senior vice president and chief commercial officer. An internationally renowned business and marketing executive, he joined Canadian Solar as vice president of global sales and marketing in June 2009. Prior to joining Canadian Solar, Zhuang led corporate branding, sales and marketing initiatives with leadership positions in multinational companies. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President Business Operations and Marketing, Asia Region, of Hands-on Mobile Ltd., a global media and entertainment company with Asian operations in China, Korea and India. Before joining Hands-on Mobile, he held leadership roles with Motorola Inc., including as Director of Marketing, Planning and Consumer insight for the Asia Pacific Region. Zhuang holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from Northern Jiao-Tong University, China, a MSc in Applied Statistics from the University of Alberta, Canada and a MSc in Marketing Management from the University of Guelph, Canada.
Ms. Charlotte Xi [download bio]
Senior Vice President of Global Operations
Ms. Charlotte Xi Klein has served as our senior vice president of global operations since July 2011. Prior to that, she served as our vice president of global operations from November 2009 to July 2011, vice president of finance from August 2008 to November 2009 and our compliance officer from September 2007 to November 2009. She also served as our corporate controller from February 2007 to July 2008. Prior to joining us, Ms. Xi Klein was director of accounting and compliance at ARAMARK Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, and TV Guide Magazine in the United States, responsible for financial reporting and successfully implementing Sarbanes-Oxley compliance during the first year of its applicability. In addition to her corporate reporting experience, Ms. Xi Klein spent eight years in manufacturing facilities with progressive job responsibilities from cost accountant to plant controller for Saint-Gobain Corporation and Armstrong World Industries. Ms. Xi Klein holds a bachelor's degree from the Shanghai Teachers University and MA and MBA degrees from the Midwestern State University in Texas. She is also a member of the AICPA and has been a Texas-licensed CPA since 1996.