Energy Focus, Inc. Appoints Two to Board of Directors
February 26, 2022
Energy Focus, Inc., a leader in sustainable and human-centric lighting technologies and developer of a range of UV-C disinfection products, has appointed Jeff Parker and Brian Lagarto to its board of directors.
Parker has a proven track record of driving growth through innovation in the LED lighting industry with product and distribution channel differentiation. He will serve as a non-executive, independent director and will sit on the company’s Compensation Committee.
Lagarto is a seasoned financial executive with extensive global experience leading global finance, operations, supply chain, and human resources organizations. He also will serve as a non-executive, independent director and will sit on the Company’s Audit & Finance Committee. Parker and Lagarto bring the total number of board directors to six following the departure of James Tu, who resigned from the board this month on February 11, 2022.
Parker has spent nearly 30 years managing companies in the display, LED, medical and lighting markets. Since 2019, he has served as the CEO of Luminii, LLC, an industry-leading manufacturer of architectural LED lighting systems. From 2014 to 2018, Mr. Parker was CEO at Soraa, Inc., an LED lighting company pioneering LEDs built from pure gallium nitride substrates. Prior to that, he was President of the Lighting & Display Business at Rambus following the acquisition of Global Lighting Technologies, where he was CEO for 10 years. Parker has earned 250+ patents covering inventions in LEDs, displays, fiber optics, medical illuminators, general lighting, micro-optics, and other optoelectronics applications.
“Energy Focus has a reputation for innovation and a portfolio of products that advance lighting technology for a wide range of applications; I am excited to help the company grow and commercialize its existing novel and unique proprietary technologies,” Parker commented.
Before retiring last year, Lagarto spent 12 years in executive roles at SharkNinja, a global consumer product goods retail and direct to consumer/e-commerce business, principally as Chief Financial Officer from 2009 until 2017. He was one of the original equity partners in SharkNinja as part of the team that drove significant sales and earnings growth converting a small, infomercial driven business to a retail and commercial focused business targeting consumers via major big box and online retailers in the U.S., in addition to global expansion into the U.K., Europe, and Asia. He also led the successful sale process of SharkNinja in 2017, resulting in a sale price of $1.6 billion. In November 2017, Lagarto became Executive VP/Global Operations of SharkNinja, broadening his leadership experience beyond finance to focus on scaling SharkNinja’s global operations to support the continued dynamic growth of the business. In June 2019, he shifted to the Chief People & Strategy Officer of SharkNinja, focusing on corporate strategy, culture, and recruitment of high-level talent.
“Energy efficient, human-centric lighting solutions will play an important role in a variety of end-markets over the next several years, and the consumer-focused products Energy Focus has in its portfolio resonate with my experience of bringing break-out consumer products to markets around the world. I am excited to join the Board of Energy Focus to help guide the company to achieve its ambitious goals,” Lagarto said.
“I am excited that we have attracted two individuals who bring such fantastic industry experience to our Board,” remarked Stephen Socolof, the Company’s Interim CEO and Lead Independent Director. “Jeff Parker has spent 30 years leading companies in the solid-state lighting industry and will contribute tremendously to our strategy for lighting. Brian Lagarto built a very successful company in the consumer appliance and electronics space running finance, operations, and supply chain and will be a great contributor as EFOI develops its consumer business. Additionally, his strong financial background and experience will continue to strengthen our Audit Committee.”
