Jigar Shah graduated from Sterling High School in 1992. He earned his BS degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana, and went on to receive his MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Jigar began his career in solar power between his junior and senior year at U of I with a summer internship at AstroPower in Newark, Delaware. After graduate school, he worked for BP Solar as an analyst. Working for other companies, Jigar realized that he wanted to change the business side of solar energy. He wrote the business plan for SunEdison as part of an entrepreneurship class in graduate school, and several years later, with the help of a cash award from a Harvard Business School business plan contest and a $26 million venture capital investment from a group led by Goldman Sachs, Jigar launched his company. The idea behind SunEdison is to make solar energy more realistic and financially accessible. Unlike other solar energy providers at the time, SunEdison’s customers didn’t have to purchase the actual equipment to receive solar power: “You don’t have to own the power plant that supports you. You just have to pay for the power,” said Jigar. Businesses that have received solar energy from SunEdison include Staples, Costco, Whole Foods, Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, and over 200 others. SunEdison now has more solar energy systems and megawatts under management than any other company.Jigar has been featured in publications such as Fortune and Distributed Energy Magazine. He has also been seen on CNN, and has shared his thoughts on the energy policy with the Obama administration. Although Jigar has since sold his company, he remains active on SunEdison’s board of directors and is a major shareholder. In 2009, Jigar was named CEO of the Carbon War Room, a nonprofit coalition of leaders and experts founded by British billionaire Richard Branson. Their goal is to “raise awareness about the carbon problem within industries, then to publicize and spread the best solutions.” Jigar also sits on the boards of the Prometheus Institute and Greenpeace USA.