Optimum Energy Names Larry Stapleton New President

Optimum Energy has appointed Larry Stapleton, formerly vice president of sales and marketing, to lead the company as president, replacing Bert Valdman. Valdman will remain closely involved with the HVAC optimization technology company as an active board member.

Stapleton’s succession is part of Optimum Energy’s long-term plan and reflects the company’s management strength, depth and maturity. Optimum Energy’s core technical team has been in place since the company’s inception 10 years ago, and Stapleton has a history of global sales leadership, along with 25 years of experience in engineering, marketing and product development.

Before joining Optimum Energy, Stapleton was president of Ballard Fuel Cell Systems, where he led its U.S. subsidiary, Ballard Power. Prior to Ballard, he led worldwide sales and marketing for the software firm BSQUARE, increasing sales from less than $30 million to more than $100 million in five years.

Under Stapleton’s sales leadership, the company has expanded its active customer installation base by 136 percent in less than three years and successfully launched a new product, OptimumEDGE, that makes sophisticated optimization technology accessible to facilities with smaller HVAC plants.

Optimum Energy’s software is saving money and resources in more than 200 facilities across four continents, optimizing the most complex HVAC systems. In 2017 alone, Optimum Energy technology saved customers more than $20 million and reduced their electricity use by 232,300,000 kWh. The energy savings resulted in a total carbon reduction of 153,679 metric tons of CO₂ (about 339 million pounds)—the equivalent of removing about 32,700 typical passenger vehicles from the road for one year.

“I’m excited to build on this strong momentum,” said Stapleton.