Team Q&A: August Raarup – Business Development Representative

From working in renewable energies including residential solar to his conservation efforts, our business development representative August Raarup is right at home on our team. August works to make our distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) a little Join us in welcoming August to the Virtual Peaker team!

How did your previous life prepare you for Virtual Peaker?

I began my career in the energy industry as a permitting intern for a renewable energy development company and continued it with residential solar sales. I developed a basic understanding of the many facets of the energy industry- this made diving into distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) technologies with Virtual Peaker a great fit for continuing my career.

Tell us about your role at Virtual Peaker.

My role as a business development representative at Virtual Peaker is easy! That’s mainly because Virtual Peaker is so dedicated to the product itself: as long as I can coordinate a conversation between a prospective client/partner and our team the platform speaks for itself. I’m lucky to spend my time communicating with a wide variety of people in the friendly world of utilities and renewable energy about the power of our distributed energy resource management system (DERMS), as well as our other product line.

How do you personally engage in sustainability efforts?

Like anyone who spends time outdoors, I enjoy experiencing thriving natural habitats. While boating and fishing around the lakes and rivers of my home state of Minnesota it couldn’t be easier to collect floating and shorebound debris. I do my best to collect at least as many trash items as fish land each time I go out. Catch and release is great—just not for trash!

What can you tell us about yourself?

I’m blessed with great family, friends, and coworkers. I pursue new ideas and hobbies with each group weekly, including renewable energy news, club sports, outdoor pursuits, and a love-hate relationship with my Minnesota Vikings.

About The Author

Bill is a serial entrepreneur with a PhD from UC Berkeley in Controls and Artificial Intelligence and 10 years of experience with high performance residential energy management and connected appliances. He was previously at GE as an Advanced Systems Engineer in the Connected Home Software Group, but left that role in May 2014 to pursue entrepreneurship full time.

Bill grew up in Louisville and returned with his family in 2010 after a long stint in the San Francisco Bay Area. He loves Louisville and is working to make it a better and more attractive city for high tech startups.

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