Brian Coble Celebrates 20 Years at Advanced Energy, Named COO

Brian Coble recently celebrated 20 years at Advanced Energy and has been named chief operating officer of the company. He had been senior vice president since 2013.

Brian’s interest in sustainability and renewable energy began taking shape at a young age, mainly thanks to his father. In the 1980s, his father completed a solar remodel of their home, and the two built solar-powered window boxes, ovens and other contraptions. This sparked an early desire in Brian to pursue a career related to renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Brian’s initial role at Advanced Energy was as a tester for SystemVision, a program Advanced Energy administers for low- to moderate-income developers. At that point, SystemVision was less than a year old, and Brian was one of the first Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Raters in all of North Carolina, meaning he had to drive across the state to perform testing. Not too long after, though, Brian got to see the rater community blossom as local home performance businesses opened.

In addition to journeying throughout North Carolina, Brian traversed the country with Advanced Energy residential expert John Tooley — one of many influential mentors Brian has had in his career. The two provided trainings and technical support for Environments for Living, a guarantee program for large homebuilders.

After a few years, Arnie Katz, another residential employee who helped launch SystemVision, took a step back from the program. Brian filled in, and this opportunity ended up leading to a more permanent transition to management.

Expanding beyond SystemVision, Brian went on to manage Advanced Energy’s affordable housing offerings and then its residential initiatives more broadly. (His interest in affordable housing has remained, and he was recently named to the Habitat for Humanity of North Carolina board of directors.) A highlight from this period was getting up and running the Weatherization and Workforce Guidelines for Home Energy Upgrades.

In 2014, Brian was asked to oversee all of the company’s technical areas, which eventually led to managing Advanced Energy’s overall operations.

Today, Brian views his role as providing guidance and leadership — both to teams and individuals — to keep Advanced Energy unified and moving in the direction outlined by its purpose, board of directors and president, Bob Goodson. While he misses seeing people in the field, he enjoys creating conditions that allow Advanced Energy’s employees to succeed in making a positive impact. “We have a great staff, so I really just want to provide the right amount of direction and then stay out of their way and let them do excellent work,” he said.

Please join us in congratulating Brian on his 20 years at Advanced Energy!