Petaluma's Ygrene Energy Fund taps new CFO as it expands into commercial PACE financing

Ygrene Energy Fund, an energy efficient project financing firm in Petaluma, has announced Greg Saunders as its new chief financial officer.

He replaces Tim Condon, who the firm said is retiring. Saunders comes from Sausalito-based CleanFund Commercial PACE Capital Inc., also involved in financing energy efficient projects, this for commercial properties. He was CleanFund's chief executive and financial officer.

Before that, Saunders served in CFO and chief operating officer roles at publicly traded and venture-backed specialty finance companies, most recently as the CFO at Project Frog Inc. and Tioga Energy Inc., a nationwide commercial solar energy developer.

“Greg brings a proven track record in financial services and PACE to Ygrene. At CleanFund Commercial PACE Capital, Greg forged a number of ‘firsts' for the PACE industry, including closing the first-ever 144A Commercial PACE securitization,” said Jim Reinhart, president of Ygrene Energy Fund

Property assessed clean energy, or PACE, is a financing mechanism that, when applied to homeowners, helps them fund home energy efficiency projects and pay them back through an assessment on their property. The financing is paid back via property tax assessments.

Ygrene stated that Saunders's appointment as CFO comes on the heels of its recent announcement that it has financed 1,000 C-PACE projects, which accounts for more than half C-PACE projects nationwide.