Santa Rosa's Ygrene Energy Fund shifts leadership roles

Ygrene Energy Fund, a privately-funded organization which finances projects like energy efficiency, renewables, water conservation, and, in certain areas, hurricane protection, electric vehicle charging stations and seismic upgrades, has changed its CEO and president.

Rocco Fabiano , who joined Ygrene as president in October, will assume the CEO/president position of the Santa Rosa-based company.

Current CEO Stacey Lawson will step up to executive vice chairman, where she will oversee key strategic initiatives, the company announced.

Ygrene stated that Fabiano founded three financial services firms, including ACC Consumer Finance and Consumer Portfolio Services, both of which he took public. Following the acquisition of ACC Consumer Finance by Household International (now HSBC North America), Fabiano was named Group Executive of Household International/HSBC where he oversaw four subsidiaries responsible for $35 billion in assets and $650 million per year in after-tax profits, including the private label credit card business, insurance operations, tax-related lending and automotive finance.

Prior to joining Ygrene as its president in October, Fabiano served as president of Retail Solutions at publicly-held Qualcomm, Inc. and led the carve-out of Gimbal Solutions from Qualcomm before serving as Gimbal’s President, CEO and chairman.

“Rocco is exactly the right leader to grow Ygrene to the next level,” said Lawson. “He has the rare combination of expertise in both large and entrepreneurial environments and a proven track record of scaling financial enterprises which will be a powerful force for Ygrene in our continued growth and national expansion.”