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Back in 2004, on the very day that Ormat Technologies, Inc., began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Eyal Hen began working in as an assistant controller for the geothermal energy company in Israel.

The transition to being a public company opened a transformative chapter not only for Ormat but also for Hen, who\u2014after having been with the firm for only a few short weeks\u2014agreed to relocate to company\u2019s new Reno, Nevada, headquarters.

\u201cIt was a very small office at that time, with only seven people,\u201d recalls Hen, who would for the next 11 years help to build out a U.S. finance team while accruing growing worldwide responsibilities for Ormat\u2019s electricity-segment.

Along the way, Hen says, a number of unforeseen developments helped to advance Ormat\u2019s steady U.S. expansion, including the U.S. government\u2019s response to the 2008 financial crisis.

\u201cOrmat benefited from the response after it received $600 million in cash grants to build renewable energy power plants,\u201d explains Hen, while citing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which stipulated that energy companies be offered government grants instead of tax credits.

\u201cThis was an enlightening moment for me, as it demonstrated how much impact a government can have when a company is prepared,\u201d remarks Hen, who says that Ormat went on to build renewable energy plants in rural parts of Nevada and southern California.

After serving several years as a vice president of finance, Hen would leave Ormat and step into the CFO office for the first time at a life sciences company before being named finance chief for Rekor Systems. \u2013Jack Sweeney