Victor serves as the Deputy Director for Commercialization Programs at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), where he and the Commercialization Programs team work closely with DOE program offices and National Laboratories to design and manage external funding initiatives. The team supports impactful commercialization efforts through flagship programs like the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), Energy I-Corps, the Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC), Manufacture of Advanced Key Energy Infrastructure Technologies (MAKE IT) Prize, and the DOE Vouchers Program. The Commercialization Programs team also work to help the department develop programs and engage with partners in new ways through implementing DOE’s Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) Pilot Program and working with the Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation (FESI).
Prior to joining the Office of Technology Transitions, Victor served as the acting program manager for the Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) Manufacturing and Competitiveness team, having spent the previous three years helping establish the American-Made Challenges Solar Prize and the American-Made Network. Victor’s work focused on helping solar innovators make their products and processes more attractive to private investors, as well as gain the resources and develop the skills needed to succeed through commercialization.
Victor joined the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) in 2010 and led the expansion of the SETO Incubator program over 11 rounds of funding. Under his leadership, the incubator model was implemented across all solar technologies from research to deployment, resulting in awardees who have consistently leveraged their proofs of concept into private investment and eventual commercialization. Previously, Victor served as EERE’s Director of National Lab Impact, managing the Energy I-corps, Small Business Voucher, and Lab-Bridge programs. The Lab Impact Initiative emphasized the importance of commercializing lab work by bringing together leaders from government, academia, national laboratories, and the private sector to increase understanding and communication for an effective lab-industry relationship.
Prior to joining EERE, Victor worked at General Electric and the solar cell startup Suniva. He earned a Bachelor and a Master of Science degrees in mechanical engineering and Master of Business Administration from the Georgia Institute of Technology.