Inside Bloom Energy: A Director's Journey from Individual Contributor to Engineering Leader

So it is my lifelong endeavor that will be learning and continuously improving on where I am today. And I was always scouting for opportunities to improve and develop my skills as a learner. So that, that is essential. I feel that this kind of a growth mindset is essential for not only persons who are beginning their career, but also even in mid-career managers who want to go on to the next level.

Hello and welcome to FaceTime with Leaders, the podcast where we delve into the journeys, insights, and stories of some of the brightest minds shaping our industries today. I'm Sunny Panchuri, and our guest today is someone whose work doesn't just power devices but drives global progress in energy and technology. Meet Mr. Vishal Anand A. Gopalakrishnan, a pioneer in power electronic converters and energy systems engineering with over 2 decades of diverse experience spanning leading global companies and cutting-edge innovations. From leading international teams at Bloom Energy To holding patents that redefine mission-critical systems, Mr. Vishal's career is a testament to the power of vision, persistence, and technical brilliance. In this episode, we will explore his inspiring journey, gain insights into his contributions to the field of energy systems, and uncover the experiences that have shaped his remarkable career. Get ready for an engaging conversation with a leader whose work continues to make a meaningful impact. Mr. Vishal, thank you for joining us. We are thrilled to have you here today.

Good morning, Sunny, and thank you for the nice introduction. I am extremely glad to be a part of this program, and I would like to quickly share some of my experiences of my work at Bloom Energy and overall career of 20 years. Thank you.

All right, so let's start with something I think everyone listening will find fascinating— your incredible journey. So from early days as a software engineer to now leading teams and driving innovation at Bloom Energy, Your career has spanned so many exciting milestones. So could you take us through this journey and what inspired you to pursue this path and how have your experiences shaped the leader you are today?

Oh, that's a very long question. And before I start, I would like to step back and get into where I started from my engineering days at PSG College of Technology. I joined in the electrical engineering program in the year 1996. And ever since that time, I have been thinking about ways to pursue a career in the field of electrical engineering. One of my earliest mentors, Professor Dr. V. Subbaya, the HOD of the Department of Electrical Engineering, has been a great inspiration for me as he sparked the interest in the area of power electronics for me. But then, you know, means an graduate out of engineering college would like to explore his options. So I joined Cisco Systems as a software engineer, but my heart was always in the area of power electronics. But then that came up, the situation of where I have to decide where I have to study, whether it has to be in India or go abroad. I had both these opportunities, and I gave my GRE, and I also did my GATE, and I secured an All India Rank of 325. And my mind was always looking at studying in India, because once you go abroad, your mind will be distracted having to take care of your finances, your stay, and all that. So I got admission into the Department of Electrical Engineering at IISc in the year 2003, and I was fortunate to work under the mentorship of Professor V. Ramnaren. And one small anecdote on the first day I joined is very revealing. So I joined as a master's student by research, and I went to meet him, and he was like, welcome to this program, and you are on the journey of learning, and so am I, and let us both continue this journey together. And some person of that stature and age is always in the pursuit of learning was a great inspiration for me to take up as a lifelong mission to continue learning. There are a lot of lessons and a lot of technologies that I learned under his able mentorship, particularly his attention to detail, the importance of discipline and hard work, and simplifying and not making things very complex. Those are the life lessons that I took from the mentorship and guidance that I got under him. After my completion of graduation, I joined Tata Motors at the Engineering Research Center in Pune as a design manager. In those early days, there was a time when we were working on electric vehicles, and but that was an idea that was too ahead of its time. And, and there was also the time I got married and my wife was working at Oracle in Bangalore. And so I decided to move from Tata Motors and I joined American Power Conversion as a design engineer. At my time, during my time at American Power Conversion, was I met some of the brightest minds in the area of power electronics working on some really cutting-edge stuff. That was some things that I learned during my graduate studies, but directly see the effect of that in the industry. I understood the importance of high-volume manufacturing and the stresses that come with taking decisions in the last minute and also under a lot of pressure. I could see firsthand. After my stint at American Power Conversion, I got the opportunity to work at a startup, that is Bloom Energy. That was really a challenging period because to join a startup in those days, in 2006 I'm talking about, is not an easy decision. But I thought this is a good opportunity for me to understand and grow with the company because you get to understand the processes, setting up teams, forming processes, and releasing products into the field and learning from those. So I joined Bloom Energy in the year 2006, and from then on I had a lot of experience in working on cutting-edge technologies. By the time I came to 2011 is when I thought maybe I'm not getting the same amount of learning, and I thought maybe I'm missing out something by not going abroad. So I decided to take a step back and applied for a job abroad. I got an opportunity at Delta Energy Systems in Soest, Germany. And I joined their wind energy group. So that was a big leap for me because I'm going away from a comfort of a good position in Bloom Energy, and I took up the challenge. But I found that there are some challenges in working in an international organization, and some differences were there. So I decided to touch back with Bloom Energy, and I got the opportunity to join them again as a staff engineer. From then on, I have been working on multiple projects in the area of renewable energy integration using fuel cells. And in the year 2016, I got the opportunity to pursue my PhD. And through the support of my organization, with the support of my manager, and at IISc, I enrolled for the external registration program as a PhD graduate student. Ever since I've been a student at IISc, I've always enjoyed the learning process. And through my interactions with a lot of young colleagues at IISc, I have been able to keep me abreast of all the technologies that have been happening, and at the same time leading my teams at Bloom Energy as well while taking care of my family. So as I am going— as I'm moving into more senior roles, I have become the Director of Engineering at Bloom Energy. I am not involved day to day in the various projects that my team handles, but through the advice and mentorship of my manager, Dr. Anunnathan Kurunathan, I've been able to understand that I need to build the support of the trust of my team, and I let them thrive, and I ensure that I give them enough space and make them deliver on their goals. So as I step into more future senior roles in leadership positions coming forward, I hope to continue the learning process.

Mr. Vishal, it's amazing how those experiences shaped the professional you are today. All right, so moving ahead, uh, you have had the incredible opportunity to work internationally, including your time at Delta Energy Systems in Germany. And I can imagine that stepping into a new country, adapting to a new and different work culture, and tackling engineering challenges on a global scale must have been both exciting and demanding. So how did that experience shape your perspective and approach to engineering, and what lasting lessons did you take away from working in such a dynamic environment?

Yeah, thank you for picking that up. So life in Germany and the experience of working in a foreign country after leaving a very comfortable job and a family setting is of course very challenging to start with. First of all, we had to learn a new language. Me and my wife went through language training for about 3 months, and my wife especially had to get an official certificate passing a basic German proficiency. And in terms of culture, as you can see, uh, Germans and Indians are a world apart in terms of, uh, culture, discipline, and all that. Of course, both have— both countries have a rich legacy, but, uh, they are totally different in terms of the timing and the way they interact with each other. All those things had to be learned, and I went through all those learning curves. And in addition to, uh, in addition to all this, also the language barrier was there. Even though, uh, many cities in Germany have a lot of English, but the place where I went to was still, uh, the English was not very easily spoken. And so along with the technical challenges of working with my colleagues at office, I also had to, uh, interact with them in German. A very interesting anecdote comes to my mind. So I was in a particular project, uh, with me and a colleague And the colleague was Russian and he could speak only German and I could only speak broken German. But I took it up as a challenge in the sense that I used this opportunity to learn German and interact with them on engineering aspects, talking to that Russian in German. And that helped me improve my vocabulary as well. And our team was truly global in the sense that the group that I worked with in Germany, that was on the wind energy business, So we had a Korean, we had a Russian, and we have of course couple of Indians including me, and our super boss is American. So in that sense, our team was truly global, and I used this opportunity to understand different cultures and how to communicate and what are the expectations in terms of the body language or the way things are communicated. All those things were a big learning and a takeaway for me. And finally, I had a very good time and And even though, uh, the amount of time that I spent there was quite short, it was a lifelong experience for me that will always change for the rest of my life.

Great, great, great, Mr. Vishal. Adapting to a new culture while driving impactful work sounds like an incredible growth experience. So, Mr. Vishal, designing mission-critical systems for places like data centers and hospitals carries immense responsibility. And knowing that so many lives and operations depend on the reliability of your work, So I imagine there must have been moments where the stakes felt incredibly high. Could you share a challenge you faced in this domain that really tested you and how you managed to overcome it while ensuring the system met such critical demands?

Yeah, thanks for the question. So like you said, our work at Bloom Energy, we had come across a lot of data center and mission-critical customers like hospitals and other installations. So I was involved in a lot of data center projects and where high reliability and availability of the power supply is critical because even a small amount of time lost results in loss of millions of dollars. And one particular customer that we had to work with, we had to run a few tests and prove to the customer that we are capable of always riding through various failure modes and in any situation the data center load is not dropped. And during those slew of tests that we ran through, one particular corner case came up where the response of our system was not up to the mark of what the customer was expecting from us. So as always, they demanded a fix from us to address this particular issue, and we were running through multiple scenarios, running various options as to how to solve this problem that was first foolproof And also not very expensive and easily deployable. And so we got back to the drawing board, and with a collective effort across multiple teams sitting here in Bangalore and in the US, we worked through day and night and came up with a very nice and easily deployable solution. I remember those nights were very tough because I vividly remember we have— we spent almost 2 nights back to back working continuously with our counterparts in the US. And then once the solution was finally deployed at the customer place, the customer was totally happy with the solution. And my key takeaway from that was that it really showed the strength of teamwork and putting all the brains together across geographies that gives us that 24/7 kind of operation and addressing customer problems so that we always try to keep the customer happy. So that was a big takeaway for me from that particular project.

You know, Mr. Vishal, that sounds like such a high-pressure situation, but it's amazing how you were able to navigate it. So moving ahead, Mr. Vishal, uh, patents represent breakthroughs that can change the way industries operate, and I know you have contributed to some remarkable innovations. So was there a particular patent you worked on that stood out, not just because of the challenges it posed but because of the potential it unlocked for the industry?

Yeah, so during my time at Bloom Energy, I have been part of multiple patents that were submitted and filed as well. And it's, as it is customary in these kind of patent applications, it's usually a group of individuals that work on the patent. Usually the one, the senior-most member or the person who has contributed the maximum will become the first author and claim that particular patent. So I was very— I'm very attached to one particular patent regarding the CAN programming of electronic components, and it holds a special place in my heart. And the reason is simple. We got the first product out and it was ready to be deployed in the field. And one problem that stuck out was that there was no easy way to program these electronic components in the field. And so this was a big challenge at that time because As you know, when products get deployed, you need to have these field upgrades in a regular fashion. As there was no immediate solution available, that posed a real challenge to us. Me and my co-inventor Jayant, we sat together and really struggled a lot in terms of trying out new ideas. This was really some pathbreaking stuff that happened. Because of collaborative effort, we were able to release this particular solution. which I am happy to say that even today is being used by everyone in our company. So I'm not really sure as to how others in the industry are handling this problem, but it's definitely something that uniquely addresses the problems that we had at Blume, and I was happy that I've been able to play a small part in that.

Absolutely, and it's fascinating how much thought and effort goes into creating something so impactful. So moving ahead, Mr. Vishal, With the rapid advancements in power electronic converters, especially in grid-connected inverters and resonant power conversion, where do you see the most exciting innovations happening? And how do you think these breakthroughs will redefine the future of energy systems and the way we harness and utilize power?

So as we see more and more distributed energy resources like solar, wind, and fuel cells, Online, the chase for more efficient and more effective power converter mechanisms are going to be critical for the future. See, resonant power conversion is one of the areas in which I have done my research. This holds a lot of promise in just increasing the efficiency of the systems, and that too with the advent of the new wide bandgap devices that are there in the power electronics domain. Grid-connected inverters also play a very pivotal role in exporting power from these DERs into the grid. And inverter-based resources, that's what we call IBRs, are going to be very, very important as more and more microgrids are going to redefine the way power is going to be deployed to customers in the future. This is especially significant with the advent of the growth in the AI-based data centers that are known to draw a very different kind of load profile from the existing conventional power systems. And that's where these technologies are going to be really helpful. So high efficiency power conversions targeted towards such applications become really critical, and that is going to pave the way for the future growth of power as well as the way the industry is moving towards AI-based data centers and those kind of applications.

That's really an insightful perspective, Mr. Vishal. So Mr. Vishal, with such a remarkable career and an impressive track record of innovation and leadership, I'm curious to know what are your aspirations for the future, and are there specific goals or milestones you are aiming for, particularly in terms of boardroom opportunities or broader contributions to the industry?

So it is my lifelong endeavor that will be learning and continuously improving on where I am today. And I was always scouting for opportunities to improve and develop my skills as a learner. So that That is essential. I feel that this kind of a growth mindset is essential for not only persons who are beginning their career, but also even in mid-career managers who want to go on to the next level. And not only that, it doesn't mean that I'm not— I'm not— I'm going to give up on my technical skills. I'm also going to continuously improve on my technical abilities so that I can contribute more to the organization where I'm currently employed. And I've also had the opportunity of few of my friends and contacts in my network who have transitioned from, uh, an employer into an entrepreneur. And I really want to understand what goes into their minds and how do they handle their companies being from an employer and what strategies or how do they run their companies. So given all this, this is what I am thinking in the sense that I want to be look at boardroom opportunities where I get to pick their minds and see how companies are run and contribute in my own way to improve the way the companies are run. And I also, in my spare time, I volunteer with professional organizations like IEEE and ensure that I keep abreast in my technological understanding and follow the trends in the technology as it is growing.

You know, Mr. Vishal, it's clear that your passion and expertise. will continue to make a difference. So, uh, moving on to the next question, Mr. Vishal, with your experience in designing energy systems and ensuring compliance with safety standards, how do you see ESG principles influencing the future of your work in sustainable energy?

So, uh, ESG especially, I would like to address each of these on ESG, uh, point by point. So environmental impact of any business is very critical as the society is, or the environment is providing us the necessary place for the business to run. So in that sense, environmental sustainability is a key goal that all companies must be aware, cognizant of, not only in the products but also in the way that they conduct their business. And I believe this also must come from the top of the leadership so that the message is getting percolated deep down into the organization. One recent story that I came to hear about recently was about the CEO of Starbucks Who started commuting by private jet every day to work. So I am nobody. I am not someone who is going to judge whether that particular act is right or wrong. But if I look at it, that story subjectively, it is definitely something I would not do personally because that's the kind of messaging that I would be communicating to the team where when we say that we have to be environmentally sustainable, that is not something that people will take away from that story. And that is on the environmental. And regarding the societal impact, the social impact of any business is very critical. So it is fashionable to talk about sustainable energy and things like that, but it is something like what we talk about organic produce, where it is not really accessible to the underprivileged. This is very difficult for the underprivileged and underrepresented communities for whom access to basic services itself is challenging. So through my work with some nonprofits like IEEE, I want to come to understand that it is important for all sections of society to reap the benefits of technology. So if the technological innovations do not solve the real-world issues and make things equitable to everybody, the impact of technology is only going to increase the gap between the haves and the have-nots. So that is very important, and that's where the importance of societal impact of technology comes in. And finally, on governance, through my role at Bloom Energy, I have had the opportunity to work with few compliance agencies on product compliance aspects before we start selling a product in a particular market. So in my interactions with these companies and these standards agencies, I have come to, come to the understanding that It's a very important function, and they ensure that the product meets and eliminates many of the risks that could happen during the operation of the product, and also throws a lot of light onto the designer to solve these issues. It seems like a lot of paperwork and understanding of standards. Once the intent and the scope of what is required is clear, then it becomes kind of easy. And I see a good analogy between the product compliance as well as the company's compliance in the operation of the company as laid out by the government standards. Addressing risk and ensuring proper adherence of disclosures and also following the tax laws and proper filing is very essential for the growth of the company, and that is something that all companies need to be aware of.

Absolutely, Mr. Vishal, and that's a powerful way to align innovation with sustainability. So, uh, Mr. Vishal, that brings us to the last question of the podcast, and here it is. As someone who has recently joined Directors Institute, I would love to hear about your experience so far and how has being part of the institute added value to your professional journey.

I'm very happy and glad that I got this opportunity to work with the Directors Institute on my upskilling program. So the onboarding to this program from Directors Institute has been absolutely fantastic and very smooth so far, and I received all the study material and I just started on my first session. The interaction with all the employees of the Directors Institute has been smooth and very professional and extremely nice. And I also went through some of the books that I received, and I find that the writing is very lucid and the concepts are very clear. And I'm also impressed with the efforts that the Directors' Institute is taking to improve my profile on various social media platforms. And I look forward to the personal sessions in the weeks to come and hope to have a very fulfilling learning experience.

Absolutely happy to hear how the institute is already contributing to your journey, Mr. Vishal. And thank you so much for sharing your incredible journey, insights, and vision with us today. Your dedication to innovation and sustainability is truly inspiring, Mr. Vishal, and I'm sure our listeners will walk away with a deeper appreciation for the impact of your work. It's been a privilege to learn from your experiences, and we look forward to seeing the remarkable contributions you will continue to make in the future. So thank you so much for joining in.

Thank you. Thanks for your time.

And to all our listeners, thank you for joining us on this episode of FaceTime with Leaders. Stay tuned for more inspiring conversations with visionaries who are shaping the world around us. Until next time, take care and keep striving for excellence. Thank you so much.