Company

Leadership Team

The ARDA Power team consists of people with very diverse cultural and professional backgrounds.
We love working together, we are passionate about what we do, and we have each other's back.

​

Aleksey Toporkov

Mr. Toporkov is founding investor and since 2013 President of ARDA Power. Prior to joining ARDA Aleksey was co-owner and CEO of a Schindler Elevators and Escalators’ JV in Russia. Upon completion of an exit for JV founders he joined Schindler USA, managing their Cost Leadership and Industrialization Programs.  Aleksey provides strategic direction for the company, leads the equity financing effort, co-leads the business development effort, and promotes DC Microgrid technology as a regular speaker at Microgrid conferences throughout North America.

Peter Lehn

Professor Lehn is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of ARDA Power. He is Senior Professor of the Energy Systems Group at the University of Toronto, has authored over 60 publications, is Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, and has provided R&D support in power electronics and system controls for Siemens, ABB, Honeywell and others.  Peter leads the effort to define ARDA’s technology roadmap and co-leads the company’s engineering effort.

Peter Lewis

Mr. Lewis is shareholder and member of ARDA Power’s founding management team since 2011. He is Owner of Wentworth Partners - a firm providing CxO advisory services to clean technology companies, Partner at Swan Creek Energy - an experienced NJ-based solar developer, and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Peter co-leads ARDA’s business development effort and is acting CFO.

Ed Kitaura

Mr. Kitaura joined the ARDA Power team in June 2018 as VP of Operations. He has over 25 years of experience gained from key roles in project management, manufacturing, operations and product development at companies including OSRAM and Celestica. Ed was brought in to help mature ARDA’s operations and product lifecycle management, and to add the processes and capabilities required to accommodate rapid growth.

Kostya Strilets

Mr. Strilets has been a key member of the ARDA Power team since 2012. Prior to joining ARDA Kostya was a senior power electronics engineer for Siemens and SatCon Power Systems, where he accumulated a depth of experience in designing and manufacturing power conditioning systems for use in alternative energy applications. Kostya co-leads the company’s engineering effort as Engineering Director.