Management

Dennis Capovilla, President and CEO, with more than 20 years of inspiring and dynamic leadership, is driving Southwall deeper into emerging markets for energy-efficient products. Dennis has successfully refocused Southwall’s product strategy on the core competencies related to energy saving products, while opening up new opportunities in Asia and North America for existing products and adding a new line focused on green buildings. Under Dennis’ leadership Southwall has returned to profitability and strengthened the balance sheet considerably, while maintaining a keen focus on key growth initiatives and investing in the future.

Prior to Southwall, Dennis served as VP of Enterprise Business for Palm where he rebuilt Palm’s $80M enterprise business. He held various positions with venture-backed Fatbrain from VP Sales and Business Development to CEO. He played a critical role in changing the business model from consumer-based to business-to-business as the revenues rapidly grew to $65M, and then took the company public, ultimately negotiating the sale of Fatbrain to Barnes & Noble. Dennis also held product management, marketing and general management positions with Apple Computer, most notably as Director Imaging Division, and various sales/sales management positions at Xerox. He has a BS in Marketing from Santa Clara University, where he has also taught as adjunct faculty.

Bruce Lang is the President of Southwall Insulating Glass (SIG), where he has P&L responsibility for Southwall's Glass business. SIG was established to revolutionize manufacturing of the industry's most energy-efficient insulating glass incorporating Southwall's Heat Mirror® suspended film technology. The company has a 85,000 square foot state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Chicago and is focused on fully automating the production of multi-cavity Heat Mirror insulating glass to make it both affordable and accessible for broad market adoption by the industry's largest window manufacturers. 

Mr. Lang joined Southwall in June 2005 as Vice President Product Marketing to energize the company’s new product development and marketing efforts. His strategic leadership and 20 years experience in marketing advanced technology products has been instrumental in revitalizing the company’s positioning as an energy technology leader with renewed focus on delivering energy-saving films and glass products to the company's core markets.

Prior to joining Southwall, he ran Product Marketing for fiber-optic switching start-up Glimmerglass Networks and display technology innovator Silicon Light Machines, which was acquired by Cypress Semiconductor. He also held Product Marketing management positions with Altera Corporation, helping to grow sales from $70 million to $700 million during his eight years with the company.

He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a MBA from Santa Clara University.

Mike Vargas came to Southwall in 2004 from Agilent where he served as a Senior Business HR Manager for two organizations: I/O Solutions Division and the Worldwide Controllership function for the $2B Semiconductor Products Group.Prior to his 5 years with Agilent, he spent approximately 15 years at Hewlett Packard in various HR Business and recruiting management roles in the semiconductor and Personal Computer businesses. At Agilent, his business skills were used to design and implement the organizational structure and to attract and retain the world class talent necessary to build the IOSD division from start up to $150 million business in 2004. Mike navigated both organizations through significant market swings, which enabled the I/O Solutions Division to leap-frog the competition with cutting edge technology.

As Human Resources Director at Southwall, Mike brings the focus back to the workforce, establishing strategic plans and objectives that foster teamwork, participation and high productivity while ensuring that HR programs are aligned with business objectives and core values. Mike received a BA Behavioral Sciences from San Jose State University.

Ms. Burak brings nearly 20 years of financial experience and strategic insight to the Southwall team. As Vice-President of Finance, Ms. Burak’s main areas of responsibility include external reporting and compliance, budgeting and forecasting, corporate accounting, as well as financial and accounting oversight of Southwall’s wholly and majority owned subsidiaries. Before joining Southwall in September 2007, Ms. Burak was Finance Director for the Communications Global Business Unit at Oracle Corporation. Prior to Oracle, Ms. Burak served as Director of Revenue at Portal Software (acquired by Oracle). Prior to joining Portal Software in 2005, Ms. Burak held various Financial Management positions with Silicon Valley companies including, Hewlett Packard and Zilog.

Craig Wesley brings over 20 years of diverse business and leadership strengths from entrepreneurial, early stage, and Fortune 100 company experiences.  His fresh perspectives have resulted in new growth opportunities for the company’s energy efficiency solutions in rapidly expanding markets worldwide. Craig has P& L responsibility for the company's film business segment and provides strategic leadership as a corporate VP.  As a LEED® Accredited Professional, Craig contributes thought leadership to the company on sustainability and greenbuilding.

Before joining Southwall in December 2004, Craig was responsible for Enterprise Sales at e-learning leader Digitalthink prior to its acquisition by Convergys, and was Vice President of Sales for New Vine Logistics, a winery & ecommerce technology start-up company.  He also founded MicroBrew Express, an innovative customer-direct subscription business that was acquired by beverage retailer, Beverages and More!.  Craig began his career in various sales and management roles at Xerox.  He has a BA in Communication from Michigan State University.

Lee brings more than 20 years of product development experience to Southwall, in which he has developed and scaled into volume production a broad range of technology products and processes resulting in over $1B in revenue. His broad technical knowledge and development experience spans project management, project/product transfer, process development, SPC & data analysis, metrology, facilities, equipment, and EH&S.  

Prior to joining Southwall, Lee was Director of Engineering and Manufacturing at a variety of technology based companies including Read-Rite Corporation, Landec Corporation, and Gemfire Corporation.  Lee also worked at Energy Conversion Devices and Schott Solar in early development of a-Si solar cells.  He holds B.S. degrees in Materials Science & Engineering and Engineering & Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University.