Coming from Santa Clara’s School of Engineering, where “Engineering with a Mission” is the credo, Agustin Fonts ’08 and Ryan Leary ’08 feel right at home putting their ethics, values, and talents to work in their careers. Both are employed by a company whose software is transforming the way the world approaches household energy conservation. At Opower, Fonts is the international product manager and Leary is engineering manager, accountable for promoting good engineering practices and managing software release and testing by working with engineering services and QA release management for the company’s suite of products focused on energy efficiency, customer engagement, demand response, and thermostat management.
The company’s recent successful IPO was exciting, but both Leary and Fonts claim it is the founders’ mission to lower energy use that is most gratifying. Their careers in the energy industry really started when they joined the 2007 Santa Clara University Solar Decathlon team as undergraduates. After graduating, they founded their own start-up, Valence Energy, with other teammates.