Michael J. Ahearn (born 1956/1957) is an American businessman, co-founder and chairman of

First Solar First Solar, Inc. is a publicly traded American manufacturer of solar panels, and provider of utility-scale PV power plants, supporting services that include finance, construction, maintenance and end-of-life panel recycling. First Solar uses ...

, and founder and managing partner of

True North Venture Partners True North Venture Partners is an American venture capital firm, based in Chicago, Illinois and Phoenix, Arizona. The founder, managing partner and chairman is Michael J. Ahearn, who is also the co-founder and chairman of First Solar. History T ...

. He received BS in Finance and JD degree from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

. In 1996, Ahearn started True North Partners, LLC (which later changed to JWMA), an equity investment firm, with John T. Walton. Ahearn was a partner and president of the firm. Ahearn co-founded

in 1999, and was CEO from 2000 to 2009. In 2011, Ahearn launched

, which funds solar startups. Ahearn is a director of

Cox Enterprises Cox Enterprises, Inc. is an American private company, privately held global conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major ope ...

, Endeavor, and several True North portfolio companies. Ahearn lives in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

References

1957 births Living people American chief executives of manufacturing companies W. P. Carey School of Business alumni Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law alumni {{US-CEO-stub