Today we’d like to introduce you to Lev Buslovich.
Hi Lev, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I was born in Vilnius, Lithuania to a family, who lost their entire extended family in the Holocaust. I grew up in Leningrad (St Petersburg), Russia as a persecuted minority and immigrated to the US through Rome, Italy when I was 9 years old. My family came to Minneapolis without speaking a word of English nor had any money.
We were resettled and sponsored by the Jewish Family and Children’s Services until my parents landed jobs as architect and computer programmer. Despite the early transitions, I graduated HS as Salutatorian, played hockey, soccer, and tennis, and served as VP of the student council. I attended Colgate University, played Div I varsity soccer, was a fraternity and student council member, spent several terms at Oxford University, and graduated Cum Laude (with honors).
My first jobs were in marketing and advertising, including branding in the new field of qualitative research. As Russia was opening up in the early 1990s, I was recruited to run US operations for a Russian-owned company based in Moscow. It was an amazing experience building cross-cultural connections and participating in the transition from communist to capitalist business economies. From flying by the seat of my pants in the wild west of Russia’s awakening, I decided to get formal training as a full-time MBA at The Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. I majored in Marketing, which landed me a Product Manager position at ConAgra branded and private label foods, just as private label was taking off as an essential retail channel.
From private label foods, I went to GE Capital as a Web Products Manager. In those days, GE was known as world-class for developing managers. I was fortunate to be asked to become a Six Sigma Black Belt using statistical and process improvement methods to solve business issues. It was a great training ground for operational improvement, change management, and especially leadership development. From there, I worked in corporate strategy and led an 80-person team with $4B in assets under management.
I was then recruited to start Six Sigma programs at Target Corporation and Carlson Companies (at that time, third largest private US company with businesses and brands such as Radisson, Country Inn, Rezidor, Regent, Park Plaza Hotels, TGI Fridays Restaurants, Carlson-Wagonlit Travel and the largest marketing company in North America).
My next career move was more unusual and riskier. As Senior Director, I could make another career move or wait my turn to get on the VP bus. I instead decided to leave the corporate world and start my own business with a partner, who was an experienced and knowledgeable energy efficiency expert. In December 2007, we started a lighting, HVAC, and controls company, Noble Conservation Solutions. We saved companies’ money on electricity and operational expenses with double-digit ROI, as well as reduced their CO2. We doubled revenues for 5 years straight and took on partners to help with funding the growth. After 11 years and nearly reaching $10M in revenue, I sold my shares and joined a $200M specialty construction company, H2i, as COO, until I made my most recent move to Apadana Energy.
Currently, I serve as President of the Apadana Energy division, a subsidiary of Apadana LLC. Our major differentiator and core competence is the engineering staff and expertise that no other competitor has. We install turn-key solar, EV chargers, battery storage and other engineered electric and mechanical energy solutions for commercial and residential clients. In the industry, that is called EPC (engineering, procurement and construction). We have our own engineers, our own electricians and a sourcing/procurement team. With our engineering expertise, Apadana also works on specialty solar calculations and drawings for national and international engineering firms. As a result, Apadana has been ranked Minnesota’s #1 solar company by the State of Minnesota procurement office as well as industry magazines. Our two most recent and high profile projects include a 750 megawatt solar project in California and 150 megawatt one in Bangladesh.
My division focuses on large utility scale designs and commercial solar gardens as well as solar for single-family homes and commercial buildings. We installed the largest and most complex solar PV project in Minnesota, a megawatt carport on top of Minneapolis Ramp A, which serves Target Field parking. In addition to solar, we also install Electric Vehicle chargers and Energy Storage batteries in homes and commercial settings. Since most electrical vehicle charging takes place at home to get the best rates, we have developed a proprietary EV charging hub for multi-unit housing such as apartments and condos. In the last 2 years, I was able to grow this division 4x in 2022 and we are likely to more than double this year.
Outside work. I volunteer on several non-profit boards and coach competitive youth soccer as a varsity high school coach and with a premier youth club, which is a funnel academy for our men’s professional team. I am married to Dina. We have three kids, now ages 24, 22 and 19, who are all either in college or graduate school.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
WWII and the Holocaust killed most of my family. On my mother’s side, both my grandparents had prior families that were killed and restarted anew after the war. Their former assets were lost to antisemitic looters and systematic Soviet repression. I was born into a Soviet society that heavily repressed Jews, which denied both my parents achievement awards and career options. Due to religious and economic discrimination, my parents decided to emigrate.
For 9 months, we lived in a refugee camp outside of Rome, Italy, until we were allowed to come to the US. I was 9 years old at the time and remember well my parent’s struggles to learn English, navigate jobs, and adapt to Western practices. I went to school on my 4th day in America. English would become my 5th language after Yiddish, Lithuanian, Russian, and Italian. During my school years, I also studied Spanish and Hebrew.
My ongoing struggle throughout my life revealed itself when I was 19. I was preparing to go back to Colgate University for pre-season camp when I was diagnosed with colitis. In the late 1980’s, these diseases were not as well studied, and medications were limited. At 26, I had major surgery to remove my colon and replace it with a pouch made of my small intestine. The surgery was still experimental at the time, but because I was an athlete, I was a good candidate. Amazingly, I was again playing soccer not 4 months after surgery. Over the past 29 years, I dealt with many small bouts, which were controlled by various drugs. Unfortunately, during a recent bout in December 2022, I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive bowel cancer that required immediate surgery and chemotherapy.
Like many other obstacles and struggles in my life, I put my faith in my doctors and focused on aspects I could control. I continued to work, coach soccer, and socialize as much as possible. My positive attitude and staying busy got me through surgeries and chemo. For me, life is about accepting the obstacle and focusing on overcoming it. I think my biggest assets are perseverance, optimistic outlook, hard work, and comfort knowing that I have a great support system in family and friends.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
After many years, I have finally put a label on my core competence. I am an Integrator. My MBA is in marketing, but I spent 15 years working on strategy and operations in Lean Six Sigma process improvement. Having experience in sales/marketing as well as operations is unusual.
I joined Apadana 2 years ago. The solar group had been sitting at around $1.5M in sales for the past 4 years. It was organized and run like an engineering custom solutions group. As my job was to grow the business, I reorganized each function around process and hired the right people to run those areas. I created a sales team, whereas before, business development was more of a loose web of partnerships and independent contractors.
We increased sales 4x in one year and doubled again the next year. After organizing sales, I brought in a former employee and expert operations leader to manage the electricians, as well as procurement, and warehousing functions. In a year, we increased installation productivity from 5 kW per day to 50 kW. Next, we implemented a process-focused engineering structure that enabled our quality and quantity to improve and become measurable.
Once we build the core processes, tools, and structures, it becomes easier to identify the bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement. I am very proud of the accomplishments we have made to date, and I am confident that we will continue to build a sustainable and growing business.
What are your plans for the future?
I have enjoyed growing Apadana Energy and am confident that it will continue to grow and prosper because we have the right systems in place. My three kids are now out of the house, so my wife and I can spend more time traveling. In addition to work and personal life, my other main activity is coaching competitive youth soccer. I have been coaching youth soccer in Minnesota at the highest levels for over 40 years. I am not that old; I just started coaching before I could drive a car. My teams have won many state championships and I am likely the winningest coach in Minnesota youth soccer, given the longevity and continuously having winning teams.
I currently coach for a club started by a colleague, Alex Bunbury. Alex is a Canadian Hall of Famer and a leading scorer in Europe. Our club’s focus is to develop players for college or professional ranks. This summer, Alex bought and took over operations of a Portuguese top professional soccer club, Along with a partnership with a local lower-division professional club, we now have an integrated pipeline from youth to pro level for our players. With Alex focusing most of his attention on the Portuguese side, I will be running US operations. This will me to organize on-field operations and play a bigger role in club management.
Having run many businesses outside of soccer will enable me to marry my two passions business development and soccer. Apadana is a great place to work. And I love the work and the people. Managing and coaching soccer is my other passion for competition, youth development, and being part of the “beautiful game”.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.apadanatechnology.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lev-buslovich
