Author
Dana Hankey
A founding member of ACI Materials, Dana led the company as CEO from its inception in 2013 through December 2025, when he stepped into a new role as Senior Executive Fellow to return to the work that first drew him into materials science: formulating and processing silver pastes for solar cells. The timing is deliberate. As solar cell and module manufacturing re-shores to the United States, the industry needs a domestic silver paste supplier for gridlines and busbars — and Dana intends for ACI to be it. Before founding ACI, Dana built a career at the intersection of materials science and photovoltaics: CEO of Superior MicroPowders, General Manager of Ferro Corporation’s Electronic Materials Division, R&D Director at Heraeus, and a member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories. Over 30 years, that path has produced an extensive body of publications and patents in solar materials.