We are pleased to announce that Donn Tice, longtime Board member, friend of d.light, and our current Chairman, has been named as CEO. Donn succeeds founding CEO Sam Goldman, who has been named Chief Customer Officer, responsible for ensuring that customer priorities, values, and experiences continue to be at the center of the company’s product development. Ned Tozun continues as President, maintaining global leadership responsibility for developing new markets. Both Sam and Ned continue to serve on d.light’s Board of Directors.

Donn has been driving innovation in consumer products for over 30 years, and will focus on expanding distribution, driving global marketing, and developing d.light’s international team to best serve the needs of its growing customer base.

For more information, read Sam and Ned's letter regarding the transition, or read our official press release.

Only four months after we hit the two million milestone of two million individuals , we have now surpassed three million individuals who are experiencing the life-changing benefits of d.light products.

The total impact of d.light's work is also growing: Current d.light customers will cumulatively save about USD90 million in kerosene costs over the lifetime of the products. Increased productivity facilitated by the solar lanterns should put at least USD98 million more into their pockets. In addition, d.light products are now reducing global carbon emissions by over 120,000 tons. Watch this video to see more amazing statistics.

Please join us in welcoming David Small, our new Managing Director, Africa. Dave has seventeen years of experience successfully running Colgate Palmolive subsidiaries in Southern and East Africa, the Middle East, and Russia. He has a proven track record in strategic leadership, operations management, and driving opportunities for growth.

Dave will oversee all of d.light's sales and marketing operations throughout the continent of Africa. In 2011, he will focus on expanding our team in Africa and building more distribution channels for our products.

Following our successful disaster relief efforts in Haiti and China, d.light is proud to partner with NGO Kopernik in providing solar lanterns for the people of Japan.

Thanks to the support of many generous donors, Kopernik and Japanese authorities were able to distribute 1,600 d.light S10s in Japan within days of the earthquake and tsunami. Additional donations are currently being sought for an additional 1000 lanterns. Please consider donating today.

We are grateful for fast-responding partners like Kopernik, generous donors, and the opportunity to provide meaningful assistance to the people of Japan.