Palo Alto, California -- Sharper Sharpe Inc., the leader in drone-based automated inspections, is pleased to announce that Joseph (Joe) J. Leccese has joined the company as VP Client & Partner Development. Leccese comes to Sharper Shape with extensive experience and a proven track record of delivering solutions to clients in the clean tech, energy and utility industries.

Sharper Shape provides drone solutions for asset and vegetation management in the electric utility transmission and distribution industry. Its cloud service, combined with patent pending software, automatically analyzes the customer processes and data with a new level of accuracy and speed, so any risks to the grid can be addressed without delay. Sharper Shape spearheaded the first commercial Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flights for utilities in Europe, and is focusing on accelerating the use of the technology in the U.S.

“Sharper Shape is poised for massive growth in the utility industry, and I’m thrilled to have Joe join the team,” said Tero Heinonen, CEO of Sharper Shape Inc. “His invaluable energy sector expertise will help drive the next phase of our business and aid in Sharper Shape’s mission to bring improved asset inspection solutions to our clients in the electric utilities industry.”

Previously, Leccese was a principal consultant at his firm JJL Enterprises LLC business and energy consultants. He has held director, vice president, management, operations, business development and sales positions for clean energy technology, utility energy services, automation and controls startups and Fortune 500 companies. He was a Leadership Council Member that took a startup to an initial public offering (IPO) valued at >$324M in 2007. In addition, Joe started the company’s first field operations business unit and went on to build a $60M professional services division to support energy technology programs for utilities across the United States.

“I am extremely impressed with Sharper Shape’s technology and team. Sharper Shape has an established track record of successful projects worldwide and is leading a U.S. industry consortium for this disruptive technology.” said Leccese. “I am looking forward to working with this exceptional team to expand Sharper Shape in the U.S. and Canadian markets. We aim to improve the reliability of electricity distribution and transmission, reduce risks of field work hazards, enable faster reaction to emergency events, provide more efficient maintenance, optimize operations and enhance environmental compliance.”