Kanjo’s nephew gets grant

One of the principals in the failed Cornerstone Technologies LLC, a company that promised to create jobs while receiving more than $9 million in federal funds, has re-emerged at a start-up company in Colorado.

Russell Kanjorski, the nephew of U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, is the strategic planning director for AVA Solar Inc. The Fort Collins, Colo.,-based company has secured a $3 million federal grant and promises to employ up to 500 people next year.

Russell Kanjorski was a featured speaker at an alternative energy symposium March 13 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. He spoke about the company’s technology and goal to mass produce a low cost solar panel based on production technology that’s an offshoot of Colorado State University research.

The solar-panel company received a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar America Initiative and has the support of local economic development leaders and the university.

When contacted at his Colorado office, Kanjorski declined an interview about his latest employment.

“It doesn’t seem fruitful to me at this point” to answer questions, he said. “I don’t see a benefit to me.”

While in Northeast Pennsylvania, Kanjorski served on the board of directors of Cornerstone Technologies. It halted operations in 2003 and company officials filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2006. Cornerstone reported $14,100 in assets compared with $1.34 million in debt, according to bankruptcy court records.

Walajabad Sampath, a Colorado State University mechanical engineering professor who helped develop the solar panel technology, said he was unfamiliar with Cornerstone Technologies. Sampath, who formed the company along with two former students, said Russell Kanjorski applied for the position and was hired. He declined to discuss Kanjorski in detail.