First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) announced the appointment of Sharon Allen to its board of directors.

Allen served as U.S. Chairman of Deloitte LLP from 2003 to 2011, retiring from that position in May of 2011. She is the first and only woman ever to serve as chairman of a large, private U.S. professional services organization. Spending the entirety of her professional career at Deloitte, Allen achieved a number of “firsts,” including being the first female board member in Deloitte’s history and the first executive chairman of Deloitte LLP.

Allen currently serves as an independent director of Bank of America Corporation and serves on that board’s Audit Committee and Corporate Governance Committee. She is a recognized thought leader and popular speaker on governance, talent, ethics, and diversity in the workplace.

She will sit on the board’s Audit and Technology Committees.

Allen holds a B.S. in accounting and received an honorary doctorate in administrative sciences from the University of Idaho, which also recognized her with its Legacy of Leading Award, only the second ever to be awarded in the University’s history. She is a Certified Public Accountant.