________________________________________________________________________________ Luke
Tillman | LONGi Solar
The same principle applies to market conduct. In areas where intellectual property shapes product access, Luke sets limits.“ That is an ethical line that we’ re not willing to cross,” he explains. When a product raises licensing concerns, LONGi may step away.“ We have been very intentional about not knowingly violating someone else’ s IP rights,” he adds.
Within his team, Luke highlights shared effort.“ I don’ t look at myself as the coach. I look at myself as another player,” he shares. He draws from his experience in sports, where outcomes depend on coordination and trust.
He encourages his team to move beyond identifying risk and into shaping outcomes. For Luke, spotting issues is only the starting point.“ It is not just about saying no to risk, but what makes this risk more tenable,” he points out, describing a shift from gatekeeping to problem solving. That mindset changes how legal participates in the business. Instead of halting discussions, the team works through allocation, structure, and timing, helping deals move forward with eyes open rather than shutting them down.
He pushes his lawyers to think about how risk lives inside a transaction, not just where it appears on the page. That means asking how responsibility can be shared, adjusted, or limited, rather than treating every exposure as binary. The work becomes iterative and commercial, grounded in the reality that progress requires compromise. Without that approach, Luke warns, legal risks losing relevance.“ If teams do not evolve, they become the department of no.”
Mentorship plays a role in how Luke builds capability. Early in his career at US Customs and Border Protection, he worked closely with Lynne Robinson, an attorney who shaped his approach to the practice. She“ spent day in and day out, kindly educating me,” he recalls, helping him understand trade and enforcement from the regulator’ s perspective.
Luke’ s definition of success has changed over time. Early on, he focused on growth.“ I wanted opportunities to learn,” he says. Today, success centers on others.“ Success looks like showing up for my team the way my mentors showed up for me.” he explains. That view shapes how he builds teams around strengths.“ LeBron James is a great basketball player. No one criticizes him because he’ s not a great golfer,” he notes
As policy shifts continue across trade, labor, and supply chain traceability, Luke keeps a close eye on what those shifts require of the business.“ We see the writing on the wall,” he remarks. Outside of work, Luke applies the same discipline to learning. Each year, he commits to something new. Right now, he’ s focused on Mandarin. That decision reflects both curiosity and practicality. He spends a lot of time in China for work and wants to communicate more directly in those settings. His progress is steady. For now, he can handle everyday interactions, like asking for a glass of water with ice, a reminder that fluency, just like compliance, develops through steady effort. ■
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