Faces of the Climate Economy
NECEC is dedicated to growing a climate economy workforce that champions diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, as well as fostering an environment where all individuals are valued and respected.
As conveners, we have cultivated an ecosystem of individuals from diverse backgrounds, industries, and perspectives. Each member and partner brings forth a unique and compelling narrative. We passionately believe that by amplifying the voices within our ecosystem, we can collaboratively work towards our shared objective: creating a just and equitable climate economy to combat climate change and promote a sustainable future for everyone.
Continue scrolling to acquaint yourself with the individuals shaping our climate economy.
Diana Yousef: CEO & Founder, Change WATER Labs
Biography
Diana Yousef, PhD, MBA is founder and CEO of change: WATER Labs (cWL). Diana (she/her) came up with the inspiration for evaporative sanitation while consulting to NASA on water treatment solutions for the International Space Station. Previously, Diana was a McKinsey consultant and seed-stage biotech-cleantech VC. She co-founded the WorldBank/IFC's Biotech and Life Sciences private equity investment practice, and a novel accelerator program within the UNDP to create and fund pro-poor business-and-technology innovations in developing countries. She is a serial cleantech entrepreneur, having co-founded multiple ventures in water purification, solar energy and waste recycling. She holds degrees in Biology from Harvard (BA) and Cornell (PhD, Biochemistry and Structural Biology), and an MBA and MA in International Affairs (Columbia). Her team's work has been recognized as one of Fast Company's 2019 World Changing Ideas and she was invited by the Turkish Government to speak on their work at the 2019 UN Climate Summit.
Why did you decide to pursue your chosen field?
"When I had kids, my career kind of hit the breaks—I no longer seemed to be considered a fit for more traditional roles. And frankly, I didn’t want to fit those roles anymore. So I decided I needed to demonstrate for my 3 daughters that we women can create our own roles and our own goals. I also decided that I wanted to apply my skills to promoting more equitable and sustainable development for vulnerable people through technology innovation. Being Middle Eastern, I felt the best way to have cross cutting impact was to focus on water sustainability—water underpins every aspect of how people and the planet survive and thrive."
What advice do you have for people who aspire to be in a position similar to yours?
"Don’t let imposter syndrome stop you!"
Ellie Rusling: CEO & Co-founder, MicroEra Power
Biography
Ellie Rusling, CEO, MicroEra Power. Rochester, NY. Ellie (she/her) understands the global need for robust energy systems. The team is developing an innovative thermal long-duration energy storage solution to decarbonize HVAC for buildings and campus/district systems while optimizing for cost, efficiency, and resiliency. THERMAplus integrates with HVAC infrastructure for new builds and retrofits. 20% HVAC efficiency gains. Up to 50% energy cost savings. For geothermal projects, 60% ground loop reduction.
Why did you decide to pursue your chosen field?
"I am all-in to support development of energy systems which will provide for our energy needs while serving people, planet, and profit. From extended periods living in South America and the Caribbean, I have experienced the impact on people’s lives, economic development, and the environment absent reliable, accessible, and sustainable energy systems."
What advice do you have for people who aspire to be in a position similar to yours?
"Surround yourself with really bright people and remain laser-focused on your project, with eyes wide-open tracking the surrounding markets. Listen deeply, and take time to reflect, so that you may support a team in accomplishing meaningful work."
Sanchali Seth Pal: CEO & Founder, Commons
Biography
Sanchali (she/her) founded Commons to empower people to take climate action through something they do everyday: spend money. Prior to Commons, Sanchali worked at Tesla and in social impact consulting at Dalberg, where she worked with communities directly affected by the climate crisis in Ethiopia and India. Sanchali holds a BA in Economics from Princeton and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Why did you decide to pursue your chosen field?
"To address the climate crisis, we need sweeping policy change, corporate accountability, and technological innovation. But we also need collective changes to use our resources differently. Household spending influences 65% of global emissions. Commons helps people tap into the power of their spending choices to demand a greener economy."
What advice do you have for people who aspire to be in a position similar to yours?
Lingchen Kong: Co-founder, Ellexco
Biography
Lingchen Kong (he/him) is the co-founder at Ellexco, a technology provider for clean and green lithium extraction. Kong holds his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the George Washington University and M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Virginia Tech. Kong's team developed a chemical-free lithium extraction technology from brines and won the geothermal lithium extraction prize held by US Department of Energy. He is also named as 2023 All America Chinese Youth Federation Top 30 Under 30.
Why did you decide to pursue your chosen field?
"There are abundant resources in water sources. I did scientific research on ion separation during my PhD study. Lithium extraction as part of my PhD research has significant impact on future clean energy industry and electrification transition. So, commercialization of emerging technology is what I am pursing right now, and I believe green lithium extraction will make the lithium battery and EV industry more environmentally sustainable."
What advice do you have for people who aspire to be in a position similar to yours?
Tess Feigenbaum: Co-founder & Operations Director at Epic Renewal
Biography
Tess Feigenbaum (she/her) is Cofounder of Epic Renewal, a community-scale composting organization based in Rhode Island. She is a designer and strategist passionate about creating positive impact through meaningful design. Her multidisciplinary background drives her to seek innovative solutions to social and environmental challenges across sectors and industries. She has helped clients such as WWF, Doctors Without Borders, and World Bank Group to drive meaningful change at scale. Her current work focuses exclusively on climate change, primarily through the lenses of soil health, waste, and food systems. Tess graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2014 with a Bachelors in Industrial Design. She is a Kiss the Ground Soil Advocate and Master Gardener. She also serves on the steering committee of the RI Food Policy Council, and as the chair of the Board of Directors at Riverzedge Arts, a social enterprise applying work-based learning strategies to teach art, design, and critical thinking to teens in Woonsocket RI.
Why did you decide to pursue your chosen field?
"While learning about product design in school, I found myself fascinated by our society’s relationship with waste. I was disappointed to learn about the limited viability of recycling, and disappointed to see how our mainstream products are still being created without regard for responsible sourcing, material production impacts, and end of life. This interest continued throughout my career, particularly focusing on the way design can change our behaviors and normalize more responsible actions. Over the years, this curiosity expanded to include a deeper understanding of our waste systems, food systems, and how stakeholders can work together as an ecosystem to solve big, challenging issues facing our planet. I began learning about soil health and how we can draw down and sequester carbon in our soils when we support them properly, and all the pieces clicked together.
When my cofounder and I relocated to Los Angeles in 2016, we saw a clear need for accessible and affordable options for composting. Using our combined skills to create a design-forward, user centered composting service felt like a no-brainer. Since then, we’ve served a multitude of residents, businesses, and events of all sizes. We’ve led a staff of five, composted for marathons, and relocated our business to Rhode Island in order to more effectively pursue our vision of creating the tools to empower our industry to grow.
I love being able to see my passions come to life in a way that actively engages and serves my community. My work allows me to marry my backgrounds in product design, systems thinking, experience design, community engagement, and sustainability, and apply them to an issue area that connects many of my interests while solving a very low-hanging fruit solution to greenhouse gas emissions and extractive, unsustainable agriculture. I feel privileged every day to get to work with my community, to get my hands dirty (literally) with the process of composting, and to also help to drive change at a national level and validate the role of this work as a critical climate solution."
What advice do you have for people who aspire to be in a position similar to yours?
"Find what you love and be ready to fight for it. That being said, be kind to yourself, and find a community of support. Entrepreneurship is just plain hard - entrepreneurs often feel like they’re crazy, especially when the people around them can’t understand their experience. Not everyone’s input will be helpful, and you’ll need to get comfortable trusting yourself and your vision. Find others who have been through the journey - advisors, peers, allies - and lean on them when you’re tired, stuck, or feeling like quitting. While your passion and business is unique to you, the experience of crafting something yourself is a fairly shared experience amongst other makers and starters. Building your own business requires immense amounts of courage, versatility, and tenacity - make a point early on of finding folks who help you restock your mental supplies when times get tough, and continue challenging you even after a big win."
Mary Wambui-Ekop: Asset Manager Planning Office for Urban Affairs
Biography
Mary Wambui (she/her) is an affordable housing asset manager for the Planning Office For Urban Affairs (POUA), a non-profit social justice ministry of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. She also serves as a Councilor in the Massachusetts EEAC--the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council--where among other things she is the co-chair of the EEAC's Energy Equity Working Group, She is also a member of the Grid Modernization’s Advisory Council Equity Working Group, she is on the Board of Green Energy Consumers Alliance, NECEC and the Coalition for a Better Acre in Lowell. She is well recognized as a leader and advocate for housing, climate & energy equity in the region.
Why did you decide to pursue your chosen field?
"For the first 13 years of my life, we lived in Kangemi, shanties in Nairobi, Kenya, I saw and experienced firsthand showering in a bathroom without a roof as well as full of holes on the side, though we moved up economically and left the neighborhood, I have never forgotten that image. I learned at an early age that disenfranchised people have less power to change the macro framework within which they exist. My belief that "Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right." (Psalm 106:3) moved me in the direction of housing and climate justice - working to help others access resources, have meaningful participation in stakeholder processes and economically benefit from climate and housing policy."
What advice do you have for people who aspire to be in a position similar to yours?
"To be sensitive and responsive to the needs and ideas of/from the most vulnerable among us. To be authentic and honest, and to embrace dialogue, every person one meets is first human before their position, wealth, or lack of it."
Dennis Villanueva: Director of Energy Strategy & Procurement, Mass General Brigham
Biography
Dennis (he/him) is a dedicated professional with a lifelong commitment to working on climate mitigation using emerging technologies and renewable energy deployment, aiming to lessen, and hopefully eliminate, the environmental, social, and health impacts of the built environment. Currently, he oversees utilities management, energy strategy, and energy procurement at Mass General Brigham (MGB). MGB is the largest private employer in Massachusetts and has the largest hospital-based research program in the country. MGB’s focus is clear: by 2030, have 100% of the electricity consumed at our facilities come from renewable energy sources, and by 2050, it aims to eliminate its direct emissions. This journey involves steps to ensure our facilities can maintain patient care during prolonged utility outages caused by extreme weather, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change.
Why did you decide to pursue your chosen field?
"Growing up in Honduras, Central America, I witnessed the rapid destruction of the natural resources supporting some of the country’s main activities: coffee, tobacco, bananas, lime for construction (calcium oxide), and precious hardwood. During my college years there, I conducted the design and testing of solar energy drying systems for coffee, with the potential to reduce deforestation caused by the use of wood in large dryers. While pursuing my graduate degree in energy engineering, with a focus on renewable energy at UMASS Lowell, I, along with two partners, founded a nonprofit organization to support small coffee growers in Latin America. This initiative aimed to have them enjoy the value added from further processing their products, participate more equitably in the coffee market, and reduce the environmental impact of their operations, including water effluents. Despite the high export value of many of these activities, growers and producers often bear the brunt of market risks and become indebted to fund their operations. It was then that I realized the importance of striving for a circular economy—one that provides a decent standard of living and preserves our environmental assets."
What advice do you have for people who aspire to be in a position similar to yours?
"Be persistent, kind, and open minded; don't take 'no' for an answer, question everything."
Laura Bartsch: Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Advanced Energy United
Biography
Laura (she/her) is responsible for Advanced Energy United’s sales, marketing, and communications efforts, overseeing a team focused on revenue growth and working to facilitate a deeper understanding of our members’ business and policy goals to maximize their participation in our organization's activities. Before joining United, she was a co-founding Principal of Millville Partners, a strategic marketing firm. Her career incorporates experience in design, marketing and branding, strategic planning and facilitation, project management, and client relations. Presently, in addition to her day job, Laura is Chair of the Rhode Island Distributed Generation Board. She also serves as a member of the board of directors for the Northeast Clean Energy Council (NECEC) and PowerOptions, the largest nonprofit energy consortium in New England. Laura is a wife to a former teacher, mother to two early-career sons, and caregiver to an ancient and scruffy terrier.
Why did you decide to pursue your chosen field?
"I decided in collaboration with my then-business partner, but the decision was completely in alignment with my values. I felt that if I wasn't going to be present for my children at home, I wanted to be able to look them in the eye and tell them that if I wasn't home for pick up (or other similar moments), it was because I was working to try to make the world a better place."
What advice do you have for people who aspire to be in a position similar to yours?
"The clean energy transition needs everyone — literally every role, every skill set, every everything, so find the places where you can contribute and start contributing. You don't have to wait for an invitation or an opportunity. look for the gaps and fill them."
Donnel Baird: CEO & Founder, BlocPower
Biography
Donnel (he/him) is the founder of BlocPower, a climate tech company based in Brooklyn, NY, that analyzes, finances, and installs clean energy and decarbonization upgrades in buildings in underserved communities. BlocPower creates jobs for qualified local low-income workers, energy savings for building owners, reduces carbon emissions and asthma rates, and provides financial returns to investors. He is also a member of the board of directors at New York Federal Reserve Bank, The Climate Reality Project and the Coalition for Green Capital. Donnel has been a political and community organizer and worked to leverage federal energy efficiency investments in underserved communities. He was a recipient of the Columbia Business School Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021, the National Venture Capital Associations Startup Innovator of the Year in 2022, and TIME Magazine’s inaugural 'Dreamer of the Year' in 2022. In 2022, Fast Company named BlocPower the #4 Most Innovative Company in the World, TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Companies, and the 42nd Most Disruptive Startup in the world by CNBC.
Why did you decide to pursue your chosen field?
"I got exposed to the perils of fossil fuel systems growing up as a kid with my family in a one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. We didn't have a heating system that worked in our apartment building. So when it got really cold in the winter and my parents would work nights, they would tell me to light a match, turn on the gas oven and open up the oven door to heat the apartment. But I also couldn’t forget to open up a window, because while heat was going to come into the apartment, so was carbon monoxide, which could cause us to suffocate. And millions of Americans across the country heat their buildings this way in the winter and worse. But it's not just low income buildings that are dangerous due to fossil fuel infrastructure. It turns out that the ovens and furnaces and other fossil fuel equipment that MOST of us have in our homes leak benzene, methane and nitrogen dioxide — even when they’re turned off. As a parent, the thought of our children breathing in methane and benzene while they sleep is terrifying. It turns out that gas stoves and furnaces are like lead paint, or cigarette smoke — things that we once thought were totally fine, but scientific research has discovered to be extremely dangerous. By electrifying our homes and community buildings we can solve two problems at once: we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions AND improve the health of our families."
What advice do you have for people who aspire to be in a position similar to yours?
"In my opinion, building a startup should stem from a profound, internal motivation to solve a problem. Entrepreneurship isn't just about numbers; it requires a deep-seated passion. As climate entrepreneurs, we're eager to support anyone who shares our commitment to tackling climate issues because their success is our success in saving the planet for future generations. I often meet people thinking about creating a climate solutions startup but wonder if they should get experience working in a large, multi-national company first. What I know is the learning curve of running a startup far surpasses that of formal business education. While having experienced advisors with business training is helpful, the real value lies in the hands-on experience of solving problems in real-time. So, while formal education and experience shouldn't be a deterrent from starting a business, it's crucial to question whether you're genuinely fired up enough about the problem you want to solve to take the leap. It's a tough question that requires some introspection."
Claudia Maldonado: CEO & Founder / Atrevida Science Inc.
Biography
Claudia (she/her) is an engineer-turned business leader with over 30 years experience driving change and impact in manufacturing, engineering, and business development. Her many experiences working in industry and with academia have been the foundation for her journey as an entrepreneur and leader of a university-spun startup developing digital solutions for the offshore wind industry.
Why did you decide to pursue your chosen field?
"I am convinced that transitioning to renewable energy can provide meaningful employment to many, energize economic prosperity, and be the agent to save our planet. People, profit, planet."
What advice do you have for people who aspire to be in a position similar to yours?
"Find mentors and team members who share your vision and don't be afraid to fail."
Swapnil Shah, Board Member & Clean Energy Advisor
Biography
Seasoned operating executive, passionate about launching and scaling new ventures, Swap (he/him) has founded three enterprise software companies that went on to either IPO or acquisition, evaluates and advises companies as a PE/VC operating advisor, and is dedicated to working on climate technologies and the energy transition. Swap is an Operating Advisory board member at BV Investment Partners, a mid-market buyout firm, focusing on their energy transition investment thesis. Swap also serves on the boards of Resource Innovations, GridX, Innowatts and the Northeast Clean Energy Council. Most recently, Swap was the founder and CEO of FirstFuel Software, an industry leader in customer intelligence for utilities. Swap grew the company to customers and offices across North America and Europe, delivering solutions to 40 of the world’s largest electric and gas utilities. FirstFuel was acquired in a private equity led rollup to form Uplight. Prior to FirstFuel, Swap founded and led software companies that were acquired by Oracle and Inktomi. An expert in leveraging cloud analytics to transform the energy sector, Swap has addressed audiences across the globe including at the White House, Fortune Brainstorm, European Utilities Executive Summit and Bloomberg New Energy Pioneers. He has been nominated E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year and Boston Business Journal’s 40 under 40. Swap has been written up and cited in the NYTimes, Time Magazine, CIO and Greentech Media. He holds a degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University.
Phil Coupe: Co-founder, ReVision Energy
