Charging Up: Women’s climatetech career moves at Ørsted, Q Cells, SCE, Rewiring America and Greentown Labs

Canary Media’s Charging Up column chronicles women’s career advancements in the climatetech sector. Please send feedback and tips to wesoff@​canarymedia.​com. Canary thanks CleanCapital for its support of the column.

Career moves

Madison Freeman, previously at venture firm Energy Impact Partners, is now senior advisor on innovation to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry at the U.S. Department of State. Freeman had this to say about the career shift on Twitter: ​“I’ll be continuing to work on mobilizing climate technologies, especially those in hard-to-abate sectors.”

Laurie Leshin, the president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, has been tapped to serve as the director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, California. Leshin is a Caltech alum and NASA veteran and will be JPL’s first woman director. The lab’s areas of research include understanding and mitigating the effects of climate change.

Vennela Yadhati is now senior manager of strategy at wind power company Ørsted. Previously, Yadhati served in several roles at the New York Power Authority. Ørsted and Eversource are now entering the construction phase for the South Fork Wind project, New York’s first offshore wind farm, which just received final approval from the U.S. Department of Interior.

Michelle Mapel was promoted to executive director of marketing and public relations at sonnen, a maker of residential battery systems.

Natalie Geise is now an innovation analyst at climatetech investor and accelerator Powerhouse. Geise previously conducted research at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

ClimateWorks, a global platform for climate philanthropy, selected Helen Mountford as its next president and CEO. Mountford previously held positions with the World Resources Institute and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Anna Stanley was promoted to director of climate action at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Robyn Marquis is now director of innovative mobility at Calstart. She previously worked in the clean transportation division of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Hadas Webb is now serving as deputy director at Browning the Green Space, a nonprofit seeking to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in clean energy.

Glennetta Green was promoted to the role of Office of CEO advisor at investor-owned utility Southern California Edison.

Katherine Geusz was promoted to senior director of programs at cleantech incubator Greentown Labs.

Jamie Yarmoff, who previously worked on utility-scale solar projects at the AES Corporation, is now senior development manager at Q Cells USA.

Emily Burks is serving in a new role focusing on origination and market development at the AES Corporation. Burks was previously with renewables developer Community Energy.

Rewiring America CEO Ari Matusiak believes ​“electrification is the most expansive and equitable way to address the climate crisis and represents the only shot we have to stay inside 1.5 degrees Celsius warming.” The nonprofit organization recently added several new team members:

• Keishaa Austin is now head of engagement and partnerships. She previously served as a senior analyst at the California Public Utilities Commission.
• Cammie Croft is now chief of staff and comes to Rewiring America from nonprofit advocacy group FWD.us.
• Sarah Lazarovic is now head of communications and brand. She was previously VP of marketing at Canadians for Clean Prosperity.
• Leah Stokes is senior policy counsel at Rewiring America. She is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

An inspirational woman artist

The work of Los Angeles–based artist Seonna Hong is inspired by the kinetic brushstrokes and off-kilter perspectives of traditional Korean landscape painting. But instead of being set against a backdrop of pastoral idyll, many of Hong’s works unfold in a post-apocalyptic landscape decimated by climate change. Follow her on Instagram.

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