Charging Up: Women’s climatetech career moves at FERC, Sunrun, Sol Systems, DOE, Schneider Electric and more

Canary Media’s Charging Up column chronicles women’s career advancements in the climatetech sector. Please send us feedback and tips at [email protected].

Liz Salerno was named the lead on transmission and technology initiatives at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC Chair Richard Glick said in a release, ​“Liz will play a crucial role in…the way we build infrastructure and eliminate barriers to emerging technologies at FERC.” Salerno joined then-Commissioner Glick’s office as an economic advisor in 2018. Before coming to FERC, Salerno worked at Siemens Gamesa as head of strategy for the wind turbine service group.

Lynn Jurich, founder and longtime CEO of rooftop solar leader Sunrun, is stepping down from her role, but she will co-chair the company’s board. Jurich will be succeeded by Mary Powell, who will take over as CEO at the end of this month. Powell brings a decade of experience running Vermont’s largest utility, Green Mountain Power. Canary’s Julian Spector reported on the executive move.

Patty Rollin is now senior VP of development for utility-scale solar at Sol Systems. Rollin has worked on utility-scale project development efforts at Point Reyes Energy Partners. KKR made a ​“significant minority investment” in Sol Systems last month and is partnering with Sol with a commitment of up to $1 billion to develop and acquire utility-scale renewable energy and storage projects.

Victoria Vinall is now deputy press secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy. Vinall’s qualifications also include a recent communications role at The Jane Goodall Institute.

Lisa Szot, formerly the head of transmission and interconnection at Enel Green Power, is now at energy storage developer Plus Power as senior advisor on transmission and interconnection. Szot joins lead regional developers Molly Emerson and Allyson Sand on the firm’s development and engineering teams. Polly Shaw, head of policy and communications at Plus Power, told Canary Media in an email that the company is increasingly bringing all-women teams to meetings with local policymakers about utility-scale energy storage.

***

EnergeiaWorks, this column’s sponsor, has the deep knowledge to locate the industry’s top engineers, scientists, consultants, contractors and executive managers in solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels, smart grid, sustainability or other emerging markets for renewable energy.

See EnergeiaWorks’ current job listings here.

***

Ashley Horvat, most recently with Greenlots, is now VP and head of e-mobility for North America at Schneider Electric.

Jill Tamaru was promoted to VP of customer experience and compliance at Swell Energy, a solar, storage and virtual-power-plant startup.

Tami Clare is now director of real estate at Lightsource bp, the developer and owner of the 345-megawatt, $300 million Ventress Solar project that will sell electricity to McDonald’s and eBay. Clare was most recently with The Butler Firm, a law firm with a focus on renewables and cleantech.

Leslie Hodge, previously with Baker Botts, is now VP and general counsel at Segue Sustainable Infrastructure. Segue invests in development-stage renewable energy power plants and energy storage projects and recently closed on over $100 million in commitments from NGP Energy Technology Partners and management.

Jocelyn Durkay was promoted to manager of regulatory affairs at the Colorado Energy Office. A Clean Heat Standard, a policy setting greenhouse gas reduction targets for gas distribution utilities, was recently passed by the Colorado state legislature.

Climatetech execs to watch

With an absolutely biased point of view, Matthew Blieske, co-founder and CEO of Lifte H2, told Canary that the company’s CTO, Angie Ackroyd, ​“is leading the engineering and supply chain development of the emerging hydrogen economy.” He continued: ​“She’s a real fire-starter and is an inspiration to the younger generation, having come through the old boys club that was the engineering pits of the ​’80s and ​’90s at Texas Instruments [and] IBM and the bro culture of Amazon robotics.”

Lauren Salz is CEO of Sealed, a startup aiming to decarbonize America’s housing stock. Through a financial/​service model, Sealed covers upfront costs for upgrades (insulation, sealing, HVAC systems) and allows homeowners to finance through energy savings. (Canary’s Jeff St. John recently reported on the company’s $16 million Series B funding round.) Salz is a new mother who started fundraising while pregnant and closed the Series B around the time she delivered her first child.

An inspirational woman artist

“Keep your eye on your inner world, and keep away from ads, idiots and movie stars.”
— Dorothea Tanning, American artist, 1910–2012