Charging Up: Women’s climatetech career moves at Sunrun, Rivian, Plus Power, Sunnova and more

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

Career moves

Asma Sharafi is now technical program manager at electric truck manufacturer Rivian. Sharafi was previously a research engineer at Ford Motor Company. Rivian is expected to raise more than $11 billion in its IPO this week; InsideEVs has a report on the company’s financials.

Amy Duffuor and Johanna Wolfson are now general partners at Azolla Ventures, the successor fund to Prime Coalition, investing in early-stage technology companies with the ​“potential for gigaton-scale climate impact.” In the world of science, Azolla is a genus of aquatic ferns that some researchers hypothesize may have pulled the earth into its current climate system in the ​“Azolla event” 49 million years ago.

Amy Heart was promoted to senior director of public policy at residential solar finance leader Sunrun. Nakhia Crossley joined Sunrun’s policy team after leading the Midwest division of the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade organization.

Lara Cottingham, Houston’s former chief sustainability officer, is now chief of staff at Greentown Labs, a climatetech startup incubator. She oversees day-to-day operations and communications for Greentown’s CEO, Emily Reichert, along with stakeholder engagements and strategic initiatives. Cottingham is the chief author of Houston’s Climate Action Plan.

Volt Energy Utility named Tiffany Elliott as a partner at the minority-owned solar energy developer that finances and operates utility-scale solar projects. She will lead the company’s project-acquisition function and capital-sourcing activities. Prior to joining Volt Energy Utility, Elliott was the founder and CEO of Clean Capital Partners, a financial advisory firm.

Jill C. Anderson was promoted to executive vice president of operations at large investor-owned utility Southern California Edison.

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Natural Power, a renewable energy consultancy, named Meghan Reha as principal engineer for wind turbine technology. Reha, who joins from DNV GL, is a lead investigator and author for technical risk reviews of wind turbine technology. She was turbine technology lead for more than $1.5 billion worth of financing due diligence for wind projects in 2020.

Jenna Sheehy, previously with Recurrent Energy, is now senior manager of legal operations at battery energy storage developer Plus Power.

Kevala, a startup focusing on energy data and analytics, added Julieta Giraldez as principal of customer solutions, energy data and analytics. She was previously with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Cara Carmichael, previously with RMI, is now director for federal buildings at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Kelly Scallon is now technical expertise manager at Wärtsilä, Finland’s energy and marine power giant. Scallon was previously with Duke Energy.

Talin Oghlenian was promoted to strategic project engineer at residential solar company Sunnova Energy.

Cassandra Sweet, former Wall Street Journal energy reporter and editor and most recently at Mission Control Communications, has joined PR firm Antenna Group as VP of cleantech.

EnergyHub, a distributed energy resources management platform for utilities, added Elizabeth Stevens as in-house corporate counsel and promoted Erika Diamond to senior VP of customer solutions.

An inspirational woman artist

Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1844–1926) was an American painter and printmaker. Born in Pennsylvania, she spent much of her adult life in France, where the quality of her artwork eventually gained her entry into the inner circle of the Impressionists; she is one of only three women and the only American formally associated with the group. Late in life, she took up the cause of women’s suffrage and mounted exhibitions in support of the burgeoning movement.