Charging Up: Women’s climatetech career moves at Wells Fargo, Galvanize, The Engine, EIP and Rondo Energy

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.

Women joining cleantech boards

Madison Energy Investments has appointed Katherine Hamilton to its board of directors. Madison Energy Investments develops, constructs, owns and operates distributed generation assets within the commercial, industrial and small utility-scale sectors. Hamilton currently serves as chair of 38 North Solutions, a consulting firm that provides business development and public policy services with a focus on clean energy and technology. Hamilton is a frequent contributor to the recently launched Carbon Copy podcast (subliminal message: Subscribe now).

Lauren Sorkin, executive director of the Resilient Cities Network, is now on the board of directors of Grobrix, a startup aiming to advance indoor vertical farming as a cleaner, more efficient way to grow fresh food.

As we’ve noted before, Catalyst, a nonprofit that champions women in leadership roles in business, has compiled research on the benefits of gender-balanced boards and reports that adding just one additional woman to a company’s board, while keeping the overall board size unchanged, produces a return on investment of 8 to 13 basis points.

Climatetech career moves

Chiaki Treynor was promoted to executive VP of technology at Rondo Energy, a thermal energy storage startup that closed a $22 million Series A funding round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Energy Impact Partners earlier this month. Thermal storage can use excess or curtailed power to charge a thermal ​“battery” made of materials such as molten salt or cryogenic liquids. Rondo is one of a number of startups aiming to commercialize thermal energy storage and other types of long-duration storage.

Fernanda Fenga joined Boston Metal as senior VP of corporate, bringing more than 20 years of executive experience in compliance, investor relations, government relations and risk management in the metals and mining industry. Fenga is a member of the board of directors at NioCorp Development, and, prior to joining Boston Metal, served as senior legal adviser at Autônomo. As Canary Media has reported, Boston Metal is developing a method to directly electrify steelmaking, without the need for green hydrogen or another intermediary.

Karen Miao was promoted to director of renewable energy and environmental finance at Wells Fargo.

Amelie Kharey was promoted to the role of Battery Engineer II at Form Energy. Form Energy positions its iron-air battery as a competitor to gas plants when it comes to delivering reliable power for days on end, far beyond what’s possible with other types of energy storage. Canary Media recently reported on Form Energy’s new deal with utility Georgia Power.

River Mizell is now customer success and marketing manager at Atmos Financial. Atmos is a financial technology startup developing software that allows banking customers to allocate more capital to climate solutions. Mizell was previously with Mothers Out Front.

Kate Johnson has joined business association Advanced Energy Economy as director of engagement. Most recently, Johnson was at Fields Associates, where she provided management and strategic support for nonprofits and associations in the energy and environmental sector.

Demand-side energy management company CPower has brought on Edison International alum Jessica Lim as VP of marketing. The company also promoted Millie Knowlton to director of strategy and business development and Tari Neppl to senior director of IT applications.

Alison Takemura has joined Canary Media as staff writer. Takemura, who is a trained microbiologist, worked most recently as a science communication specialist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute, which studies how plants and microbes can contribute to clean energy and healthy ecosystems.

Career moves in cleantech venture capital

Energy Impact Partners promoted Maria Woodman to senior VP of research and innovation, and hired Morgan Sheil as its associate VP for ESG and impact. Sheil previously worked at KKR in sustainable investing and operations management.

Galvanize Climate Solutions, founded last year by Tom Steyer and Katie Hall, is a platform aiming to combine investment with technical, policy and communications expertise under one roof. Sachi Blue-Smith, previously with GI Partners, has joined Galvanize as chief people officer. Kacy Gerst, previously chief of commercial strategy at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, was hired as VP of science and technology. Earlier this year, Galvanize named Nicole Systrom as its chief impact officer. Systrom is also board chair at Prime Coalition.

Milo Werner is now general partner at The Engine, a venture firm that invests in early-stage ​“tough tech” companies. Werner serves on the boards of Infinitum Electric and Natel Energy, and is a board observer at Lime.

Inspirational women artists

Our most recent Friday Social column profiled two artists — Nicole Kelner and Sarah Lazarovic — who use social media to spread climate messages. Their eye-catching and upbeat visuals are an antidote to climate anxiety.

The work featured here is by Sarah Lazarovic.

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