Charging Up: Celebrating gender diversity and career moves in climatetech

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

Former FERC Commissioner Nora Mead Brownell joined Clean Energy Ventures (CEV) as a venture partner. With over 20 years of experience spanning the utility and regulatory ecosystem, Brownell will support deal-sourcing, due diligence and post-investment guidance for CEV and its portfolio companies. Prior to CEV, Brownell was nominated by President George W. Bush to FERC, where she served from 2001 to 2006. Brownell is also the co-founder of Espy Energy Solutions, a women-owned energy consulting firm. She serves on the Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Advisory Board and Sunnova’s board of directors, and has also served as PG&E’s board chair.

Stem, a provider of artificial-intelligence-driven energy storage software and services, announced the addition of Kim Homenock as chief people officer. Homenock’s leadership experience includes senior positions at Amazon and General Electric. In roles at Amazon’s transportation and device software and services divisions, Homenock supported over 150,000 employees globally. Stem also promoted Mary Adam to VP of sales on its developer team.

Generate Capital, a sustainable infrastructure investment and operating platform, hired Lisa Schule as a managing director on the investment team. Schule was most recently a managing director at the Global Environment Fund. Generate builds, owns, operates and finances solutions for clean energy, transportation, water, waste and digital infrastructure.

Emily Arnold was promoted to senior VP of engineering at solar project developer 8minute Solar Energy. The developer also promoted Kristen Ray to VP of construction.

Kerri Devine was promoted to senior director of engineering at energy software maker and community solar developer Arcadia.

Ashley Fallon, previously at Antenna, is now head of marketing at solar performance testing house PV Evolution Labs.

Karen Drozdiak was promoted to head of environmental, social and governance and sustainability at American solar module manufacturer First Solar, which claims that its module technology has the ​“smallest carbon footprint, fastest energy payback time and lowest water use of any solar technology in the market.”

Glenna Wiseman, previously with TerraCurrent and the SunSpec Alliance, is now head of marketing and communications at solar and storage developer and engineering, procurement and construction provider Origis Energy.

Amy Ochsenreiter was promoted to director of growth and innovation operations at roofing materials company GAF.

Claire Curry was promoted to global head of technology, industry and innovation at BloombergNEF.

Erica Brinker was promoted to chief commercial officer and head of environmental, social and governance at renewable energy technology company Array Technologies.

Christine Larson joined Modern Energy as senior director for strategy and operations. Larson was previously at Bain & Company. Modern Energy, a certified B Corporation, is a clean energy company that invests in, builds and operates energy-transition businesses in the United States and Brazil.

Heather Wilson is now director of inside operations at solar installer Icon Energy. Wilson was previously at Clean.Tech.

An inspiring artist

African American assemblage artist Betye Saar (born 1926) was one of the first artists to wrest that medium from its European and Dadaist origins and employ it as a means of exploring the Black experience. A 1967 visit to a Joseph Cornell exhibition precipitated a sharp change in the direction of her work, as she pivoted away from printmaking and toward assemblage and collage. In 1969, Saar created the iconic assemblage Black Girl’s Window, which MoMA describes as signaling ​“a new interest in addressing race and contemporary events in her art.” 

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