Sustainability Leaders Podcast

Mike Casey, CEO of Tigercomm is an expert in communicating climate change, or as he puts it, global climate disruption. Mike has deep expertise in communications, from his early days with Bill Clinton’s comms team to advising Tom Steyer in challenging the Keystone XL pipeline to his current work in helping renewable energy developers across the country clear the hurdles they often face in getting big projects through. Mike is thoughtful, clear-sighted an emphatic about our race to save the planet.

Bill Weihl has likely done more to drive down GHG emissions from the tech sector than any single person. He was the Green Energy Czar at Google, building the strategy and team that took the company to 100% renewable energy and to carbon neutrality for its primary operations. Bill also headed Facebook’s sustainability efforts and co-founded several tech industry-wide efforts including RE 100.

As chair of 38 North Solutions and co-host of the Energy Gang Podcast, Katherine Hamilton is expert in energy policy at the state, federal and international level, and has deep experience in technologies ranging from bioenergy to smart grid and from energy storage to demand-side management. Her fascinating career spans from work at utilities and NREL, to co-chairing the Global Future Council on Advanced Energy Technologies at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Elaine has been one of the architects Illinois’ current heading to be a 100% clean energy state by 2050. She served in the IL legislature for nearly 15 years, chairing several committees and ultimately co-authoring what became the Future Energy Jobs Act of 2016—a law that approaches renewable energy expansion from a green jobs perspective, building clean energy job training centers in disadvantaged communities throughout the state. Representative Nekritz is also expert in transportation issues, having chaired the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission.

This week we talk with Doug Scott and Ann McCabe, two former commissioners of the Illinois Commerce Commission and both former directors of the board of The Climate Registry, where Ann currently serves as executive director. Doug and Ann both have broad experience at the nexus of energy and climate policy and deep understanding of the evolving energy picture in Illinois and across the Midwest. We touch on a range of topics, from the delegation of U.S. states at the signing of the Paris Agreement to the current Clean Energy Jobs Act, which aims to put Illinois on a path to 100% renewable energy by 2050.

Nicole Lederer co-founded Environmental Entrepreneurs on the premise that the economy and the environment are not divergent interests. E2 has proven time and again that sound environmental policy is beneficial to our economy. At its core, E2 is a network of about 1000 leaders in business and that tent has now broadened to include military leaders and farms. This growth is all part of Nicole’s vision. With a background in zoology and healthcare, Nicole’s true talent is in activating unlikely alliances and finding common ground across the political spectrum—something that is all too rare in the climate policy arena.

Marilyn Waite oversees Hewlett Foundation's climate finance program where she invests in sustainable banking strategies that can lower global emissions at the gigaton scale. She is a thought leader in the green jobs space, having authored Sustainability at Work, Careers that Make a Difference, a book that looks at sustainability professions across various sectors, such as agriculture, health care, and even entertainment and media. Waite is a Princeton and Cambridge-trained environmental engineer with a background that ranges from sustainable development in Madagascar to nuclear energy in France. She is an editor-at-large for GreenBiz and an E2 1 Hotels Fellow. In our conversation, she offers astute advice to those seeking to work at the cross-section of energy, finance, and climate change.

Dr. Emily Reichert has been at the helm of Greentown Labs in Somerville, MA since 2013. She has overseen the growth of Greentown to become the largest clean technology startup incubator in the United States, with over 170 companies incubated and $320M in funding raised. These companies run the gamut, from robotics and process efficiency to advanced materials to agriculture, water and waste. Emily has a background in green chemistry and the commercialization of many beneficial technologies. 

As CEO of the Los Angeles Clean Tech Incubator, Matt Peterson oversees the early stage development of nearly 30 portfolio companies across a range of sustainability sectors including energy and energy conservation, information technology, alternative materials, transportation, water and waste, agriculture and the built environment. Matt came to LACI after serving as L.A.’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, this after serving as long-time CEO of Global Green, the NGO that Mikail Gorbachev created to tackle the twin challenges of nuclear proliferation and environmental sustainability.

From her perch as Chief Sustainability Officer for the largest public utility in the U.S., Nancy Sutley has great insight into the energy transformation that is sweeping the country. She also understands the contrasting dynamics of local, state and federal climate and environmental policy, having served as Deputy Mayor for Energy and Environment for L.A., Deputy Secretary for Policy at CalEPA, and President Obama’s Chair of the Whitehouse Council on Environmental Quality. Join Nancy as she discusses her life and career and offers advice to those seeking to dedicate their careers to making an impact on the planet.