Sam Cohen

President / CEO

Sam founded Energy Solutions in 1995 to provide utilities, governments and businesses with Demand Side Management (DSM) program design, marketing and implementation assistance. His vision for the company was – and still is – to create large-scale environmental benefits by creating market-driven solutions that make adopting environmentally friendly practices good for business. Since then, Sam has grown Energy Solutions from a one-person company operating out of his home to a nationwide company with expanded solutions that deliver best-in-class upstream programs, energy-efficiency codes and standards expertise, and demand response solutions to support renewables in the power grid.

As Energy Solutions has scaled, the company’s mission and culture have not changed. In 2013 Sam created an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) that made Energy Solutions’ employees owners in the business and, literally, invested in its success.

Sam received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley and worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory while earning a master’s from the Energy and Resources Department at UC Berkeley. After completing his degrees, he went to work at a large consulting firm for three years before leaving to pursue his vision of creating a mission-focused company dedicated to addressing climate change.

Christopher Burmester

Chief Operations Officer

Chris leads the overall strategic direction for Energy Solutions and provides the vision for the company’s development of new initiatives. He is the executive manager for integrated demand side management programs and oversees clean transportation, renewables, information systems, and intelligent grid services.

Before joining Energy Solutions, Chris was the CTO of Confoti, Inc., a consumer digital technology services company, and CEO of Formation Software services, a software contracting company supporting information systems for utilities, technology and financial companies including Pacific Gas & Electric, Hewlett Packard and Charles Schwab. He was also a research engineer in Apple’s Advanced Technology Group, a research associate at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and he lectured in Advanced Topics in Integrated Demand Side Management at Stanford University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Jamillah Spears, PHR

Chief People Officer

Jamillah directs all Human Resources and Administrative functions at Energy Solutions overseeing and developing policies for recruiting, compensation, employee relations, organizational development, training, and team building. Her passion for inclusion and her experience working with diverse populations result in a vibrant work culture that supports people from all backgrounds and talents and allows people to flourish. Through her skilled diplomacy and expert coaching, she builds partnerships across the organization to support innovative policies that foster continual learning and growth and set high standards, which are essential to achieving the company’s business objectives.

Jamillah brings experience, business acumen, judgement, discretion and vision (along with a healthy sense of humor) to her role. She is a certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR), a certified life coach and she holds a master’s degree in Business Administration.

Angela Rodriguez

Chief Financial Officer

Angela Rodriguez is CFO at Energy Solutions, where she provides executive level oversight over all of ES (Energy Solutions) along with strategic and leadership guidance. Ms. Rodriguez has over 20 years’ experience as a CFO in Energy. She is a naturally cross-functional senior executive who has had oversight of functions ranging from finance, accounting, treasury, risk management and internal controls to business development, M&A and new business strategies. She has influenced $10B in revenue through new markets and acquisitions and catalyzed $5B in profitability with an astute focus on process improvement, talent management, regulatory compliance, and strategic growth.

David Weisong

Chief Information Officer

He is responsible for managing and directing software application delivery as well as corporate IT infrastructure and security. He has over 20 years of demonstrated success in Information Technology management both in the energy efficiency and commercial software domains. Throughout his career he has built high-performing domestic and offshore technical teams, architected scalable incentive processing systems and designed complex IT infrastructure in diverse high-growth organizations. Leveraging information technologies to increase productivity and enhance communication with an eye to security and regulatory compliance is his forte. In addition, David has also directly managed software application development in the retail point-of-sale market utilizing his EMV, PCI and PA-DSS expertise to accelerate time to market.

The theme of David’s career is to strategically help move organizations to their next level growth with deep knowledge and experience in advanced software architecture & design, SaaS, PaaS and IaaS development strategies and IT security and compliance initiatives. Prior to working at Energy Solutions, David served as Vice President of Information Technology at Ecos Consulting (ENGIE Insight). While there he designed and managed EcosTracker, a high-volume incentive-processing system, used to process more than $35 million in incentives for nearly 100 utility clients. There he also served as a technical expert on the 80 PLUS® certification standard.

Dana Cofer

Executive Vice President, Client Services

Dana is responsible for engaging with and developing markets across our Distributed Energy Resource, Policy & Rating and Energy Efficiency departments. She also oversees all proposal development to ensure our strategy aligns with market needs. Dana brings almost 30 years of energy efficiency and business experience and has held senior level positions at PECI, CLEAResult, Uplight, and Consortium for Energy Efficiency.

LeAndra Archuleta

Vice President, Growth Management & Strategy

LeAndra is a recognized leader in the industry and was an elected member of the Association of Energy Services Professionals (AESP) Board of Directors for nine years. At Energy Solutions she oversees business development, sales strategy, key account management, product development and management across all practices, and marketing.

LeAndra brings more than 20 years of professional experience in designing, managing, and implementing large-scale energy efficiency, demand response, and distributed energy resource programs within both regulated and non-regulated electric and gas utilities.

Prior to joining Energy Solutions, LeAndra held senior level positions at Ecova, Nexant, Inc., CLEAResult, Pacific Gas & Electric Company and ICF International.

Daniel Cornejo

Vice President, Business Strategy

Daniel started with Energy Solutions in 2004 as a Program Manager on the California Statewide Upstream HVAC and Motors Distributor Rebate Program. Throughout his tenure, Daniel oversaw the HVAC Practice Area, which launched the nation’s first Variable Refrigerant Flow distributor offering, and the Energy Efficiency Department, which has the nation’s largest and most successful implementation track record of midstream and upstream programs.

Now as the Vice President of the Business Strategy Department, he has the broad responsibility to oversee Energy Solutions’ current and future business strategies. Daniel uses his innovative and motivating skills to lead a cohort of teams in market development, market transformation, and the strategy to guide Energy Solutions to achieve large scale environmental impacts. To succeed, his team is focused on the following functions: emerging technologies, decarbonization, product and product launch, policy engagement and strategic planning.

Mike McGaraghan, LC

Vice President, Policy & Ratings

Mike leads Energy Solutions’ Policy & Ratings Department, which includes the company’s building codes & appliance standards practice as well as other legislative and administrative policy consulting services. This team has conducted technical and market research for over 100 product categories and supported the adoption of dozens of new efficiency standards and energy code updates. In his role as Vice President, Mike oversees a portfolio of policy work impacting the built environment, and covering measures including water heating, HVAC, electric vehicle charging, demand response, water efficiency, industrial processes, electronics, and white goods. Mike formerly led the lighting-related standards team, managing Energy Solutions’ efforts in the development of standards related to LED lighting, lighting controls, outdoor lighting, fluorescent lamps and ballasts, and the phase-out of incandescent lighting. Prior to his standards work, he worked extensively on incentive program design and local government energy efficiency program implementation.

Christine Riker

Vice President, Distributed Energy Resources

Christine leads the Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) Department which implements programs in three main areas: Clean Transportation, Demand Management and Solar/Storage. The team operates voluntary incentive programs across the country to increase the adoption of these clean energy technologies while maintaining a stable grid. Christine provides strategic and operational leadership and has led a period of exponential growth for the DERs Department. In addition, Christine’s breadth of knowledge spans utility program design, software development project management, marketing and implementation, for energy efficiency, demand response, renewable energy, energy storage and zero net energy programs. She is active in the industry holding multiple leadership positions with PLMA, the leading demand response industry organization, and volunteering as an instructional teacher for over 17 demand management trainings.

Richard Boehler

Director, Demand Side Management

As the Director of Demand Side Management in the Energy Efficiency department, Rich manages our product and sales strategy for lighting nationwide. With over 16 years in the energy efficiency field, Rich brings experience from utility, trade industry and from consulting perspectives. Rich has helped numerous utilities be successful in building sound DSM programs all over North America.

Sheryl Bunn

Senior Director, Operations

Sheryl leads the Business Operations team who support company growth, operational efficiencies, project risk management, data analytics, budgeting and forecasting. She is currently spear-heading the planning of a significant ERP modernization initiative. Her Business Operations leadership team includes Corporate Operations & Insights, Corporate Services & Systems and Corporate Administrative & Facilities Services. Sheryl has over 10 years of experience in energy efficiency and carbon mitigation projects and over 20 years working in environment conservation and sustainability. Additionally, she has nine years of experience managing technology solutions projects. 

Ben Carrier

General Counsel

As General Counsel, Ben advises Energy Solutions on its legal affairs. He is an attorney with more than 12 years of experience practicing law. He has worked as an attorney in a law firm, local and state government, and a climate nonprofit organization. Ben holds a B.A. in International Relations from Claremont McKenna College and a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School.

Dawn Dzedzy

Senior Director, Marketing

Dawn leads the marketing strategy and directs the creative production for Energy Solutions and its programs. With more than 20 years of experience with high profile brands like Saks Fifth Avenue, WalMart, Lucy Activewear, Mattel and more, Dawn brings a customer-focused product marketing discipline to our projects. She has built strategies and integrated campaigns across multiple channels—from traditional media to mobile, social and experiential and is passionate about creating the most impactful and resonant campaigns that drive excitement and participation.

Patrice Flynn

Sr. Director, Distributed Energy Resources

Patrice oversees a skilled team delivering a complex state-administered solar program in the Midwest which supports solar development ranging from residential to community solar and focuses on climate justice and employment equity. She has over 18 years of direct experience implementing efficiency and demand response contracts providing leadership, client management, and design of commercial and residential programs. Her passion for sustainability and experience with utility, regional, and government clients across the country has resulted in a thoughtful and measured approach to problem-solving and mitigating risk. She applies a background in adult education to train and inform others and enjoys managing and mentoring staff as well as collaborating toward goals.

Alex MacCurdy

Senior Director, Energy Efficiency

Alex has over 20 years of experience designing, managing and directing implementation of various utility program models. He has implemented and overseen efforts targeting small commercial, retail, commercial office, multifamily, public sector, and institutional sectors and applied program delivery models that include prescriptive, direct install, and upstream. He specializes in designing and deploying targeted marketing campaigns for interior and exterior advanced lighting technologies, lighting and HVAC controls, and roof top unit cooling technologies. For each of these efforts, Alex works closely with market actors to understand their perspectives and ensure the best program result.

Heidi Werner

Senior Director, Policy & Ratings

Heidi manages Energy Solutions’ building codes practice, which supports updates to building codes on the national, state, and local levels. She currently coordinates the California Statewide Utility Codes and Standards Team’s advocacy activities for the California building code, managing seven utility clients and overseeing 18 consulting firms. Since 2009 when she started working on California’s building code, Heidi has managed the execution of over 25 public stakeholder meetings and has contributed to the successful adoption of 54 unique code changes. Previously, Heidi evaluated technical and economic feasibility and advocated for the adoption of nonresidential solar-ready requirements for California’s building code and water efficiency requirements for toilets, urinals, faucets, and shower heads for California’s building code and appliance standards.

Monica Blakeslee-Kish

Director, Energy Efficiency

Monica oversees programs in the Pacific Northwest and supports program implementation for Energy Solution’s Energy Efficiency area. She has over 15 years of direct experience providing client management, program management, business development, change management, program strategy and design, and channel management. She is a collaborative, resilient, and outcome-focused expert with extensive experience and demonstrated success in driving business performance through meticulous program and team leadership and refined process improvement abilities. Monica provides program management expertise and oversight to a variety of programs across the country focusing on residential and commercial upstream, midstream and downstream programs.

George Chapman

Director, Policy & Ratings

George is a Director in the Policy and Ratings department at Energy Solutions, where he leads business development and partnership engagement on national and international codes, standards, and compliance topics. George further supports the Energy Efficiency team through his work developing innovative, market-based products with an emphasis on decarbonization strategy in the natural gas sector. He also provides legal and policy analysis pertaining to federal and state appliance standards and state base and stretch building codes with particular emphasis on managing relationships with national HVAC and Water Heating manufacturers and organizations. With a background in regulatory law, extensive legislative experience, and insight into the unique goals and perspectives of investor-owned and municipal utilities through his work representing a binational consortium of program administrators, George develops client solutions that achieve regulatory, policy, and energy efficiency objectives. When not working, George enjoys his hammock, hiking, cold beverages, most sports, following the progress of the Mars rovers, and trying to wrangle his two young daughters to varying degrees of success.

Eric Foryan

DIRECTOR, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Eric leads the growing Information Technology department and its various functions including infrastructure, support, and fulfillment. With IT as his primary focus for over 25 years, he also draws upon experience in cross-functional leadership, quality management systems, and software development to provide new perspectives to team members. Eric has led several major platform rollouts over the course of his career in hybrid environments. He holds a BS in computer science at Washington State University.

John Jacobs

Director, Business Strategy

John leads the Business Strategy for Energy Solutions, driving the company product roadmap and the continual development of new services and offerings. John is skilled at shaping ideas into market-ready products and has a talent for listening to customers to meet their unique needs and experience in program design, software product management, and project execution. An industry veteran, prior to joining Energy Solutions, John held positions at The Center for Sustainable Energy, Ecova, Engie and CLEAResult. He holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of San Diego, and an M.A. in Sustainable Resource Management from the Technical University of Munich. He has numerous certifications in the product management space including a Certificate of Product Management from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jeff Johnston

Director, Trade Ally Strategy

Jeff is responsible for the management and Energy Solutions’ trade ally strategy and overall program outreach. He leverages diverse relationships across manufacturers, distributors and contractors to support and assist with developing and launching new energy efficiency and demand response programs. He provides support and guidance to Energy Solutions existing programs to ensure market and channel engagement and participation in programs and works closely with market actors to develop new measures. Previously, Jeff managed energy efficiency programs including the Southern California Edison (SCE) Upstream HVAC and Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) Upstream HVAC Program serving Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and Anaheim Public Utilities (APU).

Evan Kamei

Director, Building Electrification

Evan leads, manages, and supports Energy Solutions’ energy efficiency programs with a primary focus on building electrification, emerging technologies, and environmental social justice. Evan currently oversees TECH Clean California, a $170 million heat pump initiative designed to help advance the state’s mission to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. He also provides strategic direction for the California Statewide Electric Emerging Technologies Program (CalNEXT) and the HPWH Self-Generation Incentive Program. His passion for environmental-related activities extends outside of work, where he volunteers with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network and the Sierra Club’s Inspiring Connections Outdoors program. In his free time, you can find Evan coaching the University of California, Berkeley boxing team or at the beach catching waves.

Kimberly Kingen, SHRM CP

Director, Human Resources

Kimberly brings a wealth of experience in all aspects of the Employee Life Cycle. She is a passionate leader who believes that human capital is every organization’s greatest asset and she supports Energy Solutions’ employees and top executives with a unique perspective and appreciation. Kimberly brings global experience in DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging) to Energy Solutions’ efforts to be at the forefront of this important initiative. She is a Certified Professional with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM-CP) along with other Certificates in Inclusive and Ethical Leadership and DEI in the Workplace. She graduated Cum Laude from the University of San Francisco. Outside of work, Kimberly enjoys a good joke, cooking, dancing, and rooting for her Giants.

Celina Stratton

Director, Energy Efficiency

Ms. Stratton leads Energy Solutions’ foodservice domain, overseeing point-of-sale commercial foodservice programs in over a dozen states. These programs focus on growing the demand and acceptance of high-efficiency foodservice equipment, while delivering reliable, cost-effective energy savings for program administrators. With the ultimate goal of market transformation, Energy Solutions’ foodservice team is defining the future of foodservice rebate programs. Prior to diving into foodservice in 2015, Ms. Stratton worked extensively on midstream and local government energy-efficiency program implementation and design for various technologies, as well as working on electric vehicle, behavior change and building code projects.

Cassandra Squiers

Director, Energy Efficiency

Cassandra is a Director in the Energy Efficiency department at Energy Solutions. Cassandra currently oversees the Massachusetts and Rhode Island water heater, HVAC, and foodservice initiatives. Cassandra’s management skills and program implementation procedure expertise have been instrumental in the success of midstream programs in the Northeast and standardizing best practices for all midstream programs implemented by Energy Solutions. Her responsiveness, adaptability, compassion, and dedication to executing exceptional work have led to the successful expansion of the energy-efficiency initiatives she oversees and consistently earns her praise from her clients and colleagues alike. Outside of work, Cassandra enjoys cooking, baking, and scouring thrift-stores for secondhand clothing and furniture.

Charlie Taylor

Associate Director, Energy Efficiency

Charlie oversees Energy Solutions’ New York energy efficiency program implementation team. He is responsible for the team’s program delivery services and development. He specializes in growing pilot initiatives into large scale programs that exceed client goals.

Charlie brings a results-oriented, collaborative, market-based approach to energy efficiency program design and strategy. This has resulted in seven recent successful program launches in New York State and across the country.

He has driven new measure development, marketing, distributor outreach, forecasting, budget management, QA/QC, client reporting, and program oversight for C&I and Multifamily midstream energy efficiency programs. His expertise spans multiple technologies including HVAC, water heating, life-sciences, and foodservice equipment.

Charlie has over nine years of experience in the energy efficiency industry and has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Ryan Wilson

Director, Business Strategy

Ryan leads Energy Solutions’ strategic engagement with legislative and regulatory activities at the state and national levels to advance our mission of accelerating equitable and cost-effective decarbonization through market transformation programs. He is a key player in strategic business development efforts and leads the company’s strategic planning process.

Jim Hanna

Senior Technical Director, HVAC

Jim leads the company’s team of Program Engineers and Program Implementers. He brings technical prowess, market understanding and an unparalleled ability to communicate program value propositions to the distributor community. Jim works on a variety of projects specializing in HVAC, VRF, Chiller, and motor technologies, web based paperless rebate applications, distributor and manufacture rebate programs, and strategic and business development. Jim is responsible for both market actor (including CEO) engagement, program administrative, regulatory compliance, EM&V, engineering, and program implementation functions. Prior to joining Energy Solutions, Jim worked for PG&E for 32 years and helped pioneer the first Distributor HVAC and Motors Program in the nation.

Kitty Wang

Technical Director, Distributed Energy Resources

Kitty develops and manages a variety of programs for the Distributed Energy Resources team. She provides deep expertise relating to demand response, demand-side integration, and electric buses. She managed and continues to support PG&E’s automated demand response (ADR) Program, which provides incentives for controls and communication equipment to non-residential customers to help facilitate demand response. For Southern California Edison, she pioneered the design and implementation of an upstream ADR pilot–which provided incentives to HVAC distributors and contractors to install ADR-enabled commercial HVAC equipment. Recently, she led a review of existing control capabilities of variable refrigerant flow systems for DR participation, with respect to Title 24 compliance and California ADR Program eligibility. Kitty has authored numerous reports on demand side management (DSM) resource planning, utility program evaluation, and demand response.

Alex Alzugaray

Associate Director

Sonya Barry

Associate Director, Information Systems

Sonya leads the Software Project Management team that oversees the software development processes to build and maintain the custom software designed to support Energy Solutions clients, across all sectors of the business. Sonya has a BA in English Literature from the University of Southern California and an MA in Computer Science from Mills College. She has also earned both Project Management Professional (PMP) and Stanford Advanced Program Management (SAPM) certifications.

Julie Birchfield

Associate Director

Julie has over 15 years of experience working on utility Demand Side Management programs.  She is an expert at leading efforts to improve efficiency and coordinating with teams for the development of innovative solutions and achieve efficient operations. She has led the development of Energy Efficiency Product and her responsibilities include developing value propositions, anticipating client concerns and questions, journey mapping and designing new products.  Today she oversees a team that launches and scales new products into the market.  Outside of work she enjoys camping and coaching her daughters’ sports teams.

Kyle Booth

Associate Director, Energy Efficiency

Kyle oversees the Engineering Shared Services for the Energy Efficiency (EE) department, organizing engineering resources within the department and standardizing processes, products, and communication for engineering services. He is responsible for the EE department’s market study and emerging technology project work, serving as the liaison between our emerging technologies programs and our EE department. He specializes in engineering management and expanding our program measure portfolio by leveraging strategic market studies and emerging technology projects for measure development.

Kyle has supported numerous midstream program proposals and program launches and has led the EE department’s market study projects. He has been the foodservice engineering domain lead, increasing consistency across our foodservice programs and cross-promoting new measures throughout foodservice programs. Kyle has helped programs navigate state and federal appliance standards and is helping programs adapt to reduction and elimination of natural gas incentives, playing a founding role in our gas strategy team that serves to support gas utility clients through decarbonization plans.

Kyle has over 14 years of experience in the energy efficiency industry, has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Vermont, and is a licensed Professional Engineer.

Bryan Boyce

Associate Director, Engineering

Bryan is the Associate Director of Engineering and works on HVAC building codes and appliance standards and deemed incentive measure development at Energy Solutions. Bryan is focused on the entire lifecycle of HVAC appliance efficiency spanning emerging technologies, incentive programs, and codes and standards. Some of Bryan’s accomplishments with Energy Solutions include having authored over two dozen comment letters to DOE advocating for stringent appliance standards for HVAC equipment, developing Non-DEER HVAC workpapers, and assisting Cal TF with statewide measure consolidation.

Sarah Braun

Associate Director, Energy Efficiency

Sarah oversees software implementation on Energy Solutions’ midstream incentive processing platform, Iris, informing program delivery in the Energy Efficiency and Distributed Energy Resources departments. She has led over fifty successful program launches for clients nationwide and collaborates closely with the Information Systems team to support product development. Sarah brings experience leading midstream programs across a variety of technologies and sectors, and has partnered with federal clients, utilities, and manufacturers to advance utility program design. She remains involved in Energy Solutions’ Pacific Northwest midstream programs as a senior lead, and across all areas of responsibility, enjoys finding technical solutions to the challenges facing the energy industry.

Kate Buck

Associate Director, Energy Efficiency

Kate oversees programs in the Midwest and supports program implementation for Energy Solutions Energy Efficiency group. She has over 15 years of experience in the energy efficiency program implementation field specializing in midstream program implementation and management in the areas of lighting, HVAC, Food Service and Life Sciences. Kate has extensive experience in client and program management, business development, program strategy and design, and stakeholder management.

Xiomara Castro

Associate Director, Creative Services

Xiomara has over 15 years of experience as a creative professional with expertise in graphic design, art direction, and project management. Her design career began in public advocacy focusing on communication design for social issues including economic equity, youth leadership, and violence prevention. At Energy Solutions, Xiomara is a founding member of the Marketing and Creative Services team and is the lead designer for the WatterSaver and IL Shines programs. Her leadership and mentorship helped to build the expertise of the team and expand its offerings. She brings a dedication to collaboration and excellence in translating complex information to make it accessible to clients and the market. Her free time is spent adventuring with her young children at community events or in the outdoors and caring for her home garden.

Kyle Coumas

Associate Director, Energy Efficiency

Kyle leads the Trade Ally team’s HVAC and water heating domains. Kyle has recruited, trained, and guided the most high-profile market actors in the US through significant changes to their business processes to facilitate the sale of high efficiency equipment. These relationships, and the outcomes of the determined collaboration with the market actors, contributed significantly to the Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island Water Heating Initiative, which was recognized by ACEEE as an exemplary program in 2018. Additionally, the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Initiative was recognized as the winner of the Department of Energy’s Advanced Rooftop Campaign for 2017 and 2018. Kyle is responsible for applying these learnings and outreach best practices to all Energy Solutions’ programs. Prior to joining Energy Solutions, Kyle helped successfully launch a home performance contracting company where he received his Building Analyst certification. He received his undergraduate degree and MBA from Southern New Hampshire University.

Kasandra Griffin

Associate Director, Energy Efficiency

Kasandra has spent her career trying to save the world, mostly in small environmental non-profit organizations. She has worked on clean air, clean water, transportation policy, food policy, and energy conservation. She is most proud of starting an organization called Depave that works with willing landowners to remove asphalt and replace it with more climate-and-people-friendly uses, like gardens, playgrounds, and bioswales. She has degrees in Linguistics and Public Policy from Reed College and U.C. Berkeley. She has two small children and spends her free time in the garden, on the mountain, or on a river.

Alex Gutkowski

Associate Director, Energy Efficiency

Alex leads, manages, and supports Energy Solutions’ Energy Efficiency programs in New England. He has extensive program implementation experience that includes pilot launch and commercialization, subcontractor management, and coordination with external stakeholders. Known for his calm under pressure, adaptability, responsiveness, and passion for delivering high-quality work, Alex has overseen consistent growth of the programs he works on. He has over ten years of experience in the Energy Efficiency industry and has a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Northeastern University. Outside of work, Alex enjoys action movies, eating oysters, and chasing after his young son.

Karen Harris

Associate Director, Learning & Development

Karen is the Associate Director of Learning and Development. She brings over 20 years’ experience in the Learning and Development space, including work with a major solar company and utility. Karen has built the Learning and Development team from the ground up to support all aspects of the business from onboarding to product training as well as leadership development and continuing education/professional development. She is based in the Oakland office and earned a BA from UC Berkeley.

Mythili Kandalam

Associate Director, Information Systems

Mythili leads the software solutions teams for solar programs. She has over 20 years of experience providing strategic direction for product management and application development complying to cyber security protocols. She is a customer centric, results oriented individual driving ROI through process improvements and cost savings. As a leader at Energy solutions, she focuses on empowering and building relationships across the organization to deliver technical solutions in a timely manner partnering with business customers and external clients.

Renee Lafrenz

Associate Director, Energy Efficiency

Renee is an Associate Director in the Energy Efficiency department, where she has enhanced department operations to maximize collaboration and program effectiveness. She has extensive experience in the energy sector. As Director for the Alliance to Save Energy she developed and delivered energy programs and was the inaugural Energy Manager at the Oakland Unified School District. Renee received her Master of Environmental Science and Management with a specialization in Corporate Environmental Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara and Bachelor of Science from University of California, San Diego. She served as Board Chair of Keep Oakland Beautiful and President of her local alumni chapter for University of California, San Diego.

Jessica Mahoney

Associate Director, Finance

Jessica leads and manages the Contract Services team within Energy Solutions’ Finance department. The Contract team facilitates the drafting, review process, and record maintenance for Energy Solutions’ client agreements, subcontract agreements, NDAs, and other contract types. In her role Jessica also supports the development of various Finance and project management resources. She continuously looks to streamline and improve contract management processes while motivating and developing a growing team.  Jessica began her career at Energy Solutions in 2017 holding several different roles in the Finance department before assuming management of Contract Services in 2020. Before joining the company, she worked in the foodservice industry supporting accounts payable and inventory management.

Corissa Marino

Associate Director, Trade Ally Strategy

Corissa oversees Trade Ally Strategy implementation to advance strategic market-based solutions. She provides leadership from ideation to structure and resource development, stakeholder alignment and engagement, and process to facilitate comprehensive solutions and operations. Corissa leads her team with a collaborative and results-oriented approach while delivering pragmatic insights and a rigor for high standards.

Before joining Energy Solutions, Corissa worked on national solar rebates and interconnection as well as solar renewable energy credits with Sungevity. She holds an undergraduate degree from University of California, Santa Cruz and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Jennifer Moffatt

Associate Director, Marketing

Jennifer leads the team responsible for developing and delivering marketing communications strategies for a variety of client programs and initiatives. Getting her start in advertising account and brand management, Jennifer brings more than 35 years of experience – including 18 years on the utility client side. She offers a unique lens to program marketing and audience behavior. Jennifer has helped create some of the most impactful energy efficiency/demand side management customer behavior campaigns, a leading renewable energy brand, customer satisfaction improvement campaigns, and directing communications at the state’s largest community mental health organization through the pandemic. Outside of work she is the mother of four adults and enjoys traveling, hiking, and being involved with her community.

Marisa O’Brien

Associate Director, Business Development

Marisa oversees the proposal management efforts at Energy Solutions, helping to guide continued and sustainable business growth. In addition to nearly 15 years of experience in a senior role at PECI, where she developed and guided award-winning energy efficiency programs for NW utilities, Marisa brings extensive experience in marketing, communications and change management.

Carey Oster

Associate Director, HVAC and Water Heating

Carey leads, manages, and supports our energy efficiency programs with a primary focus on HVAC, Water Heating, and Engineering. Carey has been working with the HVAC and Water Heating supply chains for the past ten years designing, launching, and implementing innovative energy efficiency and demand response programs such as, Southern California Edison’s HVAC Accelerated Replacement Program and NCI’s HVAC Quality Installation Program. Currently, he helps oversee our portfolio of HVAC programs and a team of engineers who keep our clients’ programs up to date as codes and innovation drive energy efficiency forward.

Carey has over ten years of experience in the energy efficiency industry and has a Master’s degree in Engineering Green Technologies from the University of Southern California.

Chris Prato

Associate Director, Energy Efficiency

Chris oversees programs in the Mountain West and Pacific Northwest regions and supports program implementation for Energy Solutions Energy Efficiency group. Chris has over 17 years’ experience working with utilities, both in Demand Side Management and Advanced Metering Infrastructure programs. His experience includes trade ally management, data analysis, and program management on residential, multifamily, and commercial programs spanning a variety of product domains including lighting, building envelope, and HVAC.

Chris is based in Colorado and earned his MBA from Presidio Graduate School and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Eric Rubin

Associate Director, Policy & Ratings

Eric directs Energy Solutions’ policy analysis and impacts modeling capability. His team specializes in research methods, data science, strategic prioritization, and modeling the energy, environmental, economic, and health impacts of climate policies. Eric has led a wide variety of studies, including studies to support the adoption and evaluation of regulations, better model energy use of buildings, quantify the potential benefits of clean energy technology adoption, assess pathways to achieving climate goals, and assist in policy prioritization. Eric is passionate about learning, the well-being of his team, and uncovering the most effective and equitable ways to transition to a sustainable future.

Alanna Torres

Associate Director, Business Services

Alanna has over 12 years of experience leading and managing projects, teams, and identifying process improvements. She oversees a variety of critical business functions and teams that support the company, including Business Insights and Process Improvement, the Project Management Office (PMO), Corporate Communications, the Data Science Center of Excellence, Process & Procedure, and Business Systems. Alanna has been with Energy Solutions for over five years and has lead some of the largest contracts in the Policy & Ratings department including the Title 24 Building Codes for California program, managing a large internal team and a diverse team of over 20 subcontractors. Outside of work, Alanna enjoys traveling, experiencing new restaurants in San Francisco, and outdoor activities.

Stephanie Young

Associate Director, Software Solutions

Stephanie leads the product team responsible for implementing and maintaining software functionality in support of a state-run solar development effort in the Midwest. She has more than 30 years of experience in software development and product management. Stephanie attended Indiana University and brings software and infrastructure experience from a variety of Fortune 1000 companies and software consulting agencies.

Bobby Castaneda

Associate Director, Growth Management & Strategy

Bobby cultivates thriving client relationships and inspires team performance through genuine care, integrity, and results. He brings more than 14 years of experience in energy program delivery and development, and relationships with over 150 North American utility clients. Bobby is a trusted industry professional who expertly identifies client needs and aligns Energy Solutions’ suite of innovative and proven market-driven strategies to meet them.

Pradeep Bansal, PhD

Senior Engineering Fellow, Policy & Ratings

Pradeep specializes in emerging technologies related to HVAC, appliances, and refrigeration systems. Prior to joining Energy Solutions, he was a professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Auckland, New Zealand for about 24 years, worked at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and consulted with other corporate organizations.

Mike DeWein

Senior Fellow, Building Efficiency

Mike has more than 40 years’ experience as a national and regional leader in building energy efficiency and code training, outreach, advocacy, technical support and program implementation. Mike has a success record working in over 30 states nationwide and abroad. He is a recognized NY State friend and trusted ally to many stakeholder groups including NYSBOC, NYSBA, and BOMA, along with many energy efficiency-related industry groups. Mike has been training all of these stakeholder groups since 1987 with the NYSEO and continues to provide technical training to hundreds annually. As a charter member of the Building Performance Contractors Association, he was instrumental in the nation’s first NYSERDA/Building Performance Institute (BPI), certified Home Performance with the ENERGY STAR^® program, and has developed, delivered, and managed the rollout of dozens of home performance training programs. Mike is and has been involved in numerous boards and committees including: NYS-DOS Energy Code Technical Committee, NYSERDA HPwES, the Environmental Building Alliance, Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Council Technical Committee., ASHRAE Standard 189 and 92, and International Code Council (ICC) IECC, Sustainability, Energy, and High Performance Code Action (SEHPCAC), and is currently a voting member of the ICC/IECC Commercial Envelope Committee.

Chris Granda

Senior Fellow, Policy & Ratings

Chris is an energy efficiency program designer, researcher, and analyst with more than thirty-five years of experience in the field as a consultant on energy efficiency standards, as a technology researcher, and as a designer and implementer of energy efficiency programs. Since 2015 he has led the research and drafting of many technical comments submitted to standard setting processes at US Department of Energy, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Energy Commission. Chris is currently leading research into the energy efficiency and demand response potential for EVSE and grid-connected water heaters. He has also developed and run energy efficiency programs for public sector, utility, and NGO clients in the US and around the world. Chris is the author of many peer-reviewed papers and reports.

Maureen Guttman

Senior Fellow, Policy & Ratings

Maureen is a licensed architect and subject matter expert in building code development, adoption, and enforcement. She is nationally recognized as a collaborative change agent advocating for high performance building standards and practices. Her career has spanned private practice, government service and running a non-profit organization, in addition to active volunteer contributions to numerous related industry associations.

Teddy Kisch

Senior Fellow, Decarbonization Strategy

Teddy oversees building decarbonization strategy, focusing on innovative approaches to accelerate the clean energy transition. He also oversees strategy and program design for the TECH Clean California initiative, a 4-year $120 million market transformation program to put California on a path to carbon free homes. He also leads strategy for the California Statewide Electric Emerging Technology Program, one of the largest utility ET programs in the country. He is passionate about decarbonizing the US energy system, and has taught energy management classes at Stanford and Western Washington University.

Howard Merson

Senior Fellow, Trade Ally Strategy & Management

In 2013, Howard designed and managed the nation’s first energy efficiency HVAC / R supply channel platform for Efficiency Vermont’s statewide utility program. That platform engaged 16 distributors in 48 locations within three years, representing 98 percent of the state’s HVAC/R distributors and 99+ percent of Vermont’s market share. Howard’s success across the United States is based on a solid interdisciplinary background in operations, business development, supply chain management, strategic planning, and financial management. He is a frequent speaker at national and regional conferences for the supply chain managers and the energy efficiency industry. Howard started his career with his family’s business, Southern Electric Supply. The company merged with Rexel (France) in 1986. Before joining Energy Solutions, he was with VEIC and Rexel’s US division, and GE Capital Services leading GE Capital’s Strategic Sourcing initiatives. Howard has a Master of Science in Management as a Sloan Fellow from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and his undergraduate in Commerce & Business Administration with an emphasis in entrepreneurship from the University of Alabama.

Derek Okada

Sr. Fellow, Business Strategy

Derek has over 25 years of strategic planning, financial planning and analysis, and project/program management experience from his roles in the energy consulting/utility, media/publishing, information technology, automotive and financial services industries with several Fortune 500 companies. Prior to joining Energy Solutions, Derek managed a team of 11 program managers and support staff responsible for administering Southern California Edison’s Energy Efficiency programs serving the Commercial, Industrial, Agricultural and Public Sector markets and Finance programs. He also led SCE’s Demand Side Management Planning & Integration team that provided strategic and policy guidance for SCE’s EE, Demand Response, and Low-Income programs. Derek has a B.A. in Economics from UCLA and a M.A. in Public Policy Studies/Economic Regulation from the University of Chicago.

Michael Budds

Fellow, Energy Efficiency

Michael has over 15 years of experience in resource efficiency supporting a wide range of projects from primary research to program implementation. Michael supports business development and program design leveraging years of experience designing and implementing residential, commercial, and industrial sector programs. As a Fellow, Michael is responsible for tailoring program designs to meet the complex and varied needs of our clients. He helps define organizational procedures to drive new business opportunities and ensure consistent deployment of Energy Solutions’ product features. Michael also supports strategic planning efforts working cross functionally within the organization and with key partners to prepare for market evolution and emerging trends in the industry. Prior to Energy Solutions, Michael worked at several different energy efficiency program implementation companies supporting projects throughout North America. He is passionate about the wise use of natural resources in support of sustainable development. Michael has a B.S in Resource Conservation from the University of Montana and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University.

Diana Burk

Engineering Fellow, Policy & Ratings

Diana is an Engineering Fellow in the Policy & Ratings department at Energy Solutions where she provides codes and appliance standards expertise. Diana is an expert on code requirements related to electrification and distributed energy resources such as solar, energy storage, and electric vehicles as well as appliance standards for electrical products. She is currently involved in federal appliance standard advocacy activities and proposing new decarbonization and resiliency code requirements for state and national codes. Diana holds a B.S. in Physics from Davidson College and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University.

Nate Dewart

FELLOW, BUSINESS STRATEGY

Nate offers strategic policy advisement and planning for advancing an equitable, decarbonized economy. For nearly a decade, Nate led Energy Solutions’ California Appliance Standards Team through cross-departmental management, technical analysis, and stakeholder engagement. His expertise includes policy analysis and advocacy, group facilitation and process optimization. Nate holds a B.A. in Architecture and Environmental Studies from Washington University in St. Louis, and a M.P.P. from the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California-Berkeley.

Sandy Fischler-Laube

Fellow, Energy Efficiency

Sandy has been changing hearts and light bulbs in the energy efficiency world for over 25 years. Prior to being absorbed by the energy borg, she was a Special Events Producer in the sports and entertainment field. At Energy Solutions she provides strategic vision for a variety of projects in the areas of Workforce Education & Training and Equitable Decarbonization. Sandy has deep expertise in residential retrofit programs and has lead both implementation and marketing teams for Energy Upgrade California and SCE’s Mobile Education Unit.

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David Jagger

Engineering Fellow, Distributed Energy Resources

David serves as the strategic lead, technical lead, and subject matter expert across a variety of programs and technologies supporting both the Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and Policy & Ratings departments. This includes providing guidance and technical leadership for utility load management programs working with HVAC, lighting, refrigeration, and agricultural technologies, and acting as the strategic lead for home appliances to develop energy and water efficiency standards and test procedures through engagement with the Department of Energy, ENERGY STAR®, and industry processes.

Ted Jones

Fellow, Energy Efficiency

Ted has over 30 years of energy efficiency program experience. In 2018, Ted joined Energy Solutions, as a Senior Trade Ally manager where he supported the implementation of midstream programs in the Northeast by engaging the suppliers of commercial equipment. As an Energy Solutions Fellow, Ted is responsible for the development and growth of life science equipment as a unique addition to midstream programs. He also co-leads an internal effort to enhance the performance of midstream programs that Energy Solutions implements through measure analysis, development, and adoption. Previously, Ted has worked for the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) to accelerate market adoption of efficient technologies related to electric motors, motor-driven equipment, distribution transformers, HVAC equipment, commercial foodservice equipment and energy management. Prior to that, Ted worked for the Alliance to Save Energy on industrial steam systems and the National Research Council on manufacturing policy. He has a B.A. in industrial management from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.A. in science, technology, and public policy from George Washington University.

John King

Fellow

John specializes in Business Development and R&D. He has experience in multiple industries with a focus on cleantech. John has won and managed over $15 million in contracts and investment from Fortune 500 utility companies, government agencies and private investors. He holds a BS from Caltech, MS from UC Irvine and an MBA from UCLA.

Bijit Kundu

Fellow, Policy & Ratings

Bijit is an Energy Policy Fellow and supports both the Policy & Ratings and Business Strategy Teams at Energy Solutions. Bijit has experience directing the regulatory and legislative affairs group at an electric utility and serving as a director-level consultant to private and public sector clients at electric utilities and state, federal, and international energy agencies. His work has focused on policy and advocacy support, program management, and strategic planning. Bijit’s key skills include leading diverse highly functional, cross cutting teams; delivering client-focused solutions resulting in large environmental impacts; and developing new markets for services based on local, state, and national policy environments.

Cosimina Panetti

Fellow, Policy & Ratings

Cosimina is a Fellow on the Policy & Ratings team. She is an established professional, centered on improving the built environment through organizational success, relationship development, collaboration, and teamwork. Cosimina is experienced in energy codes, training programs, program management, strategic planning, and collaborative engagement.

Aniruddh Roy

Engineering Fellow, Policy & Ratings

Aniruddh is an Engineering Fellow in the Policy & Ratings department at Energy Solutions, where he provides regulatory, codes and standards expertise in issues related to HVAC, water heating and refrigeration equipment. He is currently involved in federal advocacy activities and measures related to Title 24. Aniruddh has experience in federal, state and provincial rulemaking activities in the U.S. and Canada, building codes and standards, industry test procedure development, ENERGY STAR^® specification development, and utility incentive programs.

Yao-Jung Wen

Engineering Fellow, Energy Efficiency

Yao-Jung is an expert in connectivity and controls of lighting technologies as well as other connected devices. He brings over 15 years of broad experience from the lighting industry, spanning academic research, technology demonstration, and standardization and regulation. Within the Energy Efficiency Department, Yao-Jung leads engineering development and measure support for the lighting efficiency programs. He also provides support in various policy development related to lighting and lighting controls, including lighting system standards, building energy codes and standards, and voluntary efficiency qualification programs. Yao-Jung holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from University of California, Berkeley and is a Certified Lighting Professional (LC). He has written many peer-reviewed papers and given talks at major conferences in both lighting and utility industries.

Who We Are

About Us

Our History

Energy Solutions was founded more than 25 years ago because we knew there was a better way to protect the environment.

From our beginning in CEO Sam Cohen’s home office in 1995, we have focused on practical solutions that have the most impact possible.

Since then we’ve not just evolved with the clean-energy industry; we’ve driven change within it.

Our Culture

Our people are why we love to come to work every day, and why our clients love to work with us.

We’re mission-driven, not ego-driven (remember, we started in a home office). Our growing team of employee-owners across the country are bright, passionate people who are invested in our mission and our future success.

Who do we hire? Our founders look for smart, motivated people with “good kindergarten skills” — curiosity, respect, teamwork, and a healthy sense of fun.

We help our employees grow through mentorship, professional development, and countless opportunities to contribute to the team. Many of our senior leaders rose through the ranks because we invested in their potential.

While shared values unify us, we also know that diverse experiences and points of view makes us stronger. We work hard, support each other, and don’t take ourselves too seriously.

Our Culture

We provide a healthy work environment including floating holidays and flexible hours to sustain productivity and promote work-life balance.

Professional Development

We value curiosity and support lifelong learning. Our employees take advantage of annual stipends to improve their skills for the future.

IDEA

(Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility)

We know that change often starts from within, and it’s why we are building an organization that reflects the diversity of our world and creating a workplace culture that is inclusive and fosters belonging.

Community Engagement

Our employees’ passion for sustainability doesn’t stop at work. Many of us volunteer after hours to support environmental and community causes.

We’re Hiring!

Our team is working on solving one of the most critical problems of our time – how to have a healthy planet and a sustainable economy. Sound like fun?

Come work with us

Our Leaders

Sam Cohen

President / CEO