People on the Move: NYSERDA, PosiGen, Cypress Creek Renewables, and more

Governor Kathy Hochul announced the appointment of Mario Cilento, President of the NYS AFL-CIO, as the newest member of the State’s Climate Action Council, which is tasked with finalizing a Scoping Plan with recommended policies and actions to help New York meet its ambitious climate directives as part of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. This announcement comes after Governor Hochul committed to appointing a representative of organized labor to the Climate Action Council.

Cilento has a long history of fighting for working New Yorkers. His work at the New York State AFL-CIO began in 1992, and he was elected president in 2011. As president, Cilento has focused on transforming the way people see the labor movement, ensuring that they understand that unions are made up of people who work, and that we are all connected by that work.

In 2018, Cilento launched the Federation’s “Union Strong” campaign. The campaign builds on the success of the constitutional convention victory and serves as a reminder of what working people can accomplish when we all work together. Cilento graduated from Fordham University in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science Degree.

PosiGen, a provider of renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions for low-to-moderate (LMI) income homeowners, announces the addition of John Ross as Vice President of Marketing. Ross has spent more than 20 years driving growth strategies and digital innovation for global brands. He comes to PosiGen after a decade at Pepsico, where he served as as Chief of Staff and Director of Global Partnerships.

As Vice President of Marketing, Ross will support PosiGen’s expansion into new markets throughout the United States. Ross’ focus starts with data driven insights, optimizing the brand’s performance marketing, media mix, developing its community partnerships and growing its customer base nationally.

Cypress Creek Renewables announced that Jeffrey Meigel will be joining the company’s leadership team as Chief Investment Officer. In this role he will lead the Structured Finance, Capital Markets, Mergers and Acquisitions, Investment Committee and Investment Analytics groups.

Meigel brings extensive renewables transaction experience to Cypress Creek having led over $25 billion in transactions.  He most recently served as Senior Vice President of Capital Markets with Brookfield Renewable U.S., where he was responsible for a more than $3 billion per annum capital formation and liquidity plan. His other leadership experience includes positions as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Vice President of Global Capital Markets and Structured Finance at Terraform Power, Inc. He has also held Director and Senior Manager positions in Project and Commercial Finance respectively for SunEdison, Inc.

Meigel earned an MBA from Babson College and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh.

American Battery Factory Inc., a leader in developing the United States’ first network of Lithium-Iron Phosphate cell giga-factories, announced that it has hired James Herbermann to lead and support all aspects of ABF’s cell manufacturing and production operations as the company’s Vice President of Manufacturing. Prior to joining ABF, Herbermann was recruited by Tesla to lead the development and scaling of their new battery electrode processes at its Austin, Texas Gigafactory from the pilot program to full scale production.

Combined with his time at Tesla, Herbermann has 30 years of leadership and manufacturing experience at companies such as Duracell, Saft America and Aquion Energy, where he focused on the process development and manufacturing of battery materials, electrode processes and cell assembly for lithium ion, sodium hybrid-ion and alkaline batteries chemistries in the energy storage, telecommunications, space and defense markets.

At ABF, Herbermann will lead and support all aspects of ABF’s cell manufacturing and production operations from start to finish. His responsibilities include equipment selection, supply chain management, innovation evaluation and integration, quality control, and calibrating and commissioning ABF factories, while establishing the path for ABF’s domestic and global manufacturing expansion.

Fortis Inc. announced the retirement of Nora Duke, EVP, Sustainability and CHRO after a 36-year career with the Corporation. Following Duke’s retirement, Jim Reid, currently EVP, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, is appointed EVP, Sustainability and Chief Legal Officer effective July 1, 2022. Jim will assume oversight of sustainability, human resources, communications and government relations, in addition to his legal and governance portfolio.

In his expanded role, Reid will assume lead responsibility for the Corporation’s sustainability and people strategies, including our commitment to net zero direct emissions by 2050. Reid was previously a partner with Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP in Toronto where he practiced for 20 years. Prior to joining Fortis, he had a 15-year relationship with the Corporation, having advised on corporate governance matters, large capital market transactions, regulatory applications and mergers, and acquisitions in both Canada and the United States.

Blink Charging Co., an owner, operator, and provider of electric vehicle charging equipment and services, today announced Vitalie Stelea will join the company as Vice President of Investor Relations. In this role, Mr. Stelea will be responsible for leading Blink’s investor relations strategy and communications.

Stelea has more than 15 years of finance experience, nearly 10 of which have been spent in the automotive sector. He comes to Blink from Ford Motor Company, where he focused on developing and implementing the company’s investor relations strategy for electrification and vehicle software. While there, he was a key contributor to Ford’s 2021 Capital Markets Day which recently, was recognized as the “Best Investor Event” by Investor Relations Magazine.

The Board of Sienza Energy, a Caltech-incubated battery company backed by Los Angeles-based philanthropist Patrick Soon-Shiong, unanimously approves Samuel Kang as its Chief Operating Officer.

Kang, who is also a Councilman and Mayor of Duarte, Calif., most recently served as the Head of Total Solutions and Head of School Buses for BYD. He is completing his Doctoral in Organizational Leadership from the University of Southern California.

The Long Duration Energy Storage Council announced that energy and environmental veteran Julia Souder was selected to be the organization’s first Executive Director. Souder will lead the Council’s strategy and vision to enable the advancement of long duration energy storage to the center stage of the energy transition worldwide.

Souder’s core responsibilities include guiding the Council in achieving its mission while engaging with members, industry, governments, and other stakeholders to drive global adoption of long duration energy storage. The announcement follows the formation of the Council’s inaugural board of directors last month.

Souder has over 20-years of experience in the energy and environmental sectors, most recently serving as the Executive Director of the Long Duration Energy Storage Association of California. While there, she led the education and outreach of emerging and existing long duration energy storage developers, focusing on its importance to grid reliability and meeting climate goals.

Greg Baker, President and CEO of JD Martin, announced that industry veteran Allen Austin has joined the company effective June 6, 2022. In a newly created role, as the VP of Renewable Energy and E-mobility division, Austin will lead efforts to deliver sustainability solutions to current and future customers, partners and stakeholders.

Austin brings more than 25 years of industry experience in test engineering, product and program management. Most recently at ABB, Inc. Austin was responsible for increasing awareness of their Renewable Energy and Power Generation solutions. His previous professional experience includes Underwriters Laboratories, Raytheon Defense, Siemens EC and Tyco Electronics.Austin earned his B.S. from Purdue University with a dual major in Electrical Engineering and Technology. He holds a master’s certificate in Business Administration (C/MBA) from Tulane University and is a certified IACET Instructor. Austin is an active and contributing member of NEMA, ACP, SEIA, SEPA and EUIC.

Additional job moves provided by EnergeiaWorks:

Sponsored: Senior Project Manager | Austin, TX

The Senior Project Manager will manage the whole solar construction process for our client’s utility and commercial/industrial (C&I) energy efficiency and distributed energy generation projects. This will include conducting site visits, meeting with different engineers and vendors, sourcing materials, etc. The Senior Project Manager should possess a passion for growing the company and driving the adoption of responsibly sited renewable energy.

Responsibilities:

• Customer site visits to investigate existing mechanical, electrical, HVAC and energy systems and document energy performance information, including electric utility data, facility equipment assets and architectural / infrastructure drawings.
• Work closely with pre-NTP project developers and the design team to value-engineer the project from a constructability perspective
• Develop and manage relationships with equipment suppliers and contractors and compose and run subcontractor RFPs.
• Manage procurement of equipment, including deliver schedules and payment terms.
• Manage construction in the field including coordinating final permits, mobilizations, delivery schedules, and subcontractor oversight through project closeout.
• Help coordinate design and development group planning activities in support of construction, quality assurance and measurement and verification.
• Develop measurement and verification plans and interact with M&V software vendors.
• Provide engineering guidance to functional work teams throughout development, construction, project commissioning and operations.
• Ensure successful project completions that meet or exceed company objectives and deliver projected customer energy cost savings.
• Oversee compliance with safety standards, best practices, codes and ordinances.
• Ensure successful project implementation that meets or exceeds company objectives, financial parameters, and technical needs required to deliver projected customer energy cost savings.
• Contribute to overall team education, communication and personal growth.
• Cultivate and maintain positive business relationships.
• Collaborate with the project development team to review and respond to customer project requests and RFPs.
• Build and manage project schedules.
• Manage and promote schedule performance of third-party consultants and SMEs.
• Develop internal company processes with associated sequence and step charts.
• Direct and manage consultants through application processes for EPA permits, building and electrical permits, utility interconnection, property tax abatements and zoning variances.
• Review and approve project drawings, specifications and bid documents.
• Support and provide guidance to project construction managers to ensure successful project completion and delivery, with frequent job site travel during the project construction and commissioning phases.
• Oversee troubleshooting personnel, customer training and project documentation preparation.

Requirements:

• BS Degree in Mechanical, Electrical or Energy Engineering
• Familiarity with the National Electrical Code (NEC) and its application to solar photovoltaic systems
• Working familiarity with solar PV and energy modeling applications (Helioscope, PVSyst, EnergyToolbase, eQuest, Homer)
• 3-6 years of progressive engineering design and/or project management experience in energy projects such as end user fueled power generation, C&I / utility-scale battery energy storage, solar / wind power generation, CHP, industrial process energy, process automation, electric vehicle charging.
• Highly proficient in reading and interpreting all design, development and construction documents
• Field experience in installation, startup, and commissioning of solar projects

More information is available here.