The Center on Global Energy Policy’s Women in Energy program and Greenhome NYC hosted a “Women of Green” forum. Our panel of experts took the stage to talk about the myriad paths that lead them to where they are now in the sustainable field. The presentations were Pecha Kucha format, where each presenter was allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds – that’s six minutes and forty seconds of fast-paced enlightenment before the next presenter was up! 

Speakers included:

– Jacquie Ottman, We Hate to Waste & J. Ottman Consulting
– Sharon Brind, North American Passive House
– Lucie Dupas, Entersolar
– Elizabeth Shepard, Green City Force
– Andrea Mancino, Bright Power
– Laura Tajima, Mayor’s Office of Sustainbility 
– Allison Kling, ConEd
– Katie Schwamb, Steven Winter Associates

LOCATION: Princeton Club of NY 15 West 43rd Street New York, NY 10036 The Center on Global Energy Policy’s Women in Energy program is hosting a public panel discussion on how shifting energy and environmental policies are impacting the financial sector. Our panel of experts will explore issue related to both conventional and renewable energy including tariffs on solar panels, what policies have the greatest effects on financial markets, short-term and long-term effects of the current administration’s plan to open more drilling areas, and the short-term and long-term views of investments in renewables. The panel will include the following speakers: – Maria Jelescu, CEO, Ardinall Investment Management – Dawn Pasquin, Chief Risk Officer, GE Energy Financial Services – Sarah Valdovinos, Co-Founder, Walden Green Energy – Iany Ianachkova, Director, Cohn Reznick Capital Registration is required. This event is open to press. Please direct media inquiries to Jamie Shellenberger-Bessmann. It will also be livestreamed at: energypolicy.columbia.edu/livestream A podcast of this event (in addition to other past Center events) will be available ~12 days after the date of the event through iTunes or via our website. For more information contact: energypolicy@columbia.edu

Location: New York University Woolworth Building, room: 236 15 Barclays NY, NY Some call it “Gravitas” or “Presence”, others refer to it as “Confidence” or “Magnetism”. What we know for sure is it’s clear when someone has it or doesn’t. Gravitas is a fundamental skill that we can evolve as we elevate in our careers. Whether wanting to inspire a team, have serious impact for a cause, or simply find more passion in the day-to-day, gravitas is a non-negotiable for personal growth and success and it is cultivated from the inside-out. Join the Women in Energy Program for this 2-hour workshop where we unravel the mindset and practical communication tools to foster it – mixed with active live coaching. This session will be facilitated by Rachel Garrett, Head Trainer at The Paradox of Leadership. A light breakfast will be provided.  This event is open only to current female students. Since space is limited, RSVPs will be accepted on a first-come basis until capacity is reached. Please RSVP only if you can commit to attending the workshop. For more information contact: jem2245@sipa.columbia.edu

Personal leadership without values is like a sailboat without wind. Values guide our decisions, how we navigate personal and professional challenges, how we are known to the world. Whether you are writing a resume, interviewing for a new opportunity, or wanting to expand your impact – it is absolutely vital to know what you stand for and what you don’t. Join the Women in Energy Program for a 2-hour workshops where we will actively choose and define the core values that define our brand – without guilt, fear, or comparison. Once we articulate these non-negotiables, we will explore the practical application of sharing values with the world – whether in storytelling, interviews, or overall personal branding. This event is open only to current female grad students. Since space is limited, RSVPs will be accepted on a first-come basis until capacity is reached. Please RSVP only if you can commit to attending the workshop. For more information contact: jem2245@sipa.columbia.edu 

Location: Princeton Club of NY 15 West 43rd Street Please join Women in Energy and the Greater New York City Chapter of the Women’s Energy Network (WEN) for a joint networking reception in Midtown on April 25. This is a terrific opportunity to mix and mingle with female energy professionals, alumni, and current graduate students.  We will kick off the reception with short remarks from WEN members focused on their current jobs and career paths and leave the majority of time for the meet and greet.  WEN speakers will include: Carmen Alfieri, Executive Director, Ernst & Young LLP’s Transaction Support  Halima Khan, Director, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Christina Saglimbeni, Vice President, Bank of America Merrill Lynch This event is free to attend, but registration is required. This event is open to current female grad students, WIE alumni, WEN members, and other supporters of Women in Energy and the Greater New York City Chapter of WEN. Please RSVP only if you can commit to attending.

The Rutgers Energy Institute hosted a Women in Energy networking and mentoring event. Dean Jacquelyn Litt, of Douglass Residential College and Douglass Campus, discussed initiatives and programs at Douglass College and how students can participate. This was followed by “speed mentoring” with Rutgers alumnae, and a networking reception.

The focus was on female leadership in the energy and STEM sector, with participants sharing their experiences, career paths, and advise for those students seeking to enter the energy/environment field. Attendees were provided the opportunity to network and/or mentor with female faculty, alumni, government and corporate leaders, post-doctoral fellows, and undergraduate students both during the speed networking and reception portion of the evening.

About the Speaker:
Jacquelyn Litt is Dean of Douglass Residential College and the Douglass Campus, and is Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. She has expertise in women in STEM, was a P.I. and consultant for the ADVANCE program to advance women in STEM at the National Science Foundation and a grant reviewer for innovative STEM pedagogy projects at the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Litt received the “Leaders in Faculty Diversity” in 2016 from The Committee to Advance Our Common Purpose at Rutgers University in recognition of her outstanding leadership in building new opportunities for students at Douglass to share diverse perspectives in a safe and inclusive environment. Litt was honored in 2016 with a Joint Legislative Resolution from the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey, honoring her leadership of Douglass Residential College and her research on women’s issues that have made a positive impact on the lives of women and children.

Location: Center on Global Energy Policy 1255 Amsterdam Ave. 1st Fl (enter on 122nd Street) New York, NY 10027 Please join the Center on Global Energy Policy for a Women in Energy dinner and roundtable discussion with Sarah Weidel, Senior Manager of Strategy & Market Intelligence, NRG Energy. Ms. Weidel will discuss her job history, career paths, and perspectives on what it means to be a female leader in the energy industry.    This event is only open to current female grad students. Since space is limited, RSVPs will be accepted on a first-come basis until capacity is reached. Please only RSVP if you can commit to attending. Dinner will be provided.   For more information contact: jem2245@sipa.columbia.edu *** Biography Sarah Weidel leads Strategy and Market Intelligence for NRG Energy’s Retail B2B business. Focused on how businesses manage and consume energy, Sarah’s team structure strategies for market validation, business intelligence, marketing research and analytics, customer and competitor insights, and business planning for commercial and industrial distributed energy. Prior to this role, Sarah completed NRG’s Leadership Development Rotational Program where she spent time with Environmental, Business Operations, Commercial Operations and Business Solutions. Before joining NRG she worked at the US Department of State where she was responsible for forming public-private partnerships with multinationals on behalf of the federal government. Sarah received her BA from Cornell University and her MBA from the Wharton School. Currently she serves on the Board of Trustees for Sustainable Jersey, as the Chair of the Ecclesia NJ Board, and as a member of the Women’s Initiative for Home Front NJ. She lives outside of Princeton, NJ with her husband and two sons.

Please join the Center on Global Energy Policy for a Women in Energy dinner and roundtable discussion with Dr. Carole Nakhle, founder and CEO of Crystol Energy. Dr. Nakhle will discuss her job history, career paths, and perspectives on what it means to be a female leader in the energy industry. She will also share her insights on energy topics such as OPEC+ deal, US/OPEC competition, and oil & gas governance.   This event is only open to current female grad students. Since space is limited, RSVPs will be accepted on a first-come basis until capacity is reached. Please only RSVP if you can commit to attending. Dinner will be provided.   For more information contact: jem2245@sipa.columbia.edu *** Biography Dr Carole Nakhle is the founder and CEO of Crystol Energy. An Energy Economist, she has worked with oil and gas companies (IOCs and NOCs), governments and policy makers, international organizations, academic institutions and think tanks, globally. She is active on the Governing Board of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), a program advisor to the Washington based International Tax and Investment Centre, and regular contributor to Geopolitical Intelligence Services and the Executive Sessions on the Political Economy of Extractive Industries at Columbia University in New York. She is also involved in the OECD Policy Dialogue on Natural Resource-based Development and acts as a Visiting Lecturer at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, lectures and supervises postgraduate research at the University of Surrey in the UK, and Saint Joseph University in Beirut.  With numerous publications to her credit, Dr Nakhle is also the author of two widely acclaimed books: Petroleum Taxation: Sharing the Wealth published in 2008, re-printed in 2012, and used as primary reference in leading universities and industry training courses; and Out of the Energy Labyrinth (2007), co-authored with Lord David Howell, former Secretary of State for Energy in the UK.  Dr Nakhle is the director of the not-for-profit organization ‘Access for Women in Energy’, which she founded in 2007, to support the development of women in the energy sector worldwide.

Please join the Center on Global Energy Policy for a Women in Energy dinner and roundtable discussion with Caroline Angoorly, Chief Operating Officer, and Sarah Davidson, External Affairs, NY Green Bank. Ms. Angoorly and Ms. Davidson will discuss their job history, career paths, and perspectives on what it means to be a female leader in the energy industry.   This event is only open to current female grad students. Since space is limited, RSVPs will be accepted on a first-come basis until capacity is reached. Please only RSVP if you can commit to attending. Lunch will be provided.   For more information contact: jem2245@sipa.columbia.edu *** Biography Caroline Angoorly is a senior energy and environmental industry executive with more than 20 years of domestic and international experience in business building, strategy, operations, project and asset management, investment, project finance, and mergers and acquisitions. She knows the energy, resources and environmental sectors, especially power and fuels markets and projects across generating technologies and clean tech, as well as environmental instruments, markets, regulation, and policy, with particular expertise in project development and finance. As COO, Ms. Angoorly is responsible for all aspects of strategy, finance and operations, and supports investment activities. Before joining NY Green Bank, Ms. Angoorly led GreenTao LLC, a specialized business growth, project development, financing, strategy and execution firm. She was also previously head of environmental markets for North America at J.P. Morgan, held several senior executive roles at NRG Energy including SVP & Head of Development, Northeast, was vice president and general counsel at EnelGreenPower, and a partner in the Global Project Finance Group at Milbank, Tweed. Through all these roles, Ms. Angoorly has been involved in originating, structuring, negotiating, closing and managing billions of dollars of energy and infrastructure projects across the globe. Ms. Angoorly holds geology and law honors degrees from Monash University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Melbourne Business School in Australia (partly undertaken at Columbia University in New York). She has lived and worked in the United States, Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. She has also done business in various countries in Central and South America, Asia, and Western Europe. Sarah Davidson manages External Affairs for NY Green Bank, where she provides investment, portfolio management, and operations support while leading the organization’s communications, stakeholder engagement, partnership development and public relations efforts. Prior to NY Green Bank, Ms. Davidson was a special assistant to Richard Kauffman, Chairman of Energy and Finance for the State of New York. She supported the Chairman in developing and implementing a strategic plan to scale up clean energy, enhance New York’s competitiveness for clean energy business, and make the State’s energy systems more resilient and reliable. Ms. Davidson was previously the sales and business development coordinator for AGRION, a global network for energy and sustainability professionals. She was also a development associate for the Carbon War Room, an international nonprofit organization working to accelerate the adoption of business solutions that reduce emissions at gigaton scale and advance a low-carbon economy. She also served as a vice president at the Coalition for Green Capital, an advocacy group in Washington, DC, supporting tax and finance policies to expand investment opportunities in clean energy generation and energy efficiency. Ms. Davidson holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Colorado College. She serves on the Board of Directors of Sense & Sustainability, the Adirondack North Country Association, and the S.S. Columbia Project, and the advisory board of the Environmental Film Festival.

LOCATION: Center on Global Energy Policy 1255 Amsterdam Ave. (1st floor) NY, NY 10027 Please join the Center on Global Energy Policy for a Women in Energy lunch and roundtable discussion with Marlene Motyka, US and Global Renewable Energy Leader and Principal at Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP. Ms. Motyka will discuss her job history, career paths, and perspectives on what it means to be a female leader in the energy industry.   This event is only open to current female grad students. Since space is limited, RSVPs will be accepted on a first-come basis until capacity is reached. Please only RSVP if you can commit to attending. Lunch will be provided.   For more information contact: jem2245@sipa.columbia.edu *** Biography Marlene Motyka is the US and Global Renewable Energy Leader for Deloitte and a principal in the Financial Advisory practice of Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP. In her role as Deloitte’s US Renewable Energy Leader she steers Deloitte’s overall delivery of a broad range of cross-spectrum professional services – from tax related issues, M&A and financing activities, business strategy, valuation, accounting to technology integration and operational consulting as well as human capital offerings – to renewable energy companies, and those who invest in alternative energy. Marlene is also a joint-leader of Deloitte’s Resources 2017 Study. This seventh nationwide study which will be released in early summer uncovers the actions that businesses, and consumers, are taking to manage their energy usage and to understand what motivates them to adopt new practices and technologies. The study also explores corporate commitment to energy management in terms of goals and capital investment. Marlene is a frequent speaker and author on topics such renewable energy, the power and utilities industry and valuation. She has an MBA in Finance from Rutgers University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University.