Carolyn Green added to Alliance to Save Energy Board of Directors

Washington, D.C., March 17, 2011 – The Alliance to Save Energy’s Board of Directors has elected five new members: Schneider Electric U.S. Country President Jeff Drees; EnerGreen Capital Management co-founder and Managing Partner Carolyn Green; Best Buy Co., Inc. Senior Vice President and General Manager Neil McPhail; former U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Policy Susan Tierney; and Exelon Corp. Executive Vice President, Finance and Legal, William Von Hoene, Jr.

“We welcome our new board members, who comprise a diverse roster of energy efficiency experts and advocates from the corporate, retail, government, capital and utility arenas,” commented Alliance President Kateri Callahan. “We value their specialized expertise and look forward to their contributions to the Alliance’s goal of broadening and amplifying the impact of energy efficiency.”

A passionate advocate of solving the world’s energy dilemmas who often participates in thought leadership panels related to that topic, Jeff Drees drives energy efficiency and solutions initiatives across Schneider Electric’s North American territory.  He oversees the growth and profitability of all Schneider Electric businesses in the U.S.

“I firmly believe that sustainability and energy efficiency are moral obligations,” says Drees. “It is critical that we make energy usage more visible to businesses and consumers and empower them with the tools to make decisions on how to better manager their usage. This requires us to tackle difficult subjects such as ensuring that standards are met for the implementation of Smart Grid and that existing building energy retrofit programs become mainstream, while helping the United States take a leadership position in clean energy.”

Carolyn Green is co-founder and managing partner of EnerGreen Capital Management, LLC, a private equity firm focusing on late venture and growth stage companies in the energy and environmental industries. She previously served as vice president - health, environment and safety for Sunoco, Inc. and is the immediate past chair of the American Association of Blacks in Energy. She brings over 30 years of professional and community-based environmental and energy experience to her post on the Alliance Board.

Said Green, “Improved energy efficiency not only makes sense for environmental reasons, it can immediately improve quality of life and reduce costs for low-income and ethnic consumers, who most often live in the oldest housing and drive older, less fuel-efficient cars. And energy efficiency retrofit jobs can’t be sent offshore. I look forward to working with the Alliance to Save Energy to ensure that communities of color are an integral part of a clean energy future.” 

Neil McPhail leads the development of concepts and experiments that will shape the role Best Buy plays in delivering smart home energy management solutions and services for consumers.
He is responsible for developing international growth platforms, strategic relationships and new distribution channels in a number of areas, including new media services, electric vehicles, home energy management and transportation.

“We think the smart home market is at a critical moment, as it pursues scale and adoption,” McPhail said. “We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with the Alliance to Save Energy and to do our part in helping these new markets emerge by engaging consumers to become more energy efficient through technology.”

Susan Tierney has a wealth of energy policy experience, having served as President Bill Clinton’s assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Energy, Massachusetts Gov. William Weld’s secretary for environmental affairs, commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities and co-chair of the Department of Energy Agency Review Team for the Obama/Biden Presidential Transition Team. Over the past 15 years, Tierney has consulted on economic and regulatory issues to electric utilities, natural gas companies, regulators, and other players in energy markets. She was an advisor, observer or policy maker involved in the energy efficiency, demand-response and renewable energy market. She is currently a Managing Principle at Analysis Group in Boston, Mass. 

“Having long admired the Alliance to Save Energy’s strategies to advance energy efficiency as the first and best option for supporting a clean and efficient energy economy for America, I am thrilled to be part of this group of leaders,” said Tierney. “There is still a lot of work to do in this regard in most parts of the United States, and the Alliance uses a good public/private partnership model to advance the ball.”

As the senior executive responsible for corporate strategy at Exelon – a long-time Alliance Associate and board presence, as well as one of the nation’s largest electric and gas utilities –William Von Hoene helps guide the company’s industry-leading energy efficiency efforts.  They include reducing energy consumption at Exelon’s own facilities and helping electric and gas customers become more energy efficient. Since 2008, overall energy use in Exelon commercial facilities has dropped by 27 percent compared to 2001 levels, and the company has 10 LEED-certified facilities. In addition, it is in the top quartile for customer energy savings among U.S. utilities. Over the next five years, spending on energy efficiency and demand response across the Exelon companies is anticipated to surpass $300 million per year in northern Illinois and southeastern Pennsylvania, resulting in an estimated cumulative energy savings of 3.7 million megawatt-hours and a reduction in peak load of 388 megawatts.

“Continuing Exelon’s long-standing relationship with the Alliance and its Board of Directors will enhance the company’s environmental leadership programs in emissions reduction and energy-efficient commercial facilities,” said Von Hoene. “I look forward to actively pursuing our mutual goals in advancing energy efficiency.”