Girish has more than 28 years of experience in California utilities, most recently serving as the General Manager of Riverside Public Utilities (RPU). While at RPU, Girish initiated a number of innovative and collaborative processes focused on rebuilding aging water and electrical infrastructure, utilizing advanced technology to improve service delivery and customer satisfaction, developing the workforce to meet new skills needed in the utility of the future, and developing business models for the utility to adapt and thrive in an uncertain environment.

Girish got his start in public power as an analyst at the City of Pasadena Department of Water and Power. He then moved to Santa Clara County to work for City of Palo Alto Utilities as a Resource Planner. While at City of Palo Alto Utilities, Girish gained increasing levels of responsibility and moved into management as the Manager of Supply Resources, and eventually Assistant Director of Utilities, Resource Management.  

Girish became the General Manager of City of Alameda, Alameda Municipal Power (AMP) in 2007. As General Manager of AMP, Girish led a series of changes that resulted in AMP’s #1 rating in residential customer satisfaction after years of steady improvement, bond-rating increase from A- to A+, and selling a failing telecom system to end years of financial losses.

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Previously, Poonum held positions focused on assessment of innovative energy technologies, energy policy, microgrid R&D and energy industry data collection, analysis and forecasting at the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Point Carbon North America (acquired by Thompson Reuters) and Arthur D. Little, Inc. (Energy Practice acquired by Navigant Consulting). She started her Federal service as a Presidential Management Fellow.

Poonum earned BS and BA degrees in Chemical Engineering and International Relations from Tufts University and dual MS degrees in Technology Policy and Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Poonum is a mentor to entrepreneurs developing energy enterprises through Santa Clara University’s Global Social Benefit Institute. She previously served on the Board of Women in Cleantech and Sustainability.

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Prior to SVCE, Aimee held positions focused on solar technology and policy, climate policy, emerging technologies and strategic planning at EDF Innovation Lab, Pacific Gas & Electric, City of Palo Alto Utilities, Global Environmental Institute (Beijing, China) and the U.S. Department of Energy. Aimee has a BSE in materials science from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and a PhD in physics from Imperial College in London.

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Immediately prior to joining SVCE, Don served as Executive Director of Joint Venture Silicon Valley’s Smart Energy Enterprise Development Initiative (SEEDZ), involving a regional coalition of leading business, governmental, institutional and utility stakeholders focused on advancing energy system performance and sustainability in Silicon Valley. Projects included workplace and destination electric vehicle charging infrastructure, regional power quality monitoring, distributed energy storage and community-based renewable energy programs.

Don’s private sector background includes 22 years with Accenture. As a Managing Partner, he was instrumental in building and leading the firm’s business systems integration consulting practice in Silicon Valley.  He also co-founded and led AltaTerra Research, a market research and consulting firm focused on clean technology solutions for the enterprise marketplace.

Within the community, Don helped define and launch the Bay Area Climate Collaborative, a region-wide public-private partnership addressing regional sustainability goals. In his hometown of Los Altos, California, he serves on the City’s Environmental Commission, and is a past Chair and Vice-Chair.

Don received a Masters Degree in Engineering Management from Stanford University, and Bachelor’s Degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California at Davis.

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Julia joined SVCE after teaching marine science education programs to students throughout the Bay Area with the Marine Science Institute. Prior to that, she completed a Climate Corps Fellowship with the City of Sunnyvale in 2017 where her work focused on conducting environmental outreach and assisting with the City’s residential sustainability programs.

Julia graduated from Cornell University in 2016 with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Agricultural Sciences.

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Don is responsible for arranging financing to support energy contracts, preparing budgets and financial forecasts, overseeing SVCE’s risk management processes, administration and evaluation of information technology and human resource needs, and supporting the Board of Directors in their oversight of SVCE’s financial condition and opportunity.

Don brings 20 years of energy industry experience in various financial roles serving Investor Owned Utilities, Independent Power Producers and Municipal Owned Utilities with the last 10 years in a Senior Leadership role in the public sector.  Experience includes rate setting, risk management, budgeting and forecasting, contracts administration, debt management and financial oversight. Don received a Bachelors in Business Administration from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Accounting from the University of Southern California. Don is a Certified Government Finance Officer, Certified Energy Risk Professional and a Certified Public Power Manager through the American Public Power Association.

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Prior to joining SVCE, Pamela served as Communications Specialist for Prospect Silicon Valley where she was responsible for developing messaging, collateral, managing the website, coordinating events and social media content.

Pamela worked as an account executive for Westbound Communications, a public relations agency conducting community and digital outreach, special events and marketing for the Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project. Pamela also served as Director of Communications and Marketing for Orange County Coastkeeper, a clean water non-profit organization. Pamela earned bachelor’s degrees in political science and drama, with a minor in global sustainability from UC Irvine.

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Thomas graduated from Sonoma State University in the spring of 2017 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Energy Management & Design.  Prior to joining SVCE, he worked as an intern in the Power Services Department at Sonoma Clean Power overseeing energy and capacity contracts, settlement details, and compliance filings.

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Prior to joining SVCE in June 2018, Monica worked for the City of Palo Alto Utilities for over 30 years. Her first years focused on the development, implementation and evaluation of water, gas and electric demand-side management programs and measures. Her focus for the past 20 years, however was on managing Palo Alto’s electric supply portfolio and developing policies consistent with Palo Alto’s environmental sustainability and financial goals. Monica was instrumental in developing and implementing Palo Alto’s Carbon Neutral Plan in 2013, one of the first carbon-neutral policies for a municipal utility in California.  Monica also represented Palo Alto at several joint action agencies, including the Northern California Power Agency and the Transmission Agency of Northern California and oversaw the contract with Palo Alto’s largest supplier – Western Area Power Administration. Throughout her career with Palo Alto, Monica participated in several strategic planning efforts including serving as the project manager of the most recently approved strategic plan in 2017.

Monica has held several volunteer positions within her community of Fremont and was an active participant of Alameda County’s steering committee to form East Bay Community Energy (EBCE).  Monica continues to volunteer with EBCE and currently serves on its Community Advisory Committee bringing both an energy professional and ratepayer perspective.

Monica holds a B.S. in business from California State University East Bay.

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Peyton comes to Silicon Valley Clean Energy most recently from SolarCity where he served in a range of sales, account management, and technical support roles. He is most proud of having deployed over a megawatt of solar capacity in his time there. A life-long resident of the South County, Peyton attended San Jose State University and earned a B.A. in Philosophy.

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Andrea earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications from San Jose State University.

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Colleen joins SVCE from BloombergNEF, where she oversaw analysis of electricity market design, utility business models, and corporate energy strategy within the US. Her other responsibilities included evaluating federal and subnational environmental regulations and forecasting greenhouse gas emissions and carbon market prices. Prior to joining BNEF, Colleen researched climate-related finance for developing countries at the OECD and assisted hedge fund clients with capital raising at Credit Suisse. Colleen earned her undergraduate degree at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a masters from the School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University.

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Robert has previously worked for the City of Palo Alto Utilities, where he led a project which assessed the feasibility of installing a district energy system within the city. Robert has a bachelor’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley and he will be completing his master’s degree in Civil Engineering at Stanford University in the spring of 2019.

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Hilary joins SVCE from Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc. located in San Francisco where she was involved in several projects including greenhouse gas emissions modeling, rate design, energy resource valuation and regulatory briefings. Hilary earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland and a Masters of Environmental Science from Yale, where she majored in energy economics.

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Prior to joining SVCE, John developed a broad-based knowledge of various renewable energy and energy efficiency measures. Most recently, he worked for local fuel cell manufacturer, Bloom Energy, as the Incentives Operation Program Manager. Before that, he was in Washington DC running the Account Management team and developing programs for the DC Sustainable Energy Utility to support the largest energy users in the Capital with energy efficiency, solar, and workforce development. He was a Program Manager on the California Solar Initiative (CSI) for the Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE) servicing the San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) territory. His solar knowledge came from selling solar directly to residential and commercial customers as well to contractors across the US. He began his energy career more than 15 years ago managing channel sales for a micro-wind turbine manufacturer. He is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and received his undergraduate degree from UCLA.

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Paige graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a concentration in Sustainability and Social Justice in 2016. She joined SVCE straight out of college as a Community Outreach Fellow in the Climate Corps Bay Area Program and has continued her work at SVCE after the fellowship ended as a Community Outreach Specialist.

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Prior to SVCE, Justin worked at City of Palo Alto Utilities on demand side management program design, management and evaluation. Justin has a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering from California Polytechnic State University and a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Stanford University.

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Nik brings over 20 years of IT experience. He has worked for a large Silicon Valley tech company for the past 16 years performing many different roles, most recently as IT manager. Nik earned his bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University.

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