Girish has more than 30 years of experience in California utilities, including serving as the General Manager of Riverside Public Utilities (RPU) and Alameda Municipal Power (AMP) and as an Assistant General Manager for the City of Palo Alto Utilities. His professional education includes a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from UCLA and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Anna University in India.

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Jessamyn’s background is in nuclear physics and astrophysics research. She has bachelor’s degrees in physics and astrophysics from UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. in physics from MIT.

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Previously, Kevin held positions focused on sustainability, alternative transportation, green building, and renewable energy project development, with both public and private organizations around the Bay Area. Kevin recently worked for the County of Santa Clara, Vote Solar, the City of San Jose, and the DaimlerChrysler Corporation. Kevin’s early professional career was spent at Accenture, developing enterprise resource planning software.

Kevin earned a BS degree in Civil / Environmental Engineering from Stanford University and dual MS degrees in City & Regional Planning and Transportation Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

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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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Prior to joining Silicon Valley Clean Energy, Bena was the Intergovernmental Relations Director for the City of San Jose, the 10^th largest city in the United States. While at the City of San Jose, she engaged on and advocated for a vast variety of municipal policy issues at the regional, state and federal levels ranging from homelessness, pandemic mitigation and response, and clean energy.

Bena was also the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s Senior Vice President of Transportation, Housing and Health. During her more than a decade at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Bena worked on many diverse projects and programs including a successful 2008 Measure B campaign that secured operations funding for BART to Silicon Valley to tours of transit-oriented development in many communities in Silicon Valley. Bena graduated from Wellesley College with a major in English and a minor in Astronomy.

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Prior to joining SVCE, Jessica served as an AmeriCorps Civicspark Fellow for the City of Woodland. As a Fellow she was responsible for implementing the City’s Climate Action Plan while creating a framework for reporting and analysis.

Jessica holds a B.A. in Geography with a minor in Environmental Science & Policy from California State University, Long Beach.

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Zoe has over a decade of experience leading regional decarbonization and resilience initiatives. She served as Sustainability Manager for the County of Santa Clara, as Associate Director of the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability, and co-founded the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA.

Zoe has a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from UCLA where she focused on regional approached to climate action. She also earned a Leadership in Sustainability certificate from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

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Prior to joining SVCE, Anthony worked for decades at the City of Morgan Hill on a wide variety of environmental programs, administrative issues, and utility services. Anthony graduated from UC Davis with a B.S. degree in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning.  

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Rebecca holds an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Southern California. Prior to joining SVCE, Rebecca worked as an electric vehicle research fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and as a student project engineer at the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County.

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Charles holds a BS in Finance from Arizona State University.

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Prior to joining SVCE, Hannah served as a senior researcher at the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA, where she developed data-driven tools for energy and climate planning and research. She brings nearly a decade of experience in applying data to advance energy decarbonization goals, particularly at the local level.

Hannah has both an M.A. in Urban and Regional Planning and a B.A. in Geography/Environmental Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.

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Before joining SVCE, Raul worked as a Public Information Representative with the City of San Jose. He worked with the City’s Environmental Services Department to lead the City’s recycling program marketing efforts. While with the City of San Jose, Raul spent most of his time with San Jose Clean Energy, the CCA that serves San Jose residents and businesses.

Raul has a B.A. in Communications from Santa Clara University and will be receiving his M.S. in Journalism and Mass Communications from San Jose State University in 2022.

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Prior to SVCE, Nupur served for seven years as an Environmental Programs Manager at the City of Sunnyvale, where she led the development and implementation of the City’s Climate Action Playbook, with a focus on energy efficiency and electrification programs. She also worked for nine years on federal policy development and research on climate change impacts in urban areas at The Cadmus Group, Inc., an environmental consulting firm.

Nupur holds a B.S. in Biochemistry from Davidson College and a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University.

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Prior to joining SVCE, Zak worked in public power as an analyst then supervisor in the Power Settlements department of Northern California Power Agency (NCPA) with a focus on settlement and billing in the wholesale CAISO and bilateral markets.

He holds a B.A. in Economics from University of California, Davis.

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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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Before joining SVCE, Leslie worked as a Marketing Specialist with Central Coast Community Energy where she created campaigns and materials to launch new energy programs, managed multiple vendors to support marketing tactics, and produced customer communications.

Leslie has a B.A. in Environmental Studies with a minor in Social Enterprise and certification in Digital Marketing. In her free time, Leslie likes to paint and engage in self-care activities.

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Colleen joined SVCE as a Climate Corps Fellow after graduating from UC Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Environmental Science and a concentration in Anthropology and Marine Processes. She brings along experience working with outreach for the UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative and the campus Climate Action Plan, natural reserve management with the UC Natural Reserve System and environmental education with the UCSB R.E.E.F.

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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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Owen first joined SVCE in 2021 as a summer intern and continued with SVCE as the first power resource apprentice, serving in a similar capacity with modeling work. Owen is a 2022 graduate from Concordia University Irvine, where he completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in Finance and Business Data Analytics and a minor in Communication.

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A licensed Mechanical Engineer, he began at Mazzetti in HVAC design of healthcare facilities. His role soon grew to incorporate sustainable design coordination, whole-building energy modeling, greenhouse gas inventories, and LEED project management.

At Commercial Energy, Peter helped strategize and grow the Energy Services division, and provided energy audits and facility improvement planning for a wide variety of clients ranging from hotels, multifamily buildings, and restaurants to large commercial and industrial facilities.

Most recently Peter was with 2050 Partners, a consultant to the California IOUs, where he managed energy storage testing including residential battery systems and portable batteries powering medical devices. He was also the lead support to the IOUs for light-duty EV charging infrastructure analysis and advocacy for the CALGreen statewide building code development.

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Prior to SVCE, Sanjay worked at Intel Corporation for forty years. He was a platform execution lead for IntelR CoreTM processors where he managed a synchronized, coordinated development of new technologies on the platform including processors on the latest silicon technologies. His last project was IntelR CoreTM processor generation 10, which was a launch product on 10nm technology and with integrated USB-C and WiFi-6. He led Intel’s hardware platform for Apple’s innovative first Macbook air. He was a design engineer for the industry-first digital signal processor and the industry-first automotive microcontroller.

Sanjay received an MS in electrical engineering and an MS in Physics from Carnegie-Mellon University and a BS in Physics from Pune University, India.

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Since joining SVCE in 2018, Monica and her group have negotiated and executed over one billion dollars in long-term power purchase agreements for renewable resources including eight solar plus storage contracts and several other contracts for geothermal, wind and solar. To help with the integration of intermittent resources and in support of the California’s grid, Monica is led the effort on behalf of SVCE and seven other CCAs to acquire long-duration storage through California Community Power.

Prior to joining SVCE, Monica worked for the City of Palo Alto Utilities for over 30 years. Monica was instrumental in developing and implementing Palo Alto’s Carbon Neutral Plan in 2013, the first carbon-neutral policy adopted 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.

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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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Michaela joined SVCE after graduating from California State University, Fullerton with a B.A. in Public Relations and Public Administration. She brings communications experience from freelance work with Algalita, a non-profit committed to solving the plastic pollution crisis. Additional experience includes her work with Think Together, a non-profit dedicated to changing the odds for kids, and work with local campaign management while in Orange County.

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

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Amrit’s prior experiences include serving as Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s Senior Director, Market and Credit Risk Management and Senior Director, Revenue Requirements and Rates. Amrit also worked at startup companies and provided strategic consulting in areas of risk management and utility operations. Amrit has an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BS in Managerial Economics from the University of California, Davis.

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Prior to the Interim Communications Manager role, Beth supported the Communications team to develop and launch eHub. Prior to SVCE, Beth was part of the start-up team at Monterey Bay Community Power (now Central Coast Community Power) focused on programs, ran operations for a renewable start-up, was the executive director for a health services nonprofit, served on two school boards, and worked at Apple, Oracle and GE primarily in product marketing and finance roles.

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Prior to the Interim Administrative Assistant role, Melody began her career with the City of Palo Alto. Melody spent most of her years in their Utilities Department providing Administrative Support.  Melody enjoys supporting an agency that provides a vital service to the community – clean energy! She appreciates being part of a kind, fun and dedicated group of employees at SVCE.

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Demarie has over nine years of experience in the energy industry serving in various roles of increasing responsibility.

Immediately prior to SVCE, she worked for PG&E’s energy procurement division as a Senior Risk and Compliance Analyst where she helped to streamline and mature compliance programs. Demarie has also worked on regulatory and compliance management for the City and County of San Francisco.

Demarie holds a Master of Public Affairs from USF, BA in Economics with a minor in Politics from UCSC, and Product Management Certificate from Product School, Inc.

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Oren has over 14 years of experience in the energy industry serving in various energy procurement roles of increasing responsibility.

Oren is joining SVCE from the City of Pasadena where he worked on procuring zero carbon resources, Integrated Resource Planning efforts, and various regulatory support activities. Oren holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Central Florida.

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Maren has worked on decarbonization and resource planning efforts for utilities across the US since 2015. Immediately prior to SVCE, she worked for PG&E where she focused on electricity system forecasting, including for the Integrated Resource Plan and SB100 Joint Agency efforts.

She holds a B.A in International Relations from Mills College and an M.A in International Affairs, with a focus on Energy, Resources and the Environment, from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

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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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Before her Energy Services Internship role, she worked with the SVCE admin team in 2018. She is currently a double major in Pre-Nursing and Nutritional Sciences (Dietetics) at the University of Nevada, Reno. She is apart of the Pi Beta Phi sorority chapter and is the Vice President of the Student Nutrition Association on campus.

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