Executive Director

Katherine brings over 20 years of experience in coalition building and policy development to advance solutions that improve people’s lives. She most recently served as Assistant Commissioner for Energy Resources in Minnesota, where she developed energy finance, workforce development and climate policies and led in the development of the State’s Framework for Action on Climate Change.  Katherine has held senior roles in government, philanthropic advising, and advocacy, and is a Truman Scholar with degrees from Oberlin College and the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. She lives in Minneapolis, MN.

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Director of Research and Analytics

Kim is an experienced energy data analyst and collector of novel data collection methodologies. She has over a decade of experience in running energy and climate change interventions in vulnerable communities across Sub-Saharan Africa, working closely with local and national governments toward data-driven climate change policies. Kim has also worked closely with a multitude of tech startups aiming to bridge the poverty gap in informal settlements in South Africa. She ran a specialized consultancy, Thrie Energy Collective (TEC), to support innovative tech and renewable energy efforts. Kim has a master’s in Energy and Sustainable Development from the University of Cape Town and a bachelor’s in environmental science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She lives in Virginia.

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Director of Campaign Strategy

Lee began grassroots organizing with queer and trans communities of color as a student at UC Davis studying Community Development. Since then, they have worked with the American Federation of Teachers in New Orleans, Louisiana to advocate for labor rights and the improvement of schools and education. From school board campaigns to gubernatorial efforts, from ballot measures to presidential elections, they bring experience mobilizing communities of all sizes and backgrounds from around the U.S. In their home state of Oregon, they helmed a nonprofit focusing on leadership development, transportation and housing justice, youth advocacy efforts, and community models of care. They live in Oakland, California.

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Director of Organizing

Karn has been involved in organizing and racial justice work for the past 16+ years at the local, state, and national levels in Chicago, California, and Oregon. His experiences involve organizing youth around the DREAM Act and education justice issues in Chicago, where he was born and raised. He then organized Black and brown youth in San Francisco around the school-to-prison pipeline, then in Oregon, where he created and led an organizing program for Asian and Pacific Islander youth and Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander incarcerated men around education issues. After spending some time doing national organizing and labor organizing, he most recently served as the Policy and Alliance Director at Californians for Justice, where he led state budget and legislative advocacy efforts around race and education equity issues. He lives in Chicago.

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Director of Communications

Elizabeth is a seasoned communications leader, digital strategist, and copywriter with a passion for driving advocacy campaigns that meaningfully improve peoples’ lives. She has worked on issues ranging from climate solutions to vaccine awareness to youth voter engagement. Most recently, Elizabeth led campaign communications for the national clean energy non-profit, Vote Solar. Previously, she spearheaded a digital organizing program to help drive record-breaking youth voter turnout in Wisconsin and led digital marketing initiatives for the energy solutions provider, Slipstream. Elizabeth lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

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Director of Impact and Systems

Riikka supports sustainable strategy development leading to actionable decarbonization and climate change mitigation efforts through qualitative and quantitative data analysis and stakeholder engagement. Previously, Riikka has worked with clean energy, sustainable business development, and Arctic climate change consulting and research, and international water sector business collaboration projects. Riikka has a bachelor’s in aquatic sciences, and a master’s in corporate environmental management from the Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics, Finland. She has studied social sciences at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She lives in Cincinnati.

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