ACORE Welcomes 2022 Class of New and Returning Board Members

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), a national nonprofit that unites finance, policy and technology to accelerate the transition to a renewable energy economy, today announced its new Board class for 2022.

Five new members have joined the ACORE Board of Directors: Will Conkling, Head of Data Center Energy - Americas, Google; Marcus Krembs, Head of Sustainability, USA and Canada, Enel North America; Anthony Oni, Managing Partner, Elevate Future Fund, Energy Impact Partners; and Meghan Schultz, Executive Vice President, Finance and Capital Markets, Invenergy.

In addition, Kristal Hansley, CEO and Founder of WeSolar, was elected by the inaugural members of ACORE's Accelerate program to represent them on the ACORE Board of Directors effective January 1.

The following current Board members were elected or appointed to new three-year terms: Vikas Agrawal, Goldman Sachs; Frank Armijo, Lockheed Martin Corporation; Mona Dajani, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP; Board Chair Kevin Gresham, RWE Renewables Americas, LLC; Shannon Kellogg, Amazon; and Ben Pratt, Ørsted.

"We are very fortunate to have such talented and experienced additions to ACORE's Board of Directors," said ACORE President and CEO Gregory Wetstone. "I look forward to working with this year's class of new and returning Board members to build on the unprecedented momentum for renewable energy we are seeing across the country."

"Congratulations to Will Conkling, Marcus Krembs, Anthony Oni, Meghan Schultz and Kristal Hansley on joining ACORE's Board of Directors," said Kevin Gresham, ACORE's Board Chair and Senior Vice President of Government Relations & External Affairs at RWE Renewables Americas LLC. "With these strong additions joining the already stellar group of returning Board members, ACORE is well-positioned to continue its impactful efforts to grow the renewable energy sector while providing outstanding services to our membership." 

More background on the newly elected ACORE Board members is available below:

Will Conkling is a member of the Global Infrastructure team at Google where, as part of the team's mission to execute a global data center strategy, he leads the team that procures energy and electric infrastructure in North and South America. In pursuit of this goal, Will and his team work on data center location strategy and help lead the development and implementation of the company's global renewable and carbon-free energy procurement program. As a result of these initiatives, Google has entered more than 5 gigawatts of renewable energy purchases around the globe, matches 100% of its electric consumption with renewable energy, and is the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, globally. Prior to Google, Will has held various project and business development roles in the renewable energy industry, most recently as a member of SunEdison's origination team for utility scale solar projects. Will earned a bachelor's degree in Government and Latin American Studies from Wesleyan University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Marcus Krembs is Enel's Head of Sustainability for the USA and Canada, responsible for integrating sustainable business and stakeholder management practices into each of the company's business lines present in North America: Enel Green Power, Enel X and Energy & Commodity Management. Marcus has worked at the intersection of energy and sustainability for more than 20 years and established Enel North America's sustainability department in 2015. Marcus serves in the company's senior executive team and directs all sustainability, circular economy and environmental social and governance (ESG) engagement activities with key stakeholders across the USA and Canada.

Anthony Oni is a Managing Partner of the Elevate Future Fund at Energy Impact Partners. The fund seeks to create a more diverse, inclusive and equitable clean energy future by providing venture capital to diverse founders and entrepreneurs in the clean energy sector. The fund will also empower diverse talent to create economic opportunity for distressed or disadvantaged communities. This focus will develop unique programming, partnerships with tech accelerators including historically Black colleges and universities to cultivate talent pipelines and grow more pathways for diverse founders to enter the clean energy transition.

Meghan Schultz leads Invenergy's finance and capital markets team, which is responsible for raising capital for all power projects that Invenergy builds around the world, as well as the company's global risk function. Schultz's responsibilities also include portfolio finance for operating projects, execution of M&A transactions, and investor relations with Invenergy's investor and lender partners. Schultz has overseen the execution of more than $28 billion in private equity investments, power plant acquisitions and sales, and project debt and tax equity financing. She has been involved in the execution of over 18,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects.

Kristal Hansley is the Founder and CEO of WeSolar. Hansley, the nation's first African American Woman CEO in the community solar industry, is an entrepreneur and advocate for the use of solar power to help hard-working families reduce monthly expenses. She first made her mark when she was honored as the 2010 Howard University Legislative Fellow, which led to her tenure in the U.S. Senate on the staff of Majority Leader Harry Reid. Later, Kristal continued her work empowering constituents with legislative support favorable to average citizens by heading up Community Affairs policy in the office of Congresswoman Elanor Norton. Working with solar energy developers and city leadership, she has helped thousands of low-to-moderate-income families save on their utility bills.

For more information and a full list of ACORE's Board of Directors, please visit http://www.acore.org/board-of-directors.

Media Contact

Blake McCarren, American Council on Renewable Energy, 2023930001, [email protected]

SOURCE American Council on Renewable Energy