The 2010 Pivotal Leaders List was announced today from Portland-based Pivotal Investments. The Pivotal Leaders include clean tech entrepreneurs, executives and other leaders from across the Pacific Northwest. It’s great that their list includes leaders from both established clean tech organizations like McKinstry and Climate Solutions, and from upstarts like EnergySavvy.
There are lots of great leaders on the list and there are great stories behind those people, but we’re particularly passionate about a few of them:
Derek Smith, Clean Energy Works Portland: Derek is leading the city of Portland in its efforts to drive home energy efficiency upgrades through low-interest loans that allow homeowners to make major efficiency with no upfront costs, while paying back the work through the savings they realize on their utility bills.
Gino Borland, Cake Ventures: Gino is an active investor, entrepreneur and advisor for clean tech companies in the Pacific Northwest. He’s one of the behind-the-scenes folks in Seattle who’s helping accelerate clean tech – through his organization Cake Ventures, through Northwest Energy Angels and through his willingness to give advice to startups in the area, including EnergySavvy!
Rob Bernard, Microsoft: Rob has been busy making a difference in the sustainability of Microsoft, one of the Pacific Northwest’s largest employers, and a company whose software influences the entire world. Several of us came from Microsoft prior to our time at EnergySavvy, and we know that it’s often difficult to affect change across the company there (and, really, at any large company). So, Rob gets eight thumbs up in our book.
Aaron Goldfeder, EnergySavvy: We’re pretty proud of our hometown CEO, Aaron. In just over a year, Aaron has led the growth of EnergySavvy from the proverbial “two guys in a garage” to a national presence in the home energy efficiency world, with tools and resources for homeowners who are making their houses more energy efficient.
Read about all the Pivotal Leaders here.
And three cheers to Pivotal Investments for recognizing the little guys out there who are trying to change the world with big ideas, right alongside those who are already changing the world through big companies, non-profits and government. A big idea, and the hard work necessary to make it reality, doesn’t distinguish either.
