2024 Power Players in Climate, Energy & Sustainability

Rich Dewey joined the NYISO in 2000 and has held several executive roles in product and project management, strategic software development and quality assurance. Previously, he spent several years in IT and network services for Husky Injection Molding Systems and Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation. He earned a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering from Clarkson University, a M.S. in computer engineering from Syracuse University, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s General Management Program.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
We continue to enhance our planning models that will enable New York to achieve its energy policy objectives in the most reliable way. We’re also hard at work to evolve our energy markets that provide reliable power to New Yorkers in the most cost-effective manner possible. Affordable, reliable electricity is essential to New York’s health, safety, and economy.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
The electric power industry is the area where some of the most interesting, innovative, and important work is going on right now. In addition to being vital to our society’s security and economy, it is an important battleground in the climate crisis fight. I encourage young people to take lots of math and science classes; and develop a passion to accomplish something important.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Being mindful of your daily energy consumption is incredibly important. New York’s clean energy goals become increasingly more difficult to achieve as the demand rises. Residents across our great state should look for ways to improve their own energy efficiency. The collective impact of millions of New Yorkers reducing demand really helps the grid.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
Policymakers should put reliability front and center when developing policy. The science and engineering behind our work keeps the lights on for all New Yorkers. Setting ambitious goals can help drive innovation and improvements but it’s important to understand what current technologies can actually deliver in terms of reliability. Most importantly, we must continue to communicate and collaborate in order to deliver the grid of the future.

BDC’s New York Director Lisa Dix brings stakeholders together to create and implement political, legislative, and regulatory action, advancing the equitable and affordable decarbonization of New York’s built environment. Through her leadership, the coalitions that she leads and supports have achieved nation-leading accomplishments including the passage of the Utility Thermal Energy Network and Jobs Act, the All-Electric Buildings Act, and Governor Hochul’s Climate Friendly Homes commitment to achieve 2 million electrification-ready and electrified homes by 2030.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
We hope to bring together unions, climate justice advocates, building industry representatives, environmental groups, and utilities to further advance New York State’s national building decarbonization leadership. Specifically, we want to swiftly and equitably transition New York’s built environment to affordable clean heat and cooling at scale by building the movement, policies, industry, and workforce needed to cost-effectively and equitably decarbonize our state’s buildings block by block and community by community with a local, union-led workforce.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
Decision-makers can aid our work by passing laws, dedicating funds, and implementing regulations that build the market and scale clean heating technologies, address energy affordability, energy equity, and energy burden concerns, remove barriers that prevent us from right-sizing New York’s gas distribution system, create opportunities for neighborhood-scale decarbonization solutions such as thermal energy networks, and support union and middle-class careers for workers to decarbonize our built environment.

Gavin J. Donohue is the president and chief executive officer of the Independent Power Producers of New York, Inc. (IPPNY), a statewide trade association organized in 1986 as a not-for-profit corporation. IPPNY represents the largest fleet of clean energy generators in New York State. IPPNY member companies produce the majority of New York’s electricity, utilizing all sources such as  wind, solar, hydro, energy storage, natural gas, low sulfur oil, waste-to-energy, biomass, and nuclear.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
IPPNY is supportive of New York’s clean energy transition. Our members are poised to invest in new resources while providing the solutions to help our state meet its aggressive climate mandates.

Justin E. Driscoll is the president and chief executive officer of the New York Power Authority (NYPA), the nation’s largest state-owned electric utility. He is responsible for developing and implementing the statewide utility’s strategic vision and mission, and for overseeing its operations. He also oversees the operation of the New York State Canal System.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
Landmark legislation was signed into law by Governor Hochul in the 2023-24 State Budget that expanded NYPA’s authority to develop, own and operate renewable energy-generating projects. That legislation calls for the Power Authority to deliver a plan outlining its strategic priorities for renewable development by January 2025. We are working diligently to develop that plan, incorporating feedback from a variety of stakeholder groups.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
To achieve New York’s ambitious clean energy goals, we need to deploy an all-hands-on-deck approach. I would encourage everyone to consider how their skills may apply to the energy industry. Utilities are composed of more than just engineers — we need IT workers, data analysts, and other specialists who may not be traditionally associated with the utility industry. The work is as rewarding as it is engaging.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
As part of NYPA’s effort to increase renewable generation deployment, we initiated a series of stakeholder meetings that included discussions with state legislators. Those efforts, the results of which we published in November, were the beginning of a robust public outreach program culminating with hearings we will host later this year ahead of the submission of our first Biennial strategic plan to the Governor and the Legislature. We always welcome policymakers to engage with us.

As chief expense officer, Ms. Drummond leads Northwell’s purchasing organization, centralized pharmacy and biomedical services as well as the health system’s central sterile facility. She collaborates with Northwell’s leadership to identify opportunities to become more efficient, leveraging her expertise in expense management and analytics to reduce waste, variation and excess cost. As chief sustainability officer, Ms. Drummond works to promote responsible environmental business practices and programs to help reduce consumption, emissions and waste generation.

Projjal Dutta is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s first ever Director of Sustainability. In this role, Dutta’s two primary responsibilities are to reduce the environmental footprint of the MTA and to verifiably measure the carbon benefits that accrue to the region, due to the MTA. Dutta has more than 20 years of experience in projects ranging in scale from urban to residential, with a particular emphasis on sustainable design. He is a published author and a regular contributor to publications focused on the environment.

Organizing nearly 400 organizations means navigating lots of priorities and personalities. Since helping the NY Renews coalition win New York’s landmark Climate Act in 2019, Executive Director Stephan Edel has done just that. Before NY Renews, Edel worked for over a decade on policy and legislation for Working Families, was a union and community organizer, and got a J.D. from CUNY Law and a master’s degree from Birkbeck College, London.  

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
NY Renews works towards a just, equitable, and thriving state that runs on renewable energy. Our 2024 focus is to ensure that the climate law is funded and implemented at every New York agency and authority, including the design of the state’s proposed pollution cap and investment system. Based on how we implement it, we know the policy will either harm our communities or help drive investment in grassroots-led solutions by and for disadvantaged communities.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
It is a challenging time to balance work, life, money, and the threat of the climate crisis. Focus on identifying the way that you can build a career that is satisfying for you and contributes to the movement for justice. There is no more rewarding career when you can see the impact you’re making, but if you hate the day-to-day work or are being exploited, it won’t be sustainable or productive. Think long-term.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Organize. That’s the simplest answer. While we need to collectively and individually question our practices and reduce our emissions and energy use, in the end, we will only make the progress we need through collective action. Figure out how to work in your community and with your existing networks to make New York a leader on climate, not just reduce your “carbon footprint”—an idea popularized by the fossil fuel industry in the first place.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
Policymakers need to be brave and listen to those most impacted by the climate crisis. They need to acknowledge their constituents are dying now, today, because of climate change. They need to pass bills, use regulatory power, and exercise leadership to ramp up state spending to over $10 billion a year. New York has an opportunity to lead the world, but business as usual will only devastate vulnerable communities in New York and globally.

Dennis Elsenbeck is head of energy and sustainability for Phillips Lytle’s Energy Consulting Services. He consults on opportunities encompassing a forward view of energy generation, distribution and demand. He assists clients with due diligence and regulatory compliance on energy transactions, PSC proceedings and utility negotiations; strategic energy planning for clean energy applications for commerce, industry, developers and municipalities; climate change impact preparation related to carbon penalty and incentive trends; and market-focused distributed energy resource solutions.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
Seek opportunities to expand alignment between infrastructure investment designed to advance climate objectives and the inclusion of economic activity requiring additional transmission capacity within mandated utility infrastructure planning. This can be accomplished through direct planning input from developers and economic development agencies.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
One must expand their understanding that creating sustainable environmental solutions requires that we place equal value on developing economic solutions to support their ability to self-fund. Achieving climate goals must be about investing in sustainable returns, not simply spending a dollar in the name of climate solutions.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Resist taking sides with respect to the environment or the economy. Without balance, both will fail under their own weight. We must seek to solve a set and definable problem/opportunity that can be replicated. These goals are directional, they are not problem statements.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
Consider the ramifications of evolving to an all-electric economy in terms of the total cost and time needed to transition from fossil fuel resources. The electric system is simply not in a position to meet the increased demand required under the CLCPA. We risk losing opportunities to revitalize communities, especially disadvantaged communities, if developers must shoulder the capacity costs related to studying and upgrading the electric system in preparation for legislation requiring all-electric buildings.

A dynamic community leader who has spent her expansive career working to protect public health and the environment, Judith began as an environmental advocate and has held top influential positions in state and federal government. Appointed by President Obama, Judith served as the regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overseeing environmental protection in NY, NJ, eight Indian Nations, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. She founded Beyond Plastics in 2019, and the organization has quickly become a leader in education, advocacy, and policy change around plastic pollution and its many impacts. Judith is a professor at Bennington College, where she teaches classes on plastic pollution and was a visiting scholar at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
Beyond Plastics is aggressively campaigning for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban vinyl chloride, the human carcinogen used in PVC plastic. The EPA is currently considering beginning the process under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and will be making a decision by December of this year. Beyond Plastics is also committed to exposing the myth of chemical recycling, which the plastics and petrochemical industries are touting as a panacea to the plastics crisis even though these processes have failed for decades and only add to the pollution throughout plastic’s life cycle. The organization is working to reveal the truth about chemical recycling to the public and to lawmakers, whom the industry is targeting to reduce regulation of these facilities.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
There are not many professional jobs working to protect the environment, especially for young people. Start by volunteering and then you can work the network. And don’t work for companies that damage the environment.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Vote.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
Policymakers can look for real solutions that solve real problems, not half measures or, as Senator Liz Krueger, recently said “bills that are for show.”

Adrienne is co-founder of Citizens Campaign for the Environment and leads diverse environmental and public health campaigns including protecting drinking and surface water, remediation of plumes, support for renewable energy projects, fighting plastic pollution and more. Adrienne has been a significant part of the public education process that propelled public commitment to clean water and public health protection. She is widely considered an expert on environmental protection issues and has received national and state awards.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
Finally pass a Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act so we can reduce waste and save taxpayers money.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
Be resilient.  Do your homework and know your facts.  Be comfortable with controversy. Never lose your sense of humor.   

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Fight climate change –  support offshore wind, battery storage and solar power.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
Support critical pro-environment legislation crafted to protect our natural resources and public health. State policy should reflect that saving our environment, having access to clean drinking water, swimming in clean bays, rivers and beaches, and protecting public health are primary priorities for every New Yorker.