Q: Tell us about yourself and your background?
I started my career in energy working for a utility auditing company in New Jersey. I then moved to a mechanical contractor doing work as an ESCO – very similar to Stem’s channel partners today – where I lead energy efficiency projects. So, those were great experiences to get started with because I learned about the energy industry and its ecosystem of stakeholders.
After a decade of working in the corporate world, I became a fulltime mother. At that point, I took a break and wrote a book on women’s health, which was sponsored by a New York health publisher in 2011. It was fulfilling because I pursued a dream of mine: getting an agent, getting a real publisher, and flying to New York to pitch my idea!
I jumped back into the corporate world by working for an Autodesk reseller where I gained experience with software. At this point, I had energy experience, software experience, and sales experience – so when the opportunity with Stem came along, it was a perfect fit.
Stem is a place where we all work hard to make a difference and add value to our collective departments. What makes it a great place to work is that everyone recognizes there is life outside of Stem, which often means family time – this includes Julie Steury, John Serron, Mary Schaffer Gill, Bill Bush, and Irina Elent – to name just a few. So, we’re all familiar with the idea of having a “full-time job” outside of Stem raising a family, which we greatly value.
Q: What is your role at Stem?
When I started about 7 years ago, I was hired with a group in Southern California to focus on Southern California Edison’s Local Capacity Resources (LCR) program. The utility had constraints on the grid in some of its service areas and opened an RFP-driven program; Stem was awarded a portion of it to deliver 85MW of smart energy storage. That was Stem’s first virtual power plant that put us on the map.
Last year, my role changed when I became a Regional Sales Manager. My team focuses on the C&I space with mostly behind-the-meter and some front-of-meter, so we’re familiar with all of Stem’s solutions for our customers and partners.
Today, I lead 6 team members. I have fun working with my team on lots of different projects and helping them be successful – I take the responsibility of supporting their sales opportunities very seriously. It’s been really fulfilling, more so than I really ever imagined, to see so many young professionals, and people new to the industry, thrive here at Stem.
Q: What’s the most interesting thing you’ve worked on lately?
For me, Stem’s recently announced partnership with ENGIE North America to deliver solar, storage, and EV charging solutions was very exciting! ENGIE saw the value in what we can deliver together – with Stem’s smart energy storage solution and ENGIE’s turnkey eMobility solution will be a game changer for the industry, in my opinion. Both companies have similar cultures. I’ve worked with some really good people at ENGIE, and we’re very aligned in our missions.
Q: Any advice for younger or new professionals interested in the renewable energy space?
I would say, “Get in!” The entire energy industry is growing. There are so many different aspects of energy with plenty of opportunity. If you’re passionate about sustainability and you’re into technology, there are so many choices for not only sales people but also engineers, software developers, data scientists and so on. It’s a really exciting industry because it’s ever evolving. It’s not boring. There’s something happening all the time with different, better technologies, and the world is moving to renewable resources everywhere you turn. I think being a part of this, especially as a young person, is a great opportunity with excellent career growth. Plus, there are lots of different career avenues available depending on your skills. For example, we’ve had folks go on to work for a property management group as their energy SME. There are many different roads you can take with an energy background.
At Stem, we talk about our team having a ‘high-IQ, low ego.’ And that’s important for anyone looking to join Stem as an organization. We really work as a team and strive towards getting even better together.
Q: What about Stem would you want our customers and partners to know?
Stem’s teams of energy experts are constantly improving and adapting as markets, programs, stakeholders, and technologies change. Personally, it would be really hard to work at a company in this industry that is complacent, and that’s not what Stem is. I think that now, even though we’re a public company, we still have start-up, scrappy roots where people want to work hard and deliver the best solutions with a lot of integrity.
Right now, Stem is the global leader in AI-driven energy storage services and software, but I don’t think anyone, from an ego standpoint, thinks we’ve arrived; we’ll always be working on delivering better solutions for our customers and partners. For a partner, there’s not a whole lot more they can ask for or appreciate.
