NYC Clean Energy Nonprofit Powers Up With Three New Board Appointees

Solar One, a New York City-based green energy nonprofit – promotes environmental K-12 education, and clean energy workforce development.

And solar and other renewable energy access for urban households – announced Monday the appointment of three new members to its board of directors.

The new board members include Heather Beaudoin, entrepreneur and Founder of Beaudoin & Company LLC, a New York-based boutique public affairs firm; Christopher Raup, Vice President, Energy Policy & Regulatory Affairs at Con Edison, one of the nation’s largest energy-

delivery companies; and Terri Rutter, Assistant Vice President at Lindauer, a global executive search firm. All will serve three-year terms that began January 1, 2023.

“We are delighted to have Chris, Heather, and Terri join our Board,” said Jane R. Crotty, Chair of Solar One’s Board of Directors. “They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to our organization. We look forward to working with them as we advance our renewable energy goals and reinforce our educational programs. It is our hope to have construction begin this fall on our new educational center in Manhattan.”

Solar One is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization whose mission is to design and deliver innovative education, training, and technical assistance that fosters sustainability and resiliency in diverse urban environments. Solar One facilitates learning that changes the way people think about energy, sustainability, and resilience by engaging diverse program participants. Solar One’s programs help individuals and communities explore new ways of living and working that are more adaptive to a climate-change-impacted world. The official IRS 501c3 designation is CEC Stuyvesant Cove, Inc. 

Founded in 2004, Solar One’s work has been lauded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Citi Foundation’s Community Progress Makers, and United Laboratories (UL) among others.

Beaudoin brings her innovative technology, entrepreneurship, and extensive relationships in public and strategic governmental relations representing clients that include the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York; the New York State Trial Lawyers Association; and the Teamsters Joint Council 16. Her 20 years of experience will be a strong asset, particularly for Solar One’s Green Workforce program.

“New York is critical to combating climate change and requires us to rethink, and reinvest in, how cities function while keeping communities intact through environmental and worker justice. I’m elated to join Solar One’s board and work on the laudable goal of transitioning to renewables in a faster, smarter, more collaborative way,” Beaudoin said.

Raup helps manage state and federal regulatory programs for the Con Edison and Orange & Rockland electric and gas utilities on topics including renewable energy, advanced metering infrastructure, electric vehicles, heat pumps, and battery storage. He is a mechanical engineer by training and began his energy utility industry career in 1996;  in 2006 he joined Con Edison, one of the nation’s largest energy-delivery companies committed to powering New York with 100 percent clean energy by 2040. Raup’s experience will help Solar One identify and participate in emerging renewable energy trends. 

“I’m looking forward to collaborating with Solar One. This is an exciting opportunity to explore some of the expanded roles private energy companies can play in the clean energy transition,” Raup said.

Rutter’s career experience includes the strategic development of communications plans for a number of health-focused institutions including Dana-Farbar Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, and New York Presbyterian Hospital. Her work at Lindauer conducting mission-based executive recruitment gives her a thorough understanding of the prevailing trends in talent management in the nonprofit sphere.

“The race to a clean-energy economy will require thoughtful and daring leaders, and the path there is not always straight,”  Rutter said. “The power of organizing constituents to influence and implement good policies is paramount. And of course, we’ll assemble the largest and smartest team of leaders we can.”

The group’s Green Design Lab program provides STEM education for K-12 students; its Green Workforce program provides training for under-and-unemployed and formerly incarcerated adults and offers both inspiration and hands-on skills development. Solar One’s staff also manages Stuyvesant Cove Park, an architect-designed, sustainably-managed, two-acre park on the East River, which will be the site of the new environmental education center.

“New York is poised to adopt the most aggressive climate mandates in the U.S.,” said Stephen Levin, CEO of Solar One. “Our Board’s strategies for the organization’s growth will define our role in the city’s clean energy future.”

In its 2023 New Year  Power Up video message, Solar One predicted, “the ongoing transition to clean energy is going to provide good job opportunities for individuals and local, small businesses including women and people of color.” 

This year in partnership with the state’s NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities program, the organization is helping building and business owners navigate the evolving landscape of mandates, incentives, and regulations that will help New York achieve its climate goals that require New York to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030 and no less than 85 percent by 2050.

“With the experienced guidance of our new and existing Board members, Solar One is ready to rally all New Yorkers to reach our energy goals ahead of schedule,” Levin said. 

“Exciting, unprecedented, and powerful times lay ahead.”