Green Jobs: Lisa Jackson Leaving EPA, Zoi Joins Makani Board, Plus CPF and CPUC

Outgoing Washington Governor Christine Gregoire may be nominated as EPA chief to replace Jackson.

Eric Wesoff January 07, 2013

Eric Wesoff

Editor-at-Large
Greentech Media

Eric Wesoff is Editor-at-Large at Greentech Media. Prior to joining GTM, Eric Wesoff founded Sage Marketing Partners in 2000 to provide sales and marketing-consulting services to venture-capital firms and their portfolio companies in the alternative energy and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Wesoff has become a well-known, respected authority and speaker in these fields.

His expertise covers solar power, fuel cells, biofuels and advanced batteries. His strengths are in market research and analysis, business development and due diligence for investors. He frequently consults for energy startups and Silicon Valley's premier venture capitalists.

Lisa Jackson has announced that, after four years, she is leaving the post of head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Environmentalists claim Jackson didn't do enough on global warming and coal. On the other end of the spectrum, conservative journal National Review Online writes, "It is hard to imagine a bureaucrat who has done more comprehensive damage to American interests than Lisa Jackson."

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that outgoing Washington governor Christine Gregoire may be nominated as EPA chief to replace Jackson, according to a "very senior source in Washington’s congressional delegation."

Cathy Zoi of Silver Lake Kraftwerk joined the board of Makani Power, a VC-funded developer of tethered wings serving as airborne turbines that is aiming for offshore utility-scale power generation.

Clean Power Finance, an online market for residential solar financing and provider of software for solar sales, named Greg Sellers as VP of Field Operations. Prior to joining Clean Power Finance, Greg started Burnham Energy, and during his three years as Director built the company into the nation’s largest residential solar inspections firm.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) added Carla Peterman as Commissioner. Peterman comes to the CPUC after serving as a Commissioner at the California Energy Commission.

David Groarke is the newest Senior Analyst on the smart grid research team at GTM Research and comes to the firm after seven years in the energy consulting practice at Accenture.

ThermoEnergy (OTCBB: TMEN) named James Wood, a former DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary, as Chairman and CEO. The company is developing wastewater recovery and power generation technologies. Wood was CEO of Babcock Power and from 1996 to 2001 served as president of Babcock & Wilcox (B&W).

Ceramic Fuel Cells' CEO Brendan Dow and Managing Director John Dempsey resigned as directors of the firm on Dec. 31, 2012. Circumstances were not disclosed. The Australian firm builds SOFC-based small-scale on-site micro combined heat and power (CHP) and distributed generation units. The firm disclosed that it has lost money in its most recent earnings report, as it has since its public listing on the AIM.