the soft grid 2013

Elisabeth Brinton is a trusted senior executive, thought leader and entrepreneur with a track record of successful innovation, execution, value creation and disruption across multiple industries, including Energy, Water, Food, Agriculture, and High Tech. 

Most recently, Elisabeth was the Corporate Strategy Officer for PG&E Corporation, a F200 Energy Holding Company that has been a global utility pioneer in renewables, customer solar, T&D, and energy efficiency.  She launched PG&E’s groundbreaking IOT “Grid of Things” business strategy, ran M&A and strategic investments, and led California’s exploration of new utility business models. Earlier, Elisabeth was the Chief Customer Officer of SMUD, running the $2 Billion Retail P&L for that vertically integrated utility, including complex 24x7, high-stakes operations and a team of 1,000 employees.

An entrepreneur at heart, Elisabeth has been in the C-Suite as an executive officer, CEO or Founder of four successful Silicon Valley start-up companies with technologies and products that were pioneering and disruptive for their time.  Ventures include, Loudcloud that pioneered the ASP business model and the now ubiquitous Cloud, where Elisabeth was on the founding leadership team and ran global marketing, helping the company scale and go public in record time for a US company.  Earlier, Elisabeth was the founder and CEO of her own technical product development and marketing agency where she created a business delivering over $100 million in value, serving both major consumer brands like Pepsico and Nike, and innovative start-ups delivering deep, pioneering work in food, agriculture and high tech, including the development of several patents and commercializing new category creating products like branded, value-added produce and early organic and specialty products from ice cream to natural sodas.

Elisabeth is a chemist and passionate creative, blending scientific/technical expertise with customer centric market innovation, business strategy and policy leadership.  She is a top honors graduate of Principia College with a triple major across scientific and humanities disciplines and both a Harry S. Truman and Lincoln Academy Scholar.  Out of College, Elisabeth worked for the US House of Representatives as a legislative assistant for a member of Congress and the House Judiciary Committee.

Currently, Elisabeth is a voluntary faculty Co-Chair for Singularity University’s Global Energy & Climate track (2013 Executive Program Alum) and serves on the Advisory Boards of Smart Wires, Rancho Purisima Farms, and the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center.

Ms. Sully brings over 25 years of engineering and business experience in Telecommunications and Energy sectors to her role as Chair of UTCC. She has led UTCC in reshaping its strategic direction. In 2013, she received the UTC Chairman’s Award. Ms. Sully is an active advocate in Information and Communications Technology, working to ensure that Regulators and Industry recognize the need for utilities’ critical infrastructure. She represents the Canadian Utilities as Vice-President of Radio Advisory Board of Canada (RABC). She is also a member of the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance Public Safety Advisory Board. Presently, she works as a Senior Technical Specialist at Hydro One Telecom. In 2010, she received Hydro One President’s Award for her leadership role in Distributed Generation Connections. Before joining Hydro One, she worked in the Telecommunications Industry at Signatec Inc., Videotron Telecom and DTI Telecom.

Ms. Sully holds a Master’s Degree in Engineering Management and a Bachelor Degree in Engineering Physics. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario, a Fellow of Engineers Canada (FEC) and an honorary member of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) where she served as President and Chair in 2011-2012.