UNC Clean Tech Speaker
Emily Kirsch
Biography
Emily Kirsch is Founder and CEO of Powerhouse, the world’s only intelligent energy incubator and accelerator. Since launching in 2013 in Oakland, California, Powerhouse has housed over 40 intelligent energy startups and organizations, has invested in 14, and 4 Powerhouse startups have been acquired. Powerhouse startups have collective raised over $290m in capital.
Prior to founding Powerhouse, Emily worked with Van Jones, a former advisor to President Obama turned CNN political commentator, to launch the Green Jobs Corps; Oakland’s first solar jobs training program. Emily is the founding convener of the the Oakland Climate Action Coalition which drafted and secured passage of what was the most ambitious Energy and Climate Action Plan of any city in the US. In addition, she worked with the solar company Mosaic to secure their first customers and launch their pilot platform. Emily was a 2012 New Leaders Council Alumni, was featured in the ’15 for 2015 Women Leaders in Cleantech’, was a winner of the ‘East Bay Innovation Award for Cleantech’, and was a ‘Grist 50: The 50 People You’ll Be Talking About in 2016’. Emily has guest lectured at MIT, UC Berkeley, and Stanford.