I'm originally from Georgia and went to the University of Georgia where I studied Physics and Engineering. After, I lived in San Francisco for six years and that's where I started my career. I've worked in renewable energy and sustainability technology for over 15 years.I'm in a concurrent master's program right now for an MPA and MS in environmental and sustainability studies at the College of Charleston. They're very passionate about environmental and sustainability stewardship. A part of what I'm doing is being kind of an expert witness from a community and new science and environmental policy standpoint and being active in a lot of things related to environmental sustainability work.
Kitu is a perfect place for me because of my technical background. I have a technical kind of acumen from studying Physics and Engineering. I'm generally good at bringing complex, technical concepts into society in a way of vetting things and playing a watchdog role. These are the types of things that I try to do for public benefit.
I currently live close to the beach in Charleston, South Carolina. I have two kids that are seven and ten years old. I love being outdoors, so I usually like to live in the mountains or close to water. Here in Charleston, I like to get out and surf when we have waves, which we have some of the year. I also like to go up to mountains when time permits.
I've been with Kitu since May, so I've been here about four months now as the Sales Director. I worked with Kitu as a partner for a couple of years prior to that when I was with Itron, so I had knowledge of what Kitu was doing, connecting DER's and devices into the smart grid. It's been a great experience so far and I'm really enjoying the team!
We are working on a BYOD grid services program that will be launching in 2023 which is one of the key things I've been focused on. It has been interesting working together with the different parts of a modern, utility-led interoperable DER ecosystem including stakeholders such as solar and battery OEM inverter brands along with financing and VPP companies, in and alongside an innovative utility program enabling more advanced grid service.
Brand and culture are very important to me, so I'm attuned to the culture of the company I'm at and it's been great here! It's a people-centric culture; we generally try to respect people's time and personal lives and treat one another with respect. I like the size of the company as well, it's very engineering-focused, which in my opinion means there's a lot of good things getting done and people working to solve problems.
Network, network, network! Find mentors and find companies that are hiring. If you can't get a job, get an internship. If it's something you really want, you can definitely find a way to do it.
I have a lot of trust in Rick (Kitu's CEO) and Austin (Kitu's VP of Market Dev). I want us to grow the business in a way that it's functioning at its maximum potential. I think if we do that, then we will have multitudes of goals and higher-level visions come true. I think the path that we're on right now is good; we're doing incredible work, and we have great momentum. I want us to continue to get the right people and pieces in place to be able to refine it and work with partners in our ecosystem to be this middle layer of connectivity to bring about smart grid and smart communities of the future.
Rick has been watching how to connect and orchestrate things into advanced power grids for over 15 years so he's visionary in terms of communicating and having the ability to facilitate connecting all those pieces. Kitu has taken a different approach and mission so we'll follow this lead and make the most of what possibly could be. The potential is incredible!
Also, I would love to have the opportunity to continue to empower more people. I'm enjoying working with everyone in our organization and building a team is something that I'm passionate about and bringing people on board to be a part of the mission.
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