June 19, 2015
Women in Cleanweb
Computer science and technology have the vast potential to modernize problem-solving processes in all sectors, and yet women are consistently underrepresented in both the developer and cleantech communities. The time has come to focus on women in cleanweb.
On June 25, MassCEC will host a “Women in Cleanweb” event as part of the Boston Cleanweb MeetUp group. Held at Posternak Blankstein & Lund in Boston, it will include a panel discussion about bridging the developer and cleantech communities, and highlight challenges and opportunities for women in this industry. The panel will feature three women: Erica Hines, Nancy Riley and Kathryn Wright, and will be moderated by Sam Hammar.
Nancy Riley is the Senior Director of Product Management at EnerNOC, leading a large team of product managers and user experience (UX) designers who synthesize customer needs, market knowledge, and the latest in technology to define and drive the company's software roadmap. Nancy is the current chair of Women@EnerNOC, an initiative to inspire, connect, and empower women to lead and impact company success.
Kathryn Wright is a consultant specializing in solar energy and climate adaptation at Meister Consultants Group. Kathryn recently co-founded MySunBuddy, an upcoming web application that enables solar system owners to share the benefits of solar with their neighbors. MySunBuddy was formed at the 2015 Boston CleanWeb Hackathon, where the team received first place. The team is now a semifinalist in CleanTech Open Northeast accelerator.
Erica Hines is the Program Director for Renewal Energy Production at MassCEC. Erica manages the registration and reporting process for renewable energy systems, in particular those that qualify for Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SREC). She also manages the division that is responsible for evaluating the production performance of over 27,000 renewable energy systems, providing data quality assurance, and reporting production of over 150,000 megawatts of solar energy to the New England Power Pool.
Sam Hammar, Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Massachusetts Office of Information Technology (MassIT) will moderate the panel discussion. Her role at MassIT is to bridge innovation and technology in MassIT to external communities, including municipalities, technology associations, civic tech innovators and IT corporations.
These four women will offer their perspectives on opportunities in the cleanweb community and provide unique insights on the field based on their distinct experiences. "Women in Cleanweb," and the Meetup group as a whole, serve to encourage students and professionals to get involved in this industry. It will show developers how to use their skills to solve problems with clean energy, sustainability and resource constraints while showing those in the cleantech sector how computer science and technology can be leveraged to solve their problems.