Please join us in welcoming Nat Kreamer as the new chief executive officer of Advanced Energy Economy and AEE Institute. For more than a decade Nat has been an advanced energy business and industry leader, investor, and educator. We are thrilled to have him at the helm. In short, Nat is the ideal CEO to take our talented and experienced team to the next level of success, fulfilling our mission help to accelerate the growth of the advanced energy industry.
Nat was a distributed renewable energy pioneer. As an entrepreneur and company-builder, he kick-started a multi-billion-dollar industry when he sold the first residential solar power purchase agreement as well as co-founded and led SunRun as its President and COO.
Twice elected as Chairman and once as Vice Chairman, Nat led the Solar Energy Industries Association Board of Directors to critical policy wins, including the current long-term extension of the Investment Tax Credit, as well as record association membership and revenue growth. As Chair, he helped build bipartisan coalitions, embed cooperation among advocacy groups in the SEIA strategy, and advocate for diversity and inclusion within as well as consumer protection by the solar industry.
Nat is an experienced advanced energy investor and financier. At Fairtide Renew he personally invests in helping traditional industries adopt new technologies, which includes electric utilities transitioning to advanced energy solutions and transforming their business models to become 21st Century ones. Previously as the CEO of Clean Power Finance and Spruce, among many financing activities, Nat launched one of the first private yield companies to finance residential solar assets and built a leading provider of energy efficiency financing, which executed the first consumer energy efficiency asset-backed securitization.
He has deep experience in the energy markets and working with incumbent players. Nat has partnered with electric utilities, including Dominion, Duke, Edison International, NextEra, Sempra, and WEC (Integrys), to invest hundreds of millions in advanced energy businesses and projects. He led the Chicago Climate Exchange market-making business for Pioneer Futures(Virtu Financial). As a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nat provided capital budgeting and risk management advice to electric utilities and banks investing in energy.
Nat volunteers his time and expertise to help train the next generation of advanced energy leaders. For the last six years Nat has co-taught “Powering the Future,” which is a graduate-level course at the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Northwestern University. Nearly all graduates of the class and University are pursuing careers in advanced energy today.
Additionally, we are pleased to name Senior Vice President and Interim CEO Heather O’Neill to the post of president. We thank Heather for the strong operational and leadership skills she has shown as interim CEO and are confident that this new leadership team will take AEE to new heights.
This is an exciting and challenging time for the advanced energy industry. After seven years of growth, AEE and the Institute are positioned to lead the way toward our vision of an advanced energy economy – a prosperous world that runs on secure, clean, affordable energy. We ask you all to welcome Nat as our new leader in that pursuit.
See official press statement here.