Jack Boger

San Francisco, CA | U.S. Marine Corps

Jack Boger works on the business development and partnerships team at Shift, a venture-backed startup in San Francisco powering high-contrast career transitions for active duty servicemembers and military veterans. He is a 2019 Clean Energy Leadership Institute fellow and is focused on creating more job opportunities for veterans in the advanced energy space.

Jack previously served as a U.S. Marine Corps ground intelligence officer on two deployments in the Asia-Pacific region. Other work experience includes founder in residence at Atomic, a San Francisco venture firm, climate change strategy and mitigation at UNICEF Madagascar, and public policy and operations at Plated, a New York startup. Jack received a BA in History from Dartmouth College and completed the Stanford Graduate School of Business Ignite veteran entrepreneurship program.

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Ryan Edwards

Austin, TX | U.S. Navy

Ryan Edwards is a Finance Manager with SunPower Corporation, the leading global solar innovator since 1985 that is changing how our world is powered. He manages a $2.5B Residential Lease Portfolio with responsibilities that include managing portfolio operating expenses, capital contributions, distributions, debt draws, and forecasting quarterly cash flows.

Ryan also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for CleanTX, an Austin- based nonprofit whose mission is the accelerate the growth of the cleantech industry in Texas through information exchange, thought leadership, and strategic partnerships. His responsibilities include leading the Board of Directors, managing staff, business development, and strategic oversight for the nonprofit.

Ryan previously served in the U.S. Navy as a Lieutenant and Naval Flight Officer for the P-3 Orion and P-8 Poseidon. After 2 deployments to Japan as a Mission Commander and Instructor, Ryan was selected to teach and mentor aspiring Naval & Marine Corps Officers at the University of Texas at Austin NROTC. Ryan is an avid supporter of veterans – especially those transitioning - and finding them job or partnership opportunities within the cleantech space.

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Sarah Nielsen

Detroit, MI | U.S. Army

Sarah Nielsen is a strategy and innovation professional and a U.S. Army veteran. Her professional interests center around how to utilize innovation, strategy, and science to solve our 21st infrastructure and natural resource challenges. She is a Director of Corporate Strategy at Consumers Energy, charting the future for Michigan’s largest electric utility by assessing industry trends and technology advancements like electric vehicles and smart grids to develop new business models for the utility.

Sarah previously worked as a management consultant at Innosight, a growth and innovation consulting firm, and served 7 years in the U.S. Army as a Medical Services officer. Her military service sparked her interest in energy and infrastructure. She holds a BS in Biology from the University of Dayton and an MBA and MS in Environmental Science from Yale University.

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Zach Roberts

Dayton, OH | Ohio Air National Guard

Zach Roberts is a Political Advocacy Consultant for the Ohio Education Association. His work contributes to improving Ohio’s public education system through grassroots organizing and public policy advocacy. Zach also serves in the Air National Guard as a Master Sergeant and Noncommissioned Officer In Charge of a specialized disaster response unit based in the Midwest. 

Over his 15-year career with the Air National Guard, Zach has deployed overseas, and has also assisted in disaster recovery operations in the United States. Additionally, he serves as an instructor with the National Guard Bureau, helping train Air National Guard units across the country in disaster recovery operations. 

In 2019, Zach launched an organizing effort that focuses on educating, training, and mobilizing members of Ohio’s military community around issues impacting the state’s working-class and middle-class communities with the intention of improving their lives through community activism and public policy change. Zach is a member of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States and is a member of the Truman National Security Project.

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Heather Takle

Boston, MA | U.S. Marine Corps

Heather (March) Takle is an industry veteran and leader in the advanced energy sector. In January 2020, she will begin her role as CEO & President for PowerOptions, a nonprofit and one of the largest energy buying consortiums in New England that delivers cost savings and predictability to over 400 nonprofits and public sector entities. Throughout her career in the advanced energy sector, she has sought to help organizations develop and offer holistic energy solutions that help reduce energy costs while providing more sustainable and reliable energy. Working across strategic planning and operational roles, she has helped organizations, small to large, for-profit to government, build strategies for growth and execute for success. Her cross-cutting experience across the advanced energy sector includes cutting- edge technologies paramount to U.S. national security, including solar, energy storage, microgrids, other distributed generation, energy management systems, and demand management.

Most recently, Takle was CEO of 2ndPath Energy, a firm she started to serve companies in the advanced energy sector with strategy and development. As Vice President of Energy Services at Patriot Energy Group, she developed a portfolio of clean energy product offerings and also managed all of back office operations. Prior to Patriot, she guided strategic planning, new business development and led all merger and acquisitions as Director of Corporate Development at Ameresco. As a Principal Consultant at the Parthenon Group, Heather helped clients solve their toughest strategic problems using data-based analysis, including work in sustainability and renewable energy where she began her career in the sector.

A grateful veteran and consummate supporter of transitioning veterans to clean energy careers, Heather served as a Captain and Logistics Officer in the U.S. Marine Corps where she deployed for Operation Enduring Freedom and supported the start-up of the Department of Homeland Security as the Anti-Terrorism Officer for Marine Corps Base Quantico. She earned a BS from Boston University, an MBA from Harvard Business School and completed the Climate Change and Energy Policy program at Harvard Kennedy School.

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