The New England Clean Energy Council (NECEC) has formed the Clean Energy Fellowship Program (CEFP), an entrepreneurial-development program designed to transition experienced executives into the region's clean energy sector.
The CEFP aims to add approximately 25 experienced, CEO-caliber entrepreneurs to the Massachusetts clean energy sector each year. Run twice per year, the three-month, part-time program will consist of small classes of 10 to 15 high-level executives and will include:
– intensive classroom sessions with seminars, lectures and case studies covering issues, trends and details of clean energy technologies, markets and policies,
– visits to energy labs at various universities, including an instructive visit to the National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, and
– capstone projects, in conjunction with area venture capital firms and in support of potential or existing clean energy start-ups.
‘The venture community is increasingly focused on opportunities presented by the need for clean energy, but a lack of fundable local companies and entrepreneurial talent to lead those ventures is an obstacle to investment,’ says Peter Rothstein, an executive in residence at Flagship Ventures. ‘A successful fellowship program could accelerate the transition of CEO-caliber entrepreneurs into leadership roles with dozens of new clean energy companies in our region.’
The CEFP educational team is being coordinated by Rothstein and Nick d'Arbeloff, executive director of the NECEC.
Experienced executives interested in applying to participate in the founding pilot program should visit cleanenergycouncil.org/fellowship. Applications will be accepted until May 1. The program begins on May 29 and will continue through mid-September.
