After 24 years of leading the organization, Renewable Northwest’s executive director, Rachel Shimshak, will resign in June 2018.
According to the group, during Shimshak’s tenure, she moved Renewable Northwest “from pioneer to power player,” supporting the implementation of more than 8 GW of wind, geothermal and solar resources in the Northwest. Shimshak grew her organization membership into nearly 50 industry, public interest, tribal and educational entities.
“This has been my dream job, helping lead an evolution and revolution for our quality of life and for our planet,” she says. “Now, I believe it is time for a new generation of leadership for the organization. My timing will provide ample opportunity to complete the work at hand and for the board to engage in a thorough search process.”
The board will begin an immediate search process, says Renewable Northwest.
“Rachel had the rare combination of vision, strategic smarts, determination and sense of humor to not only lead this organization but to lead our region to its national prominence,” says Nancy Hirsh, Renewable Northwest’s board chair and executive director of NW Energy Coalition. “More importantly, Rachel’s commitment to building a broad community of support for clean energy will positively impact the quality of life in our communities for generations to come.”
“Anyone who’s been around the clean energy movement in the northwest during the past quarter of a century knows that Rachel had a big hand in their success,” adds Kevin Lynch, Renewable Northwest’s vice chair and Avangrid Renewables’ head of external affairs.
