The William K. Bowes, Jr. Award for Leadership
The William K. Bowes, Jr. Award for Leadership recognizes EDF Climate Corps alumni who are leaders in their field and working to drive positive environmental change. EDF Climate Corps alumni are energy and sustainability leaders of today who are working around the world to tackle some of our most challenging environmental issues. This award is presented to alumni who have demonstrated exceptional leadership through actions such as developing scalable solutions, sharing best practices, collaborating across and within industries, and engaging in environmental advocacy.
This award is dedicated to William K. “Bill” Bowes, Jr., an accomplished business leader and long-time supporter of EDF Climate Corps. A venture capitalist in the Bay Area for nearly 50 years, Bill devoted much of his time to education and medical research.
After twelve years, the EDF Climate Corps network includes nearly 1000 alumni. We are proud to award these exceptional alumni with The William K. Bowes, Jr. Award for Leadership.
2019 Award Winner
Ed Carley
Ed Carley has devoted his career to driving positive environmental change by contributing to high-impact energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, and by working on energy policy. His experience ranges from a Washington, DC think tank, to a municipal electric utility, and now by working with state energy offices across the country with the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO).
Ed Carley was a Climate Corps fellow in 2015 at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission where he worked as part of a team of EDF Climate Corps fellows who researched and analyzed an energy efficiency rebate and incentive program for the utility’s commercial and industrial clients. Informed by this research, Carley developed a financial model demonstrating the triple bottom line impact of energy efficiency programs for the SFPUC.
Ed Carley has also taken it upon himself to address a need that is very much in the spirit of Climate Corps: helping people find their way into the field of sustainability and make strides once they’re there. He founded “Ed's Clean Energy & Sustainability Jobs List” in 2017, which is a hand-curated and incredibly comprehensive weekly jobs newsletter. Originally created for seven friends, the list has grown to reach well over 2,000 subscribers. Ed has been a humble and ever-present force in the energy and sustainability community as well as within the Climate Corps network by supporting its members and helping to foster the next generation of climate and sustainability leaders.
2018 Award Winners
Katie Walsh
Katie Walsh has devoted her career to helping North American cities lead on climate change policy. In her current role as Senior Manager of North American Cities and States at CDP, Katie works with cities to expand their progress and ability to benchmark activities on reducing GHG emissions and adaptations actions. She has grown the program 6 fold from 27 cities participating in 2014 to more than 160 cities in 2018 who are creating and updating GHG inventory plans, adaptation strategies and improving their disclosure to CDP each year.
Katie was well qualified for this position of leadership thanks to her 2013 EDF Climate Corps fellowship at the City of Philadelphia where Katie’s task was to identify a strategy to prepare the City’s adaptation plan for climate change.
Katie continues to build her skills and scale her impact. Since participating in the EDF Climate Corps advocacy training workshop, Katie launched Sustain the Vote, a non-profit which engages NYC City council members in climate change education and just last month ran and won a seat in the Kings County Democratic County Committee to advance climate change action within Brooklyn.
Trish Kenlon
Trish Kenlon has devoted her career to driving positive environmental change as a dedicated ambassador of the sustainability field, mentor, and EDF Climate Corps network champion. As a 2009 EDF Climate Corps fellow at TXU Energy, Trish conducted their first GHG emissions inventory and identified energy savings opportunities that could reduce their carbon footprint by 30%. Trish spent her career leading energy efficiency initiatives with both small business and at the corporate scale. While Trish has accomplished a lot personally, she hopes that the biggest impact her career will make is on the careers of others. Earlier this year she founded Sustainable Career Pathways, a website that includes the first truly comprehensive collection of career resources for sustainability practitioners at all levels as well as career counseling.
This shift in approach from technical to people was no surprise to the EDF Climate Corps team as Trish boasts a long legacy of time and energy spent supporting the EDF Climate Corps network and fostering the next generation of leaders. A sampling of her service to the network includes: sharing her experiences on panels at the EDF Climate Corps training and donor events, she is a dedicated alumni mentor, has recruited fellows and hosts for the program, and recently was a participant in the EDF Climate Corps advocacy workshop which inspired her to successfully advocate for support against an oil pipeline in her hometown.
2017 Award Winner
Nicholas Zuba
Nicholas Zuba has spent the last ten years driving policies and programs that combat climate change. In his current role managing the Connecticut Green Bank’s (CGB) Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program, he helps commercial and industrial property owners with paying for the upfront cost of energy saving improvements. Over the last four and a half years, the program has helped nearly 170 building owners get financing to make key improvements to reduce their energy costs. During his 2014 EDF Climate Corps fellowship at CA Technologies, Inc., he developed seven project recommendations that could save the company 3.7 million kilowatt hours of electricity, nearly 6,100 therms of natural gas, and almost 2,500 metric tons of carbon emissions. For this work, he was awarded EDF’s first annual Best Business Case award, given to the fellow who presents the strongest financial analysis for a project or recommendations with a positive net present value and high likelihood of implementation.
Nicholas continues to share his skills and experience with the EDF Climate Corps program. He has served as an outside reviewer, mentored fellows in 2015, and in 2016, hosted fellows at the Connecticut Green Bank. His goal for the next five to ten years is to continue managing initiatives that help to remove energy efficiency market barriers for consumers, and has considering running for local or state office in order to promote pragmatic and sensible energy efficiency and environmental policy.
2016 Award Winners
Elizabeth Turnbull Henry
Elizabeth Turnbull Henry is creating lasting environmental change through her leadership as the President of the Environmental League of Massachusetts. Before joining ELM, she served as the Director of Energy, Environment & ISO at adidas and proved herself as an environmental innovator whose work has served as an example for other corporations. Elizabeth was a 2010 fellow at adidas Group where she was hired on full-time after completing her MBA/MEM from Yale.
Early in her post-graduate professional career, Elizabeth led the strategy development and launch for one of the first internal sustainability venture capital funds of its kind at a large corporation. Her work built on her experience in EDF Climate Corps and the opportunity to drive GHG emissions reductions while generating positive financial returns when viewed through a portfolio approach with blended environmental and financial objectives. Elizabeth’s work has been featured on the adidas Group blog and in GreenBiz, and her greenENERGY Fund’s results speak highly for themselves.
Building on the success and momentum of her greenENERGY fund at adidas Group, Elizabeth has graciously shared her insights with others in the corporate sustainability community seeking to embed environmental considerations into financial decision making at their companies. She has spoken at numerous conferences, sharing as much passion and enthusiasm for this work as she shares strategic insights.
Jenny McColloch
Jenny McColloch has proven herself as a leader in corporate sustainability working to embed sustainability strategy into one of the world’s largest restaurant companies. From her 2011 fellowship at Nestle Waters North America to her current role as Director, Global Sustainability at McDonald’s, Jenny has worked toward leading collaborative change and is passionate about continuing to mainstream sustainable behaviors, investments and decision-making in business and communities worldwide. .
Jenny’s accomplishments at McDonald’s include helping to make McDonald’s USA the first national restaurant chain to share the Marine Stewardship Council ecolabel at all locations for Filet-O-Fish, helping to launch the first-ever globally-aligned, public sustainability framework and goals for the brand in 2014, and helping to coordinate McDonald’s engagement in the White House American Business Act on Climate Pledge in the lead-up to COP 21.
Jenny is also dedicated to educating and inspiring others to care about the environment both inside and outside of work. She works with emerging leaders across industries serving as a resource, coach and mentor for young professionals trying to transition into the sustainability field. She is a big believer in building strong networks and helping others to unlock their own interests in social or environmental change – whether personally or professionally. She hosted EDF Climate Corps Fellow Ameer Azim at McDonald’s in 2014.
Jaxon Love
Jaxon Love has demonstrated incredible leadership in and dedication to the EDF Climate Corps network, participating first as a fellow and going on to host eight fellowships at Shorenstein Properties, as well as mentoring many young professionals. In large part due to Jaxon’s mentorship, his fellows have gone on to energy and sustainability careers at companies like PG&E, Sun Edison, Lockheed Martin, and Booz Allen and work in fields including energy engineering, LEED consulting, and sustainability market research.
Since joining Shorenstein Properties as a 2011 Climate Corps Fellow, and then as the Sustainability Manager, Jaxon has helped the office portfolio of 25 million square feet reduce energy use by 19.5% and carbon emissions by 19%, equivalent to an annual carbon dioxide emissions reduction of 26,000 metric tons. Jaxon also administers a LEED Operation and Maintenance program covering the entire portfolio, addressing water efficiency, green cleaning, waste management, integrated pest management, and indoor environmental quality.
Jaxon Love has been dedicated to environmental change since his earliest days, conducting a carbon footprint of his high school for his senior science project and co-authoring a book on inter-generational environmental justice. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jordan, Jaxon organized environmental clean-up projects and has an MBA in Sustainable Business Practices from the University of Oregon. Jaxon strives to grow sustainable practices into the core of the real estate business model.