Board of Trustees

RMI is governed by a self-perpetuating Board that has complete oversight and policy responsibility, is kept currently informed of the Institute’s affairs, confers frequently on an individual basis with RMI’s operating officers, and meets four times a year.

Meet Our Board

Edward D. White

Board Chair
Edward “Ted” White is the Managing Partner of Fahr LLC, the umbrella entity for business leader, philanthropist, and renewable energy advocate Tom Steyer’s business, policy, political, and philanthropic efforts. Ted is also the “name” partner of Denver-based law firm Moye White LLP, where his legal practice primarily focuses on business transactions. Ted is the Founder and Advisory Board Chair of Estabrook Funds which invests in global, multi-strategy investments. His civic leadership includes acting as Chairman of the Boettcher Foundation, Chairman of the RMI, Founding Chair of Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, and Director of Advanced Energy Economy Institute. Ted graduated from Yale University with honors and received his J.D. from the New York University School of Law.

Jon Creyts

Chief Executive Officer
Jon Creyts is the Chief Executive Officer of RMI. He is an internationally recognized leader on global energy issues and climate change. Joining the organization in 2012, Jon has managed the strategy and execution of RMI’s global research and collaboration activities in multiple senior positions at the organization, most recently serving as chief program and strategy officer. Under his leadership, RMI has advanced market-based solutions to transform the global energy system to secure a clean, prosperous, and zero-carbon future for all.
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Steven A. Denning (on leave)

Steven A. Denning is the chairman emeritus of General Atlantic LLC, a firm he joined in 1980 and has helped build into a leading global growth equity firm with almost $80 billion in assets under management. Mr. Denning joined GA after working with McKinsey & Company. He received an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1978. Prior to business school, Mr. Denning served for six years in the US Navy, where he also earned an M.S. degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He received a B.S. from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1970, and an honorary doctorate in 2019. Mr. Denning is also a member of the Board of Directors of College Advising Corps, the New York Regional Plan Association, the Markle Foundation, Blue Meridian Partners, Inc., the Bridgespan Group, and the National Park Foundation, and is Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and a member of the Starr Companies Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Columbia Climate Board of Advisors, and a member of its Executive Committee. Mr. Denning is Vice Chair of the Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council, Chair of the Global Advisory Council to the President and the Natural Capital Advisory Council, all at Stanford University, and is a member of the Advisory Council of the Freeman Spogli Institute, the Knight-Hennessy Scholar Program Advisory Board and the Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute Advisory Council. Mr. Denning is former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Stanford University and former Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of The Nature Conservancy (TNC). He is Emeritus Chairman of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council, and a lifelong Trustee of The Brookings Institution, the American Museum of Natural History and the Georgia Tech Foundation. Steven and his wife, Roberta, currently reside in Greenwich, CT, and San Francisco, CA.

Wei Ding

Mr. Wei DING is founder and chairman of Broad River Capital, a private equity investment management firm set up recently in China.  Mr. Ding has over 30 years working experience in financial services, including at World Bank and IMF as an economist and project officer, at Deutsche bank as its China corporate commercial banking head, at Temasek as senior managing director and head of China for investments, and at China International Capital Corporation as head of investment banking and later as head for private equity investments.  Mr. Ding retired from the post of chairman of CICC Capital in October 2020.   Mr. Ding received his undergraduate training in economics and finance from Remin University of China, postgraduate study in economics from University of Texas at Austin, and Executives Training Program at Harvard Business School.

Amory B. Lovins

Cofounder, Chief Scientist of RMI and Chairman Emeritus
Snowmass, Colorado. MA, Oxford (by special resolution), twelve honorary doctorates; physicist, author, consultant.
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Dennis McGinn

Chair, Governance & Nominations committee
Dennis McGinn was appointed and served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment from September 2013 until January 2017. Previously, Mr. McGinn served on active duty in the United States Navy for 35 years as a naval aviator, test pilot, aircraft carrier commanding officer, and national security strategist. His capstone assignments as Vice Admiral included serving as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations and as Commander of the United States Third Fleet. Mr. McGinn is former President of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and a past member of the Steering Committee of the Energy Future Coalition, United States Energy Security Council, Bipartisan Policy Center Energy Board, and CNA Military Advisory Board. He currently serves as a board member for the RMI, Customer First Renewables, Willdan Group Inc., HALO Maritime Systems, and is a senior advisor to the Electric Power Research Institute, Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the Center for Climate and Security. Mr. McGinn holds a degree in Naval Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and was a Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Fellow at the U.S. Naval War College.

Martha C. Pickett

Managing Director and General Counsel
Marty Pickett is a Managing Director, Trustee, and General Counsel of RMI. A 17-year veteran at RMI, Marty focuses on the Institute’s advancement in alliances, funding, and governance as well as general strategy and legal counsel. Marty holds a Masters Degree in Community Development and Planning from the College of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado, Denver, and a law degree, with an emphasis in environmental law, from the University of Denver. Prior to joining RMI in 1998, Marty practiced land use planning and land use and real estate law in Denver and Aspen Colorado. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for the Environment at Catawba College in North Carolina, the board and executive committee of Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (a 501(c)(6) organization aka REBA), and the board of REBA Institute.
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George Polk

Program & Strategy, point trustee
George Polk is the Managing Partner of Tulum Trust, a private equity firm which works primarily with family offices and delivers high returns while having a meaningful impact on climate change. Among other things, Tulum has a special focus on industrial energy efficiency, where it funds energy generation projects that have very significant greenhouse gas impact and an annual cash yield of circa 15% for the 20+ year life of the project. George has been applying his skills as an institution builder, investor, and philanthropist to the challenge of creating a viable and vibrant low-carbon society since 2007, when he stepped out of a successful career as a technology entrepreneur to focus on tackling climate change.

Elizabeth Sall

Development, point trustee and Chair, People committee
Elizabeth Sall is the founder and president of UrbanLabs LLC, where she manages a portfolio of mission-driven projects spanning travel analysis research to policy. Prior to UrbanLabs, Sall served as the deputy director for data, technology and analysis, and as the interim deputy director for planning at the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. She is an active volunteer for the Transportation Research Board, serving on the Transportation Research Record Advisory Board and as a member of several committees. She serves on the Sall Family Foundation board, where she leads investment in “Entrepreneurial Initiatives.” Sall has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from North Carolina State University and an M.S. from University of Texas.

Sumant Sinha

Sumant Sinha is the founder of ReNew and has been ReNew’s Chairman and CEO since 2011. ReNew is one of the largest renewable energy companies globally, with a 13 GW portfolio and growing investments in key technologies like green hydrogen and energy storage. Prior to founding ReNew, he was President Finance at Aditya Birla Group, founder CEO of Aditya Birla Retail and COO of Suzlon Energy Ltd.

Sumant contributes to a number of international initiatives. He is an Energy Transitions Commissioner (UK) and Co-Chair of the Electricity Governor’s Group and Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, at the World Economic Forum. He is a Board member of the US India Strategic Partnership Forum, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and chair of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) India. He is a member of the Advisory Council of India Climate Collective.

Sumant serves on the advisory board of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He is recipient of the Columbia SIPA ‘Distinguished Alumni Award 2022’; Distinguished Alumnus Award – IIM Calcutta 2019; the coveted “Economic Times Entrepreneur of the Year Award’ 2018 and Distinguished Alumnus Award – IIT Delhi. He has also authored a book, “Fossil Free: Reimagining Clean Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World”.

For his achievements in entrepreneurship and clean energy, Sumant has won awards including S&P Global Platts ‘Trailblazer of the Year 2021. In 2021, Sumant was also recognized as SDG Pioneer by the United Nations Global Compact.

Sumant holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from IIT Delhi, India, a post graduate diploma in business management from IIM Calcutta, India and a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, United States. Mr. Sinha is also a CFA charter holder.

Todd Stern

Program & Strategy, point trustee
Todd Stern was “a leading architect of the Obama administration’s international climate change strategy,” according to Politico. Stern was appointed to the position of US Special Envoy on Climate Change on January 26, 2009, by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He was the chief US negotiator of the successful Paris Agreement. Stern previously served in the Clinton administration as Assistant to the President, and as Staff Secretary in the White House from 1993 to 1998, during which time he also acted as the senior White House negotiator for the Kyoto Protocol and Buenos Aires negotiations.

Jessica Uhl

Jessica is currently the Vice Chair for Mission Possible Partnership working on the decarbonization of industry and transportation and a Strategic Advisor to Breakthrough Energy focusing on deploying CO2 reduction solutions at scale. Jessica is on the Board of Goldman Sachs and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy.

Until April 2022, Jessica was the Chief Financial Officer and a Board member of Shell, one of the world’s largest companies operating in the entire energy value chain. During her tenure, she led major strategic initiatives to reposition the company for the energy transition and embed climate and wider environmental, social and governance ambitions. Jessica became the first executive sponsor of the global LGBTQ+ network and led ethics and transparency initiatives resulting in the creation of an ethical decision-making framework and the first tax transparency report. She started in Shell as the CFO of Shell’s Solar business and held leadership roles in the US, UK and the Netherlands.

Jessica has been named to the Forbes’ and Fortune’s lists of Most Powerful Women (2018-2021) and a 2021 OUTstanding Ally. Jessica holds a BA in Political Economy from UC Berkeley (Phi Beta Kappa) and an MBA from INSEAD.

Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella

Kandeh Yumkella is an internationally renowned consultant, distinguished development economist, and an expert in agricultural economics with over 25 years of experience. He is founder and CEO of The Energy Nexus Network, a regional ecosystem hub for sustainable energy solutions. Previously he served for almost two decades in United Nations System including as Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and founding Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Initiative. Yumkella is a former Chairman of UN-Energy and a two-term former Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). He has facilitated international cooperation and strategic partnerships with bilateral and multilateral development agendas, including other United Nations agencies. Yumkella is a prominent moderator and public speaker in international forums and addresses issues including climate change, global trade, development, and energy issues.

Audrey Zibelman

Development, point trustee
Audrey Zibelman is an experienced energy industry executive who has driven decarbonisation efforts and innovation within organizations and across the sector. Audrey has been at the helm of multiple organizations leading the transition of the power industry into a decarbonised world as a CEO, Board Member, government leader. Audrey currently serves on President Biden’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council, is a Board member of EOS Energy, Squadron Energy and SPAN and Senior Advisor to the Pollination Group, Meridiam and Alliance Capital.

Audrey most recent executive appointment was at X, Alphabet’s moonshot factory where she led an effort on grid digitalisation and now serves as an independent advisor. Before joining X, Audrey was the Managing Director and CEO of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the national power system and gas system operator for Australia. Previously Audrey was the Chairwoman of the New York Public Service Commission, Executive Vice President and COO of PJM, Founder and CEO of Viridity Energy and Vice President at Xcel Energy.