Forging Your Path In Climate Tech (Virtual)
Climate tech companies are growing and hiring, and your skills are needed to scale these innovative, dynamic, and impactful businesses.
Still trying to forge your way? You’re not alone.
Join us to hear from recent climate tech transitioners about their path into climate work, what drove them to make the switch, and what keeps them engaged and energized now that they're doing the work.
You’ll also have an opportunity to connect with other tech professionals curious about climate.
Agenda
1:30pm-2:30pm PST — Panel discussion with recent career switchers Selina Tobaccowala (HomeBoost), Alicia Harmon (Arbor), and Natalie Khtikian (CO280)
Specific Zoom link will be distributed closer to the event. For those in SF, register to be in-person for the discussion.
We're also hosting Running At Hard Problems: Building Hardware in Climate Tech at 3:00pm on the 24th—check it out!
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Panelist Bios
Selina Tobaccowala, Founder and CEO, Homeboost (Panelist) Selina Tobaccowala is a serial entrepreneur, a pioneering technology executive, and Co-founder and CEO of Homeboost, a technology solution for home energy savings.
Most recently, Selina served as the Chief Digital Officer at fitness company Openfit, which acquired her startup Gixo where Selina was the co-founder & CEO. Prior to Gixo, Selina served as the President & CTO at Survey Monkey from 2009 to 2016. Under Selina’s leadership, Survey Monkey became the world’s dominant online sentiment management company with 16 million surveys processed per day.
Prior to Survey Monkey, Selina co-founded Evite, the pioneering online invitation service, and held senior engineering roles at Ticketmaster, where she oversaw European engineering and product operations. Selina serves on the board of directors of Redfin, a tech-enabled real estate brokerage, as well as Voltus, a direct response energy company.
Selina holds a BS in Computer Science from Stanford University and lives in San Francisco with her husband, and two children.
Alicia Harmon, COO, Arbor (Panelist)
Alicia Harmon is the newly appointed COO of CDR company Arbor Energy where she is excited to capitalize on the enormous potential to help draw down humanity’s legacy emissions to save our planet. Alicia brings a wealth of experience spanning startup ecosystems, public-private initiatives and enterprise sales. Alicia comes to Arbor from edtech, where she guided global classroom platform Edmodo through the COVID-19 pandemic as COO. She has worked with clients such as Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and Toyota as a management consultant with Deloitte and advised founders and executives spanning from Seed to pre-IPO across climatetech, edtech, and healthtech. In her early career, Alicia acted as a political fundraiser for municipal and federal races, focusing on education and conservation issues. Alicia holds an MBA from USC and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two young daughters.
Natalie Khtikian Co-Founder and CCO, CO280 (Panelist) Natalie is a commercialization and sales leader with experience spanning software, advertising, and hard-tech. She was the first North American employee at Climeworks and developed the commercialization strategy for the voluntary carbon market.
Prior to her pivot into climate tech, Natalie was part of two startup teams acquired by Google. There, she worked with Fortune 50 clients, opening new markets and verticals. Natalie went on to become the VP of Sales at Yondr, a hardware team focused on removing cellphone distraction from live events.
Natalie holds a BA in Literature and a minor in Ballet from UC Berkeley, a Post Degree Diploma in Fisheries and Aquaculture from Vancouver Island University, and a MSc in Geography from the University of Victoria where she researched marine microbiology and oyster genetics.
Jill Macri, Founding Partner, Growth By Design Talent (Moderator)
Jill specializes in recruiting fundamentals that support growth in alignment with values and mission, and is passionate about supporting women in leadership roles. Previous to GBD Talent, she was the Director of Global Recruiting at Airbnb for over 5 years, growing the company from 150 to 4,500 people with a focus on building diverse teams and maintaining values. As a partner and founder at GBD Talent, Jill leads executive searches, trainings for hiring managers, workshops and strategic advisement.
Jill holds her B.A. of International Relations and Affairs. Jill worked in luxury active travel before she transitioned into recruiting, speaks four languages and has worked on six continents.
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By registering for this event, you agree to share your registration information with the organizers of SF Climate Week.