Thank you to everyone who attended our second Evening Speaker Series.
Meet the speakers:
Jon Carbajal is NineDot’s Senior Director of Product Development with over 15 years of experience in the renewable field. Carbajal has led the technical and commercial design of dozens of battery storage projects located throughout New York and Ontario. He leads NineDot’s new product development initiatives from expanding the applications of outdoor stationary storage system, to also adding business models such as deploying V2G systems. He is a trained energy engineer, having earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell and a MS in Sustainability Management from Columbia. He enjoys modernizing old infrastructure from his NYC home and small sailboats.
Shannon Dulaney is the Director of Public Affairs at itselectric, an urbanist with a decade-long commitment to sustainable transportation. Prior to joining itselectric, she led the community partnerships team at Spin, a shared micromobility company, and worked as a federal lobbyist for Honda. Dulaney holds dual master’s degrees from the Yale School of Management and the Yale School of the Environment.
Cecilia Kushner is Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at the NYC Economic Development Corporation. As Chief Strategy Officer, Kushner leads multidisciplinary teams to deliver projects and programs focused on developing emerging sectors equitably and building neighborhoods of economic success. Prior to her current role, she spent over a decade working for the City on a range of infrastructure, transit operations, land use, and community development programs and policies, most recently as the Executive Vice President for Planning and NYC Ferry at NYCEDC, and earlier at the Department of City Planning in the Brooklyn, Resiliency, and Executive Offices.
Prior to immigrating to New York City in 2005 from France, Kushner lived in London for two years, working on economic analysis for historic preservation. She received her bachelor’s degree from La Sorbonne and holds a master’s degree in historic preservation from the Bartlett School of Planning at University College London, and a master’s degree in city planning from Hunter College, where she has taught planning as an adjunct. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
Alec Turnbull is Director of Product at Thalo Labs. Thalo’s real-world solutions combine proprietary sensing, software, and capture systems to bring tools previously reserved only for utility-scale power plants to buildings everywhere. Before transitioning to climate work, Turnbull was VP of Product and Engineering for growth at Dotdash Meredith, where he transformed an aging media company into the world’s largest digital and print publisher. Outside of work, Turnbull is a community builder, and is co-founder of Climate Tech Cities and the Climate Film Festival NYC.
Vince Wong is the Co-founder and COO at ElectricFish where he leads B2B sales, partnerships, and operations at ElectricFish. He has over a decade of experience in strategy and operations as a management consultant, enterprise product marketer, and second-time founder. Wong holds an MBA from Cornell Tech and a BA in International Relations from NYU.
Watch the recording in case you missed it!
Recap:
The event highlighted various initiatives and innovations aimed at advancing New York City’s green economy and resilience.
Cecilia discussed the city’s investment in future-focused sectors, emphasizing the green economy, life sciences, and technology. She detailed key projects like the Harbor Climate Collaborative, the Climate Exchange on Governor’s Island, and the Brooklyn Army Terminal’s climate innovation hub, which aims to support green startups.
Carbajal from 9 Dot Energy shared insights into their work on urban community-scale energy storage projects, highlighting the benefits of distributed storage for grid reliability and community resilience.
Dulaney from Its Electric explained their approach to curbside EV charging, emphasizing partnerships with property owners and the importance of accessible and reliable public charging infrastructure.
Turnbull from Thalo Labs focused on building decarbonization technologies, including methane mitigation and refrigerant leak detection, contributing to Local Law 97 compliance and overall emission reductions.
Wong from Electric Fish discussed their rapid deployment of fast EV chargers integrated with battery storage, designed to enhance grid resilience and provide backup power, particularly in vulnerable urban areas.
The panel underscored the importance of community engagement, regulatory coordination, and innovative solutions to foster a resilient and sustainable urban environment. The discussions highlighted challenges and potential solutions in workforce development, regulatory frameworks, and the adoption of cutting-edge technologies.
