As the founder of Sutro Energy Group, Nicole Systrom partners with philanthropists, investors, and entrepreneurs on innovative solutions for climate change. She believes strongly in utilizing all the tools at one’s disposal–from public advocacy to financial capital–to reverse the climate change crisis. Over the past few years, Nicole has worked to empower the philanthropy and impact investment community to channel millions of new investment dollars into the development of breakthrough technologies.
Nicole is fortunate to work with many organizations on the front lines of science and engineering innovation. She is an ongoing consultant to Prime Coalition, where she supports philanthropists seeking to catalyze the growth of technology startups focused on climate change applications. In a previous engagement with Cyclotron Road, Nicole advised on early program and business strategy development, advancing a new model to support hard science innovators for societal impact. Other Sutro Energy Group projects have included launching the investor education series “Investing in a New Climate” with the Stanford Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, and advising leading climate philanthropies on new program direction. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Prime Coalition, Activate, in addition to Energy Foundation. She is also a member of the Ceres President’s Council.
Nicole’s work at Sutro Energy Group is the culmination of an entire career focused on climate change solutions. She supported the development of methods to quantify the carbon stored in working forests as a fundraiser at the non-profit Pacific Forest Trust. At TerraPass, a venture-backed startup, she personally managed a project portfolio that reduced 250,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions across the U.S. She also has published work on facets of clean energy ranging from gaps in the clean tech innovation ecosystem, to philanthropic tools for investing in climate solutions, to state energy policy.