Last Thursday more than 450 business leaders from the region’s clean energy industry came together at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel to celebrate NECEC’s tenth anniversary as a leading organization advancing the clean energy economy in the Northeast. The energy was high and the room abuzz with excitement as we kicked off our 10th Annual Green Tie Gala--an event unlike any other event in the country that brings together clean energy business leaders, startups, growth companies and major corporations, investors, professional service firms, public sector partners and other stakeholders to celebrate clean energy industry growth and leadership.

It was a special year for us as we celebrated a decade of existence as an organization. Upon reflecting on the last ten years its clear that NECEC's ability to drive collaboration, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and lead on clean energy business and policy issues would have never been possible without the support of the individual people that make up this community. So in planning for the event, we decided to depart from our typical Green Tie Gala awards program which has recognized companies over the years. Instead, we thought it was fitting to recognize some of the key people behind the industry’s success. You can meet our awardees (Alicia Barton, President, NYSERDA; Ian Bowles, Co-Founder and Managing Director, WindSail Capital Group; Tom Burton, Founder and Chair of Mintz Levin’s Energy & Sustainability Practice; Steve Cowell, President, E4TheFuture; Tim Healy, former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, EnerNOC; Emily Reichert, CEO, Greentown Labs; George P. Sakellaris, President & Chief Executive Officer, Ameresco and Mitch Tyson, Tyson Associates, NECEC Board Chair) in the video below and check out the photo album for a recap of the evening. It was a great honor to recognize these leaders for their hard work and dedication, passion, drive and tireless effort to make the Northeast the best region for clean energy.

After hearing inspirational thank you remarks from our honorees, NECEC President Peter Rothstein shared an exciting opportunity that showcases how clean energy is a critical solution to climate change and to the resilient infrastructure needs of our changing world. In recent weeks, NECEC has become aware of a number of our member companies who have mobilized to deliver and deploy solar, storage and microgrid technologies to help Puerto Rico recover from the recent hurricanes with a new, distributed clean energy infrastructure. Stay tuned for more blogs on this effort, but for now, we hope the clean energy community considers supporting a local non-profit called the Resilient Power Puerto Rico project who is helping power up Puerto Rico.