FirstLight and friends congratulate CEO Alicia Barton for NECA Innovation Award
FirstLight CEO Alicia Barton has been receiving warm kudos from energy and environmental leaders for being named the 2020 Innovation Award recipient by the Northeast Energy and Commerce Association (NECA).
Alicia was formally honored by NECA during an online ceremony on Wednesday evening, Oct. 21. Founded 35 years ago, NECA is New England’s oldest and most broadly-based non-profit trade association, serving the energy industry, enabling a community of professionals and organizations to share knowledge, build relationships and collaborate on opportunities and challenges created by evolving markets, technological innovation, public policies, and climate change.
Janet Gail Besser, managing director at the Smart Electric Power Alliance and a 2019 NECA Vanguard Award honoree, said, “I want to congratulate Alicia on this well-deserved honor. SEPA is committed to facilitate the electric power industry’s smart transition to a clean and modern energy future through education, research, standards, and collaboration. This future includes a critical role for energy storage in integrating more renewable energy into the grid. Already, Alicia is playing a key leadership role in advancing how one storage option, FirstLight’s Northfield Mountain, can best support the growth of offshore wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources throughout New England.’’
NYSERDA Acting President and CEO Doreen M. Harris said, “I can think of few people more deserving of this year’s innovation award than my friend and former colleague Alicia Barton. During her tenure as NYSERDA’s President and CEO, Alicia’s leadership and expertise laid the foundation for New York’s transformative efforts to transition to a clean energy future and solidified New York’s place as a major first driver in establishing the most aggressive climate and clean energy law in nation.”
Ken Kimmell, President of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit science advocacy organization, said, “Alicia Barton is a dear friend and a clean energy allstar—or rather, MVP. She has helped push two leading states—Massachusetts and New York—to be leaders of the pack, and I am excited to see what she is bringing in her new role in the private sector. This award for innovation is well-deserved, and I couldn’t be more pleased that she is its recipient.’’
Emily Reichert CEO of Greentown Labs, the largest climatetech startup incubator in North America, added: “I am inspired by Alicia’s career-long dedication to addressing climate change, and I am excited to see that commitment honored by NECA. It makes me feel more optimistic about our ability to fight climate change to have Alicia at the helm at FirstLight, a company dedicated to delivering clean energy to the New England electric grid.”
All of us at FirstLight join Janet, Doreen, Ken, Emily, and others across the energy and environmental sectors in saying: Congratulations, Alicia, on your much-deserved NECA Innovation Award!