Name: Jennifer Marrapese
Title: Executive Director
Company: NESEA (Northeast Sustainable Energy Association)
Location: Greenfield, Mass.
Place of birth: Madison, WI
Family: Husband (Bill), Daughters Chloe (9) and Isabel (7), Border Collie Molly (11)
College: BA in Journalism, University of Wisconsin; MA in Organizational Development and Management, Fielding University; JD, University of California, Berkeley
First job unrelated to your current field: Counter help at a fast food joint
First job in current field: This is it! I have extensive experience in nonprofit management, having served as executive director of Social Venture Partners of Rhode Island, and extensive experience in utility regulation, having served as vice president of Regulatory Affairs for Cox Communications, but this is my first position in the energy efficiency/alternative energy arena.
What your firm does now and its plans for the future? For more than 35 years, NESEA has been a resource to professionals in the Northeast seeking to promote sustainable energy practices in their buildings and in their communities. NESEA serves its members - architects, planners, engineers, manufacturers, builders, and policy analysts - by connecting them to each other and to the cutting edge information they need to do more and better work.
Our biggest focus at the moment is preparing for BuildingEnergy11 (BE11), a conference and tradeshow held March 8-10, 2011 at the Seaport World Trade Center. BE11 will attract more than 4,100 attendees, and will feature the cutting edge products and services of more than 170 exhibitors. It is a "can't miss" opportunity to network and learn.
Hobbies: Running, cooking for friends and family.
Favorite novel: A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Favorite film: Big Night.
Favorite website: www.sethgodin.com
Keys to success: Use your strengths every day, love what you do and the people with whom you do it, try new things.
Person(s) you most admire (outside of family): Lifetime NESEA members John Abrams and Andy Padian. They have been wonderful mentors to literally dozens, if not hundreds of people who are changing the way we think about sustainability.
If you had to choose a different profession, what would it be? Are you kidding me? This job rocks! Besides, who has time to think about another profession? Ask me again in five years!