The power of community
The power of community
Dara Bortman
As a co-owner and operator of Exact Solar, a company that has been installing residential and small commercial solar energy systems in NJ and PA for over 15 years, and with experience prior to that in the corporate and Big 5 strategic and management consulting arena, Dara Bortman comes to her clean energy and environmental policy advocacy work from a solid business perspective. With a knack for connecting people, communicating ideas succinctly and clearly, and taking a pragmatic, big picture view on issues, Dara feels she has a knack for seeing all sides and bringing people together while getting things done. In her first term on the Board of Directors at ASES, Dara has been thrilled to bring her advocacy efforts from the local and state arena in NJ and PA to the national level, meet and work with the many incredible people that are doing the good work of moving us forward to a more sustainable, clean energy economy through ASES and its programs, and be a part of shaping the conversation and educating our communities about the increasingly clear reality that a transition to clean energy is inevitable as solar energy is now the cheapest electricity ever created in human history – but that a just and equitable transition is not. Dara has been thrilled to be a part of ASES’ growth in membership, programming and influence during this exciting time and hopes to continue that for another term.
Robert Foster
I have appreciated the opportunity to serve on the ASES Board these past 3 years and as the Chair over the last 2 years. We have achieved some ambitious goals despite pandemic challenges over the past couple of years. In 2020 we set a goal to double our membership which we have now achieved with ~8,000 members. We reinstated our Technical Divisions and vetting procedures. We added 5 new student chapters and counting. We have the most diverse Board in history and formalized our governance structure. We adopted an innovative 5 year strategic plan that we are implementing. Working with our Treasurer, we established an IRA savings plan for ASES staff. We upgraded phone conferences to zoom conferencing for our chapter, divisions and Board meetings. ASES began an online community last year to facilitate member interactions. We hosted our first ever virtual conference (2020) and first hybrid conference (2021) with great success. We also improved financially in 2020 and kick-started new endowment and savings accounts. We are now in the process of providing student scholarships in 2022 with a JEDI component. Of course, all of these successes represent a real team effort between our ASES staff, volunteers, and Board and kudos to all. I would be delighted to serve another term on the Board and continue to further grow our organization. ¡Sigue el sol!
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Worked in solar since 1984 and implemented thousands of solar and wind projects for villages, clinics, schools, farms, utilities, etc. in 43 countries including over a decade living overseas between Afghanistan, Dominican Republic, and Mexico. Teaching RE workshops and courses to >10,000 engineers and students at NMSU and around the globe.
Muddassir Siddiqi
Greetings ASES Community Members, I am Dr. Muddassir Siddiqi, and it is my distinct privilege to request consideration to join the ASES Board. I support ASES’ overarching mission of achieving 100% renewable energy and sustainable living more broadly. My tenure in industry prepared me as an energy professional and sparked my deep interest in solar energy. I bring a well-rounded professional experience to ASES encompassing leadership roles in multinational corporations and several institutions of higher education. Educated as an Electrical Engineer, I worked for more than a decade in industry, and am currently the president of a large community college in Houston. As our country is undergoing an unprecedented shift away from a carbon-intensive economy to a clean energy future, we must be sensitive to the impact of such transitions on communities who have faced historical environmental and energy injustices and challenges accessing reliable and affordable energy. I believe that we must break through economic, cultural, and linguistic barriers to ensure everyone has a seat at the table when making decisions that define our path forward. I believe that ASES will play an important part in achieving this goal. In higher education, we are engaged in training and developing men and women to join clean energy job labor markets. I think my position at the ASES board will bring community colleges to the table and in this way ensure that the almost fifty percent of undergraduate students are represented in important energy conversations.