Our Expert Advisory Board
Dr. Sharlissa Moore
Advisor, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
Sharlissa Moore, PhD, MS, previously a Professor at Michigan State University, jointly appointed between James Madison College and the College of Engineering, is an advisor at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. She works on power systems and stakeholder acceptance. Dr. Moore plays a constructive bridging role across a range of communities, including residents, policymakers, the energy industry, environmental groups, academia, and the investment community, translating knowledge across stakeholders, disciplines, and sectors. Professor Moore has extensively published across the field of energy policy and energy security. She began her career in science and technology policy in Washington, DC.
Robert Ferry
Founding Director, Land Art Generator
Robert Ferry is a registered architect and LEED accredited professional with two decades of professional practice experience on both consultant and client sides. Following a decade of design and project management on sustainable new urbanist developments in the United States, he spent four years as a consultant on large commercial projects in the Middle East, where his focus shifted to ways in which buildings can move beyond net-zero and contribute to the energy needs of the surrounding city. His concept designs pushing the envelope of building-integrated renewable energy technology have been published widely. Through the Land Art Generator, he supports the critical role of architecture and urban design as part of a comprehensive solution to climate change. Robert is the co-founder of the Land Art Generator, partner at Studied Impact Design, and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.
Elizabeth Monoian
Founding Director, Land Art Generator
Elizabeth Monoian (MFA Carnegie Mellon University) is the founding co-director of the Land Art Generator, an organization that is developing global partnerships between private and public entities around interdisciplinary projects that address issues of climate and sustainability through the lens of creativity. She works closely with cities, universities, corporations, arts organizations, and community groups to design customized approaches to renewable energy installations. Elizabeth has published, exhibited, and presented globally on the aesthetics of renewable energy and the role of art in providing solutions to climate change. Under her leadership, Land Art Generator has received multiple National Endowment for the Arts grants and has been awarded the J.M.K. Innovation Prize, a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund.
Dr. Martin Pasqualetti
Professor of Geography in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University
Dr. Martin J. Pasqualetti is Professor of Geography in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University; Senior Sustainability Scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability; and Co-Director of the Energy Policy Information Council (EPIC). He has worked throughout his career to advance the critical transition to a more sustainable energy future. His latest book (with others) is The Renewable Energy Landscape: Preserving Scenic Values in our Sustainable Future (Routledge). He is the ASU liaison to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In addition, he has served as advisor to several agencies and NGOs, including the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the National Academy of Sciences, the Arizona Office of Energy Policy, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and Natural Resources Defense Council. In 2015, he received the Alexander and Ilse Melamid Gold Medal from the American Geographical Society for his international contributions to the study social issues of energy. He was honored as Alumnus of the Year in 2018 by the University of California (Riverside).
Gurbax Sahota
President & Chief Executive Officer, CALED
Executive Director, CA Academy For Economic Development
Gurbax Sahota is an experienced association professional who believes in the importance and need to collaborate and create meaningful partnerships in order to accomplish the goal of creating healthy, wealthy communities. Gurbax holds senior positions with CALED, the California Academy for Economic Development, and the California Enterprise Development Authority. As President & CEO of CALED, she is focused on creating strategic partnerships to promote the value of economic development and create a stronger voice for economic developers at the state and local level. Additionally, she has originated and implemented the creation of meaningful publications to support economic development in California, including:
Growing Thriving Rural Economic Development Corporations
Primer on California’s New Tax Increment Financing Tools
California Rural Infrastructure Financing Guide
Church Lewis
Managing Director, Atlas Technology Group
Church is a career growth company investment banker interested in the intersection of capital and social and economic policy. Recognizing the urgency of the climate change problem and the large amount of public and private investment needed to support the innovation for solving it, he is advising promising companies in the climate action sector on corporate development and raising capital to achieve their goals. He is a member of the advisory boards of Mitico, Boundless Impact, Terra Global Capital and Bakken Energy, and of the Climate+Energy working group of the Xprize Foundation. His previous experience includes Managing Director at Needham & Company, where he started the internet and digital media investment banking practice and headed that group for nine years, Founder and President of Quartz Euromarkets, LLC, formed to represent clients in cross-border transactions, Head of Privatization for UNDP as a diplomat in Central Europe following the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Principal at Alex. Brown. He is a Managing Director with San Francisco based Atlas Technology Group and lives in Los Angeles. Church received his BA from Stanford University, his JD from Columbia Law School, and his MBA from Harvard Business School.