Bruce Nilles and Uday Varadarajan Bolster Rocky Mountain Institute’s Leadership
Former Sierra Club Beyond Coal Director Bruce Nilles, and Former Climate Policy Initiative Principal Uday Varadarajan join Rocky Mountain Institute.
BOULDER, CO—August 09, 2018—Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is pleased to announce the addition to the organization’s team of Bruce Nilles as a Senior Fellow and Uday Varadarajan as a Principal.
“RMI is excited to have two respected experts join our team to bolster our ability to secure a low-carbon future. Bruce Nilles has extensive experience reducing overreliance on coal and securing investments into clean energy, and Uday Varadarajan’s experience developing data analytics will significantly bolster our efforts to secure a low-carbon future,” said RMI CEO Jules Kortenhorst.
Prior to joining RMI, Nilles was the Senior Campaign Director for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, which he helped launch and led for the past 15 years. This campaign played an important role in securing the retirement and replacement of more than half of the nation’s coal plants, which in turn slashed air pollution across the United States and saved thousands of lives annually.
“I am thrilled to be joining the amazing team at RMI, where I will be focusing on helping to accelerate our progress equitably replacing fossil fuels with clean energy. This includes exploring how we take the lessons we have learned slashing dangerous carbon pollution in the electric sector and applying them to other sectors, including the buildings and industrial sectors,” said Bruce Nilles.
Varadarajan joins from the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and will bring his expertise in the intersection of policy and finance to RMI’s electricity work. At CPI, he led their US Energy Finance team, identifying innovative financing and regulatory solutions to drive the clean energy transition. In addition, Varadarajan has prior experience working in the White House Office of Management and Budget overseeing approval of advanced vehicle manufacturing loans.
“I’m also very excited to be able to contribute to ongoing efforts at RMI and add a financial and policy lens to the great technical and economic work that RMI is known for,” said Uday Varadarajan.
Varadarajan started with RMI on July 1, 2018 and Nilles started on August 6, 2018.
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Media inquiries please contact:
Nick Steel, Senior Media Associate, T: +1 347.574.0887, E: nsteel(at)rmi.org.
Alexandra Chin, Media Associate, T: +1 973.262.0002, E: achin(at)rmi.org
About Rocky Mountain Institute
Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)—an independent nonprofit founded in 1982—transforms global energy use to create a clean, prosperous, and secure low-carbon future. It engages businesses, communities, institutions, and entrepreneurs to accelerate the adoption of market-based solutions that cost-effectively shift from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing.
