Q&A with Jay Gaines, CMO at Forrester

MEDIA 7 | December 5, 2019

Andrea Lechner-Becker, Chief Marketing Officer at LeadMD is an experienced Marketing and Sales Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry. Skilled in Business Process, Marketo, Sales, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and IT Service Management, Andrea is also a strong business development professional and a storyteller. MEDIA 7: What inspired you to get into marketing? ANDREA LECHNER: Frankly, not having better options. I originally attended the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse thinking I’d major in Archaeology. I wanted to be Indiana Jones! But, after visiting the archaeology building – i.e. the cold, dark basement of the science building – where a girl sat to piece together pieces of an old Native American vase, I knew archaeology was not going to be the right path for me. And so, without being good at science and a major in art or art history was unlikely to pay my bills, I decided to go into “business”. I originally registered as a management major, but took my first marketing class and thought it was more interesting and switched my sophomore year. That was pretty much it. I’d never been involved in business classes or DECA in high school – I didn’t really know what to do or what jobs in marketing were even possible. I dumb lucked myself into it really. M7: As a storyteller, do you relate the brand to a story or story to the brand? AL: Both? Neither? I think there are stories in every brand, because there are people working on the brand and people engaging with the brand and people using what the brand creates. People, most often a single person, are at the heart of great stories. You can start with the “point” of the story you’re trying to tell. Say you have a software that help accountants better create reports for board meetings. It’s likely you’ll want to tell a success story about an accountant getting promoted to CFO in part because your software helped better communicate their work product to the board. You could have the idea for that and go looking for that story in your customers. OR, you could hear that story, and say, “That’s amazing!” and share it with customers, partners and internal people. Stories are all around us – the most important thing is to keep your ears and eyes open for finding them.

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Media 7 | August 4, 2021

Jeremiah Emanuel Josey, Founder and CEO at The Thorium Network, is an energy specialist interested mostly in CIS and the Middle East. He founded The Thorium Network in early 2018, following discussions with Armenia for their spent on nuclear fuel, because "the timing was right." He is also the Chairman of MECi Group. He focuses mostly on rapid business growth, profit generation, restructuring, operational efficiency, business development, and sales. He has built and rebuilt companies and steered projects and companies that measure in billions of Euros.

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Media 7 | March 18, 2021

Susan Stone, CEO at Ubiquitous Energy, Inc. has been a longtime board member and investor in the company. Prior to joining Ubiquitous, she was the founder and CEO of Sierra Wasatch Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm, and managed early-stage investing for Riverhorse Investments, Inc. Susan has also worked at JPMorgan in New York and Houlihan Lokey in Los Angeles as an investment banker focused on mergers & acquisitions. Stone holds an MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University.

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INDUSTRY UPDATES

Scout Clean Energy | March 15, 2023

Scout Clean Energy (Scout), a renewable energy developer-owner-operator, has recently announced its acceptance of the final delivery of GE Renewable Energy (GE) company's onshore wind turbines for its Sweetland Wind Project (Sweetland) in Hand County, South Dakota. Scout is owner and responsible for the operations of this project. It plans to install about 71 of GE's 2.8-127 wind turbines. Sweetland will produce over 903,500-megawatt hours of low-cost renewable power annually. As a result, the project would offset approximately 615,000 tons of carbon emissions per year. It would power about 82,100 homes with carbonless electricity as an estimation. The American Clean Power Association (ACPA) has recognized GE's 2.8-127 turbine series as America's most widely deployed turbine. It has selected Blattner Energy as the Balance of Plant (BOP) Contractor. The project would generate huge revenue, temporary construction jobs and permanent full-time positions. CEO and Founder of Scout Clean Energy, Michael Rucker said, "We are pleased to have received the on-time delivery of the 71 of the latest GE wind turbines for Sweetland Wind Farm," He added, "The final delivery allows for our Sweetland project to begin full construction shortly, and when commissioned later this year will add to Scout's growing contribution of carbon free, renewable energy to South Dakota." (Source – Cision PR Newswire) CEO of GE's Onshore Wind, Vic Abate said, "GE is proud to complete the on-time deliveries of our workhorse 2.8-127 turbines to Sweetland Wind Farm." He added, "With more than 300 million operating hours and best in industry power performance, our fleet of 2MW turbines are helping to deliver cost effective and reliable renewable energy to the regions that need it most. Scout Clean Energy is an important partner as we work to deliver on the energy transition together." (Source – Cision PR Newswire) About Scout Clean Energy Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, Scout Clean Energy, a renewable energy semiconductor manufacturing company, provides services for wind project development, energy resource assessment, transmission interconnection, project finance, wind energy real estate and title, solar project development, and wind facility operation. It is a renewable energy developer and owner-operator with approximately 1,200 MW operating wind assets, of which about 400 MW for third parties and over 22,000 MW wind, solar and energy storage projects with almost 2,500 MW projects which are under construction and advanced-stage. In addition, it assists in various aspects of renewables like project development, permitting, power marketing, asset management, operations, and finance.

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SUSTAINABILITY

Octopus Energy | March 17, 2023

Octopus Energy, the UK’s third largest energy retailer, has announced plans to invest €1 billion in the French green energy market over the next two years. The investment will be used to accelerate the energy transition in France and generate enough local green power to supply 300,000 households. Building on its investments already made in France, the company is launching a new European tech hub in Paris through its subsidiary Kraken. The new hub will create hundreds of clean energy jobs and support millions of customers across the continent. Octopus Energy first entered the French market in January 2022 with its acquisition of French energy supplier Plüm énergie. The company is now targeting 1 million customers by 2026 in France. While offering better customer service and bringing down prices, Octopus Energy France is also helping and rewarding French households to lower their energy consumption through innovative products. The company's customers already use 10% less energy than the average French household, and Octopus is committed to continue innovating to help French consumers use less, but stay warm. Announcing the plans at the 36th Franco-British Summit, chaired by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris today, Octopus Energy CEO and Founder, Greg Jackson, commented: “Octopus operates across 10 European countries, and today we’re delighted to announce a huge increase in our cooperation with France. We’re planning to invest an extra billion Euros in French generation - but we’re also going to make Paris our EU technology hub. This is testament to the mutual commitment to investing in a clean energy system, and pioneering the digitisation which will drive costs down alongside carbon.” Vincent Maillard, CEO of Octopus Energy France, commented: “We are very proud to see Octopus Energy's role in France's energy transition recognized at the highest level of the French government. In doing so, the group combines retail energy expertise, major investments in renewable generation and cutting-edge technology to unlock innovative tariffs and deliver an outstanding customer experience to French households." About Octopus Energy Group Octopus Energy Group is a global energy tech pioneer, launched in 2016 to use technology to unlock a customer focused and affordable green energy revolution. It is part of Octopus Group, which is a certified BCorp. With operations in 14 countries, Octopus Energy Group's mission is going global. Octopus’s domestic energy arm already serves 3.4 million customers with cheaper greener power, through Octopus Energy, Affect Energy, Ebico, London Power and Co-op Energy. In December 2022, it was announced that Octopus would also take on the 1.5 million customers of failed supplier Bulb Energy. Octopus Electric Vehicles is helping make clean transport cheaper and easier, and Octopus Energy Services is bringing smart products to thousands of homes. Octopus Energy Generation is one of Europe’s largest investors in renewable energy, managing a £4bn portfolio of renewable energy assets throughout the continent. All of these are made possible by Octopus’s tech arm, Kraken Technologies, which offers a proprietary, in-house platform based on advanced data and machine learning capabilities, Kraken automates much of the energy supply chain to allow outstanding service and efficiency as the world transitions to a decentralized, decarbonized energy system. This technology has been licensed to support over 20 million customer accounts worldwide, through deals with EDF Energy, Good Energy, E.ON energy and Origin Energy. In December 2021, Octopus Energy Group was valued at approximately $5 billion following a $600 million investment from Generation Investment Management and a $300 million investment from Canada Pensions Plan Investments Board. Both investors back businesses that drive sustainability, promote green energy and tackle climate change. It was the company’s third major investment round since launching to the market.

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ENERGY

businesswire | March 24, 2023

AVANGRID, a leading sustainable energy company and part of the Iberdrola Group, has announced today the signing of a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Meta to procure renewable energy from True North, a 240 MW solar farm under development in Falls County, Texas, and AVANGRID’s first solar facility in the state. “We are proud to sign this agreement with a partner like Meta who, like us at AVANGRID, has a strong commitment to accelerating the energy transition in the U.S.,” said Pedro Azagra, AVANGRID’s CEO. “With projects like True North, we continue our mission of helping the country meet its ambitious clean energy goals, while also creating quality jobs and strengthening our local economies.” “We’re excited to expand our partnership with AVANGRID to help bring new solar energy to support our local operations in Texas,” said Urvi Parekh, head of renewable energy at Meta. “True North will support our commitment to 100% renewable energy and represents additional investment and jobs for the region.” Since 2020, Meta’s global operations have been supported by 100% renewable energy. The True North project will support Meta’s upcoming data center in neighboring Temple, their second data center facility in Texas. True North, AVANGRID’s first solar farm in Texas, will deliver 240 MW of clean, renewable energy once it reaches commercial operations, which is expected by early 2025. During its construction and operation, True North will create over 200 local jobs and is expected to pay over $40 million in property taxes over 25 years in this state, in which the company already operates more than 1,250 MW of onshore wind facilities. With more than 8.6 GW of installed renewable capacity, including 1.1 GW of solar projects operating and under construction, AVANGRID is the third largest renewable energy operator in the U.S. In total, the company has a strong pipeline of more than 25 GW under development, encompassing solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, and battery energy storage. About AVANGRID AVANGRID, Inc. aspires to be the leading sustainable energy company in the United States. Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $41 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, AVANGRID has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, AVANGRID owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Through its renewables business, AVANGRID owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. AVANGRID employs more than 7,500 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital in 2021, 2022 and 2023 as one of the JUST 100 companies – a ranking of America’s best corporate citizens. In 2023, AVANGRID ranked first within the utility sector for its commitment to the environment. The company supports the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2022 for the fourth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. AVANGRID is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A.

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