YPE Los Angeles

YPE Los Angeles Leadership

  • A young man with short, dark, curly hair smiling, wearing a light blue button-up shirt against a gray background.

    Jon Gordon

    Board Co-Chair

    Jon Gordon, a Technical Project Manager II at CALSTART, is passionate about reducing emissions through the intersection of renewable energy and clean transportation.

    jongordon17@gmail.com

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    Evan Birenbaum

    Board Member

    An expert in the development of cross-infrastructure analytics and technology for Big Data applications, he is one of the most sought-after providers in the U.S. market for the design and development of technology tools to power e-commerce, and he has been at the forefront of the development and market application of behavioral energy efficiency technology.

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    Lauren Faber O’Connor

    Board Member

    Lauren Faber is the Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Los Angeles. In her role as CSO she is driving the implementation of the Sustainable City pLAn, released in April 2015, which puts forth an actionable vision for transforming LA’s environment, economy and equity.

  • A young woman with long dark hair smiling outdoors in a lush garden with various green bushes and trees.

    Audrey Vinant-Tang

    Board Member

    Audrey Vinant-Tang serves as Manager, Strategic Sourcing and Green Initiatives for CBS. She graduated from UCLA with a major in Environmental Science and Engineering and a minor in Film & Television. After working as an air quality engineer for three years, Audrey was able to blend these two passions at CBS.

  • A woman with long, wavy dark hair smiling outdoors with green foliage in the background.

    Joy Langford

    Board Member

    Joy Langford has over 15 years of experience as a public private partnership liaison assisting corporations, with environmental practices at the local state and federal government levels.

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    Kiran Srivastava

    Board Member

    Kiran Srivastava is a renewable energy policy professional with over fifteen years of professional experience. Over the last ten years, she has focused on strategic development and management of federal energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.

  • A smiling man in a business suit and glasses standing with arms crossed outside near a brick building.

    Alex Pugh

    Board Member, Director of Marketing

    Alexander Pugh has spent 15 years as an energy industry professional. He is currently a Development Manager at Hecate Energy. In this role, he leads business and project development efforts for a solar pipeline of over 200 MW of solar projects and 40MW of battery storage throughout the Western US.

  • A young man with brown hair, wearing a black suit jacket and a checkered shirt, smiling and standing in a hallway.

    Noah Perch-Ahern

    President and Board Chair Emeritus

    YPE LA President, Noah Perch-Ahern, is an environmental and energy attorney with the Los Angeles-based Greenberg Glusker law firm. Noah maintains a broad environmental law practice that includes major litigation and administrative proceedings, business transactions and regulatory matters.

    nperchahern @ greenbergglusker . com

  • A man in a gray pinstripe suit, light-colored shirt, and striped tie, standing outdoors against a red brick wall, smiling slightly.

    Arash Saidi

    Board Member

    Mr. Arash Saidi is an integral part of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s (LADWP) clean energy transformation and is guiding future power system developments for the City of Los Angeles, currently serving as Distributed Energy Resource Program Development Manager.

  • A smiling young man with glasses and a beard, wearing a white shirt, standing outdoors with green foliage and a wooden structure in the background.

    Aaron Jacobs-Smith

    Board Member, Director of Finance

    Aaron Jacobs-Smith is Corporate Counsel for Inspire Energy Holdings, LLC where he leads regulatory strategy. Aaron is a passionate, life-long environmentalist, committed to hastening our transition to clean energy and decarbonizing all sectors of the economy.

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    Sara Neff

    Board Member, Director of Partnerships

    Sara Neff (MBA, LEED AP BD+C, ID+C, EB: O&M, ND) is the Vice President of Sustainability at Kilroy Realty Corporation. In her first four years, she took Kilroy from having no sustainability program to being named the #1 real estate company across all asset classes on sustainability in North America by GRESB, and in 2015 they won that honor for the second year in a row.

  • A headshot of a man with glasses and short, light brown hair, smiling against a dark background.

    Geoff Danker

    Board Member

    Geoff Danker is the Senior Environmental Policy Advisor at the Southern California Gas Company. In this role, Mr. Danker develops and recommends environmental policy for SoCalGas in response to proposed regulations, legislation or emerging environmental policy issues.

  • Professional woman with brown hair, smiling, wearing a navy blazer, white top, gold necklace, and earrings, against a light background.

    Jaime Carlson

    Board Member

    For over a decade, Jaime Carlson has specialized in renewable energy investment throughout the Americas. Jaime is currently Senior Advisor for SoftBank Energy’s Strategy and Investments Team.

  • A woman with shoulder-length brown hair smiling outdoors in front of green foliage.

    Jennifer Giles

    Board Member

    Jennifer is the Commercial Accounts Executive at Clean Power Alliance. Her experience includes customer account management, renewable energy project and program development and carbon mitigation strategies for the private and non-profit sectors.