About Mission Electric
Mission Electric is brought to you by Empire Clean Cities, a New York-based 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit and local U.S. Department of Energy Clean Cities Coalition. Empire Clean Cities’ mission is to ensure clean air for future generations.
Mission Electric is an electric vehicle campaign and one-stop shop for all information regarding resources, events, and funding incentives to help you transition to electric vehicles.
We believe electric vehicles are a safe, sustainable, and zero-emission solution to clean transportation that protects our local health through air quality and our regional resilience to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
Mission Electric is an electric vehicle campaign and one-stop shop for all information regarding resources, events, and funding incentives to help you transition to electric vehicles.
We believe electric vehicles are a safe, sustainable, and zero-emission solution to clean transportation that protects our local health through air quality and our regional resilience to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
Mission Electric Committee
The Mission Electric Committee will serve as subject matter experts and strategic guides to provide policy analysis, program coordination, and overall advocacy for electrifying transportation.
Joy Gardner
Joy is Empire Clean Cities' Executive Director, as well as the Clean Cities Coalition Coordinator. She coordinates grant programs, memberships, outreach, and local events. She holds a Master's degree in Nonprofit Management from the New School for Public Engagement and has over 10 years experience working for a variety of social impact campaigns. Joy collaborates with ECC's partners and local communities to work towards an environmentally sustainable future.
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Lauren Kesner O'Brien
Lauren is the Policy and Partnerships Manager at Empire Clean Cities. She earned a Master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, with a concentration in economic development, and worked as a journalist covering technology, energy policy, and electric and alternative fuel vehicles for Bloomberg Television, PBS, and CNBC. Later she lobbied for successful climate bills in Albany and New York City. Lauren is committed to advancing clean transportation, sustainable mobility, and environmental justice by building impactful relationships between stakeholders, industry, and government.
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David Chernack
David is the Program Manager at Empire Clean Cities. He received his M.Sc. in Environmental Policy from Bard Center of Environmental Policy in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, in the spring of 2021; while at Bard CEP, David focused on electromobility issues and municipal access to EV technology. Previously, David was the Sustainability Coordinator for the Town of Rhinebeck, New York. David is particularly interested in how the electromobility revolution can address many of the historic economic and social inequities of the U.S.'s current transportation ecosystem.
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Zanasia Graham
Zanasia is Mission Electric’s Coordinator under Empire Clean Cities. She has worked on diverse collaboration projects to push for an environmentally conscious and healthy campus with the following organizations: UCLA Sustainability Office, UCLA Zero Waste, and local community gardens.
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Kathy Harris
Kathy Harris leads NRDC's work on clean vehicle policies and programs that accelerate the transition to zero-emission passenger cars and trucks. Prior to joining NRDC, she worked for the state of Delaware as a planner, addressing a variety of statewide and regional policies and programs to mitigate greenhouse gases in the transportation sector. She also served as the Delaware Clean Cities coordinator. She holds a bachelor's degree in environmental science and a master's degree in marine policy from the University of Delaware. She is based in NRDC's New York office.
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Tevin Grant
Tevin Grant has always had a passion for the environment, the law, and automobiles. Tevin started Evolv-Electric as way to combine all of his passions. Evolv-Electric's mission is accelerate the adoption of medium and heavy duty electric vehicles in fleets, especially electric school buses. Evolv-Electric has been a major promoter of the NYC Council's electric school bus bill, Intro 455. Evolv-Electric also consults with fleet operators to devise plans to electrify their fleets, install, and pay for the necessary infrastructure and training needed to transition to electric.
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Mark Simon
Mark is the Director of Electric Vehicle Policy for the NYC Department of Transportation, a program that he has been heavily involved with since its inception in the late 1980's, which includes Empire Clean Cities and the NYC Clean Cities Program.
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Melinda Hanson
Melinda is the founder of Brightside, where she leads the firm’s work to advance sustainable urban mobility. She’s also the co-founder of the Equitable Commute Project, a micromobility policy accelerator and equity program that connects lower-income New Yorkers with quality e-bikes and accessible financing. Melinda has shared insights on reducing car dependence in the Verge, Bloomberg, Canary Media, My Climate Journey, and NPR’s Marketplace, and has been named a Grist ‘Fixer’ and a Remarkable Woman in Transport. Melinda’s spent her career working to decarbonize urban mobility, including as Head of Sustainability at Bird and as Deputy Director at NACTO’s Global Designing Cities Initiative.
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John Markowitz
John is Director of e-Mobility Technology and Engineering at the New York Power Authority (NYPA). He manages NYPA’s electric transportation program, as well as projects in the areas of renewable energy and energy storage. He participated in the field testing of the first plug-in hybrid vehicles from the major automakers. He is also a member of the Electric Power Research Institute’s Infrastructure Working Committee. This group of representatives of the automakers and electric utilities defines safety standards for electric vehicle charging equipmen
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Robert Gurman
Robert O. Gurman is Managing Consultant of Proenergy Consulting, a clean transportation/clean energy consulting firm. Mr. Gurman is a commercial & finance expert in the vehicle electrification/clean mobility, clean energy, renewable energy, and project; infrastructure
finance space: involved in over $34 billion of transactions in his career of over three decades. His publication, "Taking Commercial Fleet Electrification to Scale: Financing Barriers and Solutions"; was published by CALSTART. Mr. Gurman currently serves on the Board of Empire Clean Cities, and has consulted on clean mobility and vehicle electrification for public entities including NYSERDA, New York Green Bank , and US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office; as well as the Montgomery County (MD) Green Bank and CALSTART. |