A Brief Historical Perspective

Sustainable Westchester’s beginnings can be traced back to the economic crisis of 2008. The $831 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed into law by President Barack Obama in early 2009, had as its primary goal job creation, in part through targeted public investment in such areas as energy efficiency. In 2009, a group of northern Westchester County municipalities teamed up to create a collaborative energy efficiency program, targeted for homeowners, to win some of the federal Recovery Act stimulus funding. Meanwhile, in 2010-11, numerous civic leaders in the Hudson River municipalities in southern Westchester County saw the benefits of forming a sister consortium. With NWEAC as a model, eleven municipalities created the Southern Westchester Energy Action Consortium (SWEAC), comprised of the appointed chairs of municipal environmental committees.

In the true POWER OF COMMUNITY…
On November 13, 2013, a unanimous vote at a meeting of the members resulted in an amendment to the Certificate of Incorporation for Northern Westchester Energy Action Consortium, Inc., changing the name to Sustainable Westchester, Inc., with Herb Oringel as Chairperson of the Board of Directors. Sustainable Westchester was essentially the product of combining NWEAC and SWEAC. The combined organization held its inaugural Board of Directors Meeting on December 19, 2014 at Greenburgh Town Hall.

Meet our Team

Enrique Aguas
Program Coordinator, Solar Programs

Noam Bramson
Executive Director

Jan Brennan
Director of Development

Lauren Brois
Program Director, Building Decarbonization

Karyn DeFranco
Senior Program Manager, Westchester Power

Michel Delafontaine
Program Director, Research and Innovation

Lauren Kroell
Senior Program Manager, Building Decarbonization

Clarke Littlejohn
Climate Justice Associate

Christine Muaddi
Energy Advisor, Building Decarbonization

Yasmin Najjar
Program Manager, Environmental Justice & Special Projects

Megan Ort
Program Manager, Building Decarbonization

Mary Pena Silfa
Marketing and Communications Manager

Carmen Pei
Senior Program Manager, Solar Programs

Dara Rivadeneira
Program Coordinator, Building Decarbonization

Cat Sayles
Chief Operating Officer

Nick Tedrow
Deputy Program Director, Westchester Power

Dan Welsh
Program Director, Westchester Power

Leo Wiegman
Program Director, Solar Programs

Saul Zajkowski-Ennabe
Program Coordinator, Westchester Power

Board of Directors

Nicola Armacost
Mayor of Hastings-on-Hudson

Julie Chang
CEO, JCA Strategic Solutions

Bridget Gibbons
Director of Economic Development
Westchester County

Ken Jenkins
County Executive
Westchester County

Melissa Kaplan-Macey
Chief Initiative Officer, Center for Housing Opportunity
The Housing Collective

Sara Kaye
Council Member
City of New Rochelle

Jim Kuster
Board Co-Chair

Warren Lucas
Board Treasurer
Supervisor, Town of North Salem

Kaela Mainsah
Vice President of Environmental Justice
at the New York Power Authority

Stephen A. Manzi
Retired Fundraising Officer
at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Shawyn Patterson-Howard
City of Mount Vernon
Mayor

Howard Permut
Executive Management Consultant

William Serratore
Director of Sustainability,
City of Yonkers

June Wallach
Member, Town of Mamaroneck
Sustainability Collaborative

Dane Warren
Associate
Sive, Paget, & Riesel P.C.

Tom Watson
President, CauseWired LLC