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Canary Media’s Charging Up column chronicles gender range and notable profession strikes within the climatetech sector. Got a particular person or occasion you’d prefer to see us cowl or a sizzling job tip? Let us know!
Nicole Geneau: A clear vitality Swiss Army knife
Nicole Geneau is vice chairman of economic growth at Antora Energy. This interview has been edited and condensed for brevity.
How did you find yourself on this profession path?
I’ve had the environmental bug since highschool. After school, I went into finance and accounting however wasn’t happy. So I slowly made my method again to environmental points, engaged on the primary World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg and with firms on their company social duty methods, after which on the vitality transition extra instantly.
I joined Antora in November final yr after rising more and more annoyed on the lack of financial and efficient expertise options for industrial Scope 1 emissions. Until Antora, there was no nice resolution for baseload steam era in industrial manufacturing amenities apart from burning pure fuel. I had labored on fleet electrification within the transportation house, however after soul-searching, I discovered industrial emissions to be the following underserved sector, with few commercially accessible applied sciences. That’s once I found Antora.
I met our CEO, Andrew Ponec, and we instantly clicked. I joined as VP of economic growth, a jack-of-all-trades position. I consider being a Swiss Army knife is efficacious, as a result of you’ll be able to apply it to varied conditions, challenges, and alternatives. I now work on something the corporate must deploy our expertise into amenities and make them industrial and operational.
What is the perfect piece of recommendation you’ve ever obtained?
“Get to the purpose.” As a Canadian, I are inclined to really feel the necessity to clarify and supply a historical past lesson earlier than asking for one thing. One of my bosses instructed me to cease and mentioned, “I don’t want the historical past lesson. I simply want the purpose. What would you like?” This recommendation happened 15 years in the past, and I give it some thought continually. It frames how I talk, and I have discovered it very efficient.
What is a barrier you confronted, and the way did you overcome it?
I believe this difficulty is expounded to the broader problem of ladies in STEM fields. Earlier in my profession, once I joined the sector doing precise growth, there was skepticism about whether or not a lady could possibly be the lead, going to neighborhood conferences, coping with engineers and landowners.
This was solely about 15 years in the past. It was a enormous barrier to beat. The roles that had been thought of extra applicable for girls had been in authorized or advertising and marketing, that are extremely useful, however the satisfaction I’ve gotten over my profession being the particular person within the discipline, negotiating with landowners, and really constructing issues has been super.
I consider we have to proceed investing in STEM packages and mentoring younger girls in order that they’re not dissuaded from becoming a member of this house, although they’ll face some bias as they’re developing. It’s nonetheless there, and we have to preserve engaged on it.
What do you suppose are some attention-grabbing, missed profession alternatives in climatetech?
