Power & Decarbonization Insights for a Durable Advantage

Dr. Friedmann is one of the most widely known and authoritative experts in the US on carbon removal (CO₂ drawdown from the air and oceans), CO₂ conversion and use (carbon-to-value), hydrogen, industrial decarbonization, green manufacturing, and carbon capture and sequestration.He served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy at the Department of Energy during the Obama Administration, where he was responsible for DOE's R&D program in advanced fossil energy systems, carbon capture, and storage (CCS), CO₂ utilization, and advanced power generation. More recently, he was a Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia. He has held positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, including Chief Energy Technologist.

Dr. Colin McCormick directs Relae's work in power and electricity, data center infrastructure, grid reliability, and space technologies. Trained as an optical physicist and data scientist, he conducted research in applied quantum optics and atomic physics at UC Berkeley and NIST. He previously served as the Senior Advisor for R&D at the US Department of Energy, overseeing the applied energy research portfolio in energy efficiency, renewables, energy storage, grid technologies, electric vehicles and related areas. Earlier, he was a Professional Staff Member for the House Science & Technology Committee, focusing on technology and innovation policy, data interoperability, and technical standards development. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Science, Technology and International Affairs program at Georgetown University where he teaches classes on deep decarbonization and AI & autonomous systems. He is also a Commissioner on the District of Columbia Commission on Climate Change and Resiliency. He has worked extensively with the Climate TRACE consortium, and is a member of the Carbon Mapper Science & Measurement Committee. He was previously a member of the WattTime Board of Directors.

Dr. Atreya has worked in climate technology research and strategic advisory since 2009. She was the lead author of Bioresources within a Net-Zero Emissions Economy, a report by the Energy Transitions Commission evaluating the role of sustainable bioresources in climate change mitigation. While at SYSTEMIQ, a sustainability-focused systems change company, Meera provided strategic advice to a major climate-focused philanthropic foundation and co-authored a report on alleviating the plastic waste crisis; the United Nations Environment Programme is currently using this analysis as the basis for a global plastics treaty. Prior to SYSTEMIQ, Meera was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she was designated as an Affiliate Expert in Renewable Energy & Cleantech and was a key member of the team that steered McKinsey to address its own global carbon emissions. 

Meera is based in London and is an advisor to Carbon Gap and former Technical Advisory Group Member of the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). She holds a PhD in Chemistry (Chemical Biology) from UC Berkeley and an A.B. cum laude from Harvard. Dr. Atreya was awarded a US National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for her doctoral research on engineering enzymes to improve the efficiency, and lower the cost, of converting cellulosic biomass to 2^nd-generation biofuels.

Dr. Derya Eryilmaz is a power markets expert with about 15 years of experience in the power sector, specializing in economic and statistical modeling, power market design, consumer demand modeling and renewable energy procurement. She recently worked at Amazon and Walmart integrating power market analysis and  analytics to inform clean firm power investment decisions and corporate decarbonization. She also led teams of data scientists and analysts to deliver enterprise scale AI initiatives resulting in multimillion-dollar cost savings. In her previous work, Dr. Eryilmaz provided advisory and consulting services for the top 20 investor-owned electric and gas utilities clients in North America  and she also worked in various oil pipeline, natural gas and power litigation and regulatory proceedings.

Dr. Eryilmaz is teaching renewable energy finance at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. She also taught data analytics and energy economics in the Department of Economics at Northeastern University, and has published peer-reviewed research in The Energy Journal, Energy Economics, and The Electricity Journal. She holds a PhD in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota, with a focus on consumer economics and environmental economics.

Dr. Sarah Federman has cross-sector expertise in analytics, forest conservation, working lands policy, and the science underpinning biodiverse and resilient landscapes.

In the policy sector, Dr. Federman contributed as a lead author and coordinator to R&D roadmaps for landscape resiliency and climate-smart innovation for the US Department of Agriculture's Office of the Chief Scientist. While at the USDA, she also supported a federal interagency R&D strategy with the Department of Energy focused on the circular carbon economy. In the private sector, Dr. Federman led, developed, and implemented data-driven continuous improvement frameworks for an indoor agricultural technology startup, as part of a broader strategy to enable responsible vertical scaling. 

In academia, Dr. Federman has deep expertise in the ecological dynamics supporting the structure and function of tropical forests. Her work includes peer-reviewed recommendations for forest conservation and management of critically endangered species. She has managed multilateral teams and collaborations in Peru, Madagascar, and Trinidad and Tobago focused on forest ecology and conservation.

Dr. Federman holds a PhD from Yale University's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a M.S. in forest science from the Yale School of the Environment. Her graduate studies were supported by the National Science Foundation's Graduate Student Research Fellowship Program.

Greg oversees the curation of portfolios of environmental assets vetted by the expert science team at Relae, helping clients meet their climate goals with confidence.He has spent 20 years scaling climate solutions through capital allocation, data, and technology, with a focus on creative deal structuring and product innovation. Prior to joining Relae, he built out the Capital Markets function at Pachama, then led the company's Product and Operations function to launch a suite of AI-enabled geospatial solutions for carbon project investors. Previously, Greg worked at Silicon Valley Bank where he structured and managed a portfolio of technology company loans and pioneered new financing structures for hard asset and climate technology companies. He has also held positions in management consulting at Deloitte and co-founded two climate technology companies in the carbon measurement and waste management spaces. As an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia, Greg has taught courses on innovation, sustainability, and entrepreneurship, and has been a regular mentor in social and environmental impact programs like RADIUS SFU and New Ventures BC.

Sanna works closely with clients to advise them on high-quality carbon reduction and removal strategies and solutions, bridging science and impact-focused outcomes.

Sanna has worked in environmental science advisory since 2014. She draws on her professional experience in environmental engineering and strategic advisory with expertise in climate earth systems, land use and water resource management, and urban climate adaptation. 

Prior to Relae, Sanna was the Carbon Dioxide Removal Lead for the Energy Transitions Commission, publishing Mind the Gap: How Carbon Dioxide Removals Must Complement Deep Decarbonisation to Keep 1.5°C Alive in 2022. While at SYSTEMIQ, a sustainability-focused systems change company, Sanna was research manager for the Food and Land Use Coalition during the publication of Growing Better: 10 Critical Transitions to Transform Food and Land Use (laying out one of the first roadmaps for the global food systems transition). She also provided advisory services to the UNEP International Resource Panel on their 2021 strategic direction. She began her career as an civil and environmental engineer, focusing on climate resilient design for major infrastructure developments. 

Sanna is a Fulbright Scholar, and has worked in New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

A.J. Simon is a mechanical engineer and energy systems expert, whose passion for efficiency and insatiable curiosity has led to a 25+ year career spanning industry, academia and the US Department of Energy.

Prior to joining Relae, he managed the Energy Group at Lawrence Livermore National Lab where he led assessments of technologies as diverse as nuclear energy, carbon capture and removal, the energy-water nexus, hydrogen fuel, building energy efficiency, and soldier-portable power.

From 2003 to 2008, he helped to manage a large portfolio of university-led clean energy research at Stanford's Global Climate and Energy Project. From 2001 to 2003, he developed combustion and emissions control technologies for General Electric's diesel and gas turbine product lines.