Our Team

RICK DUKE

is the director of NRDC’s Center for Market Innovation. Rick works with government and corporate leaders to accelerate market adoption of clean technologies and practices. Prior to joining NRDC, Rick was an engagement manager at McKinsey, where his projects included developing a hedging strategy for a leading CO2 credits originator and managing a global assessment of greenhouse gas reduction opportunities, published by McKinsey and the European Union utility Vattenfall. Rick has also worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, managed a small renewable energy company in Honduras and consulted for the International Finance Corporation. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University, where his doctoral work focused on the economics of public investment in clean energy.

SUSAN LEEDS

is a senior finance fellow at NRDC’s Center for Market Innovation. Susan works with the financial community to ensure that investors and intermediaries are factoring carbon risk into their investment decisions, and to accelerate investment in clean energy and energy efficiency. Prior to joining NRDC, Susan worked in investment banking and credit enhancement products, structuring and negotiating capital markets transactions with a focus on securitization. She has spent more than fifteen years at various financial firms including Deutsche Bank, GE Capital and Prudential Securities. Susan has an MBA in finance from the Wharton School.

CHRISTINE LUONG

is the manager for NRDC’s Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) partnership. She works with the business community to find opportunities to drive economic growth by supporting good environmental policies. Prior to joining NRDC, Christine worked in the health care sector and managed environmental health and safety projects with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Education Association. She holds a master’s degree in public administration from San Francisco State University and a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and policy from Duke University.

YERINA MUGICA

is a research associate at NRDC’s Center for Market Innovation, specializing in developing clean energy solutions. Yerina has an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has worked as a consultant to government and private sector clients. She has also published case studies on renewable energy, conservation and microfinance programs in Latin America. Yerina is currently leading an initiative to unlock the energy efficiency potential in buildings by working with key industry leaders to develop a policy road map that works for consumers, business and the environment.

ANDY STEVENSON

joined NRDC’s Center for Market Innovation as an efficiency finance specialist after 18 years in the financial industry working for investment banks, including Merrill Lynch and Nomura Securities, as well as serving as a portfolio manager at two macro hedge funds. Andy worked in Tokyo for 8 years and London for 6 years trading the Japanese bond markets. Andy’s current work includes exploring financial innovations to help scale energy efficiency and ensuring that proposed cap and trade legislation will maximize investments in clean energy.

CAI STEGER

Cai Steger is Corporate Projects Manager at NRDC’s Center for Market Innovation, focusing on corporate engagement to drive energy efficiency and clean energy innovation. Cai’s current assignments include working with leading firms to encourage low-carbon sourcing and operations, and pursuing research on federal innovation support for clean technologies. Previously at NRDC, he worked on economic and policy issues in the ethanol, solar and deforestation space. He has an MBA from Columbia Business School and eight years of strategy, research and marketing experience in a variety of industries. Read Cai's blog on NRDC's Switchboard.

SASHA LYUTSE

Sasha Lyutse is a Welch Environmental Innovation Fellow at NRDC's Center for Market Innovation. Prior to joining NRDC, Sasha worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs, providing client relationship management, custodial, financing and reporting services for hedge funds, as well as at US embassies in both London and Paris. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a dual Masters in Public Administration from the London School of Economics and Sciences Po University in Paris.

DALE BRYK

a senior attorney with NRDC, heads the organization’s state climate policy work. Her expertise is in the area of state energy and climate policy, including electricity industry restructuring and utility regulation, energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, greenhouse gas emission registries and regulation, emissions trading, green building and smart growth. Prior to joining NRDC in 1997, Dale practiced corporate law at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York. Since 2002 she has taught the environmental protection clinic at Yale Law School. A graduate of Harvard Law School, she holds a master’s degree in international law and policy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University.

RALPH CAVANAGH

is an NRDC senior attorney and codirector of its energy program, which he joined in 1979. Ralph has also been a visiting professor of law at Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley. From 1993 to 2003 he served on the U.S. secretary of energy’s advisory board. His current board memberships include the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, the Renewable Northwest Project, the Northwest Energy Coalition and the Energy Center of Wisconsin. He is a member of the National Commission on Energy Policy, which the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation established in 2002. Ralph has received the Heinz Award for Public Policy, the Bonneville Power Administration’s Award for Exceptional Public Service and the Lifetime Achievement in Energy Efficiency Award from California’s Flex Your Power campaign. He is a graduate of Yale College and the Yale Law School.

DAVID B. GOLDSTEIN

is codirector of NRDC’s energy program and has worked on energy efficiency and policy since the early 1970s. In 2002 the MacArthur Foundation recognized his achievement in the field by awarding him one of its prestigious five-year fellowships. David has been instrumental in the development of energy efficiency standards for new buildings and appliances at the regional and national levels, both in the United States and in Russia. He negotiated the agreement that led to the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act of 1987 and has helped design and direct energy efficiency programs with utilities and state regulatory agencies. He also created the Location Efficient Mortgage, a program designed to reduce urban sprawl and car use. He was a founding director of the Consortium for Energy Efficiency and the New Buildings Institute and is a fellow of the American Physical Society, as well as a recipient of its Leo Szilard Award for Physics in the Public Interest. David earned a doctorate in physics from the University of California at Berkeley.

NATHANAEL GREENE

is a senior energy policy specialist working on issues including utility regulation, renewables, energy taxes and energy efficiency. He has particular expertise in biofuels, biopower, wind and small, clean-generating technologies such as fuel cells, as well as the state and federal regulations and policies to promote these technologies. (Read Nathanael’s blog on clean energy technologies and policies.) Nathanael received a bachelor's degree in public policy from Brown University and a master's in energy and resources from the University of California at Berkeley.

ASHOK GUPTA

is a senior energy economist and director of NRDC’s air and energy program. He specializes in electric utility restructuring, climate change, energy efficiency, renewables, transportation policy and sustainable building design. Prior to joining NRDC in 1991, Ashok worked with New York City’s Department of Telecommunications and Energy. He also serves on the boards of the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership, Hudson River Foundation, Clean Air–Cool Planet, Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, U.S. Green Building Council–NY, Citizens Union Foundation and Low Impact Hydropower Institute. He has a bachelor’s degree in physics and math from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in economics from American University. He received Environmental Advocates’ 2001 Advocate Award for leadership in support of clean air and energy and in 2003 was named the Environmental Professional of the Year by the Association of Energy Engineers.

DAVID G. HAWKINS

is the director of NRDC’s climate center. He joined NRDC as an attorney in 1971 and worked on air pollution issues until 1977, when he was appointed assistant administrator for Air, Noise and Radiation at the Environmental Protection Agency during the Carter administration. David returned to NRDC in 1981 and worked throughout the next decade primarily on reauthorizing the Clean Air Act. David was the director of NRDC’s air and energy program from 1990 to 2001, when he became director of the newly created climate center. David is a recognized expert on advanced coal technologies and carbon capture and storage and is working with Congress to design a legislative mechanism to reduce global warming emissions. David has an English degree from Yale College and a law degree from Columbia University.

NOAH HOROWITZ

is a senior scientist in NRDC’s energy program and works on a wide range of energy efficiency issues, including voluntary programs and collaborations with industry, as well as the development of mandatory codes and standards at the state and national levels. His areas of expertise include residential lighting and appliances, consumer electronics and IT equipment, and energy-saving “cool” roofs. Prior to joining NRDC in 1997, Noah was manager of environmental programs for the Quaker Oats Company. He holds a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University.

JENNIFER HENRY

is CMI’s Real Estate Sector Manager, based in NRDC’s Chicago office. Jennifer holds a Masters of Urban Planning from New York University and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the past she has worked with NRDC on legislation for New Jersey that would establish a tax credit for smart growth development, and has also worked with the Trust for Public Land and Madison Metro Bus Transit. More recently, she worked at the U.S. Green Building Council with a coalition of the nation’s leading progressive design professionals, builders, developers, and environmentalists to develop LEED® for Neighborhood Development, a national rating and certification system that takes LEED beyond the single building scope to incorporate criteria regarding compact development patterns, proximity to transit, mixed use, mixed housing type, and pedestrian- and bicycle- friendly design.