Horizon Climate Initiative is a purpose-built intermediary for systemic energy change.
We are a catalytic partner.
We bring together advocates and funders to build a well-resourced and targeted network that educates and engages policymakers, commissioners, and the public.
Our work puts money back in the hands of consumers, eases the energy affordability crunch, and delivers immediate and long-term climate benefits.
Our Team & Board
Frank Rambo, Executive Director and President of the Board
Frank Rambo has 20 years of experience working on climate change issues, with a focus on the domestic power sector. He spent six years as an attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Baker Botts LLP, where he specialized in Clean Air Act requirements for electric generators, followed by 14 at the Southern Environmental Law Center, which houses the country’s third largest legal staff among environmental nonprofits. There, he led SELC’s Clean Energy and Air program, its largest program area, and focused on environmental and economic issues associated with the ways we make, move, and use electric power. In 2022, Rambo launched the Horizon Climate Initiative. He received his J.D. from New York University and holds a B.S. from Sewanee: The University of the South.
Matt Cox, Secretary of the Board
Matt Cox, Ph.D., is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Greenlink Analytics, a clean energy and equity analysis and research organization that is built upon its award-winning modeling tools and collective knowledge. Greenlink provides the evidence and analysis needed to evaluate the most pressing issues of policy, environmental economics, and climate change. Research performed under his leadership at Greenlink has helped more than 200 cities across every U.S. state and five Canadian provinces find strategies to avoid 9.6 billion tons of CO2 emissions, avoid 32,000 premature deaths from air pollution, enable more than 200 equitable policy processes, and save over $1.2 Trillion. Matt is an energy and climate policy expert with Master’s and Doctoral degrees in public policy. Author of more than 100 scientific articles on energy efficiency and renewable energy, his research has informed policy at the local, state, national, and international levels, with recommendations adopted by several cities and states, the U.S. government, and 12 other nations.
Sarah Brennan, Treasurer of the Board
Sarah Brennan works on the Funder Collaborative on Oil & Gas, a project of the Rockefeller Family Fund. From 2019-2022, she ran Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Beyond Carbon campaign. Previously, Sarah spent seven years leading the Robertson Foundation’s environmental grantmaking, expanding the portfolio to include long-term support for a number of new areas, including methane leakage from gas infrastructure and restrictions on fossil fuel leasing on public lands. Earlier in her career, Sarah worked at the Earth Institute at Columbia University. She has also served as an economic consultant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was a case-writer at the Harvard Business School and is on the board of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Sarah holds an A.B. magna cum laude in History and Public Policy from Brown University, an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School, and an MBA from Columbia University.
Jennifer Smith, Director of Operations
Jennifer Smith has more than 15 years of experience in project and event management, writing and editing, crisis communications, and nonprofit fundraising at organizations including The Financial Services Roundtable and Investment Company Institute in Washington, DC, and The Mayhew Animal Home in the U.K..
Our Advisory Board
Bruce Biewald
Founder and Chief Scientist of Synapse Energy Economics, a consultancy that provides technical and economic analysis to clients who are serious about clean energy, climate, and the public interest. Bruce has testified as an expert witness in more than 100 cases, including utility regulatory proceedings in 25 states, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, two Canadian provinces, before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in state and federal courts. Bruce has a bachelor of science in art and design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Blan Holman
Principal at Dispatch Law & Policy. Before joining Dispatch Law & Policy, Holman served as Vice President for Regulatory Affairs for Pine Gate Renewables with a focus on vertically integrated markets and Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Blan also practiced law with the Southern Environmental Law Center. His practice included Clean Air Act enforcement and state and federal permitting, as well as drafting energy and environmental legislation. Blan graduated from the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia School of Law.
Suedeen Kelly
Partner at Jenner & Block, where she is co-chair of the firm’s energy practice. She is a former FERC Commissioner and Chair of the New Mexico Public Service Commission. She is an experienced litigator and highly-recognized counsellor in the areas of energy market structures and financial products, infrastructure development and operation, emerging technologies, federal and state law, impending policy changes, and domestic/international market interrelations. Suedeen has been recognized as a leading energy lawyer by Chambers USA, Chambers Global, Best Lawyers in America, and she was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award in 2022 by the University of New Mexico School of Law, where she taught energy law, utility regulation, and administrative law for 15 years.
Jennifer Chen
Principal at the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) and at ReGrid Energy Law and Policy. She has testified before state and federal regulatory and legislative forums. Previously, Jennifer led power system transition work at WRI and federal electricity policy work at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute. As an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, she spearheaded environmental NGO coalition efforts on electricity reform. Her energy career began at FERC. She was appointed to the U.S. Department of Energy's Electricity Advisory Committee and serves on the New Energy Economics Board. Jennifer earned a J.D. from New York University and a Physics Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
Seth Kaplan
Vice President of Grid Strategies, LLC. Formerly serving as the North American Director of External Affairs for Ocean Winds, Seth oversaw governmental and regulatory policy. He previously worked on the SouthCoast (formerly Mayflower) Wind Energy project. Before joining OW, Seth managed Government and Regulatory Affairs for EDP Renewables across the Eastern U.S. He previously worked at the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston for 16 years in various capacities, where his last assignment was as Vice President for Climate Policy. Seth received his J.D. at Northeastern University School of Law.
Meredith Wingate
Principal of Wingate Strategies, applying her expertise on energy and climate strategies to phase out fossil fuels from the power sector, accelerating climate solutions and advancing energy justice. Prior to founding Wingate Strategies, Meredith managed the Fossil Fuels program at the Energy Foundation for fifteen years, focused on decarbonizing the U.S. electric power sector. Ms. Wingate worked to build capacity within the grantee network at the Energy Foundation and elevated innovation policies across the Foundation’s power sector work. Meredith previously worked as a renewable energy advocate for ten years in the U.S. and China. Meredith has a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
