The Chairs

David Wilhelm’s career has spanned the worlds of energy, finance, politics, academia, and public policy. In addition to helping form and guide a variety of energy and venture capital firms, he has been involved in politics from the local to the national levels, including serving as the youngest ever Chair of the Democratic National Committee. Currently, he is a partner and Chief Strategy Officer with Hecate Energy, a leading developer, owner and operator of solar, natural gas, wind, and energy-storage projects.He has been a Founder and President of Woodland Venture Management, a company with the goal of raising and investing private equity in parts of the country underserved by the nation's financial industry. In that capacity, Wilhelm founded Adena Ventures, a venture capital fund targeting central Appalachia, and Hopewell Ventures, a second fund focused on entrepreneurial investing in a seven-state region stretching from Ohio to Nebraska.Wilhelm also was the founding Partner of Empower, a Columbus, Ohio-based energy services company designed to help communities capture the economic benefit of their spending on electricity through local generation projects and the deployment of energy efficiency strategies.Wilhelm is best known for his political work, which has included managing campaigns for President Bill Clinton, Senator Paul Simon, Senator Joe Biden, and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. In 1993, he became Chair of the Democratic National Committee.Wilhelm holds degrees from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, a BA from Ohio University, and he has served as Chair of the Ohio University National Alumni Board.

Since 2002 Brian F. Keane has served as the founder and President of SmartPower, a Washington, DC-based non-profit renewable energy and energy efficiency outreach and marketing company. Keane has been credited with driving the adoption of over $100 million in rooftop residential solar in just three years -- creating tens of thousands of solar energy & energy efficiency customers.  Keane also serves as Co-Founder & CEO of WeeGreen, a software as a service (SaaS) company mobilizing businesses, communities, universities and NGO's to achieve their grassroots outreach goals. In 2017 he was named "CEO of the Year". In the same year the John Merck Fund, one of the leading environmental foundations in the US, awarded Keane the "Frank Hatch Award for Enlightened Public Service” -- its highest honor.
A graduate of The American University in Washington, DC, he is a past-president of the American University Alumni Association and sits on the Board of Directors of the Vermont-based Clean Energy Group. He is also a Member of the Board of the Center for Environmental Policy at The American University. Keane is a Member of the Board of Visitors for American University’s School of Public Administration.   Keane is the author of the highly acclaimed book, Green Is Good: Save Money, Make Money, and Help Your Community Profit From Clean Energy (Lyons Press, 2012).