Robb Pratt

Home            Program              Panelists             Location             Register

Chairman — GreenerU, Inc.

Rob Pratt is the Chairman and President of the International Institute for Energy Conservation.  He has been a national and international leader in clean energy for more than 40 years, as a for-profit and non-profit entrepreneur, a clean energy funder, and a governmental leader. He has founded or co-founded three companies and three non-profit organizations, including:

• GreenerU, Inc., one of the largest energy and sustainability services companies working with colleges and universities in New England;  
• Energia Global International (EGI, now Enel Latin America), a company that became one of the leading renewable energy companies in Central America, with high head hydroelectric and wind projects, and power and distribution assets, in Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, and eventually Chile; 
• International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC), a non-profit organization that has worked on energy efficiency policy and implementation in more than 50 countries; and
• Northeast Clean Energy Council (NECEC), the largest regional association helping clean energy companies succeed while advocating for progressive energy policy and innovation.

Beginning his career on Capitol Hill as a Legislative Assistant focusing on energy, and then becoming the Executive Director of the New England Congressional Caucus, composed of the region’s 25 Members of the House of Representatives, Rob was drawn to energy as one of the key issues of our time.  He worked with NE Members of Congress in passing progressive energy legislation, but he also wanted to make things happen in a more direct way.  He became a special assistant to Thermo Electron (now Thermo Fisher Scientific) CEO George Hatsopoulos (an MIT grad and senior lecturer emeritus), a leader in industrial energy conservation.  Building on the lessons he learned from Dr. Hatsopoulos, Rob started the first of his three companies, PRAXIS, Inc, followed by Energia Global and GreenerU.  He raised more than $65 million in equity and $250 million in financing in growing and financing his companies and clean energy projects in Latin America and the US.

After Energia Global was acquired by Enel, the Italian electricity company in a $100 million cash transaction, Rob became a funder as Director of the $250 million Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust, a fund which promoted the development of renewable energy projects as well as clean energy economic development in Massachusetts.  He then became the Senior Vice President of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation, where he led foundation initiatives focused on energy efficiency policy and financing innovations.

Rob has chaired or served as an officer on the boards of many for-profit or non-profit organizations, such as the American Council for Renewable Energy, the Alliance to Save Energy, and the Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas, among others.  He received an MPA degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a JD degree from Georgetown University Law Center, and a BA degree from Wesleyan University.