Catherine McLean
Executive summary:
- I am honored to have won the 2021 Gold Champion of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Cleanie Award. I’m also happy to say that in 2020 & 2021, I placed an average of 61% women in clean energy roles, 48% of which were BIPOC, LGBTQ, or have other marginalized identities. Among the average 39% male placements in 2020 & 2021, 42% of these were BIPOC, LGBTQ or have other marginalized identities.
- During the pandemic I launched the Green Light podcast, which includes discussions with top energy executives such as Jigar Shah, Abby Hopper of SEIA, Gilbert Campbell of Volt Energy, Dan Shugar of NEXTracker, Julia Hamm of SEPA & more.
What is your field of expertise?
Efficiently finding & placing top tier talent at industry-leading clean energy companies in commercial roles such as in project development, origination, project finance, M&A, marketing, communications, policy & government affairs. Additionally, I specialize in finding & placing candidates that are women, Black, Indigenous & people of color (BIPOC), LGBTQ, or have other marginalized identities
Describe your journey to where you are today.
I developed a passion for clean energy & technology in 2011 after the recession hit and I knew I wanted to move into a space that was more mission-driven. Having worked at the United Nations developing relationships with governments on public-private partnerships, I subsequently accepted a job as a Consultant at Acre Resources, a global recruitment firm focused on energy & sustainability. Seeing an opportunity to leverage my previous sales & marketing experience & entrepreneurial drive, I founded recruitment business McLean Ross in 2011, with a core focus on placing sales & marketing professionals within the energy & utility industry in the U.K. & Europe. In 2017, McLean Ross merged with global engineering recruitment business JDR Energy, forming JD Ross Energy. Combining my entrepreneurial drive & reputation for networking & referral-based recruitment, I launched Dylan Green in 2019.
What does your company do, for whom, and how does it fit into the bigger picture of solving global issues with clean tech?
Dylan Green is a strategic talent acquisition consultancy focused on placing commercial individuals within the clean energy & technology space. We work with top clean energy companies like Lightsource bp, Siemens, Javelin Capital & Ørsted, to place highly qualified candidates in roles ranging from project development to M&A to communications.
Our industry is growing, and will continue to grow, rapidly. There are more open roles than there are qualified candidates. My company’s role is to save C-Suite executives & hiring managers time & money by enabling them to focus on their core responsibilities within clean energy while I efficiently supply them with the highly qualified candidates their companies need to grow & succeed.
What do you think is the most important thing we can be doing in terms of clean tech solutions?
As the Department of Energy recently reported, job growth in the energy sector outpaced overall U.S. employment from 2020 to 2021, with significant growth among electric vehicle jobs in particular. In order for the clean energy industry to continue to grow, we need to bring in many more high quality candidates, particularly from other, more developed industries. Our industry is also making some progress in terms of prioritizing diversity, equity & inclusion, but there is a lot more work to be done in this regard too. If our industry aims to provide sustainable solutions for all, then our industry must first fully reflect and represent all of society.
What do you wish you could tell the younger you – what would’ve been incredibly helpful to you ten years ago?
About 10 years ago, I had just entered the clean energy industry and set up my company, McLean Ross. Looking back, I would have told myself that I made the right decision to make this transition. As daunting as it may seem to start your own business, my work really took off and I haven’t looked back since. I’m really thankful everyday to be working in this industry with incredibly kind, intelligent and equally mission-driven people.
LinkedIn: Catherine McLean