Marilyn Waite is a Program Officer in Environment at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Marilyn manages the foundation’s climate and clean energy finance portfolio with the ambitious goal of addressing climate change by accelerating the financial transition to a climate-friendly economy. Her work mobilizes private capital investments in low-carbon and climate-friendly systems, redirecting finance from high- to low-carbon activities. A key component to this portfolio includes innovative finance investments and the systemic decarbonization of capital, focusing on investment decisions made by consumers, small and large firms, and financial institutions.

Marilyn previously led the clean energy practice at Village Capital, where she sourced and performed due diligence for early-stage startups solving energy challenges. As a senior research fellow at Project Drawdown, she modeled and forecasted energy solutions to climate change. Marilyn led several operational and research and development projects at AREVA in France, including performing technical and economic studies in the energy-water nexus and the nuclear energy cycle.

Author of Sustainability at Work, Marilyn was an inaugural E2 1 Hotels Fellow, and as such, her work and writing has highlighted opportunities in women-led, green economy startups throughout the country. Marilyn serves on the board of directors and investment committee for the Kachuwa Impact Fund.

She holds a bachelor’s of science degree in civil and environmental engineering, magna cum laude, from Princeton University and a master’s degree with distinction in engineering for sustainable development from the University of Cambridge.