Dawn james

Director, Global Industry Strategy Energy & Sustainability

2022 keynote Presenter

Dawn James leads the global industry strategy for Energy & Sustainability within Microsoft’s cross commercial solutions practice. She leverages her subject matter expertise to foster industry alignment and new business development, helping customers leverage Microsoft technology to accelerate their sustainability journey. Dawn leads a wide range of initiatives in energy transition, sustainability, digital cloud solutions, and innovation.

Dawn has over 24 years of industry program management experience as a geoscientist and systems leader. She is a certified naturalist, formerly serving as Director, US Sustainability & Environmental Science commercial strategy at Microsoft as well as Research Hydrogeologist with the U.S. Department of the Interior (USGS). Dawn’s expertise not only includes results-driven leadership, market incubation and ecosystem innovation but she also articulates value at the convergence of industry and technology.

Dawn holds an MSc in geoscience from California State University and a professional certification in big data and predictive analytics from MIT.  She is a member of the Board of Directors at Greentown Labs (the largest clean tech incubator in the US), a 2022 Women in Smart Energy Award winner, a Distinguished Speaker on “The Business of Sustainability” at the Nazarian School for Business & Economics (CSUN).  She has been recognized as a DEI Champion (2021) by the National Diversity Council. In her spare time, Dawn enjoys playing the reading and spending time with her daughters.