Erica Mackie

Co-founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, GRID Alternatives

2013 Entrepreneurship Award Winner

Erica Mackie is the Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of GRID Alternatives, the nation’s largest nonprofit solar installer. In 2001, she drew upon her experience as a professional engineer implementing large-scale renewable energy efficiency solutions in the private sector to address the lack of equity and efficiency she witnessed during California’s energy crisis. Alongside her co-founder and Co-CEO, Tim Sears, Mackie started GRID and scaled a revolutionary people-first model that has delivered measurable, long-term financial and environmental benefits for income-qualified communities for over twenty years. GRID Alternatives is known for its heavy emphasis on energy and climate justice and its dedication to an equitable and diverse clean energy workforce, which she champions consistently as one of GRID’s leaders. Under Mackie’s leadership, GRID has become a valued member of multiple energy equity coalitions and has been key in helping numerous states achieve their climate goals.

Mackie has received numerous awards for her leadership of GRID Alternatives. In 2019, she was inducted into the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame in the Environment Category. She also received the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award in 2008, the New Leaders Council Energy Leadership Award in 2009, the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award in 2010, and the U.S. Green Building Council’s Green Building Super Hero Award in 2010. She holds two bachelor’s degrees from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, one in Mechanical Engineering and one in Physics.