Who We Are

Honorable Claudine Schneider
Served in the U.S. Congress 1980 to 1990; global energy expert.
Claudine served in the U.S. Congress from 1980 to 1990. She was the first woman ever elected to major political office in Rhode Island. She distinguished herself by authoring and passing into law several pivotal, energy related pieces of legislation including the first Appliance Efficiency Standards Act, Least-Cost Utility Planning Act, and Demand-Side Management Act. She also authored the comprehensive, ahead of its time, Global Warming Prevention Act. Co-sponsored by 100 Members of Congress and supported by 40 corporations and NGOs, the bill established a revenue-neutral, least-cost energy planning process throughout the federal government that would reduce greenhouse gases while reducing costs to taxpayers. Only parts of this omnibus bill became law while the remainder is still relevant as a climate strategy today.

Congresswoman Schneider co-founded and served as Senior Vice President of Energia Global, an energy efficiency and renewable energy development company exporting services and technology to Central and South America. Their 10 year exit strategy was realized when the company was sold to the world’s largest company dedicated solely to renewable energy.

Claudine was a Presidential Appointee to the Competitiveness Policy Council, a 12 member business dominated council focused on enhancing U.S. productivity. This position came about as a result of her leadership in co-founding, along with John Young, then CEO of Hewlett Packard, the Congressional Competitiveness Caucus. Together they crafted a report calling for 10 legislative measures that would improve U.S. economic stature. Under her leadership, and working closely with the business community, all 10 measures were passed.

For the Export-Import Bank, Claudine has served on the Advisory Board for Renewable Energy. She has been the Environmental and CSR Advisor to the British utility, National Grid, one of the world’s largest and most socially responsible transmission and distribution companies. Her Board membership of NGOs includes: A Trustee of the American Solar Energy Society, The Climate Institute, the Center for Resource Solutions (developers of the Green-e certification), the Tata Energy Research Institute (India) and the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization. In addition, Claudine has taught leadership at Harvard, received an Emmy for the first televised diplomatic exchange between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, assisted more than 30 companies in the reduction of their Green House Gases and, is multi-lingual.