Julie Castro

• Lead partnerships with key strategic utilities and energy market companies across the Western and Midwestern Regions for GM electric vehicles and GM Energy vehicle-to-everything (V2X) products including charging and stationary storage. • Develop new utility or energy market programs to drive vehicle-to-grid (V2G) adoption and market development.

• Manage a $20mil+ California state grant, the Strategic Growth Council Transformative Climate Communities project, in an underserved community including microgrids, resilience hubs, residential electrification and solar+storage, complete streets, electric vehicle charging, and e-bike strategies. • Support utility with design and implementation of residential battery storage program. • Collaborate with community-based organizations to assess community needs and develop the most suitable climate hazard mitigation and energy resilience solutions such as a healthy and resilient home program for renters through the Department of Energy’s Community Innovation Prize. • Oversee design and implementation of city-wide energy resilience programs that identify community vulnerabilities and priorities as well as assess the feasibility of solar, storage, and microgrid strategies to create a local energy resilience action plan. • Lead business development of proposals for local energy programs, technical services and implementation projects for utilities, Community Choice Aggregators and federal and state funding opportunities. • Develop new project funding strategies through Virtual Power Plants, Energy Attribute Certificates, incentives and tax credits.

• Oversaw a net zero energy program specifically designed to reduce energy costs and GHG emissions while increasomg energy resilience in underserved communities • Led team of 10+ project managers and oversaw energy efficiency, electrification and resilience services for over 50 public agencies. • Developed energy project management tools, including: 15-minute interval data assessment, building portfolio analysis, and CRM project management. • Trained project management best practices to overcome common barriers such as inflation and supply chain disruptions with the goal of expedient and cost-effective project completion.

• Collaborated with public agencies, utility partners, and technical consultants to develop turnkey energy efficiency solutions to meet local and statewide energy goals. • Oversaw quality, timeliness and budget of all project services including: energy audit, benchmarking reports, project financial analysis, project funding and financing/incentive application, and marketing collateral.

• Managed aggregated residential demand response resource. • Led CAISO energy market coordination, bidding and dispatch. • Analyzed the economic and operational feasibility of demand response and energy efficiency markets throughout the US, and develop an entry strategy for viable markets. • Advocated for statewide and national policies that promote: energy efficiency and conservation, renewable energy, smart grid infrastructure, and consumer access to energy data. • Managed Chai’s ongoing research projects by coordinating with third-party research teams and overseeing staff resources, budgets, and deliverables. • Prepared competitive grant proposals for pilots and studies to test existing technologies and develop enhanced functionality

• Worked directly with the Urban Waters Federal Partnership Ambassador of Los Angeles to cultivate stakeholder relationships with 35 organizations and 13 federal agencies, and to create a cohesive community of action with this diverse group. • Facilitated 5 strategic working groups to produce recommendations for federal partner engagement. Recommendations included the identification of infrastructure investment needs and barriers to innovative LA River projects. • Project managed an EPA environmental and community health assessment grant for Council for Watershed Health. Developed an assessment framework to determine community, ecological, and economic health of the Los Angeles River Watershed.

• Consulted over 20 multifamily affordable housing communities through the LEED for Homes certification process. Led green building charrettes with construction teams to collectively determine how to create a healthy, sustainable home for future residents and community members. • Assessed the sustainability of several underserved neighborhoods across the U.S. using LEED for Neighborhood Development, and recommended strategic changes to transportation, land use, building codes, and energy and water management.

• LEED for Homes- completed several certifications for multifamily affordable housing developments. • City Carbon Index- drafted action alerts to engage community members, and presented local climate change emissions and policy updates in a publicly accessible manner.

Compiled research on: sustainable building methods and products, affordable housing, and local policies.

Designed email newsletters, coordinated outreach events, managed grant applications, and created education content for wide distribution.