Andy Karsner

Andy Karsner is founder and Executive Chairman of Elemental Labs, an organization that pursues systems-based solutions with the greatest probability of speed and scale in order to promote a sustainable future and equitably empower communities. He is also a Senior Strategist and Space Cowboy at X, the moonshot factory of Alphabet (Google’s parent company), and Precourt Energy Scholar at Stanford University. Karsner was most recently Managing Partner at Emerson Collective and leader of Elemental, its environmental practice. His entrepreneurial leadership has been associated with both venture capital and private equity portfolios responsible for guidance and/or holdings in some of the most successful technology startups over the last ten years, including Nest (Internet of Things), Tesla (mobility), Recurrent (solar), and Codexis (biotech).

From 2005 to 2008, Karsner served as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the United States, managing the approximately $2 billion annual federal applied science, research, and development portfolio. In this role, he helped assemble significant bipartisan coalitions to implement or enact the Energy Policy Act, the Energy Independence and Security Act, and the America Competes Act, all of which remain the foundation of comprehensive energy policy today. In diplomacy, Karsner was a principal climate negotiator of the “Bali Roadmap” and an original architect of the Major Economies Process. Prior to public service, Karsner held several global leadership positions, including founder and CEO of Enercorp, a wind power development firm and international agent of Vestas, involved in project development, management, and financing of energy infrastructure; director and senior development manager for Wartsila Power Development and other multinational energy and development firms. Karsner sits on several prominent boards including Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT), Conservation International, and the advisory board of MIT Media Lab.