About
Board of Directors
The Reserve is governed by a board of directors drawn from environmental policy, finance, and the carbon markets.
Governing Board
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Linda Adams
Chair
Former Secretary for Environmental Protection, California Environmental Protection Agency
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Teveia Barnes
Audit Committee Chair
Former Executive Director, California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank
Linda Adams, former Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, serves as the Chair of the Climate Action Reserve Board of Directors.
Previously, Linda served in cabinet-level positions with three governors during her distinguished career with the State of California. Ms. Adams held key positions in both the Executive and Legislative branches during her public service. As Legislative Secretary to Governor Gray Davis, Linda negotiated the passage of California’s clean cars law which is now the national standard.
In 2006, Linda was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as Secretary of the California Environmental Agency (CalEPA), the first woman to serve in that position. Immediately upon her appointment, she was designated the governor’s lead negotiator on AB 32 (Pavley), California’s ground breaking climate change and clean energy measure. When Governor Jerry Brown was elected in 2010, Linda was asked to continue as Secretary of CalEPA and to assist in the transition.
After her state service, Ms. Adams was honored to work with Alaska Native Corporations to ensure that Alaska Natives can participate in California’s carbon market through the development of improved forest management projects.
Ms. Adams also serves on the board of Open Oceans Global and is the founding President of R 20-Regions of Climate Action. Ms. Adams is a member of Rotary International’s Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group and also serves as a Sister on the Planet for Oxfam America.
Peter Miller is a Consultant with over 25 years experience in energy and climate policy. He previously served as Director, Western Region, Climate & Clean Energy Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and prior to that role, he served as Senior Scientist with his work focused on California energy policy, AB32 implementation, GHG emissions accounting and offsets. He has served on the California Board for Energy Efficiency and on both Independent Review Panels evaluating the Public Interest Energy Research program at the California Energy Commission. Mr. Miller has degrees from Dartmouth College and Reed College.
Teveia Barnes currently serves as the Executive Director of Lawyers for One America, a non-profit organization that promotes diversity in the legal profession and offers free legal advice and services to underserved communities in the San Francisco Bay area. Prior to her current role, Ms. Barnes served as the Executive Director of the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank). IBank’s mission is to finance infrastructure, economic expansion, clean energy, water and environmental projects and to promote small business in California through the Small Business Finance Center. IBank’s statutory powers include the authority to issue bonds, make loans and provide financing and credit enhancements for a variety of infrastructure, clean energy, water, environmental and economic expansion projects to state and local governments, municipalities, universities, schools and hospitals. Prior to joining IBank, Ms. Barnes was commissioner of the California Department of Financial Institutions, the chief state regulator of depository financial institutions responsible for the licensing, examination and supervision of banks, credit unions, savings associations, trust companies, foreign banking organizations, industrial development companies and money transmitters. Barnes was a partner at the law firm of Foley and Lardner LLP. Barnes worked at the Bank of America NT&SA as associate general counsel and senior vice president. Ms. Barnes earned a Juris Doctorate from New York University School of Law in 1978 and received her BA degree in economics, political science and German studies from Rice University in 1975, where she was an Arthur B. Cohn Scholar.
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Heather O’Neill
Steve Corneli is an independent advisor on clean energy innovation, policies and strategies. He has worked in the power sector since 1990, with a focus on new technologies and business models and their intersection with key policy-making institutions. During his 14 year career with NRG Energy, Steve led the company’s wholesale market design and advocacy, government and regulatory affairs, climate policy, and clean energy policy and strategy practices. Prior to NRG, Steve was a utility consumer advocate in the Minnesota Attorney General’s office and a regulatory specialist serving competitive power sector clients in the law firm of Leonard, Street and Deinard. Earlier in his career he managed a 600 acre family farm for more than a decade. In addition to the Climate Action Reserve board, Steve serves on the board of ISO New England.
Steve has an MA in Public Affairs from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute, concentrating on energy, environment and technology policy, and a BA degree from St. John’s College.
Peter is the Managing Partner of Meridian Clean Energy which invests in and develops clean dispatchable generation critical to reliability for a decarbonizing grid. Previously he co-founded Clean Energy Advantage Partners which helped leading global companies such as Apple, Meta and Chanel complete investments renewable energy projects as part of their RE100 implementation. Peter was also the founder New Resource Bank, the first green commercial bank in the US, which was acquired by Amalgamated Bank.
Peter was formerly at Credit Suisse and JP Morgan Chase focusing on energy and project finance. He also served on the clean technology advisory board for the California Public Employees Retirement Systems and the California Teachers Retirement Systems. He currently also serves on the board of the Sierra Club Foundation and the investment committees for the Christensen Fund and New Energy Nexus NY.
Peter has a technical background in energy and the environment, serving as engineer for the Chevron Corporation and the California Air Resource Board. He graduated from UC Berkeley Engineering and Princeton’s School for Public and International Affairs.
Heather O'Neill is President and CEO of Advanced Energy United. Prior to taking on her role as CEO, Heather served as President for the organization, having previously served as Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, responsible for deepening and broadening Advanced Energy United's relationships with funders and building partnerships with allied organizations that advance industry growth.
Heather has spent her career helping build and grow mission-driven organizations. Before joining Advanced Energy United, Heather established and led the clean energy and environment portfolio at the Robertson Foundation, a $1 billion family philanthropy. Previously, she was Director of Public Affairs for Danco Laboratories LLC, a startup women's health pharmaceutical company, where she oversaw the U.S. launch of Mifeprex® (mifepristone) in November 2000.
Heather graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. in Government and returned to Harvard's Kennedy School of Government to receive a Master in Public Policy.
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Katie Sullivan
Eduardo has more than 18 years of experience in international and national carbon pricing instruments and policy. He has focused on the development of greenhouse gas emission reduction projects and has designed climate change projects in several countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa in the following sectors: renewable energy, forestry, energy efficiency, oil and gas, aluminum, mining, landfills, agriculture, refrigerants, fertilizers, cement and construction.
He is currently the CEO of MÉXICO2, a Mexican Stock Exchange company, where he oversees the development of carbon markets and other climate finance instruments.
He led the development of the simulation exercise of a Mexican Emissions Trading System as a preparation for the regulated emissions scheme in the country and supported the design of subnational carbon pricing instruments in Mexico and across Latin America. He has been a speaker at several conferences and events related to climate change and climate finance. He is also member of the Working Group on Green Finance of the United Nations Initiative for Sustainable Stock Exchanges.
Eduardo has several specializations in the development of emission trading systems organized by the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP), organization in which he is instructor on carbon markets in Latin America. He has also been selected one of Mexico´s 20 sustainable minds in 2022 by Forbes.
Tim Profeta is an executive in residence at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability.
In 2023, Profeta returned to Duke from two years of service at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he served as the special counsel for the power sector and a senior advisor. At the Agency, Profeta had a lead role in the development of the regulatory strategy affecting the power sector, including the recent proposed greenhouse gas regulations, served as a liaison between the Agency and other federal departments and agencies regarding power sector policies, and took an instrumental role in the design of several Agency programs that were authorized in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
Prior to leaving for EPA, Profeta was the founding director of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, which merged with the Duke University Energy Initiative in 2021 to create the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability. Since its creation in 2005, the Nicholas Institute has grown into a major nonpartisan player in key environmental debates, serving both the public and private sectors with sound understanding of complex environmental issues.
Profeta’s areas of expertise include climate change and energy policy, the Clean Air Act, and adaptive use of current environmental laws to address evolving environmental challenges. His work at the Nicholas Institute has included numerous legislative and executive branch proposals to mitigate climate change, including providing Congressional testimony several times on his work at Duke University, developing multiple legislative proposals for cost containment and economic efficiency in greenhouse gas mitigation programs, and facilitating climate and energy policy design processes for several U.S. states.
Prior to his arrival at Duke, Profeta served as counsel for the environment to Sen. Joseph Lieberman. As Lieberman’s counsel, he was a principal architect of the Lieberman-McCain Climate Stewardship Act of 2003. He also represented Lieberman in legislative negotiations pertaining to environmental and energy issues, as well as coordinating the senator’s energy and environmental portfolio during his runs for national office. Profeta has continued to build on his Washington experience to engage in the most pertinent debates surrounding climate change and energy.
Profeta is a member of the Climate Action Reserve Board of Directors, and is a member of The American Law Institute.
Profeta earned a J.D., magna cum laude, and a master's in environmental management in resource ecology from Duke in 1997 and a Bachelor's degree in political science from Yale University in 1992.
Katie serves as Managing Director of IETA, the premier global multi-sector business voice for the intersection of markets and climate change. For two decades, IETA’s mission has been to support durable climate policies and financial structures that attract private sector engagement and capital at scale. On behalf of IETA’s 150+ corporate members, Katie leads efforts to inform market solutions to address environmental challenges across the Americas and globally. She also manages IETA’s growing climate finance, aviation and digital innovation sustainability initiatives. Katie currently sits on the University of Toronto’s Environmental Finance Committee, the newly-launched Canadian Institute for Climate Change Advisory Panel, the International Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) Knowledge Centre Board, Ivey Foundation’s Climate Advisory Group, the Global Steering Committee for the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC), and Blockchain for Climate’s Advisory Panel. Prior to IETA, Katie worked as a Senior Consultant at ICF International. In 2019, Katie was recognized as a Clean16 and Clean50 award recipient for contributing to Clean Capitalism Leadership in Canada.