Champion

2026

Champion of Energy Equity:

Anand Natarajan currently serves as the Assistant Director for the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability in the City of Cleveland Ohio, leading subject matter experts and program managers in the built environment, circular economy, nature-based solutions, grants management and education and outreach.

Anand served as the city’s Energy Program Manager for 13 years since 2010 and has led community-oriented energy programs such as the City’s Community Choice Electricity Aggregation Program for an average of 55K customers, the most recent iteration of which has resulted in $20M in cumulative program savings for residents and small businesses, while being backed by 100% green-e certified RECs. As energy burden is quite high in Cleveland, these cost savings to tax paying residents are vital. Anand also recently spearheaded a Low to Moderate Income (LMI) Home Solar Pilot project that brought 7 families in Cleveland free home solar as well as an 60% average annual electricity cost savings.

Anand is dedicated to ensuring quality utility and energy efficiency related programs continue to benefit all Clevelanders through both cost savings and climate emissions avoidance such as the prior Cleveland Energy$aver Program that was expanded to include LMI customers, the more recent commercial Building Performance Standard (BPS) pilot for Cleveland, revisions to the city’s Sustainable Municipal Building Policy, and the tax-abatement incentivized residential Green Building Standards.
 

Champion

2026

Champion of Community Engagement: 

Brynn Cooksey Sr., CEM, CMS—known in the industry as the “Air Doctor”—is a nationally recognized leader in HVACR training, building science, and community engagement. As owner of Air Doctors Heating & Cooling and founder of HVAC U, Brynn has trained over 10,000 technicians, empowering contractors with the skills to deliver energy efficiency, safety, and healthy homes. Beyond business, he has championed workforce development initiatives, especially for underrepresented groups, partnering with utilities, schools, and nonprofits to create pathways into clean energy careers. His commitment to mentoring, education, and community impact embodies the values of the Inspiring Efficiency Champion Award. Brynn’s work continues to improve lives by reducing energy burdens, creating good jobs, and building healthier, more sustainable communities. 

Champion

2025

Champion of Community Engagement

High Performance Building Hubs as a concept are independent policy-neutral, implementation focused not-for profit initiatives that resource and support local implementation of energy efficient projects and best practices. When the need for trusted expertise and ground-level support was realized in St. Louis and Kansas City, local organizations and utilities joined together. A groundbreaking national partnership formed with the Building Energy Exchange in New York and the Institute for Market Transformation, parent of the Building Innovation Hub in Washington DC, in order to develop and launch the Building Energy Exchanges in St. Louis and Kansas City. Since this time, their capacity to draw attention and resources to the Midwest has grown and the Building Energy Resource Hub launched as a high-contributing partner in Chicago. 

With Executive Director, Malachi Rein, at the helm, the Building Energy Exchange St. Louis (BE-Ex STL) is a key resource hub dedicated to enhancing the energy efficiency of St. Louis' building stock. By connecting stakeholders with the necessary expertise, funding and skilled partners, BE-Ex STL supports building performance improvements at scale. An initiative of the Missouri Gateway Green Building Council (MGGBC), BE-Ex STL also supports the City of St. Louis' energy benchmarking and BPS policies, with backing from local and national partners, including Ameren Missouri and the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT).

Champion

2025

Champion of Energy Equity

Quinn Parker has over 16 years of experience working with utilities, regulatory bodies and government agencies to develop inclusive programs and equity metrics to drive accountability. Since founding Encolor in 2020, Quinn has delivered impactful training and facilitated workshops on operationalizing equity to several thousand participants, including many MEEA member organizations. Tiring of sitting in rooms where community priorities are discussed without community present, Quinn launched a nonprofit organization in 2024 called The Shared Space Project which helps organizations share space with communities they have underserved in the past. Quinn is a Certified Diversity Professional, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and has earned AESP's Member of the Year and GRIT Awards for her dedication to amplifying underrepresented voices in rooms where they have not yet been invited.
 

Champion

2024

The City of Cincinnati Office of Environment and Sustainability (OES) leads City government and the broader community in building a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient Cincinnati. Their notable energy efficiency initiative, WarmUp Cincy, stands out as a testament to their commitment to addressing the high energy burden experienced by Cincinnati residents. 

Champion

2023

A lawyer by trade, Kristol Simms is leading the charge to make energy efficiency more equitable. As Senior Director of Energy Efficiency & Regulatory Implementation at Ameren Illinois, Kristol designs and implements the company’s Market Development Initiative (MDI) to serve low- and moderate-income customers in a meaningful way. By removing financial barriers, the MDI aims to engage low- and moderate-income customers in energy efficiency, while providing opportunities to minority-owned businesses. 

The efforts of Kristol and her team are helping to improve quality of life by empowering residents and businesses in underserved communities to save energy and money. She also brings passion and valuable insight to industry organizations that promote energy efficiency.