Dana Clare Redden
Lifelong entrepreneur whose first venture launched at age 10 — and who has never stopped building. Raised in a small rust-belt town in western Pennsylvania, Dana Clare Redden grew up inside the human cost of extractive capitalism: environmental degradation, disinvestment, and the systematic exclusion of working-class communities from the industries shaping their futures. That lived experience became both a compass and a competitive advantage.
With over a decade at the intersection of solar energy, social entrepreneurship, and environmental justice, Dana has built patented market solutions — Social RECs®, CommunityPACT®, and the Solar Stewards Marketplace — that prove climate action and equitable economic outcomes are not competing objectives. Her work demonstrates that the communities most burdened by fossil fuel extraction are also the most powerful sites of clean energy opportunity.
An Executive MBA graduate of IE Business School and Brown University, Dana brings rigorous business strategy to mission-driven work — and lived credibility to every boardroom, policy table, and community meeting she enters.
Formal education.
Lived Experience.
Successful track-record.
Powerful Network.
Formal education. Lived Experience. Successful track-record. Powerful Network.
Education & Credentials
IE Business School & Brown University | Executive MBA |
Dual-institution Executive MBA combining IE Business School’s global entrepreneurship and innovation curriculum with Brown University’s emphasis on human-centered leadership and social impact. Deepened capability to design and scale mission-driven enterprises with rigorous business strategy.
Drexel University | Bachelor of Science | Interior Design
Foundation in systems and design thinking that informs a holistic problem solving approach to multi-stakeholder projects, markets, policy, and perspectives.
RECOGNITION & AWARDS
LEED AP Certification
Grist Magazine 2021 50 Fixers
Two-time judge, DOE/NREL Solar District Cup
Co-Founder, BOSS: Black Owners of Solar Services
Inaugural ACORE Accelerate Member
NASDAQ Milestone Maker
Established Speaker: NYC Climate Week, SXSW, RE+, WRISE
VOTE Solar Access & Equity Advisory Committee
Drexel University 40 Under 40
Smart Energy Decisions DEI Leadership Award
The Nature Conservancy REPPS Steering Committee
Patent Holder
Board alumna: Solar Energy Industries Association, Georgia Solar Association
Board Service: Solar United Neighbors, Solar Energy Loan Fund, BOSS
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP & PERSPECTIVE
Dana’s entrepreneurial philosophy is rooted in a fundamental insight: the same extractive capitalism that hollowed out communities like the one she grew up in is now threatening to replicate those patterns in the energy transition. Climate action is currently following the same path of exclusion and systemic marginalization — and that’s not only unjust, it’s inefficient.
Her work builds market mechanisms that redirect capital toward communities with the greatest need and the most to offer — demonstrating that inclusive clean energy development exceeds climate goals precisely because it brings more voices, more sites, and more stakeholders into the solution. The question she has spent her career answering: not whether we can afford equity, but whether we can afford to leave it out.
Now that you know a little about me….
Let’s Chat
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