UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Smeal College of Business recently named Sheila Burkholder to the college’s Sustainability Advisory Board.
Burkholder is a senior project developer for Ameresco, a leading renewable energy and energy efficiency company offering energy savings performance contracts-funded energy solutions for public and private organizations.
“Smeal is thrilled to welcome Sheila to our Sustainability Advisory Board,” said Erik Foley, director of the Center for the Business of Sustainability. “Sheila’s more than 30 years of experience developing successful public and private relationships and renewable energy projects will add an important dimension to the collective expertise of our board.”
Smeal Sustainability Advisory Board members lend their experience and expertise to the Smeal Sustainability Council and serve as conduits to the latest corporate developments in sustainable business practices. The board assists in guiding Smeal’s sustainability agenda by helping to match the college’s strengths with the sustainability issues that the board members encounter as they lead their corporations’ sustainability efforts.
The board also benchmarks Smeal’s sustainability efforts with those of other business schools, identifies essential sustainability research areas, explores collaborations with other University sustainability initiatives, and evaluates the college’s graduate and undergraduate sustainability curricula.
In her role with Ameresco, Burkholder develops biogas and energy-related projects. She is responsible for the development of a range of projects from renewable energy to energy performance contracts. Her primary role is to identify and develop projects from inception through operation.
Prior to joining Ameresco, Burkholder served as senior vice president of development and asset management for Aria Energy.
She is an active member of the Renewable Natural Gas Coalition, served as the chairman of the coalition’s Pipeline Access Board, and is experienced in testifying before the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Employee Relocation Center.
Burkholder holds a bachelor’s in marketing from Smeal and a Master of Business Administration, with an emphasis in finance, from Eastern Michigan University.