Chéri Smith is the founder, President & CEO of the Alliance for Clean Energy, 501(c)(3). She descends through both of her parents from the Mi’kmaq of Northern Maine and the Canadian Maritimes, as well as from European ancestors. Chéri founded the organization now known as the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy in 2016. As a 25+ year veteran of the renewable energy sector, she leverages her vast knowledge, experience, network, and relationships to support tribes in their self-determined pursuit of renewable energy — as a means to diminish poverty, protect the earth from climate change, restore economic prosperity and true sovereignty.
Previously, Chéri led workforce development and training for SolarCity and Tesla, including coordination of all community, academic, and government stakeholders in the massive effort to identify and train a diverse and inclusive team of over 1,400 employees of the 1GW solar manufacturing plant in Buffalo, NY, and thousands more for Tesla’s Battery Gigafactory in Nevada, the largest factory in the world.
From 2009–2015, Chéri was in private practice, providing technical workforce consulting services for colleges/universities and governments, including the Interstate Renewable Energy Council(IREC), New York State Energy Research & Development Authority(NYSERDA), and the US Department of Energy SunShot initiatives: Solar Ready Veterans, Solar Instructor Training Network, and Solar Career Map. From 2005–2009, Chéri served as Director of Education and outreach for the American Council On Renewable Energy, where she developed and managed ACORE’s corporate, educational, and citizen-outreach programs, collaborating with the federal and foreign governments and NGOs to develop best practices for clean energy development.
Chéri is an advisor to the Yale School of Business/Environment, served on the advisory board for Penn State’s Masters in Renewable Energy program, and was a Workforce Investment Board Director in Buffalo & Erie County, NY. She is an MIT Solver, Indigenous Communities Fellow, Cordes Fellow, and Climate Leader trained by Al Gore. Chéri has received the GM Prize for social entrepreneurship and was an Elevate Prize finalist. She is the proud mom of a daughter and two sons, one of whom is an Army wounded warrior. Chéri lives on the ancestral homelands of the Narragansett, where her husband continues in the fishing tradition of her ancestors, making his living as a fisherman.
