Chéri Smith is the founder, president, and chief executive officer of the Alliance for Trial Clean Energy. Chéri is a woman of Indigenous and European descent whose experience addressing climate change and struggling economies with renewables spans over two decades. To her role, she brings the wisdom garnered through her many senior leadership positions in the clean energy sector with public, private, and nonprofit organizations – including the American Council on Renewable Energy, Tesla, and SolarCity, as well as senior advisory roles for the U.S. Department of Energy, Interstate Renewable Energy Council, and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. A descendant of the Mi’kmaq Nation of northern Maine and the Canadian Maritimes, she has made it her life’s work to apply this expertise to support Native communities.
At SolarCity / Tesla, Chéri was head of workforce strategy and training and led the coordination of community, academic, and government stakeholders in the massive effort to identify and train the 1,400 employees of the 1 GW solar manufacturing plant in Buffalo, NY, and Tesla’s Battery Gigafactory in NV. From 2009-2015, Chéri was in private practice, providing renewable energy and energy efficiency project and program consulting services to colleges, universities, and governments, including the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA), and US Department of Energy SunShot initiatives: Solar Ready Vets, Solar Instructor Training Network, and Solar Career Map. From 2005 – 2009, Chéri served as Director of Education & Outreach for the American Council on Renewable Energy, where she developed and managed ACORE’s corporate, educational, and citizen-outreach programs on an international level.
Chéri is an MIT Indigenous Communities Fellow and MIT Solver, a Cordes Fellow, and a Climate Leader trained by former Vice President Al Gore. She serves as an Advisor to the Yale School of Business and the Environment and previously served as an Advisory Board member for the Masters in Renewable Energy degree program at Penn State and as a Buffalo & Erie County Workforce Investment Board Director. For 12 years, Chéri served on the education advisory committee for SEIA’s Solar Power International (now RE+). Chéri is the mother of three amazing children, including an Army wounded warrior. She resides with her fisherman husband on beautiful Narragansett homelands in present-day Rhode Island.
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In partnership with Tribal Colleges, major universities, and federal agencies, the Alliance develops and supports a variety of Native-led clean energy education, training, and degree programs for tribal leaders and tribal members to ensure new infrastructure is conceived, built, and managed by Native people, for Native people.
For more information, please email [email protected]
In our commitment to supporting tribes in their self-determined pursuit of clean energy, the Alliance is creating an online hub brimming with timely and relevant tools and information. This includes the development of crucial resources like a comprehensive federal and state funding database, and a tribal energy project capital stack planning tool.
The Alliance hosts a series of events throughout the year, each meticulously crafted to transcend the conventional notion of gatherings. These events serve as purposeful forums, uniting tribes with subject matter experts and reliable resource providers. Our aim is not merely to convene, but to actively address challenges and leverage opportunities for tribal clean energy development. Rooted in Indigenous cultural values, these gatherings cultivate connections that extend beyond business — they foster connections that are not only useful but deeply meaningful.
For more information about our resources, please email [email protected]
For more information about our events, please email [email protected]
Leveraging our robust connections in Washington, the Alliance Policy team champions fair energy policies and equitable utility practices. Acting as a crucial conduit, we facilitate the exchange of energy-related information between federal and tribal governments. In collaboration with our technical team, the Alliance Policy team provides invaluable support to tribes through expert project planning and grant writing services, delivered at no cost. Our goal is to enhance the success rate of tribal applications for federal funding, ensuring that valuable resources are directed toward tribal initiatives with the greatest impact.
For more information, please email
The Alliance team offers guidance and support for energy planning, grant writing, project development, financing, legal and tax matters. Through our Preferred Provider program, we evaluate and connect tribes with highly qualified, ethical clean energy developers and service providers to ensure tribes’ best interests are protected through all phases of infrastructure development.
For tribes seeking technical assistance, please email our Tribal Liason, Monica Paradise at
For clean energy developers and service providers seeking information about our Preferred Provider Program, please email our Preferred Provider Program Coordinator, Angelina Papakee at
