It was 2015 when Chéri Smith first witnessed Native families facing discriminatory energy rates and unlawful shutoffs, bearing the burden of the nation’s highest energy costs — compounded by the reality that many Native families in the U.S. still lack electricity. For Chéri, a clean energy veteran and descendant of the Mi’kmaq Tribe, these conditions reflected the ongoing impacts of colonization and exploitative energy systems that continue to drive energy poverty in Native communities. Drawing on 25+ years of experience in clean energy, she left her senior role at Tesla to found what is now the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy, an Indigenous-led nonprofit that supports Tribal Nations in their self-determined pursuit of energy sovereignty.

The Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy is the only 100% philanthropically funded, Indigenous-led nonprofit offering no-cost clean energy capacity-building support to Tribal Nations and Alaska Native Villages. Through its technical assistance, workforce development, project development, and capital access initiatives, the Alliance helps Tribes plan, develop, and own clean energy projects aligned with their governance, values, and goals. As of June 2026, the Alliance has delivered support to more than 150 Tribes and Alaska Native Villages, mobilized more than half a billion dollars in public and private funding, and advanced many megawatts of clean energy projects in Indian Country. Chéri often says energy is just the tool, and this work is really about sovereignty, self-determination, relationship, capacity, and ownership — creating lasting economic resilience for Tribes and pathways out of poverty for Indigenous people.

She established the Indigenous Power and Light Fund for Energy Sovereignty — a collaborative giving fund that supports critical Tribal clean energy projects. As of June 2026, the Fund has catalyzed more than $600 million in total project financing, with the potential to offset 222 million pounds of CO₂ annually. The IPLF deploys emergency clean energy grants and no-to-low-interest loans to Tribes and Alaska Native Villages where strategic projects can dramatically improve quality of life and sometimes mean the difference between life and death.

Previously, Chéri led workforce development for SolarCity and Tesla, coordinating community, academic, and government partners to train more than 1,400 employees for Tesla’s 1GW solar plant in Buffalo, New York, and thousands more for the Nevada Gigafactory, one of the largest factories in the world. Earlier, she served as Director of Education and Outreach for the American Council on Renewable Energy, collaborating internationally with governments and NGOs on clean energy best practices, and consulted for IREC, NYSERDA, and the U.S. Department of Energy to build national solar workforce programs.

Chéri is a Forbes 50 Over 50 honoree and proudly serves on the Harvard University Extension School Sustainability Advisory Committee, the Advisory Committee of Climate United, and the board of Atutu. She is an MIT Solver, Indigenous Communities Fellow, and Climate Leader trained by Al Gore. She received the GM Prize for Social Entrepreneurship and was an Elevate Prize finalist. Chéri is the mother of a daughter and two sons, one an Army wounded warrior. She lives on Narragansett homelands, where her husband continues her ancestors’ tradition of making his living as a fisherman.