Donnel Baird is the founder of BlocPower, a clean tech startup based in New York City.
BlocPower develops portfolios of clean energy retrofit opportunities in underserved
communities, and connects those opportunities to investors seeking social,
environmental, and financial returns. BlocPower creates jobs for qualified local low income workers, energy savings for community institutions, reduces carbon emissions,
and provides returns to investors. BlocPower is backed by Kapor Capital, Andreessen
Horowitz, Eric and Wendy Schmidt, the American Family Institute for social and
environmental impact, and Salesforce. Baird is a graduate of Duke University and
Columbia Business School, where he was a recipient of the Board of Overseers
Fellowship and a recipient of investment from the Lang Fund for Entrepreneurial
Initiatives. He spent four years as a political and community organizer, and more than two
years managing a national initiative to leverage American Reinvestment and Recovery
Act energy efficiency investments in underserved communities. Baird lives in his native
borough of Brooklyn with his wife and son.
