Efficiency Forward Appoints Two New Board Members
Efficiency Forward, Inc. – the nonprofit organization that administers the DesignLights Consortium (DLC) and EVCAN (Electric Vehicle Charging Accessibility Network – has appointed two energy executives to its board of directors: Meg Lusardi and Karen Zelmar.
“Both Karen and Meg come to Efficiency Forward with years of experience leading high impact energy initiatives that have been well aligned with our organization’s mission,” DLC and EVCAN Executive Director and Efficiency Forward CEO Tina Halfpenny said. “Both also bring solid track records of working across various areas of the energy industry, building partnerships that have catalyzed success. I could not be more pleased to welcome Karen and Meg to the Efficiency Forward Board and look forward to collaborating with them in the next phases of our work.”
Former Acting Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and Director of DOER’s Green Communities Division, Lusardi served most recently as Executive Vice President of PowerOptions where she oversaw operations of a nonprofit buying consortium dedicated to reducing the cost, carbon emissions and complexity of energy for some 500 nonprofit and public entities in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Earlier in her career, she was a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission project manager, an engineering consultant at Booz-Allen and Hamilton, and CEO of Project Hope in Boston.
Lusardi is a member of the Massachusetts Energy Advisory Council, a statutory body that guides the development of energy efficiency plans by the Commonwealth’s investor-owned gas and electric utilities and energy providers. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame.
Zelmar is the former program manager of the US Department of Energy’s $8.8 billion Home Energy Rebate Programs authorized by the federal Inflation Reduction Act. Previously, she was Director of Clean Energy Programs at Pacific Gas and Electric, where she led customer incentive programs to deploy thousands of EV charging sites across northern California and managed one of the nation’s largest energy-efficiency portfolios. Zelmar also has extensive experience advancing emerging technologies, including leading initiatives at Volta Charging to launch the company’s first DC fast charging product and expand EV infrastructure through utility partnerships and data-driven planning tools.
Before entering the energy industry, Zelmar held leadership positions with several technology providers, including AOL and Navteq. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
