Ep. 98 | Founding WRISE, Then a Wind Firm: Trudy Forsyth's Journey in Clean Energy Leadership

20 years ago, Trudy Forsyth and a group of women in wind asked a simple but powerful question: where are the other women in this industry — and how do we bring more in?

That question led to the founding of Women of Wind Energy (now WRISE). The first event in 2005 was so packed they ran out of programs — and proved there was a community ready to grow.

Today, WRISE has over 3,000 members, 47 chapters, a robust slate of annual programming, and continues to expand its impact across the renewable energy industry.

To mark WRISE’s 20th anniversary, Catherine sat down with Trudy to talk about:

• Her path from aerospace to wind in the early days of the industry
• Launching her own distributed wind consulting firm
• Navigating misogyny and building leadership opportunities
• Lessons from international collaboration and standards work
• What it really looks like to be an ally in this space
• How the next 20 years of leadership in renewables can look different — and better

One quote that stayed with us: “We need all of our intellectual capital engaged in advancing the renewable energy transition. Isolating any group is a mistake.”

Thank you, Trudy — and thank you to everyone who’s helped build WRISE over the past 20 years. It was an honor to record this conversation.

If you’re a clean energy employer & need help scaling your workforce efficiently with senior leaders, contact Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3odzxQr. If you’re looking for your next role in clean energy, take a look at our industry-leading clients’ latest senior job openings: bit.ly/dg_jobs.