Claire Broido Johnson

“I’ve worked for organizations outside of Baltimore, but it feels good to focus more locally.”

When Claire Broido Johnson (MBA 2002) arrived at Harvard University as an undergrad, she wanted to focus her studies on climate change—so she worked with professors and administration to help create the environmental science and public policy concentration. Then, in her first job out of HBS, she found herself wishing she worked for an organization with a stronger commitment to renewables—so she launched SunEdison with a partner, then asked Brian Robertson (MBA 2004) to join. They expanded the solar energy company from 2 to 300 employees, creating a $290 million valuation by 2008.

“I’m an operations, builder, fixer, get-it-done person,” Broido Johnson says by way of explaining a résumé that, while including stops at multiple clean energy businesses, has the nitty-gritty work of transformation at its core. Public service has also been something of a theme, with a stint as acting program manager in the Department of Energy’s Office of Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs from 2009 to 2010. “I hadn’t ever considered myself suited to work in government, but it was an opportunity to serve my country that I couldn’t pass up,” says Broido Johnson. Initially engaged as an energy efficiency advisory, she was soon asked to oversee the disbursement of $11.3 billion in clean energy grant monies from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Today, as president of Baltimore-based CBJ Energy, the financing, operations, and business development energy consultancy she founded in 2011, she continues to leverage that natural tendency to effect change, advising a wide variety of energy startups. Previous clients include Next Step Living, where Broido Johnson launched the firm’s Connecticut and New York offices and a community solar product; and Katerra, the energy-efficient modular construction firm where she provided analysis and project management for multifamily, commercial, and utility-scale solar installations.

Currently, Johnson is tackling a project for the Baltimore City Public Schools, working to upgrade the infrastructure and energy efficiency of school buildings. “It’s a process of understanding the improvements that are required—heating, lighting, windows, temperature sensors, learning the political situation, then putting the work out to bid and receiving proposals for how to pay for those improvements,” she explains. Structuring that financing so that private investors can be repaid as a percentage of energy savings is one way that Broido Johnson expects to offer her expertise.

“So many people I know are working in Silicon Valley or in Boston, but there are other parts of the country that need MBA skills, too,” she reflects. “I’ve worked for organizations outside of Baltimore, but it feels good to focus more locally.”

The mother of two school-age children, Johnson enjoys the flexibility she’s found in starting her own consultancy—a decision that also allows the time to mentor other women hoping to launch careers in the energy sector. “I’m passionate about helping and mentoring women because it is such a male-dominated space,” says Broido Johnson, who in addition to returning to HBS to speak at the 2017 Energy and Environment Symposium has participated widely in forums on the need to increase the number of women in the field from New York to Houston to Washington, DC.

Despite the need for further change, Broido Johnson is pleased to see a growing overall awareness of potential career paths in the area of clean energy and climate change. “So much of the activity I saw when I returned to campus last year to help judge the BEI Business Plan Contest did not exist when I was a student at HBS,” she says. “Some people thought I was a bit of an oddball for wanting to pursue a career in this field—so it’s really nice to see it picking up steam.”