Brooklyn Energy Careers Summit
Presented by Brooklyn Org & National Grid Foundation
NYU Tandon, Pfizer Auditorium, 5 MetroTech Center, Brooklyn, NY 11201
4:00 PM–7:00 PM EDT
Brooklyn Energy Careers Summit
Presented by Brooklyn Org, National Grid Foundation & NYU Tandon
October 14, 2026 | 4 PM – 7 PM
NYU Tandon, Pfizer Auditorium
Agenda
4:00 – 4:20 PM
Welcome & Keynote Presentation
- Speakers:
- Dr. Jocelynne Rainey, Brooklyn Org
- Sayar Lonial, NYU Tandon
- Dr. Robert Simmons III, National Grid Foundation
4:20 – 5:00 PM
Panel: Preparing Brooklyn for the Energy Economy
- Speakers:
- Gregory J. Morris, NYC Employment and Training Coalition
- Lindsey Greene, Brooklyn Navy Yard
- Dr. Dharik Mallapragada, NYU Tandon
- Dr. Jocelynne Rainey, Brooklyn Org
The clean energy transition is reshaping Brooklyn’s economy and with it, the skills, partnerships, and career pathways needed to power the future. As demand grows for workers, how can Brooklyn ensure residents are prepared to access these opportunities?
This conversation will explore how sectors can work together to build an inclusive talent pipeline that meets industry needs. Panelists will discuss what it will take to ensure Brooklyn’s workforce is ready for the energy economy of tomorrow.
5:10 – 5:30 PM
Panel: Brooklynites Preparing for Jobs in Energy
- Speakers:
- Karim Couser, Welder Underground Participant
- Additional speakers to come…
5:30 – 7:00 PM
Tabling & Networking Reception
Speaker Bios:
Lindsay Greene
President & CEO, Brooklyn Navy Yard
Lindsay Greene is the President & CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Greene is charged with deepening and expanding the Navy Yard’s mission, investing in the jobs of the future and creating pipelines for underserved communities to fill these jobs.
She previously served as Chief Strategy Officer of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, where she oversaw economic analysis, business development, inclusive job growth, and innovation strategies. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Greene led efforts to activate local New York City manufacturers to produce key medical supplies, ranging from gowns and face shields to test kits.
Prior to joining NYCEDC, Greene was Chief Strategy Officer for Economic Development & Housing in the New York City Mayor’s Office, focusing on economic justice, industry and job growth, regulatory structures for emerging industries like cannabis, and labor rights. Prior to working for the City, Greene spent four years in senior management at food startups and six years working at Goldman Sachs, most recently in the firm’s Urban Investment Group.
Greene holds a BA in economics from Harvard and an MBA from Yale School of Management. She lives in Brooklyn with her wife and two daughters.
Sayar Lonial
Vice Dean, External Affairs & Public Relations, NYU Tandon
Sayar Lonial is the Vice Dean for External Affairs and Public Relations at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, in Downtown Brooklyn. In that capacity he oversees all internal and external communications, community outreach, government relations and maintains a wide variety of public-private partnerships to further the school’s multifaceted mission: to be a world-class engineering school, focused on creating technology aimed at solving the world’s most pressing problems; encouraging tech entrepreneurship and the growing Innovation Economy; and educating a new generation of engineers committed to academic excellence, visionary research, and diversity.
Lonial’s other current titles include Chair of the DUMBO BID Board of Directors, Secretary for the MetroTech BID and Executive Board member to the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. In addition to his duties at NYU, Lonial served as Chair of Brooklyn’s Community Board 6 from 2016 to 2020. Previously, Lonial served as the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s Director of Planning & Development, ensuring community input into the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan after the September 11, 2001 attacks and overseeing such initiatives as the rehabilitation and creation of more than 30 new parks and open spaces in Lower Manhattan and the creation and preservation of some 3,000 affordable units in Tribeca, Chinatown, and the Lower East Side. In addition to State and Federal government experience, Sayar also served as Deputy Chief of Staff in Council District 1, Manhattan. Prior to his work at the Council, he served on the Master Planning team for Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Lonial hails from Louisville, Kentucky, and has lived in Brooklyn since 1998.
Dr. Dharik Mallapragada
Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, NYU Tandon
Dr. Dharik Mallapragada is an assistant professor in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering department at New York University (NYU), where his research focuses on developing advanced decision-support tools for planning and operating resilient, low-carbon energy systems as well as design and integration of novel energy technologies. Prior to joining NYU in January 2024, he was a Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative , where he kick-started my academic research career, after spending nearly 5 years working in the energy industry working on a range of sustainability-focused research topics. At MIT, he successfully pursued research in these topics with over $4 million in cumulative research funding, successfully graduating several masters students and mentoring multiple postdoctoral associates, and establishing collaboration with >10 principal investigators across MIT and other institutions. For example, he co-led the systems modeling effort for the Future of Energy Storage study, an interdisciplinary MIT project exploring the role for storage in future low-carbon grids.
Professor Mallapragada’s outreach activities include serving as a member of the Massachusetts State commission on Clean Heat that advised the State on decarbonization of the building sector as well as an advisor for the Open Energy Outlook project, a multi-institution effort to create open-source macro-energy systems models and data sets for the United States
He is the co-developer of GenX model, an open-source electricity system capacity expansion model as well as DOLPHYN, an open-source energy system model to support multi-vector infrastructure planning for the energy transition and accelerating technology development.
Professor Mallapragada received my M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India. As someone born in the Global South but having benefited immensely from the privileges of the Global North, he is particularly interested in the role for technology and policy in tackling the BOTH energy access and climate mitigation in just and cost-effective manner.
Outside of work, his primary interests are family, cricket and cooking, in that order.
Gregory J. Morris
CEO, New York City Employment and Training Coalition
With more than 25 years of experience serving as a leader, practitioner and advocate on a city and state level for education and workforce development, Morris will guide NYCETC’s efforts to respond to the City’s current labor market crisis. His advocacy to increase accessibility to the multi-generational, neighborhood-based efforts and initiatives in support of children, families, and seniors, and the strengthening of the human services sector will also help address historic disproportionate gaps in employment and earnings New Yorkers face across race, gender, age and industry.
Prior to his position as NYCETC’s Chief Executive Officer, Gregory J. Morris became the President and Executive Director of the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center (Isaacs Center) in September 2013. In June 2021, Morris initiated and facilitated the merger of Isaacs Center and Goddard Riverside Community Center, two respected New York City settlement houses. Through the merger, Mr. Morris assumed oversight of organizational efforts to align, integrate, and expand service delivery.
Prior to Isaacs Center, Morris had been with The Children’s Aid Society (CAS) since 2010, serving as its first Chief of Staff and Special Assistant to the President and CEO. In this role, Morris served as co-lead applicant for Children’s Aid College Prep Charter School. Prior to joining CAS, Morris served in senior leadership positions at The Door, A Center of Alternatives, Inc. and as Assistant Director at University Settlement Society of New York where he began his career in the non-profit sector in 1993.
Morris holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from Baruch College School of Public Affairs, and an undergraduate degree from New York University. He earned an Advanced Certificate in Public Health from CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy in May 2022.
Morris has served on the Boards of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC), Human Services Council, and United Neighborhood Houses. He has served as the Co-Chair of the NYCETC Policy and Advocacy Committee and Vice Chair of the Human Services Council’s (HSC) Priority and Strategy Council. In 2021, he was a member of the Human Services Recovery Task Force.
Currently, Morris is a member of Community Board 4 in Manhattan.
Dr. Jocelynne Rainey
President & CEO, Brooklyn Org
Dr. Jocelynne Rainey, Ed.D. is a leader in New York City’s nonprofit sector and a seasoned executive with over 25 years of leadership experience. As President & CEO, Dr. Rainey has led Brooklyn Org’s (BKO) bold evolution from Brooklyn Community Foundation to create a more inclusive and accessible model for community philanthropy. BKO has launched a new strategic plan to provide deeper support to nonprofit changemakers and marshal the resources required to end inequity in New York City’s largest borough.
Under Dr. Rainey’s leadership, Brooklyn Org has surpassed $150 million in total giving and expanded its sector-leading commitments to racial justice and community engagement. Dr. Rainey has championed a holistic participatory grantmaking approach in which all funding decisions are made in partnership with community members and annual Listening Tours that engage neighborhood residents in conversation to shape BKO’s funding and policy priorities.
Dr. Rainey also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) for nearly a decade, where she was a pivotal leader in transforming the historic site. She was the primary architect of BNYDC’s innovative workforce development program, a key executive who significantly redeveloped the Yard, dramatically increasing the number of small businesses and exponentially growing job opportunities in the area.
Her executive leadership at BNYDC included comprehensive oversight of workforce development, internal operations, security, and human resource strategies. During her tenure, Dr. Rainey played a critical role in repositioning the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a dynamic economic hub for New York City.
Dr. Rainey has also previously held leadership roles at Getting Out and Staying Out (GOSO), Independent Living Association, Home Depot, Boar’s Head, and specialty food retailer Agata and Valentina.
A graduate of Southern Connecticut State University, Dr. Rainey holds a master’s in administration from Metropolitan College and a doctorate in Leadership from St. John Fisher College. She is a member of the New York City Workforce Development Board, and a trustee of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, the Bridge Park Development Corporation, the New York College of Technology Foundation, Southern Connecticut State University Foundation, and the Mark Morris Dance Group.
Dr. Rainey is the recipient of several prestigious honors, including being named to The Network Journal’s 25 Influential Black Women in Business list, Schneps Media Brooklyn Power List, the Crain’s New York Business Notable Black Leaders and Executives, and City & State New York’s Brooklyn and Nonprofit Power list.
Dr. Robert Simmons III
Executive Director, National Grid Foundation, and Vice President of US Social Impact and Community Engagement at National Grid
Dr Robert Simmons currently serves as the Vice President of US Social Impact and Community Engagement at National Grid, and the Executive Director of the National Grid Foundation. Under Robert’s leadership he leads all corporate philanthropy in the US for National Grid. Prior to his current role Robert served as a leader in corporate philanthropy at Micron Technology and CEO of the See Forever Foundation. As a celebrated educator who started his career as a teacher in Detroit, Dr Simmons has authored numerous articles over his career and is noted as the chief architect of the Leading Men Fellowship, which is one of the largest social impact efforts to increase the number of men of color serving in early childhood classrooms. Nominated twice as national teacher of the year, a proud native of Atlanta and raised in Detroit, Robert currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.