Sam is an executive leader with a lifelong commitment to shaping a more sustainable and equitable world. He leads Skyward Wildfire Technologies, a Rethink mission, focused on disrupting lightning-induced forest fires—a major contributor to global carbon emissions—while also advising other startups.

 

Prior to Rethink Climate, Sam was the co-founder and President of d.light; providing solar systems to the two billion people living without reliable power.  d.light has improved the lives of 170M people in 70 countries and saved its customers $5B in energy expenses.  After raising over $350M, d.light grew to 1,000 employees and 15,000 agents across Asia and Africa, loaning >$100M to unbanked customers to transition from dirty kerosene and open cook fires, to their first solar lights, smartphones, clean cookstoves and ultra-efficient fans.  d.light has offset the GHG equivalent of 550 million trees (35M TCO2e).

Prior to d.light, Sam worked with Walmart’s sustainability team, was a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa, cycled across Canada with the Climate Change Caravan (C³), and created power-analytics hardware for leading Solar providers like Solar City / Tesla.

 

Sam has an MBA and degrees in Biology and Environmental Studies.  He was selected as an Ashoka and Unreasonable Fellow and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader; named a next generation leader for Africa by the African Leadership Network; and awarded the Charles Bronfman Prize.  He was recognized by Forbes as one of the world’s top 30 social entrepreneurs and was named Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.  In his spare time, he hangs with his kids, plays squash, and mountain bikes.