Green Building Startup BlocPower Faces Uncertainty as CEO Quits
Donnel Baird became the face of US building electrification and attracted investment from Goldman before stepping down as setbacks pile up.
Donnel Baird stepped down as CEO of BlocPower, a company aiming to electrify buildings and create green jobs but that has sometimes struggled to deliver on those promises.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergBlocPower, a New York-based climate startup once seen as leading the push to retrofit urban buildings for clean energy, is charting a new course this week after its co-founder and chief executive stepped down.
Under the leadership of Donnel Baird, who announced his departure late last week, the electrification company had received backing from the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund and prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Yet it faced ongoing issues with rolling out its electrification and jobs programs in the cities it partnered with.