Staff Directory

As a loan officer at CEE, DeShaun is responsible for processing home improvement financing applications for the Lending Center. This position provides core support to participants of the Lending Center.

Before CEE, DeShaun had various roles in lending and sales with companies such as Wells Fargo, Ideal Credit Union, and Employees First Credit Union. He is pursuing a BA in business from Metropolitan State University and received his AS in business from Minneapolis Community College. DeShaun also volunteers with Hennepin County Mentors for Success.

As program development manager, Molly develops and manages local building energy efficiency policies and programs across the Midwest including Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Her current focus is on creating productive utility-community partnerships to achieve shared goals of building decarbonization and climate change. She co-founded and served on CEE’s first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council from 2021-2023, and wrote the company’s first DEI policy in 2019.

Molly is a sustainability scientist with years of experience in climate change, energy, waste, and food systems. Since joining CEE in February 2018, Molly has been program manager for two different building energy benchmarking initiatives in the Midwest, including the Kalamazoo Energy Collaborative in southwest Michigan, and Energize Saint Paul in Minnesota. Both are partnerships between cities, local building owners, utilities, and nonprofits, to increase the energy efficiency of existing buildings. In partnership with the City of Rochester, MN, and a group of 40 community stakeholders, she worked for the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic to create a community-based sustainability action plan. The combined team won a Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership Award for equitable planning and engagement.

A systems thinker with a diverse background, Molly previously worked with governments, organic food companies, and Fortune 500 clients, specializing in greenhouse gas accounting, climate change strategy, waste management, packaging, supply chain sustainability, renewable energy, and carbon markets.

Molly has an MS in climate and energy sustainability from Antioch University and a BA in political science from Carleton College. She is a LEED Green Associate and is fluent in Spanish.

Molly was elected to the first board of directors of the Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition in January 2023.

Accreditations and affiliations

• LEED Green Associate

Languages

• Fluent in Spanish

As a One-Stop Efficiency Shop lighting consultant, Jeff assists small to midsize business customers with efficient lighting purchase decisions, and educates customers, contractors, and distributors on the benefits of energy efficient lighting and the opportunities available through One-Stop and other utility rebate programs.

He has a bachelor's degree from South Dakota State University and has been with CEE since 2013.

As CEE's senior manager of community policy, Katie works at the intersection of local and state energy policy, advancing strategies that support city and county energy and climate goals. She focuses on understanding local processes, conducting equitable stakeholder engagement, and leveraging building and community energy data to drive communities' energy priorities.

With over a decade of building energy policies and program experience, Katie brings an eye for data analysis and an understanding of building energy performance. Among her key achievements is the expansion of energy benchmarking and energy code policy in Minnesota.

Katie has a BS in environmental and natural resources engineering from Purdue University.

Emerson previously worked at a nonprofit in Houston rebuilding homes affected by disasters. They also traveled to Louisiana and Florida for active disaster responses doing debris removals, gutting, and mold suppression. 

Emerson received a BSE in civil engineering from the University of Iowa. They also got a minor in studio art as a part of their focus area in architecture.

Sophia manages CEE’s Community Codes Support Program through the MN Advanced Energy Codes Partnership. Additionally, she supports commercial energy code compliance through resource and curriculum development and trainings for construction professionals and code officials. She also serves as the tribal nations' liaison for the Partnership, working alongside Minnesota's tribal nations to provide technical assistance for implementing energy code improvements for new and existing buildings.

Prior to joining CEE, Sophia worked in the construction industry, completing technical drawings for high-performance architecture projects. She also worked as a Plan Reviewer for the City of Duluth, where she reviewed building plans for code compliance.

Passionate about combining her background in sustainability with the built environment, she joined CEE in 2024.

Sophia holds dual bachelors degrees in anthropology and environmental studies with an individualized concentration in health from Luther College.

LeAnne joined the Neighborhood Energy Connection as a loan manager in 2004, before the organization merged with CEE in 2017. For nine years prior, she was the loan manager for another local nonprofit. She has over 30 years of experience helping lend tens of millions of dollars to Minnesota homeowners for home improvement projects.

Based in Chicago, Rashaan is responsible for the implementation and delivery of CEE's programs and pilots in Illinois. As a member of the Program Development team, he also supports new business development opportunities in the state.

Prior to joining CEE in 2023, Rashaan spent a decade conducting in-person and remote energy assessments of commercial, industrial, and municipal buildings throughout New England as a licensed professional engineer. He most recently worked in the City of Boston's Environment Department as a Carbon Neutrality Project Manager focused on the decarbonization of Boston's small residential and commercial buildings.

Cindy serves as the main point of contact for the One-Stop Efficiency Shop lighting, HVAC and refrigeration programs. She implements department policies and practices when qualifying properties for these programs. Her responsibilities include managing information and communication among One-Stop staff, contractors, and customers.

She is also responsible for assigning projects to the lighting consultants, ensuring a project moves forward as accurately and efficiently through the system as possible and maintaining detailed and up to date records for all qualified properties.

Cindy started with CEE in 2008 working with the Sound Mitigation Program before she joined the One-Stop Lighting team as a project assistant in 2012. Cindy graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin with a BA in English. 

As quality assurance manager, Maddy is responsible for overseeing all aspects of quality assurance inspections for CEE's residential department. She is a BPI Building Analyst Proctor and uses it to get Home Energy Squad field staff certified as Building Analyst Technicians and Professionals.

Maddy took on this role after 5 years with the Home Energy Squad, and prior to this, she worked as a Green Iowa AmeriCorps member conducting energy audits and facilitating outreach events. She has a BA in Anthropology from Luther College. 

As a systems coordinator with the One-Stop Efficiency Shop lighting department, Drew works with contractors to create proposals and invoices for small to midsize businesses that are interested in upgrading their lighting.

Before CEE, Drew worked as an order picker for Staples, where he fulfilled online orders for regional businesses. Drew attended college at Bemidji State University where he obtained a BS in environmental studies. Certifications NALMCO-certified Appentice Lighitng Technician

As a field supervisor, Stian gets to motivate and support field staff. Stian also gets to train new staff to become counselors and auditors. Stian's favorite part of his job is motivating staff and helping them excel in their role.

Prior to CEE, Stian worked for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board as an aquatic invasive species watercraft inspector and educator. Stian graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a BS in biology and a minor in sustainability, where he also worked as part of the Student Sustainability Leadership Program coordinating and collaborating with students on sustainable composting and energy conservation outreach programs. 

As the loan servicing manager, Marco developed and launched the Lending Center’s in-house loan servicing department to respond to the organization's current and future needs in the lending area.

Marco came to CEE with nearly 12 years of experience in the mortgage industry, working for two of the top 20 loan servicing companies nationwide at the time, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Ditech Financial; He has extensive experience in several areas of Loan Servicing including Escrow, Customer Service, Collections, Loan Transfers and Payment Processing.

As a senior research engineer, Russ plays various roles in projects that contribute to cost-effective energy savings in buildings. These roles include securing project funding, project management, building plan review, energy analysis, and conducting field research.

Russ began working as an engineering intern at CEE before he received his BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1990. Since 2005, Russ has been increasingly involved in new construction to provide plan review, whole-building energy simulation, and other technical support to design teams and to organizations charged with project oversight and verification.

Russ’s recent and ongoing work addresses the efficiency of a mix of new and existing buildings, both commercial and multifamily. His new construction work includes the Minnesota portion of a U.S. Department of Energy–funded study of the energy efficiency of new low-rise multifamily buildings, CEE’s new construction review of projects against Minnesota’s Sustainable Buildings 2030 Energy Standard, and a pilot project that provided third-party support for improved compliance with commercial energy codes.

His current research on existing buildings includes leading projects to optimize the control of commercial condensing boilers study the Minnesota energy efficiency program market for commercial and industrial refrigeration. Russ also provides technical support for CEE programs and services that improve the efficiency of commercial refrigeration systems, multifamily buildings, and ice arenas.

As an office and administrative specialist, Carina is responsible for the overall management and support of CEE's Minneapolis downtown location.

Prior to joining CEE in 2022, Carina worked for a nonprofit treatment facility that helped people with substance-use disorders achieve sobriety. She also worked in the hospitality industry and as a pharmacy technician. Carina is currently enrolled in St. Paul College.

Katie supports the Market Transformation team to expand and increase residences who are installing energy efficiency upgrades and new technologies. She also oversees residential marketing for CEE’s market transformation initiatives which includes the MN ASHP Collaborative and High-Performance Windows. 

She previously worked at marketing and communications consulting firms that focused on market transformation through advocacy, policy, and legislative efforts across the US. When not researching market trends and audience profiles, you can find her in her garden or hiking a mountain with her husband and pup, Loretta.

Katie obtained her BS from Murray State University in soil ecology. While there, she was an award-winning McNair Scholar, ultimately supporting her curiosity and research efforts while continuing her education at the University of Montana where she obtained her MS in environmental sciences. At the U of M, she focused on the role of communications and marketing in spurring market transformation within the agriculture sector.

William is responsible for closing loan deals within the Loan Services department. He has previously worked at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage for over 10 years.

As assistant program manager, Jessica works with vendors, customers, and One-Stop staff to qualify property addresses, calculate rebates, and process invoices.

Jessica has been with CEE since 2007. She has a bachelor's degree in community development from St. Cloud State University.