Staff Spotlight: Becky Olson, Senior Director of Residential and Community Energy
Becky Olson grew up in the small town of St. Clair, Minnesota, near Mankato. After graduating from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities with a bachelor’s degree in architecture, she took a job managing the scale model shop at an architecture firm.
“The fun part was that I was working with really cool people, and I got to learn how to use all the power tools,” Olson said. The not-fun part? "You sort of go through an initiation when you're starting out, and we had to do all sorts of odd jobs,” Olson explained.
Wearing many hats would become a hallmark of Olson’s career. Prior to landing at the Neighborhood Energy Connection (which later merged with CEE) in 2012, she completed stints conducting green building research, running crews to replace windows for lead poisoning prevention, and serving as director of a low-income weatherization program.
“I’ve always been very interested in understanding how systems work, which drew me to research,” Olson said. "But I also really like working with people at the program level and helping them in a direct way.”
Now, thirteen years after taking the job with the Neighborhood Energy Connection, Olson draws on both strengths to strategically and creatively guide CEE's residential operations. In her role as senior director of residential and community energy, she oversees 10+ programs, including workforce development — the creation of which stands as one of her proudest professional accomplishments.
"One of the things I love about CEE is that we don't keep ourselves in any one box — we're constantly thinking about how to break down barriers to energy efficiency across the board."
Becky Olson, CEE's senior director of residential and community energy
A few years ago, Olson and her colleagues were reflecting on the growing need for skilled professionals in the energy efficiency sector, as well as the underrepresentation of women and people of color in the field. "We were kind of waiting for somebody else to fill these gaps because we were not involved in workforce development, but nobody was jumping in,” Olson said. “A funding opportunity came our way, and we were like, 'Okay, we're gonna do this.’”
CEE’s inaugural workforce development program, Home Energy Career Training, was founded in 2021 in partnership with Xcel Energy. In 2023, CEE developed a partnership with Ramsey County, the City of St. Paul, and St. Paul College to create a second workforce program: Green Construction Training.
Since 2022, 189 people have completed the workforce development programs, with nearly two thirds obtaining employment in the clean energy sector following graduation. Among the program participants, 88% identify as BIPOC and 100% were low income (near or under 80% area median income, or AMI) at their time of enrollment.
With the workforce development program achieving such success, Olson has set her sights on tackling another barrier to home electrification through the creation of the Home Performance Business Incubator program.
“This project is really exciting and energizing me at the moment,” Olson said. “It started with realizing that we've brought more and more qualified individuals into the clean energy workforce, but we don’t have enough companies doing the work.”
According to Olson, most contractors offer just one or two electrification services, meaning homeowners must work with several contractors to successfully electrify their homes. That can make the process more complex and discourage some from jumping in. “This program is allowing us first to understand what it would take for them to be able to offer the full spectrum of services, then to provide them with the support they need,” she said.
The program, which launched its pilot phase in fall 2024, offers coaching, mentorship, technical training, and business support to a cohort of Minnesota contractors, with a goal of preparing them to function as one-stop home electrification shops.
“I really like that we’re very solutions oriented at CEE, that we are constantly thinking about how to further our mission — we're not just stuck in the day-to-day,” Olson said. “If someone has even a nugget of an idea, we work together to think through what it could grow into.”