Alicia Barton
Greentown Labs Board Chair
Alicia Barton is the Chief Executive Officer of FirstLight Power (“FirstLight”), a leading clean power producer and energy storage company with a portfolio that includes nearly 1.4GW of pumped-hydro storage (including Northfield Mountain, the largest energy storage facility in New England), battery storage, hydroelectric generation, and solar generation—the largest clean energy generation portfolio operating in New England today. FirstLight’s mission and vision is to accelerate the decarbonization of the electric grid by owning, operating, and integrating large-scale renewable energy and storage assets to meet the region’s growing clean energy needs and to deliver an electric system that is clean, reliable, affordable, and equitable.
Prior to joining FirstLight in 2020, Ms. Barton held several clean energy leadership roles in both the public and private sectors. Her past public service included serving as the President and as CEO of the New York Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA; from 2017-2020) and previously as CEO the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC; from 2012-2015), where she helped to lead both New York’s and Massachusetts’ efforts to advance nation-leading climate and clean energy strategies. Ms. Barton’s prior private sector experience includes serving as Co-Chair of the Energy and Cleantech Practice at Foley Hoag LLP, and as Chief of Operations of the Global Utility business unit at SunEdison where she oversaw teams building utility-scale wind and solar projects. Ms. Barton’s career has been dedicated to advancing new clean energy projects and markets in areas such as offshore wind, solar, energy storage, efficiency and accelerating clean technology innovation. She also serves on the Board of Directors of numerous prominent climate-focused organizations including Greentown Labs (where she serves as Board Chair) and the Environmental League of Massachusetts.