An Interview With Monica Sanders
Build an incredible team: Again, this is not new advice, but it is absolutely crucial to surround yourself with like-minded people who want to see the vision realized. A mission-driven company can’t be stopped with a strong strategy, a great team and, yes, some capital too!
According to the University of Colorado, “Those who are most affected and have the fewest resources to adapt to climate change are also the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions — both globally and within the United States.” Promoting climate justice is an incredibly important environmental responsibility that is slowly becoming more and more recognized. In this interview series, we are talking to leaders who are helping to promote sustainability and climate justice. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Mark Danzenbaker.
Mark Danzenbaker is the CEO of GridPoint, a leader in building energy management and optimization technology that decarbonizes commercial buildings and drives grid modernization. Danzenbaker joined GridPoint in 2009 and has served in several leadership positions, including Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Product Management, before being named CEO in 2016.
Under his leadership, Danzenbaker was instrumental in revolutionizing GridPoint’s strategy and business model, shifting it to a service-based approach that successfully positioned GridPoint as a pioneer in subscription-based energy technology. The subscription model removed barriers among commercial businesses due to the high capital-intensive, up-front costs of energy infrastructure investments. GridPoint’s business model has made energy efficiency technology more accessible to businesses of all types, including the historically-underserved small- and mid-sized business market.
In his role as CEO, Danzenbaker drives GridPoint’s efforts to accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable energy future by creating a network of smart, efficient, grid-interactive buildings. Working with commercial buildings, utilities and technology partners, Danzenbaker leads the GridPoint team to support grid modernization and focus on making buildings smarter through advanced controls, monitoring and reporting, intelligent automation and machine learning. To date, GridPoint has saved its customers many hundreds of millions of dollars in energy costs, reduced billions of kWh in electricity, and eliminated billions of lbs. of carbon emissions.
Prior to GridPoint, Danzenbaker spent a decade with Accenture, serving in progressive leadership roles with the global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company.
Danzenbaker holds a bachelor’s degree in Integrated Science and Technology from James Madison University and an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I grew up in the Washington D.C.-metro region, which positively impacted my worldview and, ultimately, my passion for sustainability. I think living here makes you see that, whatever people’s politics, they come here to make a difference. That’s always made me want to work on something bigger than myself for a positive impact.
Everyone has a cataclysmic moment or marker in their life which propels them to take certain actions, a “why”. What is your why?
Addressing climate change is the defining challenge of our generation. We have to solve it, period.
You are currently leading an organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change?
Sustainability is the core of our mission and the entire reason GridPoint exists. There are numerous aspects to what needs to be done to drive toward net zero, but certainly, one relates to changing how we produce and consume energy.
Climate change, the transition to renewables, and electrification trends are already major factors impacting energy costs and reliability today. That’s the part of the problem we are trying to address. Tackling the supply and demand imbalance problem that is, frankly, already here and will continue as we make the energy transition.
To address that problem, we have to harness the power and potential of buildings, particularly commercial buildings, to address the demand side of the equation in a coordinated way with a decarbonized energy supply.
So, what is GridPoint specifically doing about it? Our mission is to accelerate the energy transition by building an interconnected network of buildings. We want to make commercial buildings smart, efficient and sustainable. We have an energy optimization platform that controls and manages the assets in a building that consumes energy in a deeply integrated way with the energy grid. The pitch to a customer is simple: Save energy. Save Money, Help the grid. Be sustainable. And we do it with a $0-down subscription that doesn’t require putting even a dime down up-front. Everyone wins.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
GridPoint’s story is one of perseverance and dedication to our long-term mission. That is also true for many other leaders and companies working to help address climate change and drive sustainability. There are plenty of challenges, setbacks and obstacles that we’ve all seen. I’d actually say the world has caught up to our story. The problem is increasingly known and clear to society, and I’m proud of our team for what we’ve accomplished. We’ve taken the long view for the incredible impact we can have at scale.
Let’s start with a basic definition of terms so that everyone is on the same page. What does climate justice mean to you? How do we operationalize it?
It means rethinking how we produce and consume energy for everyone’s benefit. Produce it clean and be smart about what, when and how we use it. It is also about driving adoption by making the technology accessible to enable the transition. In our case, that means eliminating the upfront capital requirement that is otherwise an impediment to the adoption of energy efficiency technology.
Science is telling us that we have seven to 10 years to make critical decisions about climate change. What are three things you or your organization are doing to help?
- Making overlooked commercial buildings more energy efficient in a cost-effective way and making the energy transition universally beneficial.
- Enabling a dynamic relationship between these buildings and the grid to coordinate demand behind the meter with available supply.
- Engaging in partnerships that offer complementary solutions and acting as a gateway to distributed energy resource adoption so we can truly accelerate the energy transition.
What three things can the community, society, or politicians do to help you in your mission?
I’ll speak more broadly than GridPoint. We need courage, realism and action. We need the courage to acknowledge the challenge and goal to get to net zero. We need to embrace the reality that this is a long-term transition. We need to recognize the broad coordination needed across policy, infrastructure, technology, business, and the global economy, then start taking both short-term and long-term actions for a sustainable future.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
Imagine you are a commercial business. You are worried about rising costs. You are worried about energy inflation, which is real and increasingly a concern. You want to be responsive to customers demanding sustainable practices. Also, depending on where you live, you keep hearing about energy reliability challenges.
These are real challenges shared by our customers every day, and we believe GridPoint has a very practical solution to help address all of the above. Our pitch to a customer is simple: Save energy. Save Money, Help the grid. Be sustainable. And we do it with a $0-down subscription that doesn’t require putting even a dime down up-front.
By making buildings smart, efficient and sustainable, a business can help both the top and bottom lines. It’s good for both the brand and the income statement.
This is the signature question we ask in most of our interviews. What are your “five things I wish someone told me when I first started promoting sustainability and climate justice,” and why?
(1) Make sure what you do moves the needle: There are so many aspects of the drive to net zero, from agriculture to new fuel sources to materials and energy. Whatever part of the problem you seek to address, make sure that it makes a meaningful difference once your vision is fully realized. Focus on an outcome that makes a sizable impact on the problem.
(2) Business model matters: Everyone knows this, of course, but it is worth saying and repeating. Often. You can have the most amazing technology in the world, but you need to develop an economic model that drives revenue and scale. The more scale you have, the more impact you have. For us, that’s a $0-down subscription model that doesn’t require putting even a dime down up-front.
(3) Build an incredible team: Again, this is not new advice, but it is absolutely crucial to surround yourself with like-minded people who want to see the vision realized. A mission-driven company can’t be stopped with a strong strategy, a great team and, yes, some capital too!
(4) Expect a pivot (or two): Something will go wrong. It always does. However, keep the long-term mission in mind and figure out how to turn the issue into a learning experience that improves the company.
(5) Shout it from the rooftops: Tell your story to everyone that’ll listen. Take feedback for what it is and ignore those that say it can’t be done. Refine it. Revise it. Update it. Keep going.
How can our readers continue to follow your work online?
Follow GridPoint on social media! We regularly post company news and happenings. Also, keep an eye out on our Newsroom section of the website for the latest press announcements and media coverage.
GridPoint LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gridpoint
GridPoint Twitter: @GridPoint
GridPoint Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gridpointinc/
GridPoint Newsroom: https://www.gridpoint.com/company/newsroom/
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
About the Interviewer: Monica Sanders JD, LL.M, is the founder of “The Undivide Project”, an organization dedicated to creating climate resilience in underserved communities using good tech and the power of the Internet. She holds faculty roles at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy. Professor Sanders also serves on several UN agency working groups. As an attorney, Monica has held senior roles in all three branches of government, private industry, and nonprofits. In her previous life, she was a journalist for seven years and the recipient of several awards, including an Emmy. Now the New Orleans native spends her time in solidarity with and championing change for those on the frontlines of climate change and digital divestment. Learn more about how to join her at: www.theundivideproject.org.
How Mark Danzenbaker of GridPoint Is Helping to Promote Sustainability and Climate Justice was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.