Executive Director Lissa Widoff

Our spring newsletter is a harbinger of positive change that Switzer Fellows are leading to reduce fossil fuel use in the transportation sector through the expanded use of electric vehicles (EV) and autonomous vehicles (AV). The stories included in this newsletter show how Switzer Fellows are promoting municipal greenhouse gas reduction goals through greater EV use, balancing charging station demands with utility peak energy use, exploring policy dimensions of how to accurately predict adoption rates of these vehicles, and influencing how these strategies will be financed and implemented equitably. Electric buses for public transportation and incentives for individual purchases are important ways in which climate change, community development and energy policy come together and drive us towards a low-carbon future.

These stories also illustrate how my twenty years as the Switzer Foundation's Executive Director have gone by in a flash. The Foundation has always supported individuals who are committed to positive environmental impact and who recognize that we need multidisciplinary approaches to find true solutions. The issues that concern and affect us have expanded over time, even as we home in on the universal impacts of climate change and fossil fuel use. Whether Switzer Fellows pursue careers and research as university faculty or as NGO advocates, government policy specialists or business leaders, it is heartening to know that they are seeking intersections outside their own areas of expertise and learning how best to engage all perspectives for the best outcomes.

This will be my last letter to colleagues as Executive Director of the Switzer Foundation as we welcome Dr. Sarah Reed as my successor. These past twenty years have been filled with the joy of shared learning with our nearly 650 Fellows on a variety of environmental issues and developing our collective leadership for the complex issues of our time. Most importantly, we have learned that collaboration is stronger than individual action, that working across issues, geography, backgrounds and expertise reveals new opportunities to solve today's environmental problems, and that leadership develops over a lifetime. 

Much of my own learning and leadership has benefited from the insights, experience and profound leadership of our Fellows. I was a recipient of the Switzer Fellowship in 1992 when I attended Harvard Kennedy School to focus on environmental policy, and I look forward to continuing to be an active part of this extraordinary Network of Switzer Fellows, colleagues and emerging leaders who will need our support for the long haul. May we keep building connections and hope for a brighter future for all.