Staffing Advisors is proud to have partnered with Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) in the selection of its Vice President of Development Ukiah Busch. SEPA is an $18MM nonprofit organization with more than 1,000 members, including utilities that serve the majority of American households. SEPA is a nonpartisan convener bringing diverse energy stakeholders together to solve the sector’s most pressing challenges. The organization operates with approximately 66 staff. Read more about SEPA’s leadership here.
About the Search for SEPA’s Next Vice President of Development
After a deep discovery process to identify the organization’s most critical business issues and strategic priorities, Staffing Advisors sought a highly experienced executive to design and execute a strategic engagement strategy that focuses on long-term, multiyear funding growth at SEPA through private foundations; federal, state, and local grants; and other mission-aligned funding sources.
The search was led by Staffing Advisors Vice President of Executive Search Aileen Hedden, with strategy consulting from Founder & President Bob Corlett and support from the entire Staffing Advisors team.
Working closely with SEPA’s leadership, Staffing Advisors surfaced several key focus areas for the role:
- Position SEPA as a trusted facilitator that brings energy stakeholders together for dialogue leading to actionable solutions and generates the revenue needed to support and accelerate the nation’s transformation to a carbon-free energy system.
- With a deep understanding of SEPA’s work, translate the organization’s expertise into large-scale funding opportunities upwards of $250K each.
- Propose and secure funding to grow federal grant revenue from $400K–$500K to $1M within the first 2 years. Evaluate the clean energy landscape to identify opportunities to proactively engage with government agencies (DOE, DOD, DOT, FEMA), positioning SEPA as a prime recipient for pass-through funding.
- Propose and secure funding to grow private funding revenue to $5M by 2030. Research private foundations that align with SEPA’s mission and goals to identify potential funding sources, build relationships with foundation staff, and cultivate partnership opportunities that leverage SEPA’s expertise in support of foundation funding priorities.
The Staffing Advisors team was honored to support SEPA in this important leadership transition. Since 2016, we have partnered with SEPA on several key roles, including a Chief Communications Officer, a Chief Experience Officer, and a Vice President of Research and Industry Strategy.