We are pleased to announce that Elizabeth Sanderson has been named Executive Director of Solar Energy International (SEI), the Colorado-based, industry-leading, internationally recognized, not-for-profit educational organization. 

Elizabeth joins SEI with an impressive history of leadership and experience that will be leveraged to take our non-profit educational mission of a world powered by renewable energy to the next level. With credentials including COO and Director of Development of The Hunger Project (a nonprofit with a mission of ending world hunger), President of an advertising agency that managed several worldwide brands, and Chief Marketing Officer of Sunflare (a solar start-up), Elizabeth is set to scale SEI while staying true to our key differentiators of quality education and a family culture. She also brings with her a passion for building organizations focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. 

“I’m thrilled to be joining SEI at this time in the trajectory of the solar industry expansion,” Sanderson stated, “and I am looking forward to leading the charge of building a solar workforce that reflects the population as a whole, and makes a difference in people’s lives. We are laser-focused on creating jobs and fighting climate change”.

At the same time, SEI will be saying goodbye to long-standing Executive Director Kathy Swartz, who has successfully led the organization since 2012. “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as SEI’s Executive Director and I have immense gratitude for the staff, our board, and our students as they are working towards our vision of a world powered by renewable energy. It was not an easy decision to decide to leave but I am thrilled that SEI has hired such an exceptional and experienced leader with Elizabeth. It’s been an honor to work with her to smoothly transition the role to her and I’m so invigorated by what it is to come”, Kathy expressed. 

SEI’s board president, Ken Gardner, commented on the transition: “It has been a  joy and honor to work with Kathy Swartz over the past eight years. I have watched her tireless drive and devotion to the success of SEI and we will all miss her. I look forward to working with Elizabeth Sanderson and her drive, vision and determination to continue to promote the success and expansion of SEI. I will do all I can to assist and support Elizabeth as a member of the board of directors”.

Looking to the future, as SEI enters into our 30th year as a not-for-profit educational organization, we will be finalizing a comprehensive strategic planning process that will set the trajectory for the foreseeable future, focusing on growth and mission alignment of programs and initiatives tied to growing a diverse and inclusive clean energy workforce. To date, SEI has trained and served over 80,000 people since 1991. As the industry’s most recognized training program for solar energy technologies, SEI is positioned to use our anniversary as a launching point to exponentially reach and train more communities worldwide.