ALL4ENERGY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Principal at Asakura Robinson Company
Alexandra Miller is a Principal at Asakura Robinson Company, an urban planning and landscape architecture firm, where she leads the New Orleans office. Alex is an urban planner who specializes in planning for community revitalization and economic development. Her work focuses on economic and social empowerment of communities that helps residents shape their own urban environments. She has extensive experience in community and land-use planning, real estate development, blight reduction strategies, and community engagement. Alex leads Asakura Robinson's economic and community development sector, working with clients and stakeholders to create economic policies, programs, and projects that benefit communities socially and environmentally. Her portfolio includes affordable housing strategies, career pathways studies, revitalization plans, commercial corridor analyses, and other projects designed to ensure that all populations realize opportunity within changing environments. As a former public opinion research professional, she also maintains a special focus on research-based projects that inform planning and design work across sectors. Before coming to Asakura Robinson, she worked for Crescent City Community Land Trust to develop permanently affordable housing in New Orleans, and founded her own consulting firm, Miller Urban Consulting. Alex holds a BA in Anthropology from Northwestern University and a Master of Urban Planning from Harvard's Graduate School of Design.
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Member of the Alliance 's Board
- S Life and Work - Alliance Founder Karen Wimpelberg
Betty Wisdom helped give birth to the Alliance for Affordable Energy. From 1983-1985 she chaired a League of Women Voters study group on whether the city should buy (municipalize) the utility company serving New Orleans, New Orleans Public Service Inc. (NOPSI), now called Entergy New Orleans. The League, along with a Blue-Ribbon City Council study committee came to the same consensus: that the city should buy the utility - as allowed by the 1922 franchise between the city and the utility company. It was hoped that having a utility company that was municipally owned (like Austin, Texas and Lafayette) would pave the way for more progressive, affordable and environmentally responsible energy policies. Advocates of buying out the utility also hoped to avoid New Orleanians being billed for 29% of the huge capital costs of the proposed multi-billion dollar construction of the Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Station in Mississippi. The utility rate hikes that would follow such a huge commitment would have been devastating to our residential customers, over 30% of whom were below poverty level. Betty, as chair of that nearly two-year long League study, became incensed at the unfairness of that proposal as well as the underhanded methods the utility company used to try to get approval of their plans.
Following that League of Women Voters consensus in early 1985, Betty and five other advocates for fair and affordable energy policy decided to start a non-profit that would monitor the issues and government processes around utility regulation and energy policy for New Orleans. Both the first meetings of these six founders and the first organizing meeting for the new organization, attended more than 50 people, were held in the double parlor of her small shot-gun home. The organizing meeting was so cramped that many sat on the floor or stood in doorways. It was in these meetings that the Alliance for Affordable Energy was born.
As well as an animal, plant and arts-for-all lover, Betty was an ardent civil rights activist. In 1960, she served as a board member of Save Our Schools (SOS), which was essentially formed out of members of the League of Women Voters of New Orleans. Betty and 24 other women, including Kit Senter, another Alliance Advisory Committee member, personally helped escort daily, to and from school, the white children from 12 families who were willing to keep their children in Frantz Elementary School in the 9th Ward, after Ruby Bridges, a first grade student (of the Norman Rockwell painting) was brought in as the first black student. These women received with phone threats and harassment, faced screaming crowds of white women both at their homes and the school and had their cars rocked by angry crowds. During many of these experiences New Orleans police stayed 100 yards away, leaning against their cars watching and laughing.
But the ‘SOS girls' persisted. Betty, who had some independent income and a job with the school board, would send a long telegram daily to the New York Times, the Washington Post and a connection or two at the White House, describing the day's events (telegrams were expensive, no fax machines then, much less computers) begging for President Kennedy to send the national guard. After nearly a month, he did. Betty lost her job at the school board which she later claimed as one of her proudest moments. But as a result of this one, successfully integrated, public school (the other school that attempted to integrate had lost every single white family immediately), New Orleans was forced to integrate all of its schools. In 1994 Oprah Winfrey recognized the Little Rock Seven, Ruby Bridges and the ‘SOS girls' for their work toward integrating the nation's public schools. Betty was very honored to have been included with those who she considered "the truly brave".
Betty was President of the League of Women Voters twice, and served on every committee the League had to offer. She was named by President Lyndon Johnson to the Human Rights Commission, and served on four City Charter Commissions. Every mayor, starting with Moon Landrieu in the 1970's, tried to amend the charter in order to align it with the 1952 version of the Louisiana Constitution. The Charter was finally amended in 1996 under Marc Morial. She was very patient! Betty served on the board of the ACLU, Agenda for Children, Amistad, and other civic minded organizations, like the Independent Women's Organization (IWO), and she bequeathed her large personal library (many thousands of books) to Dillard University.
For over 50 years, Betty Wisdom served on the boards and advisory committees of a broad spectrum of arts and cultural organizations such as the New Orleans Ballet, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Orleans Opera, the Arts Council of New Orleans, etc., even sponsoring the training of several opera singers. Rather shy, Betty stayed very close to her various nieces and nephews and extended family and to a close circle of loving friends. But building miniature, exquisitely appointed and authentic doll houses which she then donated to charities for auctioning and donating children's books, especially ones written by African American authors, (a very new genre starting in the late 1980's) to local public schools and speaking to school children about her work in civil rights and building the zoo, were always her most joyful public experiences. In 1994, Betty received the Times Picayune Loving Cup for her lifetime of selfless volunteer work on behalf of her fellow New Orleanians. Betty was and always will be an inspiration.
Damian Tatum is a New Orleans native and an aerospace engineer trained at LSU and Penn State. His professional work has included marine design, project management, and rocket thermofluids analysis. He's currently a Chief Engineer at Belcan, developing next generation space vehicles. Away from his work desk, he's prone to getting tangled up in side-projects: columnist at the LSU Reveille during his undergrad years, managing editor of the rabble-rousing Voices of Central Pennsylvania in grad school, a regular on education projects with the Young Leadership Council, managing editor of the satirical New Orleans Levee Newspaper, and a senior member of the Horizon Initiative Infrastructure Committee (later spun off as the Water Collaborative). He is passionate about good design, sustainable infrastructure, and well-managed programs, and he believes New Orleans has a unique opportunity to step away from broken utility paradigms and try something legitimately new.
Job Titles:
- Communications Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Consumer Advocate, Alliance for Affordable Energy Founder
Mr. Groesch was co-founder and executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, a nonprofit organization started in 1985.
Gayle Gagliano has long served as a civil rights leader in New Orleans. She has been heavily involved in efforts to provide equal rights to minorities, women, and people with disabilities. Gayle served for nearly two decades as Associate Director and later, Director of University of New Orleans' Training Resource and Assistive Technology Center, which is a leader in innovation and implementation of accessibility for disabled people.
In the mid-1980's, Gayle became involved in the campaign to restore utility regulatory authority to the City Council. During this campaign, she served as the office manager, and met Betty Wisdom, Karen Wimpelberg, and Tom Lowenburg. Over the years, Gayle spent a great amount of time helping the Alliance in its efforts, including serving as Co-President on the Board of Directors along with Lea Young.
Karen Wimpelberg was among the founders and long-time leaders of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, alongside her late partner Gary Groesch, Betty Wisdom and Tom Lowenburg. Karen remained an active part of the organization since its founding in 1985, serving as a board member, board president, Regulatory Affairs Director. Additionally, she has carried a central leadership role within the organization after Hurricane Katrina. Karen was a tireless advocate for the rights of utility customers, energy efficiency and progressive energy policies. The staff at the Alliance is grateful for her 24 years of service and mentoring as she passes the torch to the next generation.
Karen Wimpelberg, age 77, passed away on January 25, 2021 in St. Augustine, FL. She is preceded in death by life partner Gary Groesch and survived by her children Alex Wimpelberg and his wife Ashley, Avery Anna Wimpelberg, grandchildren Ella and Davis, and by her former husband, Bob Wimpelberg. Karen was raised in St. Louis Missouri where she graduated from Southwest High School, followed by George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville.
She had a passion for teaching, organizing a trip for high school students to Greece to learn about ancient Greek culture and mythology. Karen moved to New Orleans in 1980 where she quickly became part of the uptown community. She was employed for 20 years as personal assistant to native New Orleanian and philanthropist, Betty Wisdom. Karen found a kindred spirit in Betty. Their avid involvement in the community and love of travel became the backdrop of a long friendship.
Karen made notable contributions as an officer in the League of Women Voters and cofounder of the Alliance for Affordable Energy. Propelled by a strong sense of civic duty and the common good, Karen advocated for the rights of utility customers and promoted energy efficiency and progressive energy policies in New Orleans and across the country.
Desiring to be closer to family, she moved to St. Augustine in 2015 and became actively involved in the lives of her grandchildren. Karen touched many lives, as evident in the vast variety of friends she made. Her bright spirit lit up every room she walked into.
We are grateful for Karen's vision, leadership and commitment to the Alliance.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Executive Director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy
Logan Burke is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy. Since joining the Alliance in 2013, Ms. Burke has worked on a broad scope of consumer protection and energy issues, including energy efficiency, Integrated Resource Planning, distributed energy resources, community solar, rate cases, general regulatory matters pertaining to the City of New Orleans and the Louisiana Public Service Commission.
She has also led several collaborative efforts with other advocacy organizations in the housing, health, and good governance sectors, ultimately creating reports on health impacts of energy, the creation of a sustainable housing policy for New Orleans, and a more broad consideration of resource planning, including the impacts of climate change. Logan's goal is to work across sectors to build a future in Louisiana that works for everyone.
Before joining the Alliance, Ms. Burke was a founder and the development director for the Committed To Equality Initiative in Los Angeles, CA. Logan's interest in conservation, sustainability, and affordable energy stems from a passion for equal access to shared resources. Before settling into public policy and energy work, Logan worked for 12 years in the arts in New York and Los Angeles. Her background and education in the arts, including a degree from Vassar College, enables Ms. Burke to bring a fresh creative perspective to a complex policy environment.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- Treasurer of the Board
Rachel Heiligman brings a cross-sector skillset built on management of public-sector resilience initiatives, entrepreneurial non-profit leadership, and community-based advocacy.
Sophie is a biologist, passionate about human, environmental, and animal rights. She was raised fighting for social and environmental equity through the multicultural lens of her Jewish-American mother and Kurdish-Israeli immigrant father.
Originally from the Bronx, New York, she fell in love with New Orleans while studying Environmental Science, International Development, and Philosophy at Tulane University. There, she conducted her own study on cannibalism and behavior of blue crabs, as well as co-leading the effort to make Tulane a Fair Trade Certified campus. Sophie was elected to the board of the community service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, as Fundraiser and Project Director. Her date auctions, BBQ's, and puppy play date's benefitted Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO) where she continues to be a devoted volunteer and avid cheerleader.
An advocate for cultural diversity and education, she volunteered in Costa Rica and worked hands on with the citizens of Ecuador on the Texaco-Chevron Oil Case. She has experience in herpetology for the Bureau of Land Management, American Conservation Experience, as well as the Smithsonian. After the environment, she has a fervent love for tennis and worked as an Instructor at the USTA and ballgirl at the U.S. Open.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the Georgetown Climate Center
- Utilities
Job Titles:
- Clean Energy Grid Organizer