URBAN INGENUITY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Investment Committee & Founder
For 30 years, Bracken Hendricks has been at the cutting edge of clean energy policies and business models. Bracken approaches clean energy with an intersectional lens - considering structural racism, economic development, and sustainability. He co-founded Urban Ingenuity and serves as Chair of the Climate Justice Investment Committee of the Working Power Impact Fund. Bracken applies his expertise as a partner at J.M. Forbes& Co., a family office in Boston, MA. Bracken, a serial entrepreneur and thought leader, co-authored "Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy." He was the senior policy advisor and co-founder for Evergreen Action and Apollo Alliance. Bracken co-authored climate policy for Governor Jay Inslee's 2020 Presidential Campaign and advised Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative on infrastructure, jobs, and climate resiliency. He helped shape the clean energy commitments of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the launch of the US Department of Energy's Better Buildings Challenge. He was a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and Center for American Progress. Bracken has a master's degree in public policy and urban planning from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Job Titles:
- General Counsel & Legal Advisor
- General Counsel to UI
- General Counsel to WP / UI
As outside General Counsel to UI, David represents the company in all aspects of its clean energy development and financing business.
As outside General Counsel to WP/UI,David represents the company in all aspects of its clean energy development and financing business. Prior to WP/UI, he served as general counsel for a national affordable housing and community development firm, where his work focused on partnering with state and local governments, nonprofits, and community leaders to develop affordable and mixed-income multifamily and single-family housing in highly distressed neighborhoods. He also managed the company's New Markets Tax Credit business, attracting capital to underserved communities with investments in catalytic developments. He started his legal career in civil rights enforcement at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and then worked at two national law firms in Washington, DC, representing clients on public finance, housing, and energy transactions and regulatory matters. David has a master's degree in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School ofGovernment and a JD and a BA from the University of North Carolina.
Shalom Flank, PhD. became the nation's first "microgrid architect" over 15 years ago.
Dr. Flank has managed. all technical and engineering aspects of Urban Ingenuity's microgrid and solar + storage projects, from initial assessments and conceptual design, through full engineering and implementation. Dr. Flank was trained at MIT, where he studied energy engineering, economics, and policy. Dr. Flank has been a frequent advisor to commercial companies and public agencies on energy technologies, from helping the National Science Foundation assess the commercial viability of new photovoltaic and fuel cell technologies to working with cutting-edge companies commercializing clean energy and energy efficiency technologies. He served for a number of years as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) and as a staff member at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the U.S. House of Representatives, and has held appointments at Georgetown University, Harvard University, and MIT.
Job Titles:
- Special Projects Associate
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- COO
- Co - Executive Director & Founder
As COO and co-founder, Ian manages all aspects of clean energy project development and financial structuring.
Ian Fischer is committed to community economic development and clean energy innovation. Ian directs the strategy and investments of Urban Ingenuity and leads the scaling of Working Power. Ian developed and operationalized the infrastructure for DC PACE, a first-of-its-kind program. Over the past decade, Ian has overseen $150M in capital deployment into solar, microgrids, efficiency, and resilience projects. Before UI, Ian was the Vice President at Clean Energy Solutions, Inc., where he directed national multidisciplinary teams that partnered with states and municipalities nationwide to design and execute energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. Ian has extensive experience developing community-centered clean energy projects utilizing creative approaches to public and private equity to drive climate resiliency. Ian holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BA in Biology from Brown University.
Julián has a diverse background in financial and analytical roles, with experience in commercial real estate development and investment banking. He has served as an Acquisitions and Development Analyst for a commercial real estate developer in Portland, Maine, where he supported financial analysis, underwriting, and acquisition activities for investment properties. Most recently, Julian served as a Senior Trade Operations Analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman, focusing on collateral management and global ETF services. In this role, he played a pivotal part in establishing and leading a trading team and conducting due diligence for fund launches. Currently, Julian is part of the Project Development team, supporting a range of solar and micro-grid projects in collaboration with community partners.
Job Titles:
- Associate, Asset Management
Kim supports all aspects of financial closings, customer engagement, asset management for UI's solar and C-PACE portfolio, and ensuring seamless integration of project policy, technical and financial requirements.
Maryem is part of the project development team at Working Power, currently supporting a range of solar and microgrid projects with community partners in the Northeast. She recently joined the team in 2024. Maryem comes to us with a history of community development. Before joining Working Power, she was a consultant working to produce low-income housing across the country. In her four years of experience, Maryem has aided in the construction of more than 500 units of affordable housing. Maryem is also an accomplished grant writer. She has won a combined 20 million in grants from the Federal Home Loan Bank, HUD, and local government agencies. Maryem has a bachelor's from Temple University. In her free time, she enjoys tending to her house plants and building legos.
Job Titles:
- Chief of Staff & Director of Asset Management
- Director of Operations and Asset Management
As Director of Operations and Asset Management, Niki oversees all aspects of operations, financial underwriting and asset management for UI's portfolio of solar and C-PACE projects.
Job Titles:
- Senior Project Development
Upasana is part of the project development team at Working Power, currently supporting a range of solar and microgrid projects with community partners in the Northeast and Texas. She joined Urban Ingenuity, Working Power's parent company, in 2015, and has worked on a range of clean energy projects from single building retrofits to community solar to district energy systems. She also helped administer the DC PACE program for several years, developing many of the key program tools and processes of the program and closing more than $40 M in financing over three years. Along the way, Upasana graduated with a Master of Architecture and Master of Community Planning from the University of Maryland.
Job Titles:
- Leader
- Co - Executive Director
Yerina Mugica is a leader with over 20 years of experience advancing systems change across climate, equity, green finance and community partnerships. She has a proven track record of building and successfully leading teams, strategy and programs. As co-Executive Director, Yerina brings expertise and capacity to help us develop and implement an ambitious and sustainable growth strategy, while investing in inclusive and collaborative team culture. Previously, Yerina led a 100-person, $30 million program focused on supporting climate, health and equity strategies across city, state and national policy implementation. She also helped expand green finance capabilities and a community and justice-centered focus within the national environmental movement. Prior to joining Working Power, Yerina also provided consulting expertise to community and justice centered organizations. Yerina has an MBA with a concentration in Sustainable Enterprise and a certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BS in business administration from Northeastern University.