Ian Bowles

Ian Bowles is a founder and Managing Director of WindSail. He has 25 years of experience in energy and environmental industries and is an advisor or director at several leading clean energy companies and serves on the board of directors of the New England Clean Energy Council. Until early 2011, Ian served four years as Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs under Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. He created and led the first state cabinet-level agency encompassing both energy regulation and environmental protection. Ian set the highest standards in the nation on greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, clean energy incentives, ocean zoning and building codes. Previously, Ian served as principal international environment and natural resources policy advisor on the White House staff for President Bill Clinton. Ian's prior career includes posts as a Senior Research Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and as adjunct member of the teaching faculty at Oxford University. Ian co-edited Footprints in the Jungle (Oxford University Press) and has written broadly on energy, environment, conservation and sustainability in both professional journals such as Science and in the popular media including the New York Times. Earlier in his career, Ian was a Vice President at Conservation International and played a key role in creation of the four million acre Central Suriname Nature Reserve in 1998. He received his A.B. cum laude from Harvard College and a Masters degree from Oxford University. He holds an honorary doctorate from Emerson College. He lives in Jamaica Plain with his wife, daughter and son