CALSTART Announces New Additions to Officers and Board of Directors

Feb. 16, 2021 (PASADENA, CA)— CALSTART announced today that industry executives Michael McDonald of UPS and Gary Horvat of Navistar will join to its Board of Directors. The company is also announcing that Katie Sloan of Southern California Edison and Cynthia Williams of Ford will become the Board’s new Chair and Vice Chair, respectively.

Michael McDonald is UPS’ Director of Maintenance & Engineering for Sustainability & Government Affairs. Mr. McDonald has been working for UPS since 1992, beginning in fleet maintenance before transitioning to alternative fuel options and public affairs. McDonald is replacing Scott Phillippi, also from UPS, who served on the CALSTART board for four years.

Gary Horvat is the Vice President of eMobility at Navistar. In this role, he handles augmenting and aligning Navistar’s NEXT eMobility team for all commercial, technical, and implementation activities. Prior to his current role, Horvat served as the CTO of Proterra and the Vice President of Product Development at Fisker Automotive, as well as Vice President of Powertrain at DENSO International. Horvat has over 35 years of experience in the automotive industry.

“Adding these two new leading executives from the trucking industry will help us build a strong and more impactful national program to accelerate the zero- and near-zero emission truck market in the United States,” said CALSTART President and CEO, John Boesel.

Katie Sloan was unanimously elected as Chair of the Board of Directors. Ms. Sloan is currently the Director of Demand Side Management in Customer Programs and Services at Southern California Edison. Previously, Katie held roles of increasing responsibility at SCE & Edison International focusing on policy, strategy, and analysis for clean energy. She has also worked at First Solar, a large solar panel manufacturer, developing global public policy.

Cynthia Williams, Global Director at Ford Motor Company, will serve as the Vice-Chair of CALSTART’s Board of Directors. In her current role Cynthia is responsible for sustainable business plans and policies, advanced regulatory development, and reporting on the companies environmental and social performance.  Since joining Ford in 1992, Cynthia has held several positions, which include Ford’s Sustainability, Environment and Safety Director in Asia Pacific, Environmental Policy Manager, Energy Planning and Compliance Manager, and On-Board Diagnostics Production Compliance Programs Manager.

The Board also announced that outgoing Chair, Karen Hamberg, has been given the title of Chair Emeritus and will remain on the Board for the following year. Hamberg is currently one of nine leading Canadian industry executives serving on Canada’s Industry Strategy Council. Appointed by the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry in June 2020, Hamberg is advising the federal government on strategies to accelerate the growth of the clean technologies sector during and after the pandemic. “It has been a tremendous honor to serve as Chair of the CALSTART Board of Directors with such talented industry leaders. The dedication of the CALSTART team in advancing the deployment and scale of clean transportation technologies in the United States, and its leadership in forging new and stronger global partnerships have position the organization for future success”, said outgoing Chair Karen Hamberg.

In the four years that Hamberg served as CALSTART Board Chair, the organization more than doubled in both revenue and headcount. In part due to her leadership, the organization also successfully launched its first major global program, the Global Drive to Zero. While Hamberg was Chair, the independent Directors of CALSTART achieved the industry leading milestone of a gender-balanced Board.