Green Success Stories sat down with Kim DeCoste, CEO and Sr. Business Consultant of DeCoste & Associates. Kim has management background with various types of people, programs. and budgets, and she has extensive community involvement in legislative, education, and with women in leadership. Kim passionately speaks about career building, sustainability, and clean energy.
Who is Kim DeCoste?
In addition to her role at DeCoste Associates, Kim specializes in contract communications & writing as a Senior Communications Advisor and Technical Writer at the Loan Program Office and U.S. Dept. of Energy.
She is a retained Executive & Technical Recruiter, a Speaker, a Career Coach and a best-selling Author of Get Real Ladies: Career Challenges, Changes & Choices, a commonsense career guide that analyzes the unique challenges that working women face.
Kim, thank you for being here. Tell us a little bit about you and your background:
I founded our company, DeCoste & Associates, in 2007 with my husband, Paul. I am the CEO and serve as a Sr. Business Consultant. Over the years, I have applied my background in recruiting, coaching, public speaking, and writing in many capacities and have had a key focus on clean technology and sustainable energy. In 2008 when I began on the Clean Tech Committee of the South Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, together with Dick Franklin (father of Olympic Champion, Missy Franklin) and a small team of Chamber members, we founded the expansion of The CleanTech Open. CTO is a business accelerator that seeks to find, fund, and foster Clean Tech Start Ups. To date, it has raised $1.2B and created more than 1600 new startups contributing more than 3K jobs to the clean tech economy. Currently, I serve as a Sr. Advisor, Technical Writing for the US Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office under Executive Director, Jigar Shah.
What is a fun fact about you?
I speak German and Spanish and lived in Munich, Germany as a Rotary International Exchange Student between high school and college.
Why do you think climate change and sustainability is such an important topic today?
As the mother of a 19 year old, I see the concern young people have about the climate situation and the future. I grew up in Southern California in the 1970s, and have been keenly aware of issues like air pollution, drought, and fire my whole life. Now I see how little progress has been made in over 40 years, and it makes me feel even more imperatively that we must take big steps now to secure this planet for future generations.
What do you envision your industry looking like 10 years from now?
As a writer who is a consultant, I am not sure what to expect in this area, however, as a business consultant and a recruiter, I see enormous opportunity in a new cleaner energy economy.
What can the average person do to make a difference?
Quite a bit. Use less. Eat less red meat. Recycle and reuse. Stop over-buying cheap goods. Reduce or eliminate extra plastics in their homes. Do not use plastic straws. Buy an EV. The list is long.
Kim, thank you for being here today. We appreciate you sharing your background in sustainability and clean energy.
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