Interview with Jan Blomstrann, Former CEO of NRG Systems

Catherine: Hi, I’m Catherine McLean, Founder and CEO of Dylan Green. Today I have with me Jan Blomstrand, former CEO of NRG Systems and founder of RISE. Thanks for joining me today.

Jan: Thank you for having me.

Catherine: Jan, it’s a real pleasure to have you here. Many in the industry know you from your leadership at NRG Systems. To start us off, can you briefly describe what NRG Systems does and what kinds of work or causes within clean tech and sustainability you’re focused on these days?

Jan: Sure, I’d be happy to. NRG Systems is 43 years old. We were founded in 1982.
I was one of the founders with my ex-husband. And at the time, the company was focused exclusively on wind energy. It was in the early years when there was a lot of wind activity in Europe, very little in the US, mainly California, the Ultima Pass and the Hatchby Pass, very, very early years. And our company designs and manufactures the products for wind resource assessment. This is the original product line. So it’s the anemometers, the sensors, the data loggers, the tilt-up towers, everything that you need to do wind resource assessment and take a look at a piece of land and see if there’s gonna be a good return on investment for a wind farm.
Today, it’s very different. The scope is much broader. Today, the company does a lot of solar resource assessment as well as wind. There’s a LIDAR product, there’s BAT deterrent, so much wider scope. But back then, it was very, very focused just on wind. I’m no longer part of the company. The company was sold in 2017, but I’m really pleased to say that the company that bought it kept it in place. They kept the name, the logo, the location. They kept the management team in place. So it’s satisfying to me to know that it’s continuing on in the original intent that it was meant and is doing well. So I call myself retired. I’m not working for a living at all. My work, if you call it that, now is focused on philanthropy. I started a small private foundation when I sold the company. There’s just one other person and I who run it and we’re focused on nonprofits working in women’s issues, social justice, sustainable communities, and the arts and the humanities. It’s deeply satisfying to me. When I’m not doing that, I’m doing a little bit of memoir writing, a little bit of some of the stories we might talk about today and experiences that I had in my career. And I enjoy my grandchildren, my three-year-old grandson and my twin grandchildren, a little boy and girl who are nine months old.

Catherine: Oh, congratulations. Thank you. You led energy systems through significant growth as a woman CEO, mind-boggling, in a very male-dominated space. What was that experience like and how did it shape your views on leadership in the clean energy industry?

Jan: Yeah, it was quite a ride. You’re right, it was very, very male-dominated. The first 22 years of the company, my ex-husband and I grew it together. We were a great team. He was the external person, if you will. He was on the OEA board, which is now ACP, but was OEA at the time. For years, he was the external person, the sales and marketing, the engineering, did all the front-facing work. And I built the structures of the company. So I focused on all the financial systems, the human resources, getting the inventory control, the shipping and receiving. When we got into exporting, I dealt with all of that. So very much focused at home, not traveling.
We were raising children at the time. So it was a great partnership and we did a wonderful job starting it off. In 2004, I became the CEO. Things had changed. My ex-husband had got a little restless like entrepreneurs do and wanted to start a new company and asked me to take over the lead of the company. And it took me a little while to say yes, because I knew what a big change this was gonna be. And I knew with raising young kids, how was this gonna go? But I didn’t wanna miss the opportunity. I could see far enough ahead to say, if I don’t do this, somebody else is gonna do this and I’m gonna regret it. So I’m gonna give it a try. So I took it on and you’re right, that was a time when the wind industry was just going crazy. Growth was abounding. And it was a wild ride. It was a lot of fun. It was just building and I loved being an employer. I loved making a difference in people’s lives and seeing them grow in their careers.
And we were just at that time, we were just hiring and hiring and people were writing in saying, I don’t care what I do. I just wanna work for you and I wanna be part of wind energy. It was delightful. Far cry from the way things are today, but it was really nice. And so I enjoyed that part of it. In 2008, of course, the fall October crash came and that changed things a little bit and made it more challenging, but it was a very substantial thing to do at the time.
I joined the OEA board in 2010. I think the only other woman on the board at the time was Karen Conover. She was the only woman on the board for years and years. And I knew Karen a little bit, but not much. So it was nice to get to know her better then. The problem, the difficult time thing for me was that partnership with my husband and I fell apart. So we were not seeing eye to eye on anything and I’ll save that story for another day, but the part that’s relevant is I bought out his interest in 2010 and kept going with the company on my own for another seven years. So I had that opportunity to test my own wings and do things the way I really thought that they should be done with the company. And that too was just an amazing experience. When you become a CEO, things come your way. People call you, they ask you to be on a board, they ask you to speak. I started getting asked to speak at conferences that I hadn’t been asked to before.
It was just, there were lots of gifts. It was delightful. But on the other hand, my life at home was kind of falling apart. So it was tough. And I’d sometimes wonder, I look back and I say, well, what would I have done differently or what more could I have done if things had been a little smoother? And of course you never know, but it’s a speculation for me.
And the part about being the only male-dominated, yeah, I was very often the only woman in the room in a lot of circumstances, even in my own company sometimes. But certainly when I would go to DC or I would go to a board meeting or something, it was me and the guys. And sometimes that was okay and sometimes it was a little awkward.

Catherine: Yeah, that’s right. And you were also one of the founders of WRISE 20 years ago. And what motivated you and your co-founders to start it? Were there any specific challenges or moments that made it clear this kind of organization was needed?

Jan: Well, I’ll start off saying personally, I really craved the support and some collegiality with women. I was a year into my CEO-ship and like I said, I had been back at home. So I didn’t know a lot of the people in the industry. I had not been out there and I just wanted to be around some women. So in 2005, there was the first luncheon and it was kind of, for me, it was kind of a word of mouth. Hey, did you hear that there’s gonna be this lunch down the hall? Do you wanna go? And I said, yeah, I sure do. Is anything that’s okay? And yeah, I said, sure, go. So I followed this hallway down to this closed door and went in and I kind of thought it was gonna be 10 women sitting around the table having lunch. And it turned out it was standing room only. There were a hundred people in the room, not nearly enough food for everybody. And it was just this thing. And Karen got up into the corner and just said, well, hello, here we are. What do you think we should do? That a hundred people showed up. And that was really the beginning. And it was remarkable. It was a joy to be there. And then it just kind of took off. I can remember that it wasn’t too long into the steering committee’s days when chapters just started getting formed. We would hear about it and there were no structures or anything for this. And we were kind of wondering, well, what do we do with this? And how do we wrap our arms around it? It clearly hit a chord. It clearly was needed and there was no stopping it once it got started. It was wonderful.
As far as why was it needed? So many examples, but I think probably most women have had the experience in a boardroom or a meeting where you raise your hand and you express a thought or suggest an idea or come up with a suggestion for something. And there’s silence in the room and nobody says anything. And they just kind of look at you and the conversation goes on. And then 10 minutes later, a man says the same thing and it’s the greatest idea ever. And the conversation goes from there. We’ve all experienced this and it’s humiliating, it’s embarrassing, it’s maddening. So I think just having a place to go, I think Women of Wind felt like a home to a lot of us, a sanctuary, a place where you could go and not be ignored, where you could be seen and heard and supported. It was just a lovely change to what was happening in so many other places within the industry.

Catherine: I think that was one of the things that I liked most about it when I first discovered it, I guess, 2018 was the chapters. Like that there was like a local kind of feeling to it, but then a national feeling as well. So that was a big attraction for me joining.

Jan: Yeah, I enjoy being a part of both, getting to know the local women, but also having some say in how the organization got built and developed on a national level.

Catherine: Absolutely. Two decades later, WRISE has evolved into a powerful network, advancing gender diversity and clean energy. Are there particular programs, partnerships or milestones that really stand out to you?

Jan: Well, the chapters was one. I already mentioned that this morning in preparing for this, I took a look at the podcast you did with Diseki back in March of 2025. And she said that there were 800 people at this year’s leadership forum.

Catherine: They had to cap it.

Jan: That’s huge. It’s great. There would have been more. Yeah, I had no idea. I remember the first leadership forum when there were probably 30 or 40 people in the room. So to me, that’s a huge milestone. And she also mentioned that she had or is having the first meeting for executives, for CEOs. That’s big. I’m so glad to hear that. That’s an important step. So right there, I just, wow. Congratulations with what’s been done. Clearly the organization has matured. I’m just excited to see it.

Catherine: I agree. It’s great to mentor and to bring young women into the industry and to continue to grow the numbers. But I also feel like if you don’t have women at the top in leadership positions, you’re not gonna really see substantial change.

Jan: You’re right. And I think those women need support. It’s really hard to do what you do without it. The other thing that came to mind when we were talking was in the early days, I don’t think the male establishment knew what to do with Women of Wind. There were a few snickers. There were a few-

Catherine: Do they know?

Jan: Well, they did. They knew that there was these lunches going on, but at the way of conference, there was never a room set aside. Here are Women of Wind. You have your luncheon. You don’t have to go down the street to find a restaurant or another hotel. They just didn’t, it wasn’t folded in. I don’t know if it is today or not, but it was not folded into the growing structure of the wind industry. And there was a reluctance, I think, to acknowledge it or like, do we ignore this thing or do we embrace it? What do we do with it? And there was not a lot of press or anything. And fundraising, Karen, I speak about her again. She was a master at going around the room because she knew all the way of board members and finding corporate sponsorships by appealing to the men who hadn’t had daughters. Did she tell you that?

Catherine: Yeah, she told us the story. She’s like, I just wouldn’t leave. And then it got awkward. And then they just gave me the money. She was- She seemed like a tough cookie.

Jan: She’s become a dear, dear friend. Yeah. Very strong person.

Catherine: Yeah. For the next generation of leaders we were mentioning, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds in clean energy, what advice would you give for building confidence and advancing in the industry?

Jan: I think this may be the hardest question right now. There’s, it should be so much easier, but the headwinds are so strong for women in general right now that it’s really hard to know what to say, except keep going. Please, please keep going. Do what you do. It’s so important for the world. It’s so important for clean energy. Don’t let things get you down. That’s the biggest piece for me. I can remember thinking I’m paving the way, by creating this board seat on this all male board, I’m paving the way for more women to come along. And I truly believed it at the time. And I do think those days matter. You know, I went out to the ACPU board website and I looked and there’s 11 women on the board where there was two or three when I was on there. So clearly there are more than there used to be. That’s out of a 44 person board though. So it’s still only 25% and it should be 50. So there’s still a lot of, there’s a long way to go, but it is getting better. And I don’t know, just keep going.

Catherine: I will say though, that I just went to the ACP Clean Power Conference a couple of weeks ago in Phoenix. And it was probably the most diverse conference I’ve ever been to in my life.

Jan: Oh, good. More women than otherwise?

Catherine: There was a lot of women there. They did ACP Clean Power and Color. And I was actually really, really amazed by how diverse the conference was. They really, really make an effort to make those, ACP makes an effort to make those conferences diverse, which I really appreciate.

Jan: And that’s wonderful to hear. Thanks for filling me in on that.

Catherine: Well, I’m sure that you’re not visibly constantly traveling on the conference circuit.

Jan: I am not intentionally, that’s right. It’s tiring.

Catherine: So what role can allies, especially men in positions of power, play in helping build a more inclusive clean energy workforce?

Jan: They play a huge role. I’m really happy to have this question. I was thinking about the few men that come to mind when I think about this question who were true champions of women.
And I think this is probably true for a lot of women. You know it when you’re in a presence of a man who really supports you and believes in you. And the one that I can think of from the wind industry is my now dearly departed friend and mentor, Jim Walker. Jim was part of the California Energy Commission. He was CEO of an Exco. He was chair of the OEA board. And he was just a friend and a supporter to me. He helped me become the founding board chair of the American Wind Wildlife Institute, which is now REWI. And he did that by publicly standing up at the first board meeting and saying, I think Jan should be our first board chair. And it’s just, it was nice for me. It was a nice and affirming thing. And it’s a nice way for a man to support women. I also remember going to speak at the San Francisco WOWI chapter. He was there and I was referring to a catalyst study. I think it was done in 2010 that showed that boards that were 50-50 men and women made better decisions, both financially and strategically than boards that were skewed either way. And he talked to me afterwards about that and wanted to know more and wanted to learn about it. And then he started quoting me in other meetings and talking about it. And it was a really nice thing to do. It was a nice affirming thing to know that somebody was listening and was gonna figure out how it applied to him and his job. And I think having more men like that who will stand up for the women that they support and work with, it makes a big difference two ways, for that individual woman and for the furthering of clean energy. Yeah.

Catherine: I love that story, but I also feel like it was justified. It wasn’t like a DEI thing, like he was doing it because you were such an amazing colleague and qualified for the job.

Jan: Well, yeah. He was the spearhead behind the American Wind and Wildlife Institute.
And he was a thinker. He was a big thinker. We shared spaces on a couple of boards. And I think you’re right. I think he wanted to learn. He was open-minded and he wanted to hear what other people had to say.

Catherine: Yeah. Yeah. As WRISE marks this 20-year milestone, what’s your vision for the organization’s future? How can it continue to evolve to meet the needs of today and tomorrow and the clean energy workforce in general?

Jan: Keep going. My goodness. Keep going with that executive series. Like you said, that’s really important for the leadership. Keep going building it. Keep going. I loved it too that Dosaki talked about women raising families. I think it’s important to embrace those conversations and keep having them. Back in our day, they happened, but they happened a little quieter. You were a little nervous about talking about your work-life balance because it might somehow look like you weren’t as committed to your job as you should be or something like that. And so openly saying these are important discussions and we need to figure it out. Is music to my ears. I think she’s right on that those conversations should keep happening. And the big tent idea, being WRISE is no longer just about women. WRISE is about all people who need support in the work that they do if they’re underrepresented or just wanna be there. And I think that’s a great thing to continue.

Catherine: Right. Yeah. If you think ahead to the clean energy sector 20 years from now, what kind of leadership and workforce do you hope to see? What structural or cultural shifts do you think are most critical to getting us there?

Jan: Well, I thought about this a lot. And I thought about what I loved running my business was the culture, was creating a workplace that was inspiring and that took care of people well and thought about what was meaningful to them and their work. And so I think one piece of advice there is, it’s not all about money. It’s also about creating good jobs, jobs that are meaningful to people, jobs that will stick around. This industry was founded by a bunch of idealists who wanted to change the world. They were very mission driven. They saw wind energy, solar energy as the way forward to a cleaner, better world. And that drove a lot of the growth in the early years. And I would say it’s changed. Some of that has been lost as there’s been growth and consolidation of companies. And for a lot of those idealists, I think it’s a dream come true to see this happen, that now clean energy is a real business, is an important part of the energy mix. All the things that they were hoping for have come true, but that mission driven idealism kind of went away a little bit. And I think some of that mentality is needed to change the world the way that we would like to with this. So I think that’s something to keep in mind. I remember in 2010, going down to DC and all of a sudden it was not okay to say the word green or to say the word climate change. And if you were going in to visit a particular lawmaker, you were careful about what you said. And that was a confusing, disappointing time when that happened. Like, whoa, wait a minute, wait, we’re the good guys here. We wanna change the world. What do you mean we can’t talk about it anymore? What happened there?
And then I think the last thing I would say is that the switch to clean energy requires collaboration. It’s not just about the for-profit world. It needs the federal government, it needs cities, it needs communities, it needs nonprofits all working together to get that energy to where it needs to be to all parts of society and all parts of the country and the world.

Catherine: Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for speaking with us. I really enjoyed talking to you. So thank you.

Jan: Oh, you’re very welcome.