CET is looking for new volunteer board members with the skills, expertise, and appetite to help govern our growing environmental nonprofit.

CET is built on a model of working directly with businesses and residents to reduce waste, increase energy efficiency, and electrify buildings. We are on-the-ground changemakers in the race to decarbonize and we invite you to join us.

Specifically, we are looking for people who:

• Are excited and inspired by CET’s mission to innovate, implement, and scale the environmental solutions that communities need to thrive. 
• Work in a complementary industry or sector. 
• Will add diversity to our current board makeup in terms of representing BIPOC and LGBTQ communities. 

About CET

CET helps people and businesses transition to a carbon-free future. We envision a world that has embraced and advanced just and resilient climate solutions.  

We work in the built environment, where we conduct projects and programming that foster commercial waste reduction and recycling, wasted food prevention and diversion, building material reuse, high performance green building design, and consulting on building electrification and energy efficiency. We work across a dozen states, primarily southern New England and New York. 

CET has a model that works and currently we provide tailored support on a scale of over 20,000 customers per year. In 2022, we helped 22,000 people and businesses save over 1,095,000 lifetime MMBtu’s (the equivalent of 14,000 homes off the grid for a year) and divert 29,000 tons of waste from disposal. These actions generated over $32.4 M in lifetime savings for our customers and mitigated 286,000 tons of lifetime CO2 emissions (that’s 62,000 cars off the road for a year). Our outreach and education campaigns reached over 800,000 people on social media.

These results are possible because of our commitment to racial justice, equity, and inclusion in our organization and the programs and services we provide. Our Board and staff have been formally co-creating and implementing a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Framework since 2020 that spans all internal and external policies, practices, and services. The Board members we seek share this commitment to equity and find fulfillment in building an inclusive culture in a collaborative, non-linear, and continuous learning environment. CET is a Women Business Enterprise certified with the Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office. 

About CET’s Board of Directors

CET’s Board of Directors was described as follows by an independent consultant in 2021:

“CET’s Board of Directors is composed of individuals that are deeply passionate about and committed to the organization’s mission, and currently has a healthy mix of deep institutional knowledge and newer perspectives… The board culture can be described as hard-working, highly functional (related to operations and governance), curious, supportive, and aspirational. Board members aim to empower senior staff members, to challenge each other’s thinking through inquisitive questions, and to cultivate a welcoming, “easy going” atmosphere.”  

The CET Board of Directors values the qualities described above and is committed to continuing to work in this manner. We believe that all CET board members must be:

• Dedicated to CET’s mission.
• Strategic thinkers.
• Committed to CET’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals, initiatives, and priorities.
• Enthusiastic and ready to engage in board meetings, board development, and special requests as needed.
• Collaborative, open-minded, and nice to work with.

Responsibilities of the Board of Directors:

• Provide fiscal oversight and risk management to ensure CET’s long-term viability and sustainability.
• Contribute to the creation of and provide guidance and oversight for CET’s mission.
• Contribute to the creation of and provide guidance and oversight of CET’s strategic plan.
• Conduct an annual performance evaluation of the President.
• Be a resource to CET’s President and Executive Team, as requested, for subject matter expertise, business development, fundraising, operations, public relations, advocacy or other.
• Act as a good-will ambassador for CET.
• Contribute to fundraising and/or business development in some capacity.
• Develop the specific diversity, equity, and inclusion core competencies outlined in CET’s organization-wide DEI framework.
• Assist with Board development.
• Agree to all other functions and stipulations outlined in CET’s by-laws.

Board Recruitment Process: 

Interested candidates will begin with casual conversations with one or more members of our Board Recruitment Committee to learn more and explore the opportunity. The next step would be a group interview with the whole committee.

A standard set of questions will be asked of all candidates, including the following: 

• Why are you interested in becoming a member of CET’s Board of Directors? 
• Would you be able to fulfill all the Board responsibilities listed above? 
• We currently meet six times per year: five remote meetings (2 hr, 8-10 am on Fridays) and one in-person retreat in May in the Northampton, MA area. Would this schedule work for you?
• What else would you like to add and what questions do you have? 

Based on these interviews, the Recruitment Committee will recommend candidates to the full Board who are an excellent match for CET’s needs. The full Board must vote to formally appoint new board members. 

All new board members will receive an in-depth orientation.  

If you are interested in discussing your potential candidacy as a CET board member, please contact Ashley Muspratt, President (Ashley.Muspratt@cetonline.org).