Catherine Papoulias-Sakellaris lives in Boston and has had a very successful career in management, occupying different executive management positions in leading global companies. She has been extremely active over the years and has dedicated resources, expertise and service in several community, philanthropic, political and Hellenic organizations. Her passionate and committed involvement is illustrated in the numerous offices she has held, as well as in the successful and original events she has helped organize. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Leadership 100, where she most recently served as Conference Chair for the 2lst Annual Conference. She was recently appointed to the Board of Overseas at the Museum of Science in Boston. She also sits on the Board of Public Power International and Faith: An Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism.
Mrs. Papoulias-Sakellaris is married to George Sakellaris, a pioneer in energy efficiency and renewable energy contributing to sustainable and clean environment who is the President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as the Chairman of the Board of Directors, of Ameresco (NYCE: AMRC).
She is married to George P. Sakellaris and they have two children: Christina and Peter. Together they are founding members of the Faith Endowment and godparents and primary benefactors of St. Catherine’s Church in Braintree, Massachusetts.
George P. Sakellaris is the President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC), a leading North American energy efficiency and renewable energy company headquartered in Framingham, MA.
A visionary and entrepreneur, Mr. Sakellaris founded Ameresco in April 2000. He aspired to build an entirely product-neutral and supplier-independent energy company that had the skills, capabilities and foresight to create independent energy solutions that went beyond just conservation; one that addressed a customer’s entire energy stream including supply and demand, energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Early in his career, Mr. Sakellaris worked at the utility New England Electric System (NEES), where he welcomed the challenge to establish NEES Energy, a company that would promote energy efficiency, thereby avoiding the need to build new power generation plants. Mr. Sakellaris then purchased the business known as NEES Energy in 1991 and renamed it NORESCO. He built NORESCO into a an industry-leading independent energy services company before selling it to Equitable Resources in 1997, where he continued to lead NORESCO and was also appointed as a Senior Vice President of Equitable Resources (NYSE:EQT), a Fortune 500 Energy Company.
Today, Mr. Sakellaris leads Ameresco, a public company, employing over 900. Ameresco continues to grow and thrive, and currently supports 62 offices in 34 states and five Canadian provinces. Ameresco combines a North American footprint with strong local operations.
For more than 30 years, Mr. Sakellaris has persevered in the energy industry, working to eliminate regulatory barriers to investing private capital into energy efficiency and renewable initiatives. Mr. Sakellaris’ dedication and influence in promoting energy efficiency dates back to his involvement with the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI) where he championed the development of demand side management (DSM) programs that were widely implemented across the country. Additionally, he was a founding member of the National Association of Energy Service Companies (NAESCO) where he served as the first president and advocated for the new industry. He remains an active NAESCO member today. He is also a member of the Leadership 100, and a past member of the Board of Hellenic College/Holy Cross School of Theology, and is an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Mr. Sakellaris earned both M.B.A and M.S.E.E. degrees from Northeastern University and a B.S.E.E. degree from the University of Maine – Orono.