green-jobs
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Diana Frappier
Diana Frappier is the co-founder of Promise, an Oakland-based AI-powered government payment platform that helps municipalities and utilities distribute relief, recover revenue, and automate eligibility checks at scale. A UC Hastings-trained lawyer turned social entrepreneur, she co-founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights with Van Jones in 1996, helped launch the first Green Jobs Corps in Oakland, and then pivoted to fintech after years running operations at Green For All and Honor. At Promise, she and CEO Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins have raised over $48M and built a platform that has distributed $150M+ in government relief to hundreds of thousands of residents.
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is the co-founder and CEO of Promise, an Oakland-based govtech company valued at $520 million that helps municipalities and utilities offer zero-interest payment plans to struggling residents. A former union organizer turned labor federation executive turned music manager for Prince, she now runs a platform that has reached 5 million+ households across 20+ states, proving that treating people with dignity is not just ethical — it is a business model. Named #247 on the Forbes Self-Made 250, she built Promise from a YC Winter 2018 bet to a $23 million-funded company generating $33M+ in annual revenue.
Leonard Adler
Leonard Adler is the founder and CEO of Green Jobs Network, a San Francisco-based social enterprise he launched in 2008 to connect job seekers with careers in sustainability, conservation, and clean energy. A Stanford-educated political scientist who went on to earn a J.D. from Georgetown Law and an MPP from Harvard's Kennedy School, Adler parlayed his early work in public-interest law and poverty research into building one of the internet's most active communities dedicated to green and climate careers. Under his leadership, Green Jobs Network has grown to run the largest LinkedIn group focused exclusively on green jobs—135,000+ members worldwide—while publishing a newsletter with more than 100,000 subscribers, hosting the Green Jobs Pod, and launching ClimateJobs.AI, an AI-powered career coaching platform. An Echoing Green Global Fellow and serial social entrepreneur, Adler has spoken at Stanford, the Commonwealth Club's Climate One, the National Career Development Association, and the Green Festivals, making him one of the most visible connectors in the climate workforce ecosystem.