Richard L. Kauffman serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Coalition for Green Capital (CGC), where he leads efforts to mobilize public and private capital to build an affordable clean power platform for everyone. A longstanding member of CGC’s Board of Directors, Richard combines extensive private sector investment acumen with a track record of public-sector leadership focused on clean energy finance, utility reform, and regulatory modernization.
Richard’s career began in the private sector, where he was a leader at some of the world’s premier financial institutions. As a partner at Goldman Sachs, Richard chaired the Global Financing Group. At Morgan Stanley, he served as Vice Chairman of the Institutional Securities business and co-Head of its Banking Department. Later, he served as CEO of Good Energies, Inc., an investor in clean energy and energy efficient technology. He is currently Chair of Generate Capital PBC, a leading financier, owner, and operator of sustainable infrastructure.
In the public sector, Richard served as Chair of Energy and Finance for the State of New York, where he oversaw the Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative. REV modernized utility regulations, shifted incentives toward performance outcomes and enabled integration of cleaner, more reliable energy into the grid. These reforms not only delivered environmental benefits but also reduced costs for New Yorkers. He also spearheaded the creation of the NY Green Bank, the nation’s largest state green bank, which has mobilized more than $8 billion for clean energy projects. Richard continues to serve as Chair of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). He was also a senior advisor to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Richard served as Senior Advisor to Secretary Steven Chu at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) where he oversaw the restructuring and reforming of DOE’s Loan Program after the Solyndra bankruptcy and advanced debt and equity capital market development policies, including proposed uses of REITs and MLPs for renewable energy.
Beyond his leadership in energy, finance, and government, Richard has served on corporate boards. He was Chairman of the Board of Levi Strauss & Co., and he currently serves on the board of Equilibrium Energy, a technology company that manages volatility on the electric grid.
As a non-profit board member, he currently serves on the boards of the Wallace Foundation; and on the advisory boards of the Precourt Energy Institute at Stanford and the Sustainable Finance Initiative. He previously served on the boards of the Brookings Institution, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Emergent Climate, the New York Philharmonic and Alvin Ailey. He was a co-chair of the advisory board of the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale and a member of the Yale School of Management advisory board. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations where he served on a study group on innovation in energy.
Richard received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, a master’s degree in international relations from Yale University, and a master’s in public and private management from the Yale School of Management. At Yale, he has taught renewable energy finance to a generation of students.