Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Cox.
Hi Matthew, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I got my start with Greenlink because my incredible co-founder saw a way to break through and do something great with technologies I was developing. She was really the visionary who saw the opportunity to change the world with our work.
I had spent 5 years working on energy policy in the Georgia Tech lab of the fantastic and Nobel-prize winning Dr. Marilyn Brown, and understood that the current state of policy modeling was not telling policymakers a lot of the information that was necessary to make high-quality decisions – things like economic opportunities, public health, job creation, equity implications, were commonly missed by the industry leaders. I knew how to fix that problem technically, and she believed she could find us a way to change the energy policy trajectory of the US, going state by state, city by city. But I wasn’t convinced we really had a pathway and became the energy manager for the City of Atlanta. I worked during the day to help make Atlanta a leader in energy policy, and moonlighted with Greenlink; I continued this way for nearly a year and a half before going full-time with Greenlink.
Through exhaustive processes working with hundreds of amazing people, Greenlink began to take shape as it is today. In 2017, I became the CEO and in 2018, began the process of building Greenlink into a leading non-profit in this area.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’m not sure if it’s ever been a smooth road. Early on, we struggled with inconsistent levels of work and long sales cycles that would challenge the viability of the organization. Changes in the political environment nearly caused us to close up shop at one point. At its root, the hardest thing about this work was (and remains) finding the best way to help our clients. We implemented a scientific approach to understanding the problems they were facing and how to address those problems to make sure everyone was having a high-quality experience and getting actionable results. This took years to do and requires ongoing vigilance, but we are seeing success and growing.
As you know, we’re big fans of Greenlink Analytics. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are a nonprofit that does energy and equity research – we work to push forward a clean energy transition as fast and fair as possible. Our team combines expert knowledge, analytics, and machine learning to solve the most pressing climate and social issues. We help organizations and leaders understand the systems dynamics in energy and climate change and provide compelling solutions that guide them towards a more sustainable and just future. Ultimately, we help develop policy and program decisions that address the bedrock issues of climate change and inequitable development in this country.
We focus our work on the local and state level because this is where movement on climate and energy is happening in the US. We work with more than 75 cities across 30 states to help bring a better future into being. I’m most proud of the impact we’ve had through our work – we’ve helped avoid more than 3.9 billion tons of CO2 emissions and saved more than 1800 lives in the process. At the same time, these have been cost-effective options too – we’ve identified over $450 billion in savings for our customers. And we keep growing that impact each day, which makes it easy to get started every day.
We are known for taking highly technical analysis and translating it into understandable formats that can help people make better decisions for the future. We are among the best in the nation at helping communities, cities, and states, understand the impact of the choices they make, and the impact of choices that are made for them. Our two flagship technologies do this in unique ways. Our data science team develops ATHENIA, a model that uses machine learning to forecast how the energy system will operate and estimates how this impacts economic development, health, climate, and other kitchen-table issues affecting people and their futures. Another team at Greenlink develops the Greenlink Equity Map (GEM) and cultivates the robust community of practice that has sprung up around it. The GEM team is helping our nationwide user base identify equity issues over more than 30 areas at a neighborhood level. The work they do on improving policy processes and really, American democracy, is inspiring and I’m glad to have a part in it all.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love the diversity you can find in Atlanta – people, food, experiences – the choices and the freedom are wonderful.
Least? Traffic. I wish it was easier to use alternate modes of transportation to get around safely and efficiently.
Contact Info:
- Email: mcox@greenlinkanalytics.org
- Website: https://www.greenlinkanalytics.org/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenlinkAnalytics
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/glinkanalytics
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC24ORXVcAGe6J2i4J2AqWmg
- Other: https://www.equitymap.org/
Image Credits
Greenlink Analytics
