Steve Bravo
Meet Steve, one of our founding members of Project Vanguard.
Work Experience
Key Messages & Subject Expertise
Product Development, Management & Program Execution
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Deep experience building and managing energy products while translating legislation and policy mandates into deployable programs and market-ready solutions.
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Can speak to why good policy and product strategy succeed, or fail, at execution, offering a rare bridge between regulation, product design, and real-world deployment.
Startup Development in Energy
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Firsthand experience helping energy startups move from innovation to execution in a complex, capital-intensive sector.
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Speaks fluently about why many energy startups fail—and what differentiates those that successfully scale.
Public Support & Commercialization Programs (NY Focus)
- Expertise in how state-backed programs, accelerators, and incentives support startup commercialization, especially in New York.
- Can explain how public funding crowds in private capital while preserving accountability and market discipline.
Veteran Workforce Development
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Grounded understanding of how clean energy job pipelines are built—not aspirationally, but operationally.
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Speaks fluently about skills gaps, training timelines, and employer needs.
All-of-the-Above Energy Strategy
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How different energy resources complement each other across seasons and demand profiles
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What states can do to align planning, permitting, and incentives to support diversity rather than favoritism
Energy Security is National Security
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How grid resilience underpins economic and national security
- Why domestic energy production, diversified supply, and redundancy are core security assets
Media Samples
LinkedIn Article
My Layoff Lessons Learned. With a number of government and private companies announcing layoffs over the past few days, I thought it might be helpful to publish the lessons I learned from the time I was "impacted."
Read MoreSteve Bravo
Director of Product and Commercialization
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)

Biography
Steve Bravo graduated from the Naval Academy in 2003 and spent 10 years active duty in the Navy as a helicopter pilot, deploying to the Persian Gulf three times. He joined the clean energy industry in 2013 through General Electric's Junior Officer Leadership Program (JOLP). He spent nine years at GE as part of their Onshore wind and battery energy storage businesses, all in product development roles.
In 2021, he joined battery storage integrator Fluence where he helped stand up their product development team after their IPO. In late 2024 he joined New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) as their Director of Commercialization focusing on supporting clean energy startups for the NY market.
Currently based in Albany, New York
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