ANDREA ORTEGA-TOLEDANO

Andrea Ortega-Toledano

Director of Product Innovation, Green Mountain Energy

Leaving a better world for her kids is a constant motivation for Andrea in her daily role, where she leads a team dedicated to developing new products to enhance sustainability on a larger scale. She also oversees the charitable program Green Mountain Sun Club, the strategy behind customer experience, and the development of platforms to grow targeted markets.

Her group focuses on water conservation, energy efficiency and solar power so that Green Mountain customers can support the company's mission of "changing the way power is made" and have a positive environmental impact. Andrea's team was instrumental in developing a sustainable portfolio of products that went beyond wind energy. Their commitment to teamwork and supporting the company's mission directly contributed to 2015 being a record year for the company's success.

Pulling together resources across an enterprise is something Andrea has been doing for a long time. She has successfully led product innovation, integrated marketing, communications, and customer retention teams in the petrochemical and energy industries. Her strategic thinking and planning skills have helped her to be an effective leader and go-to manager.

Andrea being tri-lingual (English, Spanish and Portuguese) comes in handy when she travels abroad with her family - one of her favorite outside-of-work activities. When it comes to books, she is drawn to biographies because, she says, "you see that any type of opportunity or success comes with work. Nothing should be taken for granted." Her favorite has been Nelson Mandela's biography. Andrea earned her bachelor's degree in business administration from Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia, and her master's degree of business administration from Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Management.