Nicola Peill-Moelter

Nicola is the Director of Sustainability Innovation at VMware in the Office of the CTO. She collaborates with product and R&D teams to improve product and operational efficiency helping customers and VMware advance sustainability goals. She also identifies emerging verticals that address major environmental challenges where VMware is strategically positioned to help accelerate solutions. Her role is the culmination of a 25-year career in high-tech and academic training in engineering and environmental science that has evolved her belief that we can make the fastest progress addressing the world’s most urgent sustainability issues when sustainability and business value are aligned.Two early projects include a demand flexibility demonstration on VMware’s campus solar-powered microgrid that explores the emerging Smart Grid sector and mechanisms to identify stranded and unused compute capacity.Prior to VMware, Nicola worked at Akamai Technologies, holding various positions in technical sales and product development that helped to hone her Internet technology and business expertise. In 2009, she transitioned to Senior Director of Environmental Sustainability where she established and led Akamai’s environmental sustainability program. One of her major accomplishments was Akamai’s 2020 goal to power 50% of its global network with renewable energy. Before she left, she had executed three power purchase agreements totaling 43 MW of renewable energy from three wind and solar projects two of which were the first aggregation deals that included Apple, Etsy and Swiss Re. Nicola holds a B.E. in chemical engineering from Manhattan College, a Ph.D. in environmental engineering science from Caltech and an executive certificate in sustainability management from Presidio Graduate School. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Renewable Energy Buyers’ Alliance and is a regular speaker at sustainability and data center technology events.