3EStrategies
Core Consulting Team

Cylvia Hayes, CEO

Cylvia is Founder and CEO of 3EStrategies. Clients have included government entities, real estate developers, renewable energy companies, airports, engineering firms. She is also currently the Program Director for RDI’s West Coast Clean Economy Collaborative.

Cylvia has 22 years of professional experience in sustainable energy, economic development, workforce development, green building, waste prevention and sustainable forestry and agriculture. She served as member and co-chair of the Oregon Renewable Energy Working Group which developed the state Renewable Energy Standard, Renewable Fuels Standard and other clean energy policies. She has considerable training and expertise in collaborative leadership skills and is a fellow of the American Leadership Forum.

Hayes is author of:

• Green Jobs Growth Plan: An Eight Year Map to a Green Economy in Oregon.

• An Analysis of Clean Energy Workforce Needs and Programs in Oregon, which has been named a national best practice by the U.S. EPA.

• Roadmap to Increasing Sustainability Measures and Fiscal Viability within the Energy and Weatherization Programs: Serving Working Families in a 21st Century Economy.

In 2005, Cylvia was honored as a Top 50 Leader in Oregon by Oregon Business magazine. She was chosen by Cascade Business News as a 2006 Top 40 Under 40 and was named the 2006 Central Oregon “Earth Star”. Hayes was trained by former Vice President Al Gore to deliver climate change educational presentations. Hayes is a Fellow of the Center for State Innovation.

Hayes has deep understanding of rural issues and attitudes. Raised a farm kid, she was driving trucks and running chainsaws by the time she was ten years old and has worked as a horse trainer, apple picker, fryer chicken catcher, and heavy equipment operator among many other things. In her early thirties, she became the first person in her ancestry to earn a graduate degree, an MES in sustainable development.

 

David Rafkind

David has served as the acting Director of the Business Alliance for Sustainable Energy (BASE) and a core consultant for 3EStrategies since late 2007. An innovator, problem solver, and whole systems thinker, David's unique skill sets and incredible attention to detail have been instrumental in his success. He thrives on bring together individuals and institutions, exchanging knowledge and converting ideas into sustainable action. He holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Environmental Science from Western Washington University.

His professional career has built upon a formal education rooted in hard science, mathematics and environmental science. He has experience in product design, engineering, environmental science, robotics, and graphic / web design. In depth studies of climate science and conducting climate reconstructions in Oregon and Washington spurred interest in carbon and green house gas emission inventories. He assisted the City of Bend in formulating and completing their Community Carbon Inventory.

David was the primary researcher for the Sustainable Oregon Workforce Initiative, lead researcher and co-author of the reports, “An Analysis of Clean Energy Workforce Needs and Programs in Oregon” and “An Inventory of Clean Energy Development in Oregon.” He continues work to coordinate development of a cohesive green jobs initiative and strong green collar workforce for the clean energy and energy efficiency industries in the North West.

 

Spencer Cowan

Spencer M. Cowan is a Senior Research Associate at the UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Urban and Regional Studies where he is project director for three studies: 1) a project to develop post-Katrina rebuilding scenarios for the Gentilly neighborhoods in New Orleans; 2) an evaluation of a Ford Foundation pilot project to assist low-income households use weatherization and rehab funding to build assets; and 3) a housing needs assessment for Brunswick County, North Carolina. In addition, he is principal investigator for an evaluation of a state initiative to provide housing for individuals with disabilities in low-income housing tax credit developments. Cowan has researched broadly on programs and organizations that assist lower-income households and promote economically and racially integrated communities. His research has examined the impact of state laws promoting affordable housing in affluent suburbs, efforts to bring the middle class back to inner-city neighborhoods, the impact of regulation on the cost of new housing development, a program to securitize non-conforming mortgages, the effectiveness of community-based mortgage foreclosure prevention programs, and efforts to bank the unbanked. Funding for his research has come from the Ford Foundation, Fannie Mae Foundation, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond; the Treasury Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Center for Poverty, Work and Opportunity, and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.