Managing Director and Global Head of Environmental Finance, Citigroup

Michael T. Eckhart is a Managing Director and Global Head of Environmental Finance and Sustainability at Citigroup in New York City. In this role he supports Citi's goal to be the leading financial services firm in renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean water and related areas, serving clients with corporate banking, investment banking, equity and debt capital markets, global transaction services, trade finance and private banking.

Mr. Eckhart serves on the governing bureau of the REN 21 global policy network in renewable energy, on the Renewable Industry Advisory Board of the IEA, and as an Observer to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

From 2001 to 2011, Mr. Eckhart was founding President of the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization with more than 600 organizational members in wind, solar, hydro, ocean, geothermal, biomass, biofuels and waste sources of electricity, thermal energy, hydrogen and fuels. Previously, he developed financing for solar energy under the SolarBank Initiative in South Africa and India; was Chairman & CEO of the power generation development firm United Power Systems, Inc.; Vice President of the venture capital firm Areté Ventures, Inc.; a strategic planner of General Electric Company's power systems sector; and a Principal with the energy practice of Booz, Allen & Hamilton where he conducted many of the original national studies on new energy technologies in the 1970s including renewables, advanced coal, synfuels, advanced nuclear and others.

Mr. Eckhart has received several awards in the area of social entrepreneurship. He served in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service. He received a degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.