SaLisa L. Berrien, Founder and CEO of COI Energy, has over twenty-five years of experience in the electric power and smart grid space. From working at electric utilities to Smart Grid, Clean Tech, and Big Data Analytics companies, SaLisa has had a diverse career in the energy space. In her early career, she sold the first electric vehicle (G-Van) in the NE region while at PPL. She later went on to help EnerNOC move to #1 Demand Response company in the industry. SaLisa practices the Platinum Rule in all that she does, “Do unto your customer as they would have you to do unto them.”
SaLisa is also the Founder and Board Chair of STRIVE Inc. A 501c3 charitable organization founded in Allentown, PA in 1995 which focuses on STEM leadership development training for students in 3rd thru 12th grades. In 2013, she established COI Ladder Institute to focus on delivering leadership and empowerment services to millennials and women to elevate their careers or businesses to the next
level. Annually in August, COI Ladder Institute hosts a Female Founders’ Leadership Retreat Conference in Martha’s Vineyard.
Since 1996, SaLisa established several scholarship funds for high school and college students. Her first scholarship was named in honor of her ancestors (Jackson-Stephens Excellence Award and Talibah M. Yazid Academic Excellence Award) for paving the way so that she might have a better chance at life. In 2004, she established the Karl H. Lewis Engineering Impact Alumni Endowment at the University of Pittsburgh for minority students enrolled in Engineering.
SaLisa holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an Executive MBA from Saint Joseph’s University. She’s been a guest speaker at various conferences and events including SXSW, NSBE, the University of Pittsburgh, Florida’s Women in Energy Leadership Forum, American Society for Engineering Education, Move the Dial, William Allen High School, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Microsoft’s Women Speaker Series, SAP’s Catalyst Summit, JLL AABN Florida, CREW Tampa Bay and Morgan Stanley’s Sustainable Futures Summit to name a few. In 2019, she was appointed to the Board of Trustees at the University of Pittsburgh.
One of SaLisa’s core values is philanthropy. She believes that to whom much is given, much is required. Her mission in life is to positively impact the space she occupies by leaving it better than she found it.