Our Team
Sara Chandler
Managing Director, Equity & Access
"The disparities we see today in communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change reflect decisions made. What is a decision we can make today with the opportunity to solve for climate change to mitigate those decisions and make life better for those impacted the most?"
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Sara takes care of the Equity & Access program, which includes Elemental’s investment track to leverage climate-positive startups for opportunities for social equity. Sara creates local partnerships and supports project development by creating frameworks and tools that help operationalize equity to benefit startups and California‘s frontline communities at the same time. Sara also helps facilitate community engagement and public convenings to align climate startups with the needs and priorities of communities most vulnerable to climate change.
Prior to Elemental Excelerator
Sara was at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission where she worked on local, state, and federal policy and managed special projects across the utility’s water, wastewater, and power enterprises. Sara is also a former Greenlining Institute Environmental Equity fellow. A graduate of Howard University School of Law, she enjoys the unique opportunity Elemental has to be a bridge to make social equity operational and technological innovation culturally relevant. Sara is also a proud alum of Emory University where she studied English and concentrated on literature of marginalized people in fiction.
Outside of the office
Sara enjoys live music, cooking with friends and family, and the far-away feeling that comes with hiking or swimming a few miles from home in Oakland.