As federal funds for the climate-tech sector get pulled back under President Trump’s administration, Georgina Campbell Flatter believes organizations such as Greentown Labs can step up to fill the gap.
That’s one of the big reasons Flatter has agreed to join Greentown as its CEO, and move back to Massachusetts from her native United Kingdom. The Greentown board of directors on Monday announced that Flatter will be the next chief executive of the nation’s largest clean-tech incubator. She is excited about the impact she could have at Greentown in encouraging startups that are working to curb global warming and other environmental threats, particularly amid an anticipated rise in global energy demand.
“This is a pretty critical time for energy and climate, and we all need to lean in,” Flatter said. “The federal funding challenges, ... we know they’re impacting the startups, which makes Greentown even more important. ... If we don’t step up, then there will be slowed momentum, and we can’t have that happen.”
Flatter already has many ties to the Boston area, having worked in various roles at MIT for a decade, but relocated from Massachusetts with her family back to the UK about five years ago. She currently leads TomorrowNow, a global nonprofit offshoot of Boston-based Tomorrow.io, which specializes in weather prediction technology; TomorrowNow works to get that tech in the hands of farmers in impoverished nations, primarily in Africa, with help from major philanthropic partners such as the Gates Foundation.
Flatter will arrive at Greentown, which runs startup incubators in Somerville and Houston, after two years of tumult. She will be the fifth chief executive or interim CEO to take over after longtime CEO Emily Reichert left in 2022. (Reichert now leads the quasi-public Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.)
Also during that time, Greentown converted to a nonprofit, and recently raised $4 million in grants and loans from various organizations to solidify its finances. That round of funding was accompanied by a board shakeup at Greentown; Flatter joined the board at that time and will hold onto the seat in her new job. (She was being considered for the CEO job at the time.)
Flatter will transition to the new job at Greentown over the next two months, collaborating with interim CEO Kevin Dutt.
As of December, Greentown hosted 140 clean-tech startups in Somerville and another 75 in Houston. While the startups pay membership fees, most of Greentown’s budget comes from corporate partners who contribute in part to gain access to Greentown’s entrepreneurs.
Part of Flatter’s mission will be to expand Greentown’s reach beyond the Boston and Houston startup circles, a new phase she dubs “Greentown 3.0.”
“Obviously, there’s magic in the Boston and Houston ecosystems,” Flatter said. “Why not expand that web?”
Flatter has known many of Greentown’s founders and early members, dating back to the incubator’s launch in Cambridge more than a decade ago.
“We’re thrilled to have Georgie — a fellow climate entrepreneur and nonprofit leader — taking the reins as Greentown seeks to expand its impact in its second decade,” said Jason Hanna, a cofounder of Greentown (and onetime interim CEO) and an executive who specializes in artificial intelligence at chip maker Analog Devices. “Georgie was with us at the very beginning and we’re excited to see where she’ll take us next.”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.