Rick Needham

Rick Needham has worked at Google since 2008 and is currently Director of Green Business Operations and Strategy.  His team leads efforts to invest in large scale renewable energy projects, make Google’s corporate offices more energy efficient and sustainable, install renewable energy, and engage with employees on green benefit programs.  In the past, this group led the effort to install one of the largest corporate solar arrays in the US, and more recently led over $700m of investments in several wind farms, centralized and distributed PV systems, a large solar thermal plant, and an offshore transmission line.
 
Prior to joining Google, Rick worked at DEKA Research where he led business development efforts and managed several technology development projects in clean energy, medical products, and robotics including the development of one of the most advanced upper prosthetic arms.  Prior to DEKA, Rick worked at Bain & Company and served as a nuclear submarine officer in the U.S. Navy.
 
Rick holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the US Naval Academy, an MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT where he attended as a Draper Fellow, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.