ALLY Energy (formerly known as Pink Petro) is a for-profit networking, recruitment, and consultancy company founded by activist Katie Mehnert. It is aligned with the Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) investing movement.

A former networking project of the company, Lean In Network | Energy, was spun off as an independent nonprofit organization (though it remains affiliated with Lean In, a project of the Sheryl Sandberg and Dave Goldberg Foundation) in 2018.

Background

In 2013, Katie Mehnert, then an energy-sector executive, proposed what would become ALLY Energy, an online networking, recruitment, and consultancy, platform for women in the energy industry. In March 8, 2015, to coincide with International Women’s Day, Mehnert launched the company under the name Pink Petro. According to the company’s website, its first two customers were energy-industry corporations Shell and Halliburton. During that same year the company also launched a project, Lean In Energy, a mentoring and networking program for women in the energy industry. ¹

In 2018, Lean In Energy, which now goes by the name Lean In Network | Energy, was registered as an independent tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization affiliated with Lean In, a project of the Sheryl Sandberg and Dave Goldberg Foundation. Two years later, the company rebranded to its current name, ALLY Energy, and launched a podcast that advocates for the transition from conventional fuels to weather-dependent energy sources favored by environmentalist activists. To that end, ALLY Energy renamed its Global Council the “ALLY Council.” ^{2 3 4}

In 2021, ALLY Energy acquired Clean Energy Social, an energy-industry jobs platform for professionals working with energy sources favored by environmentalist activists. ⁵

Councils

ALLY Energy operates three councils to which participating clients nominate members: the ALLY Council, which consists of c-suite executives in the energy industry connected for the purpose of discussing how to best achieve the aims of the Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) movement; the ESG Council, which like the first is focused on the discussion of how to achieve ESG movement aims but which also includes academics, entrepreneurs, founders, and subject matter experts; and the ERG Council, which though it has a similar focus to the other councils, includes participants from all of ALLY Energy’s corporate, academic, affiliate and partner members, meets on a bi-monthly basis, hosts networking events, and includes lower-level managers and “emerging leaders.” ^{6 7 8 9}

Lean In Network | Energy

Lean In Network | Energy was spun off of ALLY Energy as an independent tax-exempt nonprofit affiliated with Lean In, a project of the Sheryl Sandberg and Dave Goldberg Foundation, in December 2018. The organization, which was originally named and remains registered under the name, Lean In Energy, offers volunteer-led networking programming for women working in the energy sector. According to its website, the organization sends all its “profits” to Lean In, from which it receives the license to use the latter’s name as part of its own. ^{10 11}

Leadership

Katie Mehnert

Katie Mehnert is the founder and CEO of ALLY Energy, as well as a Biden administration appointee to the National Petroleum Council and the United States Department of Energy‘s Equity in Energy initiative. She is a fellow of the Energy Institute and an advisor to Clean Energy for America. Previously, Mehnert worked at corporations including BP, Shell, Duke Energy, Entergy, and Enron. ¹²

Kevin McMinn

Kevin McMinn is the chief operating officer of ALLY Energy. Previously, he was an executive at energy-industry corporations including Crius Energy, US Gas and Electric, Lucid Solutions, and Via Renewables. ¹³

1. “About.” ALLY Energy. Accessed August 7, 2023 https://www.allyenergy.com/about
2. “Lean In Energy.” ProPublica. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/824301111
3. “About.” Lean In Network | Energy. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://leaninenergy.org/about
4. “About.” ALLY Energy. Accessed August 7, 2023 https://www.allyenergy.com/about
5. “About.” ALLY Energy. Accessed August 7, 2023 https://www.allyenergy.com/about
6. “Ally Council.” ALLY Energy. Accessed August 8, 2023.

   https://www.allyenergy.com/community/councils/ally

7. “ESG Council.” ALLY Energy. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.allyenergy.com/community/councils/esg
8. “ERG Council.” ALLY Energy. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.allyenergy.com/community/councils/erg
9. “Councils.” ALLY Energy. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.allyenergy.com/about/councils
10. “Lean In Energy.” ProPublica. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/824301111
11. “About.” Lean In Network | Energy. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://leaninenergy.org/about
12. “Meet the Team.” ALLY Energy. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://www.allyenergy.com/meet-the-team
13. “Meet the Team.” ALLY Energy. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://www.allyenergy.com/meet-the-team