Staff – template

Staff – template

ROBBIE DIAMOND

Founder, President and CEO

Robbie Diamond is the Founder, President and CEO of Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE). In 2006, he came together with Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President, and CEO of FedEx Corporation, and General P.X. Kelley, USMC (Ret.), 28th Commandant of the Marine Corps, to form SAFE’s Energy Security Leadership Council, a group of prominent business leaders and retired senior military officers dedicated to combating the nation’s dangerous dependence on oil. Since then, SAFE and the ESLC have been at the forefront of the energy policy debate, successfully helping to shape legislation in 2007 and shepherd a new, comprehensive energy bill through the Senate Energy Committee in 2009.

Jackie Burman

Vice President, Operations and Finance

Jackie Burman is the Vice President of Operations and Finance at Securing America’s Future Energy. In this role, Jackie oversees finances, human resources, and operations for the organization.

Prior to joining SAFE, Ms. Burman spent more than 4 years in Cape Town, South Africa where she assisted a wide range of non-profit organizations in reaching their funding goals. During her time abroad, she also helped create a fundraising academy to provide young adults with the skills necessary to begin careers in development. She worked in both marketing and fundraising in DC before this.

Ms. Burman holds a Bachelor of Art’s Degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and Masters’ degrees in business administration and Jewish Communal Service from Brandeis University.

Thomas Coleman

Executive Director, Grid Security Project

Thomas Coleman is Executive Director of SAFE’s Grid Security Project.

Prior to SAFE, he was the Chief Technical Advisor at NERC, where he worked with industry and stakeholders to assess, report on, and provide recommendations to ensure the reliability of the North American Bulk Power System. Mr. Coleman led the efforts around NERC’s natural gas risk strategy and was the NERC lead for NERC’s Electric Gas Working Group. He also led initiatives for the NERC Reliability Issues Steering Committee, identifying and providing solution sets for grid reliability and security risks as well as efforts around long term, short term and historical reliability assessments. Mr. Coleman joined NERC in 2014. Before joining NERC, Mr. Coleman traded power and natural gas commodities and directed long term origination at JP Morgan and Williams Energy.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida and his MBA from Vanderbilt University.

Gourang Wakade

Vice President of Development

Gourang Wakade is the Vice President of Development for SAFE and its sister organization, the Electrification Coalition (EC).

He leads a lean development team to develop and execute a comprehensive fundraising strategy that yields sustained multi-year funding results.  Building on the success achieved to date by SAFE EC, Gourang manages a collective fundraising portfolio of $16 Million and is in charge of the overall development systems and strategy while focusing primarily on identifying, cultivating, and soliciting high net worth individuals and foundations, with particular attention on increasing unrestricted funding for both organizations.

He is an experienced fundraiser with a large and varied global network and has proven success in raising and securing multi-year six-figure plus funding commitments for complex and demanding projects across a variety of industries including non-profit, corporate finance, and higher education. Prior to SAFE, Gourang served as the Vice President of Development for the Council on Competitiveness, a non-profit membership association of CEOs, University Presidents, Labor Leaders, and National Lab Directors. In addition to managing membership, and development at the Council on Competitiveness, Gourang was the lead for the organization’s bi-annual fundraiser, the America Competes Award, that honored Business and Civic Leaders for their contributions to ensure American Competitiveness. He also produced and managed sponsorships for the organization’s Annual National Competitiveness Summit. Gourang also served as the Director of Conferences and Engagement, for the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils where he actively recruited leaders from around the world to join and fund the establishment of the organization.

Gourang has a Bachelor’s in Arts degree from the College of Wooster, Oh. He also serves on the Fundraising Committee for the Spring Gala of the Hillwood Estate Museum and Gardens in Washington, DC.

Jeffrey Gerlach

Vice President, Policy Strategy 

Jeff Gerlach is Vice President of Policy Strategy at SAFE.

Prior to joining SAFE, Jeff worked at a management consulting firm, where he supported the Department of Energy’s Office of Petroleum Reserves and Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability. He previously interned and consulted for SAFE in 2013, contributing to the Oil Security Index and the Commission on Energy and Geopolitics’ Oil Security 2025. Additionally, he worked on multiple political campaigns in Minnesota and completed a year of service in AmeriCorps.

Mr. Gerlach received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Anthropology from the University of St. Thomas in 2011 and his Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago in 2014.

Alyssa Siddiqui

Managing Director of Corporate Engagements

Alyssa Siddiqui is Managing Director of Corporate Relations at SAFE and the Electrification Coalition (EC). She is responsible for identifying and implementing innovative strategies to enhance the organizations’ profiles, expand industry partnerships, and develop new opportunities for engagement and growth. Alyssa leads corporate partnerships for the EC’s medium and heavy-duty fleet electrification work and for SAFE’s autonomous vehicle initiative. In 2021 she launched the Electrification Coalition Business Council.

Alyssa joined SAFE and the EC after over a decade at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, most recently as the Senior Director of Corporate Relations, where she led the strategy and execution of an integrated fundraising plan to achieve an annual revenue goal of over $9 million. She managed high-level corporate recruitment of new members, expanded relationships with existing clients and key stakeholders and launched the Let’s Rebuild America infrastructure initiative. Alyssa also oversaw the U.S. Chamber’s largest signature event, The Aviation Summit, held annually in Washington, DC which attracted over 900 attendees and participants, including top CEOs and industry leaders.

Alyssa began her career at the National Park Foundation working on the capital campaign for the Flight 93 National Memorial Fund. She graduated from Colby College with a Bachelors of Science in Government. She is a member of the Washington, DC chapter of Women of EVs and was named one of the Top Women in EV 2022 by The EV Summit.

Ron Minsk

Senior Advisor

Isabelle Dupraz

Program Manager

Isabelle Dupraz joined the Coalition for Reimagined Mobility as a Policy Associate in September 2021. Prior to joining Reimagined Mobility, Isabelle trained and practiced as an urban planning consultant, both in Great Britain and the United States. Following her undergraduate studies, she joined Turnberry Planning as an Assistant Planner, where she supported the development of University redevelopment projects and masterplanned New Towns in Scotland. During her graduate studies, Isabelle worked on the launch of a major initiative to reimagine obsolete transportation infrastructure in New York State with Buro Happold and advised Rhode Island Department of Transportation on micromobility policy. Most recently, as a freelance consultant, she advised Manna Drone Delivery on physical and regulatory go-to-market strategy and worked with DUCKT on communications and government relations strategy. Isabelle serves as Deputy Director of Programs for the Young Professionals in Transportation Network in Western Europe. She is excited to continue her work on transportation policy, a field that she sees as foundational in facilitating and scaling socio-economic and environmental impact globally.

Jason Islas

Senior Manager, Policy Communications

Jason joined the Coalition for Reimagined Mobility in August 2022 as Policy Communications Senior Manager. A passionate advocate for climate action and sustainable urban planning, Jason has spent his entire career working toward changing the way people and planners think about transportation and land use. He brings more than a decade of experience in policy communications, journalism, and advocacy.

Before joining the Coalition, Jason worked for nearly five years in the micromobility industry where he helped create and implement communications and advocacy strategies aimed at shaping local and state policies to allow for better access to shared micromobility options, as well as for infrastructure to support those options.

Jason has also worked as a journalist for the nonprofit news site, Streetsblog Los Angeles, where he reported on transportation and land use policies in the greater Los Angeles Area.

He is an active member of the Sierra Club, where he serves as an elected member-at-large of the Club’s Angeles Chapter Executive Committee.

Jason holds a bachelor’s degree in History from Reed College. He served in the Peace Corps in Bulgaria from 2008 to 2010. He currently lives, car-free, in his hometown of Santa Monica, Calif.

Kaitlyn Meuser

Communications and Content Manager

Kaitlyn Meuser joined the Coalition for Reimagined Mobility as Communications and Content Manager in January 2022. She brings years of experience in communications, marketing, digital strategy, social media management, and content creation. She has a passion for telling the stories of how transportation affects our lives – and the need to make the system more equitable, sustainable, and accessible for everyone.

Before joining Reimagined Mobility, Kaitlyn spent nearly four years as the Digital Marketing Specialist at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) where she created and implemented the association’s digital strategy and supported the marketing initiatives for 17 unique programs as well as two federally funded centers providing resources in everything from the environment, operations, workforce development, and finance to the 52 state departments of transportation across the United States, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. She has also worked for United Cerebral Palsy, one of the oldest disability rights organizations in the U.S., where she supported a variety of communications and marketing efforts, which included raising awareness around the need for more equitable and accessible transportation for people with disabilities.

Kaitlyn holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A native of North Carolina, she calls Washington, D.C. home. When she’s not working, you can often find her in the kitchen trying out new recipes, exploring the outdoors, or flipping through vinyl at her local record store.