Chéri Smith is a woman of Native American and European descent who has held senior leadership roles with energy organizations—including the American Council on Renewable Energy, Tesla, and SolarCity—and senior advisory roles for the U.S. Department of Energy, Interstate Renewable Energy Council, and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Smith is descended through both of her parents from the Mi’kmaq Nation of present-day northern Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces. In 2016, she founded the organization now known as the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy, of which she is president and CEO, to leverage her deep experience and relationships to support Indigenous peoples in their self-determined pursuit of renewable energy as a means to diminish poverty, mitigate climate change, and restore true sovereignty and hope.