Executive Board
Dietmar Detering, Chair
After growing up on a dairy farm in Germany, Dietmar Detering earned his Ph.D. in political science in 1999 at Münster University. He then moved to New York City and built an online event publishing business (EventMe! Inc.), which he sold in 2021. He has served in volunteer leadership roles with several community organizations while raising two daughters with his wife. Passionate about environmental protection since he was a teenager, Dietmar started focusing on nuclear power advocacy in 2018. Besides his activities in New York, he is also a member of Germany’s Nuklearia group.
Eric Dawson, Vice Chair
Eric Dawson previously worked as a web designer for professionals & small businesses before transitioning to sustainable investing and political commentary. His interest in using innovative technology to address environmental issues has led him to invest in venture capital funds focused on energy and resource efficiency. In addition, he has become involved in local, grassroots political groups in New York City focused on finding bipartisan solutions to various social problems.
F. Scott Cicora, Acting Executive Co-Director
Scott Cicora began his career in the late 70s as Production Engineer at Solarex Corporation, the first firm dedicated to terrestrial solar, and retired in 2021 as Senior Director of International Sales for Enphase Energy. In between, he spent 26 years at Hewlett-Packard in technical and leadership roles. While a longtime supporter, Scott recognizes the limitations of solar and sees nuclear as crucial to solving the climate crisis. A strong partnership between government and the private sector can solve remaining challenges to nuclear—just as direction and innovation drove solar costs from $80 to $0.20 per Watt. Scott was among the first 1,000 trained by Al Gore’s Climate Project and has trained over 1,000 others on climate action. He’s also a certified Atomic Ambassador with Generation Atomic.
Keith Schue, Acting Executive Co-Director
Keith Schue has a Master’s degree in electrical engineering and worked several years in the private sector on hardware design and development. Before moving to New York, he was employed with the Florida Chapter of The Nature Conservancy on issues involving the relationship between natural ecosystems and human infrastructure. Since then, he has applied his experience in engineering and environmental stewardship as a technical advisor to several organizations, including Nuclear New York. Over the years, he has provided input on energy and environmental policy, industry regulations, legislations, and various projects. He has also served on advisory boards at the federal, state, and local level.
Isuru Seneviratne
Isuru Seneviratne is a rigorous finance professional with two decades’ experience in investment diligence, policy advocacy, and sustainable business development. Since 2024, he is working with the multidisciplinary team at LucidCatalyst to solve energy and climate challenges at scale and speed. Isuru advocates for durable and effective climate policies and reliable and affordable energy systems that enhance business and social prosperity. He founded Radiant Value Management in 2015 to pursue undervalued opportunities spanning energy resources and technology. He has a Master’s in Sustainability from Harvard Extension School and the Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting accreditation from Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (IFRS Foundation).
Manager of Operations
Bhumi Sharma
Bhumi Sharma is a graduate student at Columbia University’s Climate School, specializing in climate policy and disaster resilience. She currently serves as an IMPACT Scholar and is a recipient of the prestigious Climate and Society Fellowship. Bhumi is a member of YOUNGO, the official Children and Youth Constituency to the UNFCCC, where she serves on the Global Coordination Team and led the 19th Conference of Youth (COY19) in Baku, Azerbaijan, alongside COP29. She has previously served as the MTE Climate Ambassador for World Bank. Her work is rooted in advancing youth and Indigenous peoples’ empowerment for climate action.
Advisors
Ethan Bodnaruk, Founder of Southern Tier Chapter
Ethan Bodnaruk is a transplant from the dry southwest of Tucson, Arizona to the lush, four season climate of the Ithaca area in Upstate NY. He is a licensed professional engineer and is a practice manager leading a team of water/wastewater professionals. He also holds a degree in nuclear engineering from North Carolina State University and advocates for nuclear energy as part of his professional interest in and commitment to human health and the preservation of the environment. He is the founder of Nuclear New York’s Southern Tier chapter covering south central NY.
Hunter Dare
Hunter Dare is a banking and investment professional passionate about financing secure, clean and abundant energy. He heads finance for nuclear developer Oppenheimer Energy and is Fellow with Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP). He also serves as Co-President of the Columbia Sustainable Finance Professionals Network.
His professional experience includes 10 years of Structured Finance, Oil & Gas, and Private Equity at Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and a European PE firm. His investment management experience spans fixed income portfolio management, direct real estate investment, asset allocation and manager selection.
Kate Kressmann-Kehoe
Kate Kressmann-Kehoe is a long-time climate advocate. Trained as a geologist, she works now in documentary film and documentary-style marketing. She is a co-producer of the 2013 documentary “COMFORT ZONE” about climate change in our region, and is on the Coordinating Committee of the local chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby. She has led informational sessions on the role of nuclear energy as part of the path to decarbonizing our grid. Her professional specialty is distilling the essence of sophisticated ideas down to the most important and using emotions to communicate to a targeted audience.
Carl Perez
A native New Yorker, Carl Perez began his nuclear adventure in his last year of undergraduate studies at Babson College. As CEO of Elysium Industries, a molten salt reactor company, he led its partnerships, technology development, and government relations for a decade. In 2022, he co-founded Exodys Energy, a nuclear fuel recycling vendor, alongside U.S. Navy nuclear system designers and recycling operators from La Hague in France. He advises several nuclear initiatives within industry and government, such as Nuclear Energy Institute’s Recycling Task Force and coauthored the latest “Molten Salt Reactor & Thorium Fuel Cycle” textbook.
Ryan Pickering
Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, Ryan Pickering is an energy developer and policy expert with a Political Science degree from Loyola Marymount University and advanced studies in Energy Innovation at Stanford University. As co-founder of the Nuclear is Clean Energy (NiCE) Club at UC Berkeley, he helped extend operations at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. He serves as Crew Facilitator for the Department of Energy’s Consent-Based Siting Consortia, advancing nuclear fuel storage with tribal consent, and contributes to the DOE’s Pathways to Commercial Liftoff reports. A speaker at global forums like COP28 and Climate Week NYC, Ryan advocates for integrating nuclear and renewable energy to drive sustainable development and global peace.