Nicolette Maury Of Avani Solutions On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective C-Level Leader Of A Climate Tech Company

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of our time, and effective leadership in climate tech companies is paramount for driving meaningful impact. We would like to hear about the insights, experiences, and expertise of esteemed leaders who have demonstrated excellence in navigating this complex landscape. In this series, we’re talking with seasoned professionals, industry pioneers, and visionaries who are C-Level leaders of climate tech companies. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Nicolette Maury.

Nicolette is CEO of Avani Solutions, a climate technology company delivering ESG solutions to the commercial real estate industry. She is a digital technology leader, with over 15 years’ experience in technology platform businesses.

Nicolette is also a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and a member of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I first trained as a chemical engineer, looking for ways to innovate to make the world a better place. After several underwhelming experiences in chemistry labs working to make products incrementally cheaper or better, I decided to shift into management consulting to get a broader view of business and strategy, however I found that I missed the tangible outcomes of engineering. I finally found the right balance of strategy and execution in technology companies, where I’ve spent the last 15 years identifying and solving unmet customer needs.

I’ve worked in industries as diverse as ecommerce, accounting software, fintech, and now property technology and climate technology. I love identifying where technology can help improve a customer’s life and how an industry operates, and working with the team to help lead customers and industry partners through those transitions. That’s what brought me to Avani — recognising the huge potential of helping real estate owners and operators identify inefficiencies across their building portfolios and eliminate wasted resources.

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

So many people! I have learnt so much from the colleagues around me in every business and have an incredible network of thought partners and mentors both inside and outside the businesses where I’ve worked. Many of the pivots I’ve made in my work or in my life have been driven by these people.

A standout, though, would be my upbringing in a family restaurant, where I learnt to adapt to the needs of a business, get my hands dirty (often literally!) to help out where needed, work hard in diverse teams, and probably most importantly, listen to and respect the changing customer needs.

Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion. Can you please share with us what makes you an expert on climate tech?

I’d call myself a “continual learner” in climate tech, the area is evolving daily. My specialty is in connecting customer needs with the capabilities of our business, which is all about using live data from buildings to identify opportunities to make better use of our resources. For example, using greener energy over coal, or making manual processes more efficient through automation. Ultimately, we want to eliminate the wasted resources that contribute to climate change and inefficiencies.

Can you share a transformative idea you have for integrating sustainability with technology? How would you measure its success in terms of environmental impact and business growth?

Our energy grids are rapidly transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Given the intermittency of solar and wind power, which comprised just under a third of total energy generation in Australia in 2023, it is crucial to now consider energy and carbon on a 24-hour scale.

Not every kilowatt-hour of electricity that our buildings use has the same carbon intensity. The more renewable energy that is in the grid, the least carbon intensive our energy is. Energy used during the middle of the day when the sun is shining, and solar power is often contributing more than half of energy supply and can have half the emissions intensity of the energy in the grid a few hours later, once the sun has set.

Considering the carbon content of our energy on a 24-hour cycle, is a transformative idea that allows us to integrate sustainability with technology at Avani.

By allowing our clients to understand the true carbon intensity of the energy that they are using, rather than depending on an annual average emissions factor provided by the government, we present them with a more sophisticated understanding of their assets’ operations, unlocking more efficient and affordable ways to reduce emissions.

As our customers begin to shift energy demand to times of the day when carbon content is low (conveniently, when wholesale energy prices are at their cheapest, commercial property tends to be operating at peak capacity), we will see the direct alignment of economic and environmental incentives, allowing the built environment to make an active contribution to the decarbonization of the grid.

This is how we will measure the success of this transformative idea. The more that businesses understand the true carbon content of the energy that they use, the more they will start changing energy use patterns to prioritise emissions reduction and cost savings.

Leading a climate tech company demands a blend of innovation and pragmatism. Can you describe a scenario where you had to balance cutting-edge technological solutions with practical implementation challenges? How did you navigate this balance to achieve a sustainable outcome?

We tend to get so excited about everything our technology can do — things like complex automations, load shifting, and demand response tools — to solve the world’s big-picture problems. But it can be easy to overlook the fact that some property owners and occupiers simply don’t have the basic visibility required to know what the problem even is. Our aspirations of net zero and real zero emissions are what keep us innovating, but sometimes it’s about meeting clients where they are and simply helping them access the accurate data they need to see the path forward. So, in the end, it’s the pragmatic approach that usually wins out. After all, how can we expect an organisation to reduce their carbon footprint when they don’t have visibility over what their footprint is right now?

Putting all of your portfolio’s operational data on a single screen is a pretty powerful tool on its own, and we’re always building in the infrastructure to optimise performance and automate carbon reductions as we go.

Climate tech companies often face scrutiny from various stakeholders, including investors, customers, and regulatory bodies. Can you give an example of how you successfully aligned these diverse stakeholder interests with the company’s sustainability goals?

Increasingly stakeholders’ interests are aligned with sustainability goals.

As climate disclosure becomes mandatory in an increasing number of jurisdictions, investors are going to great lengths to support their investments’ decarbonisation efforts. Likewise, these businesses have set ambitious emissions reduction targets that are increasingly scrutinised by regulators keen to stamp out ‘greenwashing’.

By providing access to timely, accurate emissions data for reporting, Avani can ensure that all stakeholders are looking at the same set of auditable, consistent figures. This is crucial given the ongoing burden that reporting and disclosure can present to companies and investors, so ensuring consistency and accuracy of data is a wonderful way to align these diverse stakeholders’ interests.

The climate tech landscape is rapidly evolving with new challenges and opportunities emerging regularly. Was there a time when you had to pivot your strategy in response to unexpected market changes or technological advancements? What was the outcome?

For a software company to survive, it must continuously adapt to the needs of its customers and the changes to the market. The climate tech landscape has made us look very closely at our underlying algorithms, analytics, action models, language models, and data. We’ve had to create new ways of obtaining deeper insights, implement learning modules, and automated responses, to address these new issues. Take decarbonisation, you must go way beyond the simple algorithms and standard analytics that are used today. Our software has real time connections to grid data, carbon data and building data, whilst our analytical, benchmarking and action models are now based on different technologies to provide what is now required. The end result is a win-win-win; a win for our customers by meeting and exceeding their objectives, a win for the environment, and a win for Avani, because our products have the technology required to meet these new challenges.

Ethical considerations are important in climate technology. How do you ensure that your company’s innovations not only advance sustainability goals but also adhere to high ethical standards? Can you give us an example?

Avani aims to support its clients’ ambitious decarbonisation goals, in particular those relating to ‘real zero’ carbon emissions.

‘Real zero’ carbon is distinct from a ‘net zero’ carbon target in that it considers the real time carbon intensity of the energy a business is using (as discussed above) and does not allow for carbon credits or certificates to be used to ‘net off’ total emissions to zero.

By focusing on tangible emissions reduction activities such as energy efficiency, electrification, demand management, load shifting and the generation and use of time-matched renewable energy, Avani can ensure its clients are adhering to the highest ethical standards when pursuing climate goals.

Based on your experience and success, what are the ‘5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective C-Level Leader Of A Climate Tech Company’?

1. Passion for making an impact. Change can be uncomfortable, and any time we’re trying to lead an industry through disruption, it takes enormous passion for the cause to keep persisting through the inevitable obstacles. I use Avani’s customer success and impact stories as an anchor to keep me boosted when times get tough. For example, helping a national cinema chain cut carbon emissions by nearly 3,000 tonnes per year, or a property portfolio improving its relationships with more than 150 tenants through clear and collaborative improvements.

2. Learning mindset. This industry is changing rapidly — the technology, the needs of customers and the regulations. It’s important to be curious, willing to learn and adapt through these changes. For example, in our early conversations with customers, we were excited to share the opportunity of automating their building operations to take advantage of demand shifting — adapting their energy use to the peak demand and renewable proportion of the grid, to improve their financial and environmental outcomes. We quickly discovered that for some clients, that was too much, too soon, they just wanted a baseline view of their emissions today as a starting point. We’ve now adapted to ensure we meet clients where they are.

3. An awesome team! Climate technology (especially in the real estate space) requires a very diverse set of talents, and it’s rare to find too many in each person, so having a diverse and talented team is essential. I really appreciate being able to tap into the expertise of my team, our investors and the Board.

4. A supportive community. It can be hard to bang the drum about the need for climate solutions, so it’s important to surround yourself with people who have your back. I’ve found two organisations particularly valuable; YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) with its global network of CEOs and Founders, across all industries, who are always ready to help with practical support or advice (and recognised Avani as an Honoree in their 2024 Global Impact Awards) and Climate Salad, a community of more than 500 Australian Climate Tech companies, committed to helping each other learn and grow.

5. Humility. To excel as a C-level leader in a climate tech company, humility is paramount. In a rapidly evolving tech landscape, recognising that your team members often possess greater expertise or innovative insights is essential. It’s not about diminishing your own abilities but embracing the collective intelligence and diverse perspectives within the organisation. Cultivating an environment where individuals feel empowered to contribute their best ideas fosters collaboration and fuels progress. A humble leader acknowledges their limitations, embraces continuous learning, and prioritises the collective success of the team above personal accolades, driving forward the company’s mission towards a sustainable future.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Don’t try to be someone else — work on being the best version of yourself.”

As a young leader, I often tried to imitate the more senior leaders I saw around me, who had strengths and personalities very different from mine (especially as a young woman in technology companies at the time). I had a couple of managers who helped me distinguish between development areas that complemented my own personality and leadership style, versus qualities that worked for other leaders but that wouldn’t be authentic for me. Part of that was learning to surround myself with people whose strengths made up for my weaknesses, so we could be a team that could enjoy each other’s strengths.

How can our readers further follow your work?

Avani LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/avanisolutions
Nicolette LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nicolettemaury
Website: avanisolutions.com

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!

About The Interviewer: Kieran Powell is the EVP of Channel V Media a New York City Public Relations agency with a global network of agency partners in over 30 countries. Kieran has advised more than 150 companies in the Technology, B2B, Retail and Financial sectors. Prior to taking over business operations at Channel V Media, Kieran held roles at Merrill Lynch, PwC and Ernst & Young. Get in touch with Kieran to discuss how marketing and public relations can be leveraged to achieve concrete business goals.