Facet power Leadership team

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Ms. McCrae Kessler is President and Co-Founder of Facet Power. She is an international environmental law, policy, sustainable development, and carbon markets expert with a talent for mitigating regulatory, adoption, and project development risk for emerging recycling, renewable energy, and climate technologies and a passion for maximizing their environmental, social, and economic impact. . 

Ms. McCrae Kessler is also Founder and Director of the U.S. Biochar Coalition,      a member driven association of businesses in biochar, agriculture, forestry, and climate industry sectors joining together to advocate for the growth of the biochar industry in the U.S.

Prior to co-founding Facet, Ms. McCrae Kessler served as Chief Commercialization Officer at Pennsaco Technologies, a negative emissions thermal conversion company.  Ms. McCrae Kessler developed innovative circular business models and cross sector applications to convert organic, municipal and plastic wastes into renewable electricity, green hydrogen and biochar, and carbon removals.  sa negative emissions technology company, where she to create innovative circulate biomass waste solutions for carbon draw down, soil health and landscape restoration, food, water and climate security, and sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Ms. McCrae Kessler was Founder and EVP, Head of Environmental & Regulatory Affairs of Turning Earth, LLC, a developer of integrated organics recycling facilities, recycling food waste to produce renewable energy, compost, and heat for greenhouses using dry high solids anaerobic digestion & in-vessel composting technology.  At Turning Earth she developed the business model; growth strategy; technology selection, patenting, and licensing; project development and risk mitigation strategy; and led successful project siting, permitting and community outreach initiatives for the Turning Earth Central Connecticut Organics Recycling Facility in Southington, CT.  

Ms. McCrae Kessler was a founding, 10-year, Member of the Board of Directors of the American Biogas Council, Ms. McCrae Kessler started, built and ran the Council’s Federal Policy Program for 12 years and helped grow the U.S. biogas industry from 20 companies in 2010 to 300+ representing a $68 Billion industry today.  She also Co-Chaired the AD Co-Products Working Group where she led a multi-year effort with industry, regulatory, and public entities to develop standards, testing protocols, and certification programs for digestate to highlight agronomic benefits and build economic value. ABC's Digestate Standard & Certification Program was published in 2016. 

Ms. McCrae Kessler practiced environmental and international environmental law at Arnold & Porter in New York and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London, where she specialized in developing innovative permitting, risk mitigation, and regulatory strategies to support commercialization of novel waste recycling and bioenergy technologies.  She counseled the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and sovereign states on a broad range of environmental issues in the context of litigation, regulatory compliance, permitting and corporate, banking and real estate transactions. 

Ms. McCrae Kessler began her career at the Office of International Environmental Policy at the United States Environmental Protection Agency working on United Nations Sustainable Development policy.  At the Center for International Environmental Law, she worked to strengthen human rights and environmental protection procedures at international multi-lateral development banks, assisting indigenous peoples internally displaced by large infrastructure projects in the Global South file grievances and seek reparations. 

Ms. McCrae Kessler is admitted to the Bar of the State of New York. She received her JD, summa cum laude, from American University Washington College of Law in 1998 where she was a senior staff member of The American University Law Review. She received her BA in Political Science from Vanderbilt University in 1992.