Mei Shibata is CEO of Essense Partners, where she leads the development of creative and communications strategies for utility clients. Having worked in management roles at Fortune 500 companies, as well as served as strategy consultant, marketer and technology entrepreneur over a 20+ year career, Mei brings a wide range of experiences to Essense Partners.
An entrepreneurial strategist at heart, in 2008 Mei co-founded ThinkEco, which combined consumer product development with cloud-based energy efficiency and demand response. Her leadership role at ThinkEco turned the ThinkEco modlet® into a very consumer-friendly product, and it led to the creation and success of the CoolNYC residential demand response program, which Mei successfully led with strategic partner Consolidated Edison of New York. Mei was recognized as one of New York’s Top 10 Energy Entrepreneurs in 2013, and was also selected as an NYC Venture Fellow by the New York Economic Development Corporation.
Mei has also held numerous marketing and advertising roles. She was Managing Director of Strategy and North American Executive Committee Member at advertising and communications agency Havas Life, Senior Director of Strategy with Interbrand, a premier brand consulting firm, and Worldwide Marketing Manager at Pfizer. She also served as Engagement Manager at Boston-based consultancy Vertex Partners and Senior Consultant with Oliver Wyman & Company, where she worked with multiple Fortune 500 clients on strategy consulting and market research engagements over a 5-year period. Lastly, Mei honed her financial analysis skills as Equity Analyst with Smith Barney Citigroup, where she initiated research coverage of a new technology sector.
Mei holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard, a master’s degree in medical engineering from the joint Harvard/MIT HST program, and an MBA from Harvard Business School."