Peter L. Corsell
Peter L. Corsell | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 5, 1977 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, investor, executive |
| Known for | Founder of GridPoint and Twenty First Century Utilities |
Peter L. Corsell (born December 5, 1977) is an American entrepreneur, investor, and executive specializing in technology. He is a serial founder in the sustainable energy industry, having established GridPoint in 2003 and later Twenty First Century Utilities in 2015.
Early life and education
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Manhattan, Corsell completed his undergraduate studies at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, earning a BSFS degree in 2000.
In 1999, he was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency, where he served as an intelligence officer with a focus on Cuba. Between 2001 and 2002, Corsell held the position of Special Assistant to Ambassador Vicki J. Huddleston at the United States Interests Section in Havana, part of the U.S. Department of State.
GridPoint
At the age of 25, Corsell launched GridPoint, a clean tech enterprise dedicated to energy management, storage solutions, and renewable energy innovations. The company initially concentrated on research and development, creating proprietary technologies related to energy control, battery storage systems, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
During its initial ten years, GridPoint partnered with electric utilities to develop a smart grid platform that integrated behind-the-meter load management, battery storage capabilities, and renewable energy sources through advanced communication networks. Subsequently, the firm shifted its attention towards commercial buildings—a sector that adopted its solutions more rapidly than utilities—securing major clients such as Walgreens, Chipotle, and the U.S. Postal Service.
Corsell successfully raised over $200 million from investors including Goldman Sachs and various venture capital firms, increasing GridPoint’s valuation twelvefold to $800 million by 2008. His work gained recognition in prominent publications like Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas Friedman and The Clean Tech Revolution by Ron Pernick. He led GridPoint as CEO from its inception until 2010, when he stepped down and divested most of his shares prior to the downturn in clean technology markets. Todd Raba, previously with Berkshire Hathaway, succeeded him as CEO.
In November 2015, Corsell’s investment company Twenty First Century Utilities reacquired GridPoint for $62.5 million, restoring his leadership role. By 2018, GridPoint had transitioned to a subscription-based revenue model and collaborated with Shell to introduce a no-upfront-cost service tailored for commercial buildings.
GridPoint was recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest-growing private companies in 2021, 2022, and 2023. The company reports having cut commercial building energy use by more than 7.5 billion kWh, generating over $1 billion in customer savings and preventing upwards of 13 billion pounds of CO2 emissions. In February 2022, Goldman Sachs led a $75 million strategic funding round alongside Shell.
Twenty First Century Utilities
Following a five-year break from the energy sector, Corsell co-founded Twenty First Century Utilities (TFC Utilities) in 2015 with Larry Kellerman, a former Goldman Sachs partner who managed the firm’s electric power investments from 2002 to 2010. TFC Utilities concentrated on acquiring and upgrading power generation assets and electric utility companies. In June 2016, Corsell and Kellerman appeared on the Charlie Rose show to discuss TFC Utilities’ contributions to advancing clean energy.
In November 2015, TFC Utilities purchased control of GridPoint for $62.5 million, enabling Corsell to resume leadership of the company. Throughout 2017 and 2018, TFC Utilities executed multiple restructurings of power purchase agreements and evaluated potential acquisitions of electric utilities in locations including Hawaii, South Carolina, and Bermuda.
In July 2019, I Squared Capital—a global infrastructure investment firm managing $38 billion across sectors such as energy, utilities, telecommunications, transportation, and social infrastructure—acquired TFC Utilities. Following this transaction, Corsell joined I Squared Capital as a Partner on its Operating Committee while spearheading the firm’s technology investment initiatives.
In January 2021, I Squared Capital announced it would acquire Atlantic Power Corporation via the TFC Utilities platform for approximately $1 billion; this transaction was finalized in May 2021. Atlantic Power is a prominent power generation and infrastructure company with assets throughout the United States and Canada. After integrating TFC Utilities into Atlantic Power, Corsell currently holds the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors at Atlantic Power & Utilities.
Additional enterprises
Corsell has established, invested in, and held board positions at technology firms focused on clean energy solutions, enterprise software, and cybersecurity sectors.
In 2011, he co-established Hubub, a digital platform where users generated multimedia channels covering diverse subjects. Collaborating with Bell Media, Hubub achieved notable popularity across Canada and appeared in a commercial during the 2015 Super Bowl. The company was acquired in 2016 by Stagwell, a $3 billion digital marketing group founded by Mark Penn and supported by Steve Ballmer, subsequently being renamed Stagwell Technologies.
Corsell also co-founded HighDegree in 2018, a cybersecurity company dedicated to addressing fraud within digital advertising. In 2019, HighDegree was purchased by IronNet, a publicly traded cybersecurity corporation led by General Keith Alexander.
In 2020, Corsell endorsed a letter indicating that the Hunter Biden laptop narrative exhibited characteristics consistent with an "information operation," although later findings disputed this claim.
Honors and memberships
In 2008, Corsell was honored by MIT Technology Review as one of the world's "top 35 innovators under 35." He has also been acknowledged by Infrastructure Investor for his contributions.
That same year, he was named Chairman of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Sustainable Energy. The Forum further recognized him as a "Young Global Leader" in 2010.
The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) included Corsell in its first-ever list of prominent directors under the age of 40 in 2015.
He currently holds board memberships at GridPoint, Atlantic Power & Utilities, and Fermata Energy—a company specializing in vehicle-to-grid technologies—as well as serving on the Dean’s Council of the Yale School of Architecture and The Wolfsonian Museum located in Miami Beach.
Author Thomas Friedman attributed the inspiration for the title of his 2016 book Thank You for Being Late to a conversation with Corsell in 2015.