Welcoming New Talent to the OREC Team: Meet Ram & Jo
- John Kirkwood
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
As community-owned clean energy gains momentum across Ontario, OREC has been growing right alongside it. In a recent post, we shared what scaling up a cooperative looks like in real time—including managing rapid membership growth, partnering to refine our brand and messaging, and sifting through an overwhelming 510 applications for our open staff positions!
If you’ve ever suggested a project for OREC to investigate, or reached out with a question about how our investments work, only to be met with a tardy response—we hear you, and we sincerely appreciate your patience. As a growing co-op, we reached a point where our operational ambitions outgrew our team size.
That changes this month. With the addition of Ram Sishir Kancharla and Johanna (Jo) Samu, OREC finally has dedicated, specialized resources focus-built for both of these crucial functions.
Meet Ram Sishir Kancharla — Business Development Manager
With a Master of Applied Science in Energy Systems Engineering (holding a perfect 4.0 GPA) and a career spanning international solar EPC, project development, and financial modeling, Ram brings rare technical and commercial depth to OREC.
Having worked across utility-scale solar, wind/solar hybrid developments, and commercial microgrids in Canada and internationally, Ram understands the intricacies of grid interconnections, system feasibility, and project modeling. At OREC, he will focus on optimizing our operating solar assets and evaluating incoming project pipelines as we branch into new renewable initiatives.
"As someone who has long been passionate about renewables, I’m thrilled to join a co-op where the community actively builds and benefits from local green projects. OREC has a proven track record of success, and I can’t wait to help drive our next chapter of growth!"
Meet Johanna (Jo) Samu — Membership Growth & Engagement Lead
Jo joins OREC with a rich, interdisciplinary background in public relations, sociology, and member relations. Having led communications and stakeholder strategies across non-profits, environmental advocacy groups, and national member associations, Jo excels at turning complex organizational goals into clear, trust-building community engagement.
Her systemic approach to member services and experience managing multi-stakeholder relationships make her the perfect fit to support and grow our 1,200+ members. Jo will be taking the helm on member communications, community outreach, and enriching the member experience with benefits like our expanding OREx peer-to-peer knowledge hub.
"I’m excited to join OREC and contribute to work that brings people and communities together around renewable energy. I’m especially looking forward to connecting with our members, building new relationships, and helping more people see how they can be part of a cleaner, community-powered future."
A New Chapter for OREC Support
Having dedicated, specialized leads isn't just about faster email replies or polished processes—it’s about accelerating the energy transition when Ontario needs it most.
With Ram heading up business development, we are actively expanding our pipeline to bring forward more projects—specifically targeting strategic opportunities like Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) to diversify our portfolio. Simultaneously, Jo is stepping in with ambitious goals to grow our membership base and help more members transition into active clean energy investors.
We aren't driving this growth just to get bigger. We are doing it because replacing Ontario's reliance on natural gas and nuclear with community-owned Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) is an enormous challenge. Having dedicated capacity in both project development and member engagement gives us the firepower—I mean, megawatts—needed to build sustainable, resilient communities across the province.
Please join us in giving Ram and Jo a warm welcome! You can read more about their full backgrounds on our Team Page.
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