Nellie Gorbea
Puerto Rico Green Energy Trust
President and CEO
Nellie Gorbea is the first President and CEO of the Puerto Rico Green Energy Trust, where she leads efforts to mobilize public, private, and philanthropic investment in expanding access to affordable, resilient energy — work that is reshaping how Puerto Rico builds its economic future.
Her work sits at the intersection of clean energy, economic resilience, and equitable access — the same forces shaping the future of energy across Puerto RIco.
With more than 30 years of executive leadership experience spanning government, finance, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector, Gorbea has built and transformed organizations by forging partnerships, driving innovation, and advancing solutions to complex public challenges. She is recognized for bringing together diverse stakeholders to translate bold ideas into measurable results.
Before leading the Trust, Gorbea served as Rhode Island’s Secretary of State from 2015 to 2023. During her tenure, she modernized the state’s business and election services, increased business incorporations by 70 percent, strengthened civic engagement, and led Rhode Island’s election administration through the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. When elected to this role in 2014, she became the first Hispanic elected to statewide office in New England.
Earlier in her career, Gorbea was the inaugural executive director of HousingWorks RI, a multi-sectoral initiative focused on housing and economic opportunity. She also served as an economic policy advisor to the Governor of Puerto Rico, as a community economic development program officer at the Rhode Island Foundation, and as a public finance associate with Fleet Securities.
Throughout her career, Gorbea has served on the leadership boards of many nonprofit organizations. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of BoricuActivatEd and the Advisory Board of Grupo 21.
A native of Puerto Rico and the mother of three daughters, Gorbea holds a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University, a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, and a Certificate in Financing and Deploying Clean Energy from Yale University.