Nature has always been fundamental to Cynthia Curry’s life. Although her family moved across the Southeast when she was a kid, mountain hikes were a constant that continued even when she attended UGA. “For years, I slept in the woods most every weekend a year into my young adulthood,” she says. Even as she made a name for herself working in tech, preserving nature through sustainability and community remained a focus. Now it’s her fulltime role as senior director of cleantech ecosystem expansion with the Metro Atlanta Chamber.
Curry is a connector, bringing in technologies designed to reduce environmental impact across 29 counties in the metro area. “My role is that of an ecosystem builder that shows communities how they can leverage technology for good,” she says. “Atlanta understands what cleantech is now and how it can help us reach the future we want and create jobs.”
One of Curry’s main roles is to help break down silos between industry, corporate, civic, and educational stakeholders so everyone can be involved with helping build a better Georgia. “Collaboration is Atlanta’s superpower,” she says. “A lot of my work is to help forge partnerships.” This can be as simple as creating educational social hours for the cleantech industry or as difficult as convincing a company that Georgia is the right place for their business. When South Korea’s electric battery company, SK On, came to the region, Curry introduced them to the right people and companies—from utility providers to
economic developers—to ensure business went smoothly. She was also pivotal in bringing Qcells, a solar panel company, to Dalton.
Curry has helped put Georgia on the cleantech map: The state is a leader in clean energy job creation with 43,000 new roles since 2022. And Curry isn’t stopping there. “Five years from now, I want Atlanta to set an example of how cleantech can inspire equity,” she says. “It’s a wonderful way to create jobs and a better world for future generations.”
– TESS MALONE
