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SMI, Inc. Launches Helios Strategies
Hires Jeff Rickert as Policy Director for New Energy Group

Washington — Responding to the rapidly changing world of energy policy, SMI, Inc. has established a new business unit, Helios Strategies, dedicated to helping clients navigate and shape the turbulent policy landscape.

Helios Strategies will provide a range of services to clients and financial institutions with the goal of driving investment into the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors, helping to shape the policy landscape to make new energy firms viable and prosperous. The Helios team will develop a current view of the policy landscape, helping institutions to make strategic decisions based on likely outcomes. It will also aid clients in engaging public policy to create the necessary supports to be competitive in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

To help lead this effort, SMI has hired Jeff Rickert as Helios Strategies’ policy director. In this role, Mr. Rickert will work with the Helios team to develop a new line of products that will current and future clients follow the action on federal energy policy, make strategic decisions around likely outcomes, and help develop policy concepts that shape the new energy future.

Mr. Rickert comes to SMI from the Apollo Alliance, a clean energy coalition of more than 300 organizations that includes business, labor, environmental, and community-based groups dedicated to pushing for an investment agenda to achieve energy independence through clean energy and good jobs; he served as the Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff for the Apollo Alliance.  In that role, he served as chief of operations, crafting the overall strategy for the organization with the President and Board of Directors, developing public policy concepts for the federal, state, and local levels, and working extensively with a wide-range of coalition members. He also coordinated development, media and marketing, and online strategies working with both internal teams and outside experts.

Mr. Rickert has developed expertise in all aspects of energy policy, including renewable energy development, oil savings, carbon reduction, cap-and-trade, and energy efficiency policy and implementation.  He has a background in industry research, having done extensive study of manufacturing, hospitality, health care, media, and technology. He is regularly called upon for advice by federal policymakers, national organizations, business leaders, and labor unions, and has provided technical assistance to leaders and policymakers in more than 20 states.

For more information about Helios Strategies, please visit www.heliosstrategies.com.

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