Kristen Sissener is Executive Director of Berkeley Earth, an independent nonprofit advancing the world’s most trusted open-source climate data and next-generation tools for climate risk understanding and decision-making. She leads the organization’s strategy, partnerships, and growth at a pivotal moment, as global demand accelerates for transparent, high-resolution climate intelligence.
Under her leadership, Berkeley Earth is moving beyond its foundational temperature record, widely cited in the UN IPCC and across 400+ academic publications annually, into a new generation of AI-powered climate intelligence. At the center is the forthcoming Synthesis platform, integrating historical data, real-time extreme event attribution, and bias-corrected local projections to deliver decision-ready insights worldwide. Through this evolution, Berkeley Earth is emerging as essential global infrastructure, scaling open, high-resolution climate data and equipping leaders, especially in under-resourced regions, with the localized insights needed to drive real-world action.
Previously, Kristen founded Paired Air, a social enterprise using AI to redistribute unused medical supplies to healthcare systems globally, and served as Vice President of Business Development at the American Energy Society. She brings over a decade of experience at the intersection of strategy, communications, and impact-driven growth.
Kristen holds an MBA with Dean’s List distinction from Hult International Business School, where she was awarded the Social Impact Scholarship, and a B.A. in Molecular Biology and English Literature from the University of California, Berkeley. She was a Division I scholarship athlete and team captain of the Cal Women’s Swim Team.