Like father, like son: Lanny Sinkin becomes Solar San Antonio’s ED
Bill Sinkin, founder of Solar San Antonio (SSA), announced recently that Lanny Sinkin will take over as SSA’s Executive Director. Lanny came back to San Antonio earlier this year to be with his mother who was very ill. “She passed away in early March, and I stayed to be with my father. He invited me…
Bill Sinkin, founder of Solar San Antonio (SSA), announced recently that Lanny Sinkin will take over as SSA’s Executive Director.
Lanny came back to San Antonio earlier this year to be with his mother who was very ill.
“She passed away in early March, and I stayed to be with my father. He invited me to consult with Solar San Antonio to prepare an overall evaluation of where the organization might go in the future. Then in May, the Executive Director, Bill Barker, left to go to work in the City of San Antonio Office of Environmental Policy. I filled the void by developing a longer range plan expanding the organization’s mission. Based on the work I did over the past five months, the Board of Directors decided to offer me the Executive Director position.”
It was a good decision.
Lanny graduated from Harvard College and received a Fulbright Scholarship before receiving his law degree from the University of Texas in 1985. He served as Co-coordinator of Vietnam Summer, Executive Director of the Urban Coalition of Metropolitan San Antonio, full-time volunteer for the Aquifer Protection Association, and provided legal counsel for many other environmental causes in the United States.
I asked Lanny what were the top three things on his ‘to do’ list.
“Right now, San Antonio is in the midst of a major transformation regarding energy planning. Whether to build two nuclear reactors, how to implement the Villarreal Bill — legislative authority for municipalities to issue bonds and use the proceeds to make loans for energy efficiency and solar with payback through property tax add on (Berkeley Plan) –, whether to initiate feed in tariffs, implementation of CPS Energy STEP program — $850 million incentives over 12 years for energy efficiency and solar, and more.”
“We will continue our advocacy efforts to raise the level of awareness about solar and to provide accurate information about solar’s potential. We will continue our educational/training efforts with workshops related to solar implementation, such as a solar hot water workshop and a solar finance workshop. We are expanding our efforts into implementation by initiating discussion of putting solar roof tops over parking lots with plug in infrastructure and introducing solar thermal to manufacturers using waste heat in their processes. We are also expanding our efforts into long range energy planning in an effort to assist in the coordination of the many programs emerging. There is clearly no shortage of very worthwhile pursuits.”
No kidding.
So maybe now that Lanny’s on board, Bill will think about working less than full time?
“Well, he comes to work every morning and stays all day. He’s very much engaged in the daily work of the organization. We all encourage him to cut back. I am not sure he knows how. I’m really looking forward to this job being a lot of fun, interesting, and challenging.”
Lanny may be reached at 210-354-0236 or via email.
