Karin Larsen Burns

Karin Burns serves as Chief Executive Officer at San Diego Community Power, a position she assumed in April 2022. In this role, she has overseen dramatic organizational growth, expanding the team from around 15 to over 100 members, building reserves from a few million to over 500 million, and scaling the entity to a billion-dollar public agency known as a Joint Powers Authority. Her career spans nearly 20 years in sustainability and climate, with a focus on energy work since 2016, transitioning from finance into roles building early-stage and growth-stage companies. She has led three organizations through transformative phases: developing one from a concept into a global trade association, executing a turnaround of a struggling company that achieved profitability and was merged into a larger national platform, and building San Diego Community Power from an early startup into a scaled, sustainable public entity with strong retention and thought leadership positioning. Burns is driven by building high-performing teams, advancing the clean energy transition, and creating positive community impact through lower-cost greener energy and aligned missions. She emphasizes collaborative leadership that combines listening with decisive action, requiring courage for tough choices, grit, and authenticity to foster trust and navigate uncertainty.