Gordian Raacke - Executive Director

Gordian Raacke is executive director of Renewable Energy Long Island, a not-for-profit organization working to accelerate the transition to a 100% renewable energy economy.

With a track record of almost three decades on regional energy issues, Mr. Raacke is regarded as a trusted expert and leader on clean energy.

Gordian was a founding member of the Long Island Offshore Wind Initiative established in 2002, helped build the solar market on Long Island, and led an initiative in 2011 to study a 100 percent renewable electricity future for the region.

He has worked with Long Island communities, and town and state government to advance clean energy policies. He served on the Suffolk County Community Choice Aggregation Task Force and is a consultant for the Town of East Hampton helping to implement the town’s community-wide 100% renewable energy goals.

Mr. Raacke holds a degree in civil engineering and lives in his energy-efficient and solar-powered home in East Hampton.

Melissa Griffiths Parrott - Deputy Executive Director

Melissa Griffiths Parrott is the deputy executive director of Renewable Energy Long Island.

Melissa has been in the renewable energy field and a climate action advocate since 2015. She is the founder of Students for Climate Action and the founder and former chair of Climate Reality Project’s Long Island Chapter.  She has worked with municipalities forwarding their Clean Energy Community goals, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), is a member of the Long Island Wind Works Coalition, and helped champion the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) for New York state.  Since 2015, Melissa has mentored high school students to work with local, state, and federal elected officials to forward climate policies and a just transition to 100% renewable energy.  She has spoken at the Youth Assembly at the United Nations and George Washington University on climate and youth advocacy.

Since 1995, Melissa has also worked in the environmental education and outreach field, working with the Central Pine Barrens Commission, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum. She is on the steering committee of the Long Island Natural History Conference, and Advisory Board Member, Center for Environmental Research and Coastal Oceans Monitoring (CERCOM) at Molloy College.

Ms. Parrott is originally from California.  She loves to travel and spent several years living abroad during her college years.  She holds a degree in Radio/TV and Film from California State University, Long Beach, and an executive certificate in Non-Profit Leadership from Harvard University Extension.

Daniel Busi - Program Manager

Mr. Busi is an environmental professional with special expertise in the sustainable design and construction of high-performance buildings. Daniel is the Program Manager at Renewable Energy Long Island. In addition to being a LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, LFA, and Fitwel Ambassador, he is educated in GPRO: Operations & Maintenance, an accredited International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA) installer, and OSHA-10 certified.

Among Mr. Busi’s primary responsibilities are organizational planning, grant support, and nonprofit management. He currently works as a Sustainability Project Manager at Cushman & Wakefield. Prior to his employment with reLI, Daniel was Managing Director at the U.S. Green Building Council-Long Island, Consultant to the offshore wind industry, and Project Manager at Praxis Net Zero, a sustainability consulting division of Praxis Public Relations. He represented the Suffolk County Village Officials Association on the Suffolk County Community Choice Aggregation Task Force. He also has prior experience working at an energy efficiency engineering firm, Long Island-based solar-electricity provider, and the University of Vermont sustainability office.

Mr. Busi earned a bachelor of science degree in environmental science with a concentration in green building design and community development from the University of Vermont. He is an expert skier, world traveler who has visited 42 countries, and is currently teaching himself Spanish, hoping one day to become bilingual.