The Versed Noel

NYPA’s Yves Noel uses his past to map state’s clean energy future.

Artist Frank Ocean said, “Work hard in silence, let success be your noise.” While not exactly silent, New York Power Authority Chief Strategy Officer Yves Noel prefers to let his accomplishments speak volumes. And by all accounts, his work at NYPA has been creating quite a wonderful ruckus.

“As chief strategy officer, Iʼm part futurist, part agitator, and part accountability manager,” Noel explains. “But what drives me is a belief in a better future. Naturally, that implies thinking about what the future will be and engaging in conversations with the entire organization about how we get there. Weʼre leading the energy transition, but our ethos is all about benefitting the state. I poke our people to think about how we can improve the future and fight against cynicism, while I keep the organization accountable to our goals and mission.”

He makes it sound easy. Itʼs not. In addition to mapping out NYPAʼs future, and thereby contributing to the state of New Yorkʼs energy outlook, he also must update NYPAʼs comprehensive and complex VISION2030 strategic plan. That sounds daunting. But Noel is perfectly suited for the task and has been since he was quite young.

“As chief strategy officer, I’m part futurist, part agitator, and part accountability manager. But what drives me is a belief in a better future. Naturally, that implies thinking about what the future will be and engaging in conversations with the entire organization about how we get there.”

“Iʼve always been fascinated by problems. I was the kid who took stuff apart that probably shouldnʼt have been taken apart,” he quips. “I was always trying to figure out how things work. Even when I got a little older, what fascinated me was odd to most people. My family would go into a fast-food restaurant, and Iʼd look at where the knives and forks were and figure out how they could be better placed. Then Iʼd go up and ask the people working there why they put them where they had. Iʼm sure my parents were thrilled and wondering why I was concentrating on things like this, but it annoyed me that they werenʼt doing things in the most efficient manner. And I thought that we could all benefit from finding the best solution.”

While itʼs no longer about knives and forks, Noelʼs fixation on examining processes and procedures to find optimal solutions remains. While he believes itʼs partly innate, he also credits his parents for his tenacity and his noble desire to always find a better way to do something.

“If there is a single theme throughout my life, itʼs this: do the hard stuff for the greatest good, and I owe my parents for instilling that in me. Both my parents are immigrants from Haiti, which has a strong culture of revolution and searching for a better way. My parents did that when they came here in the 1970s. It was not easy for them, but they were determined. They are the epitome of self-sacrifice for a better tomorrow. And they succeeded tremendously through self-sacrifice.”

Noel learned well. At work and outside of it, he applies those lessons, augmenting them with greater self-discipline through jujitsu and heightened altruism through his purpose-driven social activism. But it would be easy to look at his resume and assume his path to success was easy and almost predetermined. After all, he gained an MBA from the Wharton Business School, worked globally for power consultants like Booz Allen Hamilton and Oliver Wyman, and led a consulting team at the U.S. Department of Energy during former President Barack Obamaʼs term. But the appearance of ease and effortlessness belies the brutally hard work and tough circumstances he overcame to succeed.

“Thereʼs a dimension around being an African American man in this industry. We live in a society where people that look like me arenʼt necessarily afforded opportunity. I was not immune to those trials and tribulations. But with the support of my family and number of people who looked like me and those who didnʼt, I gained access and opportunity so that I was not limited by the color of my skin or the way I talked. And I am grateful as well as committed to do the same for future generations.”

Noelʼs commitment is both existential and immediate. While always pursuing projects to help the greatest number of people throughout his career, he also now splits his focus to ensure a better world for his two young daughters. Fortunately, he found a place that empowers him to bring it all together.

“The problem-solving and social activism go hand in hand with NYPAʼs ethos. They are aligned. And thatʼs why coming to the Authority has been such a rewarding experience for me. Itʼs two things I hold sacred and love doing.”