Rewiring America announced today that Ari Matusiak, its CEO and co-founder, is stepping down after six years leading the organization as part of a planned leadership transition.

The Board is conducting an active national search for Rewiring America’s next CEO, led by Heidrick & Struggles. Matusiak has been closely involved in identifying and recruiting a successor and will remain an advisor through the end of 2026 to support Rewiring America and its next leader.

“Ari has been the ultimate partner over the last six years,” said Alex Laskey, Board Chair and Co-founder. “Some of the most energizing, generative, and consequential conversations of my career have been with Ari, and I’m enormously proud of what we built together. Rewiring America would not be the organization it is today without his persistent, brilliant, and deeply committed leadership. We will miss him, and I will miss working with him every day, but he leaves behind an exceptionally healthy organization, a talented leadership team, an engaged Board, and an extraordinary group of people ready to carry the work forward.”

“When we started Rewiring America, we had a big idea, a lot of urgency, and, as I’ve said before, a clear need for a competent adult in the room. Ari was that person,” said Saul Griffith, Co-founder of Rewiring America. “He brought the discipline and leadership needed to turn that early momentum into something durable and influential. Leadership transitions are hard, but they can also be fabulous opportunities to focus on new work and what comes next. I’m excited for Ari, and very excited for Rewiring America’s next act.”

Putting households at the center of America’s energy story

When Matusiak co-founded Rewiring America in 2020 with Laskey and Griffith, households were largely missing from the national conversation about America’s energy future. Rewiring America set out to change that, arguing that an energy transition built outward from the kitchen table could lower bills, improve homes, strengthen communities, and create a more durable politics around the transition.

Since its founding, Rewiring America has mobilized billions of dollars toward that vision, helping turn household electrification from an emerging idea into policy, programs, tools, and investments reaching millions of Americans:

• Helped develop and advance household electrification policies that became part of the Inflation Reduction Act, including the landmark Home Energy Rebates.

• Built consumer tools used by millions of people, trained nearly 3,000 Electric Coaches, and helped state and local programs make electrification more affordable for two million households.

• Helped state and local governments advance policies and programs unlocking billions of dollars in public and private capital for household electrification, including supporting coalitions that secured a combined $650 million through EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grants.

• Joined the Power Forward Communities coalition, which was awarded $2 billion to affordably electrify homes nationwide, though those funds remain frozen and have not yet been deployed.

• Helped build a broader field around household electrification, with alumni going on to found companies and nonprofits, enter government and politics, and take leadership roles across the energy sector.

• Earned national recognition, including Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies list in 2025 and 2026, while Matusiak was named to the 2025 TIME100 Climate list.

Six years later, the original idea is more relevant than ever. Electricity demand is rising rapidly, household energy costs are straining family budgets, and the grid needs new sources of capacity and flexibility. Rewiring America’s Homegrown Energy work carries the same household-first thesis into this new era, treating homes not merely as energy consumers, but as energy infrastructure capable of providing capacity, resilience, flexibility, and savings.

“Ari has brought tremendous energy, judgment, and heart to Rewiring America,” said Ashley Anderson, Rewiring America Board Director and Chief Philanthropy Officer at Bayshore Global Management. “He helped build an organization with real staying power and a clear sense of purpose. I’m grateful for everything he’s given to Rewiring America, and I’m excited to work with my Board colleagues, the staff, and our next CEO to carry that work into its next chapter.”

“Families are facing rising energy costs just as communities are being asked to accommodate enormous new demands on the grid,” said Abigail Dillen, President of Earthjustice and Rewiring America Board Director. “They deserve a fair deal. Ari is not only making the case that households need to be at the center of that conversation, he is showing how it’s done.  There is a tremendous amount of work ahead, and thanks to Ari’s vision, Rewiring America is well positioned to lead it.”

Homegrown Energy taking hold

In 2026, Rewiring America is already helping turn its Homegrown Energy vision into policy and practice. Its work has helped inform emerging approaches in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia that connect data center growth with investments in household affordability, distributed capacity, and grid reliability.

Rewiring America has also forged the partnerships needed to prove the model in the market. In the Bay Area, it brought together PG&E, Google, Carrier and others to launch SHARE, a first-of-its-kind virtual power plant that will enroll nearly 21,000 existing home energy devices and fund upgrades for hundreds of additional households.

The approach is resonating with the public as well. Multiple independent surveys have found broad bipartisan support for requiring data centers to invest in household energy upgrades, including 74 percent national support for investments like rooftop solar and weatherization and 76 percent support among Virginia voters for improvements that lower nearby households’ energy bills. A third national survey reinforced the case that communities considering data center development expect tangible benefits for households.

“The need for Homegrown Energy has never been clearer,” said Ari Matusiak. “America has to meet rising electricity demand without losing sight of affordability or the communities being asked to host new growth. Rewiring America has the team, the partnerships, and the momentum to help make households a core part of the solution. I am honored to have played a part in building this organization, community and movement, and am excited to support and celebrate Rewiring America’s ongoing impact and success in these critical years ahead.”

From Rewiring America’s friends and partners

“Rewiring America has played an important role in advancing policies that help electrify and bring down costs for American households,” said U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “From helping me shape the home energy rebates I was able to pass in the Inflation Reduction Act to make efficient electric technologies more affordable for American families to supporting our founding of the Bicameral Electrification Caucus, Rewiring America has helped put households at the center of our national energy policy. Ari brought vision, persistence, and message clarity to that work, and I applaud him for his leadership.”

“Ari Matusiak helped redefine what power means — and where it comes from,” said Jennifer Granholm, former U.S. Energy Secretary and former Governor of Michigan. “While the energy world focused on power plants, transmission lines and utility-scale investments, Ari and Rewiring America showed us the transformative potential of the American home. Millions of households, making choices about how they heat, cool, cook, drive, and use electricity, can collectively reshape our energy system. Ari helped turn that insight into a movement, connecting clean energy to lower bills, healthier homes, good jobs, and real benefits for families. That’s a powerful legacy, and I can’t wait to see what he does next.”

“Rewiring America has been an essential partner in imagining and delivering a cheaper, cleaner energy future,” said Sonia Aggarwal, Chief Executive Officer of Energy Innovation. “Under Ari’s leadership, the organization helped make household electrification a central part of that conversation. With energy prices rising, helping people access better choices to lower and control their bills has never been more important.”

“Under Ari's leadership, Rewiring America has established itself as the go-to voice on the electrification of homes in the U.S.,” said Peter Colavito, Executive Director at Invest in Our Future. “People have more affordable electric bills and a healthier place to live thanks to their work—and I know only more people will benefit from their vision in the years ahead.”

“Electrification has gone from novel to mainstream, and even the IEA now has its first electrification report,” said Jigar Shah, Host of the Energy Empire and Open Circuit podcasts and former Director, DOE Loan Programs Office. “Technology matters, but momentum like this doesn’t happen on its own. Ari and Rewiring America helped overcome the inertia, build the case, and make electrification a mainstream part of the energy conversation. That work has been enormously important.”

“The work that Ari Matusiak has done to turn Rewiring America into a centerpiece of the campaign for energy sanity in America is heroic,” said Bill McKibben, Co-Founder of 350.org and Third Act. “Rewiring has made itself utterly irreplaceable in the crucial task of simplifying our energy transition so everyone everywhere can be a part of it; it's exactly what this country needs if it's ever going to catch up to the rest of a fast-changing world.” 

“The clean energy movement has changed enormously over the last several years, and Rewiring America helped drive one of its most important shifts: putting households, affordability, and everyday benefits at the center of the transition,” said Michael Brune, Founder of Clean Break Fund and former Executive Director of the Sierra Club. “Under Ari’s leadership, Rewiring America helped broaden the climate conversation beyond emissions to what clean energy can mean for people’s homes and lives. That perspective will be essential to the work still ahead.”

"Under Ari’s leadership, Rewiring America has helped turn the promise of clean energy into something tangible for families through better policy, practical tools, and a relentless focus on lowering household costs,” said Leah Qusba, CEO of GoodPower. “His legacy is an organization built to tackle one of the most important challenges ahead: making clean energy an affordable, practical choice for every household. Ari is an inspiration to us all on what's possible and I look forward to following his leadership as he carves a new path beyond Rewiring America." 

“Ari and the Rewiring America team have been a guiding light, not just for electrifying homes but for lowering families’ energy bills,” said Luke Winston-Almanzar, CEO and Co-founder of Reservoir. “Their ability to provide guidance and practical solutions through drastically changing times is an inspiration to entrepreneurs and policymakers alike. We need that light more than ever.”

“Rewiring America helped make household electrification a mainstream idea and created the conditions for companies like Quilt to build better products for the home,” said Paul Lambert, Co-founder and CEO of Quilt. “Ari and the team understood early that the energy transition only works if the better electric option is also the better choice for consumers. That work has helped open an enormous market, and there is still a huge amount of work ahead to make electrification simpler and more accessible for every household.”

"Rewiring America taught the nation that we can solve the climate crisis one appliance at a time, and that the best reasons to do it often aren’t about climate at all: lower bills, cleaner air, and better living,” said Sam Calisch, Founder and CEO of Copper. “Ari turned that idea into a movement, and built an organization strong enough to carry it into the next chapter."

"Rewiring America made electrification something regular households could understand and act on, and that groundwork is a big part of why companies like ours can do this work at scale,” said DR Richardson, CEO and Co-founder at Elephant Energy. “As the industry moves from early adopters to everyone, an organization focused on making electrification simple and affordable for families matters more than ever."

“Under Ari’s visionary leadership, Rewiring America has been at the forefront of helping families save money by powering their homes with electricity,” said Nick Josefowitz, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Permit Power. “At a time when energy bills are rising across the country, this work has never been more important.”

“From day one, Ari and Rewiring America have centered communities in their work, showing how electrifying our homes can bring costs down, cut emissions, and improve our quality of life,” said Matthew McAllister, CEO of SolarAPP Foundation. “They have the vision and tenacity to bring scaled solutions to households across the country at a time when it matters most.”