Palmetto

Yes, clean energy can move this fast!

In this episode of Culture Uncovered, Jena Dunay sits down with Andi Summers, VP of People and Culture at Palmetto, to explore how this fast-growing clean energy company is transforming residential solar while building a lean, high-performing culture.

Founded in 2009, Palmetto has evolved from a solar installer into a technology-driven platform helping homeowners access and manage clean energy solutions. Andi shares what it takes to scale in climate tech from hiring adaptable, ownership-minded talent to moving quickly without losing cultural alignment.

What you’ll learn:

• How Palmetto is modernizing the residential solar industry
• What a fast-moving, “athletic” culture looks like in practice
• Why ownership and intentional hiring drive performance

Palmetto Highlights:

• Founded: 2009
• Headquarters: Charlotte, North Carolina
• Team Size: ~400 employees
• Industry: Clean Energy / Climate Tech
• Culture: Lean, innovative, ownership-driven, fast-moving

Unique Perks:

• Flat medical premiums
• 401(k) match
• Professional development fund
• Internal “Lift Network” for voluntary cross-functional projects
• Strong parental leave & infertility support
• Pet benefits

To learn more about Palmetto:

• Careers Page (They’re hiring!)
• LinkedIn Page
• Andi's LinkedIn Profile

Transcript

Jena Dunay: Hello friends and welcome back to another episode of Culture Uncovered where we go behind the scenes of the coolest companies to work for. We are excited today to be here with Andi Summers, who is the VP of People and Culture for Palmetto. Andi, thank you so much for joining us today.

Andi Summers: Thanks for having me.

Jena Dunay: And you are just brave to be here because it's right around the holidays when we're filming this and recording this. I'm like, my gosh, I know you've got a lot going on, so I really do appreciate it. Why don't you get us started and tell us a little bit about Palmetto. What do you guys do?

Andi Summers: Palmetto started as a solar installation company. It'll be 16 years in February of this coming year that we've been around. We’re CEO/Founder Chris led. Over the last couple of years, we've transformed to be more of a platform. Rather than solar installation being our focus, while we still help facilitate that, we're a technology company. We both enable and educate consumers to understand clean energy, their own access, how to get more access to it, and how to get some savings. We also connect all of the distributors’ channels on the backend to help actually distribute that clean energy. So we're a platform right in the middle connecting consumers with their clean energy.

Jena Dunay: I have to be honest, I don't know a ton about clean energy. Even you saying that, I'm like, I was looking at your website prior to doing this, doing a little research, and thinking, I need to check out if this is possible where I live. I think the education piece is key, because you just don't know what you don't know. It sounds like it's a platform that connects people together, correct?

Andi Summers: That's right. We just launched an app where people can connect to their utility so they can see how their energy costs are doing over time. They can learn how to offset those with clean options, whether that's HVAC, a heat pump, solar, or a Nest thermostat. It spans a range of products.

Jena Dunay: That's awesome. You mentioned the company is around 16 years old, so around what year were you founded? Math is hard for me today.

Andi Summers: Two thousand fifteen, no, not 2015, 2009.

Jena Dunay: Okay, 2009, awesome. Where are you guys headquartered? Where do your employees live and work?

Andi Summers: We are headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and we have a large office space there with about 125 desks. We also have smaller satellite offices in Charleston, South Carolina, and in Harvard Square in Massachusetts, right in Cambridge. Then we have hubs of people in eight or nine geographies across the country where we have teammates work remotely but are near one another and can get together. Then we have about a hundred employees in the Philippines, which is a really important part of our team.

Jena Dunay: Which is becoming more common, I feel like. That's awesome. So how many employees do you have total?

Andi Summers: About 400 people today. We've historically stayed at or below that number. In the solar industry, they sometimes talk about the “solar coaster,” and that OXX and GNA are often the things that kill those businesses. They get way too ahead of themselves and then can't afford the model they've built. Something our company has done very intentionally and thoughtfully over the years is we stay really lean. One of our organizational principles is small teams. Everybody knows and is well aware that we're going to continue to operate lean because we know that's how we get the best results. We move quickly and nimbly and can navigate this really complex industry that other companies have failed to do successfully for the long term.

Jena Dunay: It's interesting you say that, because I feel like in 2026, what we're entering into, that's actually a huge value prop, being a lean organization. While in years past it was like, oh, that means everyone does 25 jobs, I actually think it means the organization is being really thoughtful about how they look at people, how they look at staffing, and there's more intentionality behind it versus just over-hiring, which we've seen a lot of. I think that's a great value prop, Andi.

Andi Summers: What I love about it for folks we bring in is that they can rest assured we've thought long and hard before we've opened a role and decided to extend an offer. They should have some sense of security coming in on that basis. While not everyone's doing 25 jobs, it does provide ample opportunity for stretching, growing, and trying new things. One of the things we look for in people is what we call athleticism, somebody who can come in and go beyond their scope, think outside the box, reach out, identify a problem, solve a problem. That's what it's all about. If we operated in a way that wasn't as lean as we do, that would be a lot harder.

Jena Dunay: I like the term athleticism. I don't think I've had a company use that phrase to describe the people they bring in or their culture. I've heard “competitive” on a sales team, but a general thesis around the people we bring in is, hey, we want them to have this athleticism about them because then they can stretch. For the right types of people, that is super appealing. Often when you get into companies as they start grow, you get siloed into your spot and can only do things within your scope. The opportunity to flex in and out of things can be a competitive advantage when trying to build your personal resume. I love what you said there. How did you find the organization, Andi? Have you always been in the energy space? Has everybody at your company always been in energy? Walk me through that. 

Andi Summers: I have not always been in the energy space. It was a bit of a learning curve for me when I joined two and a half years ago. In my last role, one of the things I did was work with our advisory council, and Molly Graham, who I am such a fan of, she runs something called The Glue Club, was on our advisory council at NOLS. When I was looking for my next opportunity, I saw Palmetto. They were hiring for something I was really interested in. She made an introduction to the hiring manager, the CHRO at the time, and I found myself at Palmetto. It was really that tale of “it's who you know,” and I feel so lucky to have joined when I did, because the transformation over the last two and a half years has been like nothing I've ever seen before with a company.

I'm certainly in the minority in our organization. The majority of folks have been in the energy space for a very long time. They have seen the solar coaster at its highs and its lows and bring such a depth of experience. They're also just the kindest group of people I've ever worked with, so much expertise and so much generosity with one another. It's really something.

Jena Dunay: Talk to me a little bit about the networking portion of it. You mentioned you built this connection, and then they introduced you to somebody else. How did that happen? Did you ask for the recommendation? Whatever you feel comfortable sharing, I think it's helpful for people to realize we say networking is so important to the job search process, and I literally hammer it home 24/7, and people are like, “Yeah, but…” and don't really think it's as impactful. From your perspective, Andi, how would you recommend a job seeker think about networking differently?

Andi Summers: I can tell you a relatively full-circle story of how networking has been the entirety of my career trajectory. I went to grad school at Pepperdine in California, which was kind of an accident. I applied and was going to go to online school, then got in, and we were the inaugural cohort. I found somebody on LinkedIn close to when I was going to finish my program, in like six to nine months, and thought, that's who I want to be when I grow up. Her name is Cindy Morgan, and she's the VP of Learning and Development at the University of Pennsylvania Medical System. I was in learning and development at the time and thought, I want to be her.

My business school dean happened to be a common connection on LinkedIn. I asked him, I said, “Look, I found this person. I don't know how well you know them, but I really want to talk to them. I want to know how they got where they are.” He said, “It's funny, we've known each other since we were 13. We went to the same middle school.” I was like, wow! That doesn't always happen, but sometimes it does. He introduced me, she ended up hiring me, and that's what took me from LA to Philly. I didn't end up doing the job she hired me for, for a story that's for a different podcast, but she introduced me to the CEO of the consulting firm that I ended up working for about eight weeks after I got to Philly. He didn't hire me, but he accepted my email and the introduction. I was the most junior person they'd ever hired into that role. They created a role for me. I worked there for almost four years, and one of my clients there took me on as their Chief People Officer for my first exec role. It was the advisory council there where I met Molly and landed at Palmetto.

It really is just like humans that connect one another. More than any cold outreach networking, it's about the relationships we build, being an authentic version of yourself, putting out what you want in the world, and giving back when people give to you. If you're in a position to mentor somebody, to put someone else's name in the ring, I think all of those things come back to us and it's worth investing in.

Jena Dunay: I was just about to write a LinkedIn post about how the number one career hack is to be generous with your connections, generous but discerning. You don't just blast your connections, but you're generous with the ones that strategically make sense, with people you trust and think will benefit from each other. I couldn't agree with you more, and I'm so glad you said that.

Let's go back to Palmetto. How would you describe the culture? Maybe a couple of words or phrases, obviously you used the word athleticism, you talked about kind people and specialists in their industry, but what other words would you use to describe the culture? 

Andi Summers: “Fast” is one of them. While we've been around for almost 16 years, it very much feels like a startup in some ways, because that's how you survive in an industry that's changing as rapidly as clean tech is. Fast, and if you're not ready to go fast, it's not the place for you. Our eNPS and engagement scores, I'm happy to share about them, but the way they contrast shows we've got really high engagement. Our eNPS, while really positive, is around 50 right now, but it fluctuates. What we share with leaders is people are like, “It's great for me, I don't know if anyone else is going to make it here,” because it really is that unique culture.

Aside from being kind, it is a culture of teamwork. From our CEO to our VPs to folks on the front lines, everybody really believes we are one team and they operate that way. It's something you don't see everywhere you go. We're all really aligned on our key KPIs, how we ladder up to those, and supporting one another to make sure they come to fruition. So teamwork and collaboration are big words. The final word I’d use, though it might sound cliche, is innovative. We are constantly innovating. Our business model is focused on diversification, which requires us to be innovative. We invest internally in our talent so we can elevate them when the time is right and put them into roles to lead new business segments. We take chances, take calculated risks, and invest in things to see how they're going to work. We do it intelligently so we're not always making bad bets, but we do take those risks. We know what are one-way and two-way doors. I'm really proud of that at Palmetto. It always feels a little bit like a new company because of that.

Jena Dunay: I can imagine that as a people leader, you have to be really intentional about how you think about upskilling your workforce in an environment that's changing all the time. You're like, oh, we're going this way, and then we need, you know. So I feel like that's a huge challenge for you. Other people leaders listening can relate and have empathy for the challenge your team faces, because I would imagine it's difficult.

On the “fast” piece, can you give me an example of what that looks like? A lot of companies talk about having a fast-paced environment. I used to work for a company that told me they had a fast-paced environment, and I got there and it was a snooze fest. I was bored out of my mind. Can you explain what it means to be a fast culture?

Andi Summers: One thing I tell people is if you're somebody who needs a lot of direction or handholding, you're probably not going to make it here. When I say fast, it means, get a direction, get an idea, get whatever has been passed down to you and go make something happen. If you're going to get handed that and then sit on it and wait for someone to tell you how to do it or exactly what to do, you're not moving quickly enough. We have to move quickly in order to make it as an organization.

To give it some color, we spun up the financing side of our business about two years ago. Within about six months it had become the biggest part of our business. It exploded. That has been true for many of the business segments we've spun up. We introduced HVAC as part of our business, Comfort Plan is what we're calling that. We announced it a couple of months ago and they just had their best month yet. For the last four months, we've had the best month ever in our inside sales team, month over month over month. That doesn't happen when people are just going with the status quo. We're a 16-year-old company and we're breaking those kinds of records internally and always setting the expectation that that's what we're going to do. That requires people who are never satisfied with how things are going and are always reaching for the next thing, innovating, and moving quickly toward those results.

Jena Dunay: That's helpful. I think it's helpful for somebody who's listening, who's intrigued about your industry or what you do and might be interested in working for you, to understand what it actually means to work for a fast company that values teamwork and innovation. Thank you for sharing all that.

Let's talk a little bit. I got a chance to check out your careers page, and you and I got a chance to chat before we recorded this. Talk to us about some of the unique benefits that your people team and the organization offers for employees. We love hearing about those fun perks and benefits. Every company is a little bit different, and it's really fun for me to find those as well.

Andi Summers: I'm going to start with something that's maybe considered a little bit boring, which is our medical benefits.

Jena Dunay: I like hearing about medical benefits. It's fun for me because I love hearing about them from other organizations. There's always some differentiator in it.

Andi Summers: Totally. In a year where medical premiums are going up, in all of my people leader forums, people are talking about 25% increases, 30% increases, huge increases. When a company sees increases like that, they have no choice but to share that increase with employees. As a business leader first and a people leader second, or simultaneously, that just is what it is. Our teammates saw no increase to their premiums this year. That's because we very intentionally restructured our benefits so they continued to see the same or better coverage with added enhancements and kept their premiums flat. They saw their first increase in like five years last year, and it was less than 8%. All that to say, we are always trying to improve the package we're offering while keeping in mind that we need to take care of our people in a way that only a company in this country is equipped to do. We hold that really near and dear.

We send out benefits surveys every year so we can get feedback, and we're extremely responsive to that feedback. We introduced a 401(k) match because we knew that was really important to folks. I'm really proud of that and think it's an important part of our package.

Other unique things we offer: a professional development fund. We're really focused on teammate development at Palmetto. Especially last year going into this year, it's been one of our five strategic priorities, people development. We take that really seriously. People have access to funds for their own development as it relates to their career.

Internally, we have programmatic things, including a manager development program for newly hired or newly promoted managers. We have a program called the Lift Network, where our director-plus leaders who are in our management team can send an email to the whole organization and say, “I need help running a steering committee,” or “I need help with a spreadsheet I can't figure out or don't have time to do.” Our CEO actually sent out an email to the Lift Network and has somebody working on a really cool project directly with him from within the organization.

This email goes out, and teammates, no matter their level or role, if they want to learn something and there's an opportunity for them to learn it, like building AI agents, which is really popular right now, they can volunteer. The email says exactly how many hours and for how long. It gets cleared with their manager, and they get to go and learn and contribute to the business, meet new people, and work with new leaders. They're building skill and getting exposure and visibility that ultimately may turn into another job opportunity. We have many people here who are very tenured and have had three, four, five different roles at Palmetto because they've evolved their career, not necessarily on the same ladder, but through lateral moves where they're learning and doing different things. That feels like a really unique benefit.

Jena Dunay: It's super unique. It's my favorite one. I've heard of one or two other companies that have done that, and it's my favorite benefit that organizations offer. I love all the financial benefits too, but this one always gets me excited because it shows that an organization really values its people and wants to leverage the gifts of the people within the organization. For me as a young whippersnapper in my early 20s, I used to work for the New York Stock Exchange. I remember my leader let me sit in on PR department meetings, it was not my department, and other departments. I learned so much from being in the room, getting to participate in activities or projects, and working cross-collaboratively. I still have relationships with those people today because my manager said, “Hey, you should check this out so you can figure out what you like and what you're really good at. I think you would thrive here.” Those types of things are really valued by employees who have a hunger to grow and learn. So I love that.

I also want to double tap on the benefits portion, because that is a huge value proposition. We said it's kind of boring, it's not boring, because medical expenses are expensive. It can really make or break somebody's experience during their year, depending on how much they have to pay into medical. The fact that your team goes to bat for those benefits and constantly tries to improve them is a huge benefit that probably isn't talked about enough. We actually don't talk about it at all in the recruitment process at many organizations, but it's a huge piece of the financial puzzle. I love that you guys are doing that.

Andi Summers: It definitely is. The only other things I'd highlight are things like pet benefits and ancillary things like that, as well as parental leave. We take that really seriously and want to make sure that folks who become parents in any way, whether that's through adoption or anything else, are supported. We also have great infertility coverage. Those are things I want people to know about because they’re important, depending on what you need at what phase of life you're in.

Jena Dunay: You mentioned those employee engagement surveys. For all the people leaders listening, how do you think strategically about what benefits you decide to offer? There are so many options out there, it can be overwhelming. How do you determine the best options for your population?

Andi Summers: Aside from doing benefits surveys and getting feedback, we have a pretty rich benefits package, so it's more about refinement at this time. Sometimes people have a new idea for something they'd like to see. We have a total rewards philosophy and we evaluate benefits, whether a new benefit or an existing benefit, on whether it's market-informed. Is this something other people are doing? Does this set us apart in the market and make us more competitive? Is it broadly impactful versus something that impacts a small group? And is it aligned with our mission and values?

When we stood up our teammate population in the Philippines, we had to create a different benefits package. It was an important opportunity to make sure those benefits, while different than what we're offering in the US, are equitable to what we offer in the US. We used this philosophy to guide that. We're looking at new things. I have a great person on my team who is always learning what is great and new in the benefits space. We have really good brokers. For all you people leaders, if you don't love your broker for benefits, go get one. We love our broker and they keep us really informed. We try to listen to what people are asking for. It doesn't mean we can always deliver on everything, but we are responsive to every ask.

Jena Dunay: That's really good. I like that, “We can't do everything, but we can be responsive to every ask.” That's awesome.

We've talked about the wonderful things about your organization, and no organization is perfect. What are some areas of opportunity or areas you want to continue to refine as you look into 2026 and even 2027?

Andi Summers: I talked about how fast-moving we are. We try to be very upfront about that here and in our interview process. But humans are not built to always be changing without any reaction to that change. You know the change curve and all the different ways of understanding change, when you're changing as quickly and dramatically as Palmetto is, it can be hard not just to keep everybody aligned but to manage for change fatigue. We want everyone to continue to expect this is how we operate, and understand why it benefits all of us and the organization and our mission. We try to manage that change fatigue so people know to expect it and have tools for navigating it. Supporting individuals and supporting managers so they can better support their teams is something we continue to be focused on, as well as our internal communication strategy that keeps everybody aligned and energized around the changes that are happening. That continues to be an area of growth and opportunity for us, and I don't think that will ever change. We'll always be getting better at that.

We also have a large group of teammates in the Philippines. That's the first contingency of teammates outside the US for Palmetto. I come out of working for global organizations, and what I'm realizing is that collectively as an organization, we need to really embrace that global muscle. It's one thing to be a US company with people who work in another country, it's another to operate with a global mindset mentality. That's a huge focus for us in 2026, making sure everyone feels part of the same team, our engagement surveys tell us so, and making sure everybody’s actually operating that way. It's different than operating as a US-only company.

Jena Dunay: I'm curious, can you explain that a little more? The movement from a US-based company that has a large population in a different country to being a global organization, how do you look at things differently as a people leader who's expanding in that way?

Andi Summers: I think there are a few things. There are logistics around when you schedule meetings, and even adding time zones to people’s calendars. Saying “good evening” instead of “good morning” to recognize where somebody is. The language we use matters when we’re talking about people's experience of an organization.

Keeping in mind, I used to work for an organization that was growing in Europe, and I used to remind people that people in England are not Americans with accents. They have their own culture, they live in a different country, and it's different there than it is here. While with the Philippines it's less commonly assumed to be exactly the same, I think the same idea applies, remember there are different cultural dynamics at play and adjust for that.

When we first stood up this teammate base, we put all our managers through a training that was not about cultural sensitivity, but cultural collaboration. It covered things you need to know and things you can adjust for. I think there's language. think that there's cultural awareness. And then the final piece is just, you know, these tactics seem small, but like US benefits communications, they shouldn't go to employees at x.com. They should go to US employees at x.com. Whereas other communications should be tailored to a global audience so that the folks who are not in the majority necessarily aren't always wondering like, this relevant to me and all of that. 

Those are a few things that can make a big difference quickly. Next year, we're really focused on how we bring these folks together in person even more than we've been able to in the past, because that's an important part of our culture. 

Jena Dunay: That's really cool. I think it's helpful context for people leaders who are expanding their footprint, and for people who are part of organizations too, to see the intentionality you put into your people. As we're starting to wrap up our time together, I really loved learning about your organization. Tell me, where can people learn more about your culture? Where can people learn more about roles you're hiring for? Talk to us about the hiring process and all of that.

Andi Summers: Please go to our LinkedIn. Please go to our website. We rebranded our website back in early summer. I'm so in love with our rebrand. Our SVP of Comms and Marketing, Jessica Appelgren, is such a talent. She came to us from Impossible Foods. I love the work they did. Please go check it out. It talks about our values, what we do; it's really beautiful and reflective of the materials we use internally and has a good careers page. We use Greenhouse. We have a pretty strict hiring process because our team feels strongly about making sure everybody has the same access to opportunities. Please go and apply.

You'll hear from one of our recruiters, Michael and Alex. They're fabulous and aim to give everybody a great experience. Typically it's a screening call, a call with a hiring manager, then a loop interview with two to three people depending on the role. We try to make decisions pretty quickly around here because we are moving fast. We want to hire the best people as quickly as we can.

You can learn more about us on LinkedIn, where we share a lot of content. We also have a fabulously rebranded Instagram page. We have great teammate profiles on some of our up-and-coming leaders. There's a lot of good content out there. I also encourage you to connect with people you think are interesting in this organization. Everybody is really willing to give up their time to talk about the industry. If you don't think you want to be in the clean tech industry, please don't come work here, not because I don't want to meet you and care about you, but that's what we're about here. If our mission is not absolutely energizing to you, you're not going to be energized at work, and that's what we want for everybody.

So come and talk to people, ask them about their journey, ask them what they love about working here, connect with folks, and go from there.

Jena Dunay: Andi, this was so fun to get to chat with you about Palmetto and the intentionality your organization looks at people, the way you approach benefits, the way you approach your value system. I've really enjoyed getting to learn about it. If you are a job seeker interested in learning more about the organization, please head to their careers page or their Instagram page, I love seeing different ways people utilize employer branding, or their LinkedIn page. We'll have all of that in the show notes. Andi, thank you so much for joining us today on Culture Uncovered.

Andi Summers: Thank you. Take care.