His father worked at night cleaning boilers, while his mother was a home health aide and student in a teachers program at York College.

Living in a decrepit building, his family relied on natural gas powered stoves for heating during the winter, while opening windows to release harmful toxins.

During his time at Duke, the exoneration of the police who shot innocent Amadou Diallo had a profound effect on Baird and sank him into a depression.

[7] Baird spent 18 months as a senior Voter Contact Director for then Senator Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign in 7 states.

[6] during business school, Baird served as the national Get Out The Vote director for a labor union that independently invested $70mm in President Obama’s reelection campaign.

[13] Beyond his role at BlocPower, Baird serves or has served on the boards of several organizations, including the New York Federal Reserve Bank Second District Board, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee, Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, the Sierra Club Foundation, and The Sunrise Movement.