Here at VIDA Coworking, we have so many amazing members as part of our community, including small businesses, nonprofit organizations, remote workers, entrepreneurs, consultants and more!

This month, we ask our classic five questions of Portland Dedicated Desk Member, Drew Lebowitz, who serves as Managing Director of PowerSwitch.

1. Tell us about your work…
I run PowerSwitch, a technical consulting firm assisting developers of utility-scale battery projects. We help them design their systems, select the right batteries for the job, and deploy the systems on the grid. We’re a small team of 4 people split between Portland, Vancouver, Port-au-Prince Haiti, and Manila Philippines. We also do training to help other companies learn about battery projects. These batteries help the grid become more resilient and enable more renewable energy to come online, helping to decarbonize the energy sector.

2.  What led you to this career?
I lived and worked in Haiti from 2013-2018, where I ran a solar energy company and a small utility company. That work led me to get my professional engineering license when I returned to the U.S. in 2019. I worked for DNV, a large Norwegian battery consulting firm until February this year, when I took a controlling interest in PowerSwitch.

3. What are your passions – personal or professional?
I’m a jazz pianist and jazz lover – I bought a baby grand on Craigslist in the pandemic and have been annoying my neighbors ever since! Also love road biking and exploring the streets and trails all over the PNW.

4. How does community play an important role in your everyday work life?
Our projects and employees are spread around the country and the world. While this gives us nice flexibility, I find it especially important to balance our work with local community to support what we do. PowerSwitch is involved in teaching schools about renewable energy and batteries, and recently were part of a federal grant awarded to start a PNW Smart Energy Hub, which will allow us to teach about energy storage at a university level.

5. At VIDA we say, “Make Life/Work for you!” How do you find a healthy balance?
For me, the most important thing is keeping work at the office! I strive to do as much work as possible at VIDA, and ‘clock out’ when I walk out the door, helping me stay sane out in the world and focus on the things that matter.

WE  ❤️  OUR MEMBERS! 

VIDA is a coworking community designed to #MakeLifeWork for our members. With locations in Portland, Oregon and Beaverton, Oregon, we offer private offices, dedicated desks and open coworking, alongside highly curated onsite amenities and an amazing member community.