Pioneer, problem-solver, agent of disruption

From founding a nonprofit as a teenager to creating her own triple major at Principia College—from pioneering the entire category of cloud computing to leading renewable energy forward— Elisabeth (Skowronnek) Brinton has always been a disrupter. In her 20s, Brinton founded a company that revolutionized the way we buy produce. From there, she partnered with Marc Andreessen to create the first cloud computing company—literally coining the term.

But what has always captured the imagination of Principia’s first Truman scholar is the opportunity to tackle big problems. And so she found her way into sustainability—seeking out new modes of efficiency and renewable energy at scale. As a trailblazing entre- preneur, a corporate leader at Shell and Microsoft, or a consultant for the Department of Energy, Brinton describes her disruption as “unfoldment of good.”