[Editor’s note: “Tech Vets: Profiles in Leadership and Innovation,” is a GeekWire series showcasing U.S. military veterans leading companies within the Pacific Northwest tech industry. The series explores how military experience fosters leadership, resilience, and innovation in tech.]
Tyler LeRoy is helping build Washington state’s carbon capture ecosystem — a mission that began with an underwater deployment in the tropical Pacific that revealed his professional calling.
As the program manager for the CleanTech Alliance’s WECAN (Washington Energy: Carbon Advancement Network) innovation cluster, Leroy works to advance policy, education and market support for carbon removal and capture businesses. It’s a role that combines his U.S. Army training and education with his passion for combating climate change.
During an Army operation in Palau in 2020, LeRoy served as company commander, leading diving projects that included maintenance on navigation buoys and other submerged infrastructure offshore of the island nation.
But before that work got started, COVID-19 policies required his team to isolate in individual hotel rooms for two weeks. It gave the West Point graduate plenty of time to reflect on his future and what mattered to him, including his concern over the devastating impacts of climate change on marine environments.
“The military really pounds in their values into you, and emphasizes living a values-driven life,” LeRoy said. For the Army that includes loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage, which he and his wife have developed into a framework for themselves and their three children.
“I try my best to live those [values],” LeRoy said, “and be that person.”
He emerged from the mission with the goal of pursuing a career in clean energy and addressing the root causes of climate change.
In June, LeRoy earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington with a focus on renewable energy systems, which complements his earlier master’s in engineering management from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Since January, he has channeled his Army background and university education into his work at the Seattle-based CleanTech Alliance.
The Pacific Northwest offers ideal conditions for carbon reduction efforts that leverage timber industry waste, marine chemistry, and mineralization in rock formations. Local entrepreneurs and researchers are developing these nature-based solutions alongside more engineered approaches for capturing carbon from industrial processes.
LeRoy’s engineering background prepped him for talking to smart people with expertise in wide-ranging areas, even if it’s a specialty field he doesn’t know well. His experience as an Army officer additionally gave him the confidence to lead groups of diverse individuals and interests, engage in challenging conversations and work toward solutions.
Mel Clark, president and CEO of the nonprofit CleanTech Alliance, expected these qualities given LeRoy’s military history. Clark, who also attended West Point before graduating from the UW, anticipated that LeRoy would be “detail-oriented, organized, able to bring rapid decision-making to a fast-paced environment, a thoughtful manager, and willing to ask tough questions — all while keeping the mission top of mind.”
With LeRoy’s leadership, the WECAN innovation cluster is gaining momentum. Its advisory board has convened twice, and Leroy is eager to drive policies that will unlock carbon capture technologies and accelerate deployment.
LeRoy credits his military experience for instilling an operations-focused mindset that supports his efforts to make a positive impact on people and the planet.
“I come from that perspective of, ‘we said we’re going to do this, and I don’t care if we work through the weekend, it’s getting done,’” he said. “A lot of veterans just have that mentality.”
