A Sector-Wide Leadership Gap

Across the renewables and cleantech sector, the challenge of finding qualified leadership has become one of the primary constraints on growth — arguably more limiting than capital or technology. According to a 2024 industry survey, 47% of firms reported major challenges filling management roles such as Directors, VPs, and Supervisors. Over 90% of solar companies report difficulties recruiting qualified talent. And the IEA's World Energy Employment Report found that 75% of employers struggle to fill construction and technical roles — with leadership positions even harder to source.

"The industry's greatest constraint isn't technology or capital — it's talent. Global talent shortages could result in $8.5 trillion in unrealized revenue by 2030." — MILP, analysis of cleantech sector, 2025

The leadership gap is not just about volume. It is about a very specific type of executive that the sector now requires: leaders who can navigate regulatory complexity in markets like Mexico, manage project finance relationships with international investors, operate in multi-stakeholder environments involving government, utilities, and private offtakers — and do all of this while building teams from scratch in a sector that has not yet developed a deep bench of experienced managers.

The Mexico-Specific Challenge

In Mexico, the challenge is compounded by structural factors — but also shaped by meaningful progress. Women have historically been underrepresented in the sector: according to INEGI, as recently as 2022, women represented only 16% of the workforce across Mexico's energy, extractive, and electricity subsectors, with REDMEREE data showing that 92% of top leadership positions were held by men. That baseline is shifting. Organizations like Mujeres en Energía Renovable México (MERM) — now celebrating its 10th anniversary — have been instrumental in accelerating that change, creating networks, mentorship pathways, and visibility for women pursuing leadership roles in clean energy. MERM's president Adhara Perales noted in early 2026 that more women are now reaching C-suite positions in energy companies and large corporations than at any point in the organization's history, and that younger generations of women are actively choosing renewable energy careers over other sectors. This is a genuine expansion of the talent pipeline — and a competitive advantage for companies that actively recruit from it.

There is also a nearshoring effect at play. As manufacturing investment in Mexico accelerates — driven by supply chain restructuring in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada corridor — demand for industrial energy is rising sharply. Renewable developers serving this industrial load need executives who understand both the energy sector and the industrial client base. That intersection of competencies is exceptionally narrow.

What Growing Renewables Companies Need

The executives that cleantech and renewables companies in Mexico and Latin America need most urgently are not fresh graduates from sustainability programs. They are seasoned commercial, operations, and project leaders with cross-sector experience — people who have run P&Ls, closed complex contracts, managed construction timelines, and built relationships with regulators.

Finding them requires active, targeted search — not job postings. The best candidates in this market are not looking. They are already employed, often by competitors or by the utilities and multinationals that have historically absorbed Mexico's limited pool of energy leadership talent.

At Crossborder Leadership, we focus specifically on this segment: senior leaders with the cross-border experience and sector depth that fast-growing renewables and cleantech companies need to execute on their growth ambitions in Mexico and the Americas.