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Arcadia Voices is an interview series highlighting the work, insights, and ideas of those working with Arcadia to build a 100% clean energy future.


If you ask Madeline Rossman’s colleagues why they enjoy working with her, they might mention the 100-ounce Big Gulp full of candy that she keeps on her desk in the office. They’ll definitely mention how dedicated Rossman is to making Arcadia better for members.

Worlds don’t get changed by people who check boxes. The people I work with are constantly pushing to do better, asking questions, and holding each other accountable.

As a product manager, Rossman is responsible for making sure that any interaction someone has with Arcadia’s platform — whether they’re signing up or checking their clean energy impact — is a good one. She and her team are always looking for new ways to put members first by simplifying and improving their experience.

We caught up with Rossman about her work at Arcadia and her search for the triple win: improvements that are good for members, good for Arcadia, and good for the environment.

Kate Henningsen: Describe your job in two sentences or fewer.

Madeline Rossman: I work with product designers and engineers to build online experiences for our members. My goal is to make every interaction you have with Arcadia simple and valuable, whether you’re signing up, paying your bill, or understanding your impact.

Want to change the future of energy?
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What’s the work culture like?

My coworkers are really smart and really generous with their knowledge and their time, which is the best combination. I didn’t come to Arcadia with an energy background and relied on my teammates to teach me, so that I could in turn translate our business to our customers. I’m constantly grateful for how present and collaborative our teams are.

There’s also just this sense of genuine drive you can feel at Arcadia. We have really big, world-changing goals. And worlds don’t get changed by people who check boxes. The people I work with are constantly pushing to do better, asking questions, and holding each other accountable.

What has been your favorite project so far?

Late last year, I got to kick off a project aimed at improving our sign-up process. I had been at Arcadia long enough to understand that people came to Arcadia with baggage. The energy industry is complex, utilities don’t traditionally put customers first, and there are companies that look to take advantage of consumers. I needed to find a way to rebuild trust and simplify our message so that anyone could stumble upon Arcadia and immediately understand the value.

I can use everything at my disposal to build a product that is good for you, because what’s good for you is good for us and the environment.

So we started with the customer. We talked to existing members about their experiences with Arcadia. We talked to non-members about their experiences with energy, bills, and utilities. We took our newfound understanding of the end-user and starting wire-framing, using familiar UX patterns and best practices. We wrote and rewrote content, striving to be simple and concise, while 100% transparent. We then put high fidelity prototypes in front of test users, asking what was clear and what wasn’t. The end product of all of this work was an enrollment flow that was built for our customers, designed to make sense and feel good.

Getting to release this new sign-up experience and see more people enroll with fewer questions and concerns was a huge win. But I’m also already working on how we can continue to make it better, listening to our customers to see what improvements we can make next.

What do you enjoy most about working at Arcadia?

The best thing about working for Arcadia is that if I do my job well — if I get more people to enroll and engage with our platform — everyone wins. More people get to use their power bills to drive change in an easy and affordable way. The future of our planet gets a little bit brighter every time someone joins our community. And the bigger Arcadia gets, the more we can invest in new opportunities and the louder our voice is in the regulatory space.

Working towards that win-win-win makes my job great. It means I can build experiences that put the customer first, without worrying about making trade-offs. I can use everything at my disposal to build a product that is good for you, because what’s good for you is good for us and the environment.

What’s your favorite national park?

Canyonlands. When I went, I had never been to that part of the country and the landscape is just otherworldly. A few friends and I stayed in a place across the border in Bedrock, CO, a town Google describes as “an unincorporated community and U.S. post office.” Suffice it to say, there was no one for miles. Just us, the mountains, and stars like you’ve never seen.

Want to change the future of energy?
Come work with us
Kate Henningsen

Kate Henningsen is the Chief Operating Officer at Arcadia.

Washington, DC