As Governor, Jennifer Granholm faced economic downturns caused by the Great Recession and meltdown in the automotive and manufacturing sectors. She successfully led efforts to diversify the state’s economy, strengthen its auto industry, preserve the manufacturing sector, and add emerging sectors — such as clean energy — to Michigan’s economic portfolio. Today, one-third of all North American electric vehicle battery production takes place in Michigan, the state is one of the top five states for clean energy patents, and 126,000 Michiganders were employed in the clean energy sector prior to COVID-19.

Secretary Granholm was also the first woman elected Attorney General of Michigan and served as the state’s top law enforcement officer from 1998 to 2002.

After two terms as governor, Jennifer Granholm joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley as a Distinguished Professor of Practice in the Goldman School of Public Policy, focusing on the intersection of law, clean energy, manufacturing, policy, and industry. She also served as an advisor to the Clean Energy Program of the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Jennifer Granholm began her career in public service as a judicial clerk for Michigan's 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. She became a federal prosecutor in Detroit in 1990, and in 1994, she was appointed Wayne County Corporation Counsel.

Secretary Granholm, an immigrant from Canada, is an honors graduate of both the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Law School. She and her husband, Daniel G. Mulhern, have three children.

GINA MCCARTHY, White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy
National Climate Advisor

Gina McCarthy is the first National Climate Advisor—the president's chief advisor on domestic climate policy—and leads the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy focused on mobilizing a whole-of-government approach to tackling the climate crisis, creating good-paying, union jobs, and securing environmental justice. She served as 13th Administrator of the U.S. EPA and then as President and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). One of the nation’s most trusted and accomplished voices on climate issues, she has been at the forefront of environmental and public health progress in a variety of leading roles for over three decades. She spearheaded the Obama-Biden Administration’s Clean Power Plan, which set America’s first-ever national standards for lowering carbon emissions from power plants, and helped pave the way for the Paris Climate Agreement. McCarthy graduated from the University of Massachusetts Boston and earned an M.S. at Tufts University.
 

BRENDA MALLORY, White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)
Chair

Brenda Mallory is the 12th Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the first African American woman to serve in this role. As chair, she is the principal advisor to the president on environmental and natural resource policies and is particularly focused on environmental justice and climate change issues. Previously, she served as the General Counsel at CEQ and in a number of senior roles at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for nearly 20 years of federal service. She helped shape many of President Obama's signature environmental and natural resource policy successes. She holds degrees from Yale University and Columbia University Law School.
 

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Secretary

Jennifer M. Granholm is leading DOE in helping America achieve President Biden’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 by advancing cutting-edge clean energy technologies, creating millions of good-paying union clean energy jobs, and building an equitable clean energy future. Secretary Granholm also oversees DOE’s core missions of promoting American leadership in scientific discovery, maintaining the nuclear deterrent and reducing nuclear danger, and remediating the environmental harms caused by legacy defense programs. Prior to her nomination as the 16th Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm was the first woman elected Governor of Michigan, serving two terms from 2003 to 2011. An immigrant from Canada, she is an honors graduate of both the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Law School.
 

MICHAEL REGAN, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Administrator

Michael S. Regan is the 16th U.S. EPA Administrator and the first Black man and second person of color to lead the EPA. Prior to his nomination as Administrator, he served as the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, where he spearheaded the development and implementation of North Carolina's seminal plan to address climate change and transition the state to a clean energy economy. In addition, he established the state’s first-of-its-kind Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory board to better align social inequities, environmental protection, and community empowerment. Administrator Regan is a graduate of North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and has a master's degree in Public Administration from The George Washington University. He is a native of Goldsboro, North Carolina.
 

KATY KALE, U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)
Acting Administrator

Katy Kale is the Deputy Administrator and current Acting Administrator of the GSA. In this capacity, she leads a staff of more than 11,200 employees nationwide, overseeing more than 370 million square feet of property, approximately $75 billion in annual contracts, and 225,000 leased vehicles within GSA’s fleet. Prior to her current position, Katy was President & Chief Operating Officer of Elevate. She was also a senior leader in the Obama Administration, serving as Assistant to the President for Management and Administration, Director of White House Operations, and Chief of Staff at GSA. She also served 10 years in the U.S. Senate working on operational and legislative issues for several Senators. Katy is a graduate of George Mason University.
 

MARK CHAMBERS, White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)
Senior Director for Building Emissions

Mark Chambers is Senior Director for Building Emissions for the White House CEQ. He previously served as Director of New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s Office of Sustainability, where he led a team of engineers, architects, policymakers, and city planners to lower New York City’s emissions and align the built environment, waste, transportation, and energy sectors in a citywide response to climate change. Chambers also served as Director of Sustainability and Energy for the District of Columbia, where he focused on securing renewable energy for the District and implementing energy management and resource conservation efforts across the City’s schools, municipal offices, parks, libraries, and other properties. Chambers is a licensed architect and holds a BArch and an M.A. in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

DAVID HUGHES, Walgreens
Senior Director for Facilities and Energy Management

David Hughes is the Senior Director of Facilities and Energy Management at Walgreens. His team is responsible for maintaining facility conditions and optimizing energy and GHG impacts across all Walgreens stores located in the United States and Puerto Rico. As seen in their partnership with the Better Buildings Challenge, over the last 10 years, Walgreens reduced its GHG emissions by 20% through more efficient HVAC, LED Lighting, and Energy Management Systems.
 

SUSHMA MASEMORE, State of North Carolina
State Energy Director & Acting Assistant Secretary for Environment

Sushma Masemore has served as the State Energy Director for North Carolina since 2018 and was recently named the Acting Assistant Secretary for Environment. Sushma and her team work to bring clean energy solutions and sustainable practices to North Carolina businesses, citizens, and government operations. She oversees a variety of regulatory programs impacting air, water, waste, energy, and other resources and is involved in the implementation of various climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resiliency She has over 30 years of public and private sector experience related to pollution control and energy systems planning; she has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and is a licensed Professional Engineer in North Carolina.

JONATHAN ROSE, Jonathan Rose Companies
President

Jonathan F.P. Rose’s work focuses on creating more environmentally, socially, and economically just and resilient cities. In 1989 he founded Jonathan Rose Companies LLC, a multi-disciplinary real estate development, planning, project management, and investment firm. Jonathan has led the firm’s development of award-winning projects, investment funds, and city plans that model solutions integrating the issues of affordable housing, community development, culture, and the environment. One of the largest acquirers of affordable and mixed-income housing in the nation, the firm’s innovative work has won awards from many organizations; this includes the Urban Land Institute, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the American Planning Association, and the American Institute of Architects. Jonathan also advises global cities on planning, affordable housing, environmental, and social issues. He has a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from Yale University and a Masters in Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania.

STEVE SKARDA, Proctor & Gamble
GHG & Energy Director

Steve Skarda is the GHG and Energy Director at Procter & Gamble where he is responsible for delivering P&G’s 2020 sustainability goals related to GHG and energy. Steve leads a team focused on a science-based goal to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 vs. 2010. To date, the team has improved energy productivity by more than 20% across 200 facilities worldwide, saving P&G hundreds of millions of dollars in energy over the last decade. Today, P&G is using 100% renewable electricity across all of the U.S., Canada, and Europe. This combination of renewables and efficiency has led to more than a 50% reduction in absolute emissions over the last decade.