Tuesday, September 12, 2023
Executive Summary:
- New Appointees:
- Chakeia Blocker: Regional Intergovernmental and External Affairs Specialist, Mid-Atlantic.
- Ruby Goldberg: Regional Intergovernmental and External Affairs Specialist, Midwest.
- Royce Kim: Regional Intergovernmental and External Affairs Specialist, New England.
- Christina Nuñez Cohen: Regional Specialist for Alaska and Special Projects.
- Rory Stanley: Chief of Staff, Office of Nuclear Energy.
- Satchel Tsai: Special Assistant, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
- Current Appointees Promoted:
- Emily Doran: Chief of Staff, Grid Deployment Office.
- Jeff Marootian: Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy.
- Paige Nygaard: Special Assistant, Office of the Secretary.
- Narayan Subramanian: Advisor to the Secretary for Clean Energy Projects and Supply Chains.
Unedited Press Release Text:
DOE Welcomes New Biden-Harris Appointees and Announces Promotions
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced six new Biden-Harris Administration appointees joining the Department to help implement President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and support America’s transition to a net zero economy by 2050. These talented and experienced appointees will work alongside U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm as the Department continues to drive America toward an equitable, clean energy future. The Department also announced today that four current appointees have been promoted to new roles in the Department. DOE appointees continue to make up an historically diverse team with 56% women, 57% people of color, and 25% of staff identifying as LGBTQ+.
“The Biden-Harris Administration has jumpstarted a historic clean energy transition and the Department of Energy’s workforce of steadfast public servants is committed to ensuring that this transition will benefit Americans in every community,” said Chief of Staff Christopher Davis. “I am thrilled these individuals are joining us at DOE at this moment as we implement the energy investments in the President’s Investing in America agenda and make this a stronger, more prosperous nation.”
New appointees and their roles are listed below:
Chakeia Blocker, Regional Intergovernmental and External Affairs Specialist for the Mid-Atlantic, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs
Blocker most recently served as Associate of Constituent Services in the office of U.S. Representative Steny Hoyer, the former Majority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. She has also held positions on various local and state political campaigns. She is a time-two graduate of Bowie State University, earning a B.S. in communications and a Master of Public Administration. Blocker lives in Maryland with her husband, Juwan, and their three children.
Ruby Goldberg, Regional Intergovernmental and External Affairs Specialist for the Midwest, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs
Goldberg most recently served in the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Land and Emergency Management. Before joining the Biden-Harris Administration, she served as a Regional Organizing Director for the Biden-Harris campaign in Pennsylvania. Goldberg is a native New Yorker and graduated from Brown University with a dual degree in computer science and Latin American studies.
Royce Kim, Regional Intergovernmental and External Affairs Specialist for New England, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs
Kim was most recently the National Regional Organizing Director for New England at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He has spent most of his career in electoral organizing, working in Wisconsin before serving on Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and the Biden-Harris campaign. A native Chicagoan, Kim is a graduate of Tulane University, earning a dual degree in political economy and English literature.
Christina Nuñez Cohen, Regional Intergovernmental and External Affairs Specialist for Alaska and Special Projects, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs
Nuñez Cohen was most recently Regional Manager at ActBlue. Previously she was on the campaigns team at EMILY’s List and started her career in the U.S. House of Representatives working for U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett. A native of Austin, Texas, Nuñez Cohen is a sixth-generation Texan and lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and their rescue dog, Lincoln.
Rory Stanley, Chief of Staff, Office of Nuclear Energy
Stanley was most recently a senior professional staff member at the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. In 2009, Stanley received a B.A. in international studies and political science from the University of Washington. He holds master’s degrees in international policy, nonproliferation, and terrorism studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and strategy, operations, and military history from the Naval War College.
Satchel Tsai, Special Assistant, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Tsai most recently served in the White House Presidential Personnel Office. Previously, she worked on the Biden-Harris campaign as the National Progressive and Senior Engagement Coordinator. Tsai grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, and holds a B.A. in sociology and anthropology and a B.A. in political science from Swarthmore College.
Current appointees taking on new roles are listed below:
Emily Doran, Chief of Staff, Grid Deployment Office
Doran was most recently Special Assistant in DOE’s Office of the Secretary. Previously, she was the Digital Organizing Director for President Biden and the 2020 Virginia Democratic Coordinated Campaign. Previously, she worked on campaigns in Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. A native of Virginia, she graduated from Miami University of Ohio and moved to Washington, D.C., where she served two years in the AmeriCorps VISTA program.
Jeff Marootian, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Marootian was most recently Special Advisor on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at DOE. He previously served as a Special Assistant to the President in the White House and was a member of the Biden-Harris Transition Team. Prior to joining the Biden-Harris Administration, Jeff was the Director of the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, where he piloted sustainable transportation technologies and led the city’s early adoption of the Transportation and Climate Initiative. Marootian oversaw the modernization of hundreds of miles of roads and sidewalks and advanced critical infrastructure projects, such as the reconstruction of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, the D.C. Powerline Undergrounding Project, and the expansion of dedicated bus and bike lanes. Marootian served in the Obama-Biden Administration as the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Chief Sustainability Officer at the U.S. Department of Transportation. He is an alumnus of The George Washington University, where he has also taught as an adjunct faculty member in the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Administration.
Paige Nygaard, Special Assistant, Office of the Secretary
Nygaard was most recently Advisor in DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Previously, Nygaard was Senior Associate Director for Climate and Science Agency Personnel at the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. Prior to joining the Administration, Paige served as the Maine Coalitions Director for the Biden-Harris campaign. Paige has served in variety of environmental and economic non-profit roles including as the Community Organizing and Outreach Director for the 16 Counties Coalition and the Program Manager of Maine Environmental Education Association. Originally from the coast of Maine, Nygaard now lives in Washington, D.C.
Narayan Subramanian, Advisor to the Secretary for Clean Energy Projects and Supply Chains, Office of the Secretary
Subramanian was most recently a Legal Advisor in DOE’s Office of General Counsel leading various efforts to implement the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. Prior to his service at DOE, he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, leading a project tracking regulatory rollbacks, and served as a Fellow at the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy at Johns Hopkins University, where he conducted research on clean energy policymaking. Subramanian holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School, an M.P.A. from the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and a B.S. in Earth and environmental engineering from Columbia University.
Click here for the full list of Biden-Harris Administration appointees at DOE.
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SOURCE: https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-welcomes-new-biden-harris-appointees-and-announces-promotions-1