2021 Toast to Clearing the Air --- February 24, 2021 --- ONLINE

In April 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Patty Monahan to be one of the five commissioners on the California Energy Commission. She serves in the Energy Commission’s Science/Engineering position and is the lead commissioner on transportation. She has dedicated her career toward advancing clean energy technologies and cutting harmful pollution, with a focus on equity. Before joining the Energy Commission, she served as the transportation program director at the Energy Foundation, where she guided campaigns across the United States that advanced electric transportation and more efficient vehicles. She worked for the Union of Concerned Scientists, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and several energy-related consulting firms.

Kate Gordon has spent the past two decades working at the intersection of climate change, energy policy, and economic development. Gordon was appointed Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and Senior Advisor to the Governor on Climate by Governor Gavin Newsom on January 7, 2019. Trained as a community organizer, and later in law and regional economic development, her focus has long been on bringing diverse groups together to work toward a more sustainable, inclusive economy. Prior to being appointed OPR Director, Gordon was the founding director of the Risky Business Project, which focused on quantifying the economic impacts of climate change on U.S. energy demand, crop yields, and coastal infrastructure as well as on human health and mortality. READ MORE