California Center for Sustainable Energy

Carol M. Browner
Chosen for: Climate czarina (White House Coordinator of Energy and Climate Policy), a new position.
Background:

• Undergraduate and law degrees from University of Florida
• Strong résumé in environmental protection, law and management consulting
• Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Bill Clinton for nearly eight years, the longest anyone has held that position
• On the board of the Audubon Society, the League of Conservation Voters and the Alliance for Climate Protection

Steven Chu
Chosen for: Energy secretary
Background:

• B.A. in mathematics and a B.S. in physics from the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D in physics from U.C. Berkeley
• Former chairman of the physics department at Stanford
• Shared the 1997 Nobel prize in physics
• Since 2004, has been director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where he shifted the lab’s work more heavily into research into advanced biofuels, artificial photosynthesis and other solar energy research

Shaun Donovan
Chosen for: Secretary of housing and urban development
Background:

• Undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard – M.A. in public administration and M.A. in architecture
• Presently, New York City’s housing commissioner
• Former manager of Federal Housing Administration loans and affordable housing investments at Prudential Mortgage Capital Company
• Studied federally assisted housing as a visiting scholar at New York University

Jason S. Grumet
Being considered for: White House energy and climate adviser or other senior environmental/energy position.
Background:

• Graduate of Brown (environmental studies) and Harvard Law School
• Currently is the executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy which studies energy, climate and security issues
• A founder of the Bipartisan Policy Center, which proposes policies on national security, health care, energy, agriculture and transportation
• Served as executive director of a body that coordinates air quality policy for a consortium of New England States.

John P. Holdren
Chosen for: Science adviser
Background:

• Studied aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and theoretical plasma physics at Stanford University
• Worked on missile technology at Lockheed Corp., fusion research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, created programs on energy and environment and taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard.
• Member of the National Academy of Sciences

Lisa P. Jackson
Chosen for: Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Background:

• Graduated summa cum laude from Tulane University’s School of Chemical Engineering. Earned a master’s in chemical engineering from Princeton University
• Has twenty years of experience as an environmental regulator and a reputation as a consensus builder
• Worked as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
• Worked as an administrator in the federal Environmental Protection Agency for 16 years - duties included regulating the cleanup of hazardous waste sites under the Superfund program

Ray LaHood
Being considered for: Secretary of transportation
Background:

• Graduated from Bradley University with a degree in education and sociology
• Member of Congress first elected in 1994
• Served on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
• Was chief planner for a regional agency that dealt with transit and housing issues for a five-county area along the Illinois-Iowa border

Mary D. Nichols
Being considered for: An environmental and climate-change policy post
Background:

• Graduate of Cornell (major was Russian literature, minor in drama) and Yale Law
• Worked as assistant administrator for air and radiation at the E.P.A. during the Clinton administration
• Currently the chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board
• Previously was chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board (1975 to 1982) and a member of the board of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the nation’s largest municipal utility

Nancy Sutley
Chosen for: Chairwoman, White House Council on Environmental Quality.
Background:

•  B.A. in government from Cornell and an M.A. in public policy from Harvard
• Member of the California State Water Resources Control Board and was the top energy adviser to former Gov. Gray Davis.
• Deputy secretary for policy and intergovernmental relations at the California Environmental Protection Agency (1999-2003)
• Member of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District board of directors