Cathy Zoi Nominated for the Assistant Secretary of EERE
April 1st, 2009
On March 27, 2009 President Obama announced his nomination of Cathy Zoi for the position of DOE's Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Zoi has served as the founding Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance for Climate Protection-a nonprofit organization established and chaired by former Vice President Al Gore with the goal of emphasizing the urgency and solvability of global warming. Zoi was Chief of Staff in the White House Office on Environmental Policy in the Clinton Administration, where she managed the team working on environmental and energy issues. As a manager of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Zoi pioneered the Energy Star Program.
Zoi serves on the board of the California Clear Energy Fund-a nonprofit created to invest $30 million in emerging clean energy technology companies. She has worked for several energy-focused organizations, serving as the group executive director at the Bayard Group, recently renamed Landis+Gyr Holdings-- a world leader in energy measurement technologies and systems.
Zoi was a member of the International Climate Change Taskforce (ICCT), a coalition of policymakers, business leaders, scientists, and NGO's from Britain, Australia and the United States. Launched in 2004, ICCT formulated a climate change strategy that went 'beyond the Kyoto Protocol' and made specific recommendations to member governments in January 2005.
Additionally, Zoi worked as the assistant director general of the New South Wales EPA in Sydney, Australia and as the founding chief executive officer of the New South Wales Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA), a $50 million fund to commercialize greenhouse-friendly technology. Under Zoi's leadership, SEDA launched the world's first nationwide green power program and the world's largest solar-powered suburb.