Dr. Carolyn Snyder is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Department of Energy. In this role, she leads a diverse energy efficiency program and R&D portfolio that includes DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, Building Technologies Office, Federal Energy Management Program, and Office of Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs.
Prior to DOE, Dr. Snyder served as the Director of U.S. EPA's Climate Protection Partnerships Division. She led voluntary partnerships with thousands of industrial, commercial, utility, state, and local organizations – including 40% of the Fortune 500 – to remove market barriers for energy efficiency and renewable energy. She oversaw ENERGY STAR, the Green Power Partnership, the Combined Heat and Power Partnership, the Center for Corporate Climate Leadership, and the State and Local Energy and Environment Program. Each year, these programs save American families and businesses tens of billions of dollars and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by hundreds of millions of tons.
She previously served as a White House Fellow in the Director's Office of the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President. She worked on a variety of interagency initiatives in the OMB Director's office, reporting to the Deputy Director for Management and the Chief Performance Officer.
Before the White House Fellowship, Dr. Snyder helped create and then served as the Director of Delaware's Division of Energy & Climate in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). She led Delaware's efforts to increase energy efficiency and renewable energy production in order to build new jobs and reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions. She managed over $70 million in programs that help residents and businesses save money through clean energy and efficiency. She also led programs that assess Delaware's vulnerability to climate change impacts and help Delaware develop plans to adapt to a changing climate. She has also worked as a management consultant, where she supported both public and private clients on strategy, organization design, change management, and regulatory strategy.
Dr. Snyder received her Ph.D. from Stanford University's Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER), with a specialization in climate science and policy. Her advisors were IPCC leaders Stephen Schneider and Christopher Field. Her research sought to better characterize important uncertainties in our understanding and predictions of climate change. Her dissertation examined the Earth's sensitivity to climate change over the past million years. She also assessed the impacts of extreme weather events in California. At the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), she analyzed global energy models with the team that developed the emissions scenarios for the IPCC. Prior to Stanford, she completed a Marshall Scholarship, where she earned a Masters in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford, and a Masters in Quaternary Science from the University of Cambridge.
She currently lives in Maryland with her husband Chris, son Eli, daughter Mira, and dog Maya.