Commissioner Patty Monahan is serving her first term on the California Energy Commission. Commissioner Monahan was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in April 2019. She fills the Commission’s science/engineering position and is the lead commissioner on transportation.
Before joining the Energy Commission, Commissioner Monahan was the transportation program director at the Energy Foundation, where she funded campaigns across the United States to advance electric transportation and cleaner, more efficient vehicles. She held several positions with the Union of Concerned Scientists from 2001 to 2010, including director of the California office, deputy director of clean vehicles, and senior analyst. She worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9, as lead for the Toxic Release Inventory Program from 1997 to 2001 and as an environmental protection specialist from 1990 to 1992. She was a research associate with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory International Studies Program from 1992 to 1994.
Commissioner Monahan received a bachelor of science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in energy analysis and policy from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.