Kerry C. Duggan

Business adviser, Business leader, Business mentor, Change agent, Connector, Consultant, Educator/Teacher, Entrepreneur, Environmentalist, Filmmaker, Idea generator, Life mentor, Parent, Policy maker, Potential employer, Producer, Public servant, Social entrepreneur, Startup, World traveler, Writer/Editor

Kerry C. Duggan is a sustainability expert, national political advisor, climate tech executive, and former climate advisor to President Joe Biden. Known as “climate MacGyver”, Duggan is the founder and CEO of SustainabiliD, leading a team of cross-sector connectors and change agents working with game changers in climatech and large institutions looking to up their game in addressing climate change. Duggan sits on a corporate board, Perma-Fix (NASDAQ: PESI), and on several advisory boards such as Our Next Energy (ONE), Aclima, Inc., Walker-Miller Energy Services, Arctaris Impact Investors, and BlueConduit and a senior advisor to RockCreek Global Investment and to Commonweal Ventures. She was appointed Faculty and named Founding Director of the University of Michigan’s SEAS Sustainability Clinic. Duggan is also an executive producer on SWIMMOBILE, a film in pre-production. Duggan is an appointee to the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board under Secretary Jennifer Granholm, as well as an appointee to the State of Michigan’s Council on Climate Solutions under Governor Gretchen Whitmer. In 2020, Duggan served on the Biden-Harris Transition Team and on the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force as one of Biden’s five delegates alongside Gina McCarthy and Sec. John Kerry. From 2010 to 2017, Duggan worked in the White House as a senior policy advisor for then-Vice President Biden and as deputy director of the Detroit task force. Earlier in the Obama-Biden administration, she held several senior roles at the Department of Energy. After her time in public service, Duggan returned to Detroit and co-founded the Smart Cities Lab and was a partner with the Honorable Thomas J. Ridge’s firm. She was named to the prestigious “40 Under 40” list by Crain’s Detroit Business in 2018, as well as their inaugural class of “Notable Leaders in Sustainability” in 2022. Duggan earned her bachelor’s in environmental studies from the University of Vermont and her master’s in natural resources and policy behavior from the University of Michigan. She resides in Detroit, Michigan with her husband and two young children. Articles about Duggan and her work have been published in The New York Time, CNN, E&E News, Bloomberg, Crain’s Detroit Business, The Detroit News, The Detroit Free Press, Vox, Huffington Post, Scientific America, GreentechMedia, Inside Climate News, The Japan Times, Grist, WDET, and Politico.

energy detroit environment climatechange sustainability

Maybe it’s time to get away from buzz words that keep us in one “boutique” cimate or sustainability corner? Future leaders will need to be able to integrate across their organizations, sectors and throughout society. Climate impacts every corner of the global economy, therefore we need to think of these leaders as chief integration and innovation officers!

My 5-point plan: 1. Get Creative, not just Loud or Bold. 2. Slingshot with, not Leapfrog, EJ communities. 3. Integration, no more Silos of Excellence. 4. RDD&D to DDD&R, deploy what works now while we invent disrupting tech. 5. All jobs need to be green jobs – "it’s the Economy Stupid"

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