Energy Secretary Welcomes Shalanda Baker as Director of DOE’s Economic Impact Office

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm has issued a statement welcoming Shalanda Baker as the incoming director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity. The Senate voted 54-45 in favor of her confirmation, according to a notice on the Senate website.

Granholm said that Baker has contributed to President Joe Biden’s Justice40 initiative, which is aimed at ensuring that disadvantaged communities receive at least 40 percent of the benefits of federal investments in climate and clean energy.

The secretary added that Shalanda’s work on Justice40 has transformed DOE’s work with underserved communities. “There is no more effective champion for building an equitable, just, clean energy economy than Shalanda,” Granholm added.

Baker is currently the deputy director for energy justice in the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, DOE said Wednesday.

Before she joined the department, she served as a professor of law, public policy and urban affairs at Northeastern University.

Baker taught courses on topics such as international environmental law, renewable energy development in the global south and global energy justice, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She received a Fullbright-Garcia-Robles research fellowship in 2016 to study climate change and energy policy.

Baker co-founded and served as a co-director at the Initiative for Energy Justice, a nonprofit organization founded in 2018 to provide energy policy guidance for leaders in urban areas.

Shalanda earned a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy Academy and a doctorate in law from Northeastern University’s School of Law.