Meet Our Advisory Board – Featuring Kate Johnson

What motivated you to enter the clean energy industry? 

“My academic background in journalism and political science cultivated a deep interest in how policy, business, and society intersect to drive meaningful change. This led me to roles with the Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, where I discovered that energy sits at the most dynamic intersection of these three forces.

During my tenure there, I witnessed Massachusetts’ pioneering nation-leading clean energy initiatives and recognized the unprecedented opportunity to contribute to a sector that could fundamentally transform both our energy infrastructure and society. The complexity and scale of this challenge—requiring innovation across technology, finance, regulation, and stakeholder engagement—presented exactly the kind of multifaceted problem I wanted to dedicate my career to solving.”

Who inspires your work? 

“Here in New England, I’m part of a vibrant community of women through a group called New England Women in Energy and Environment so I have the pleasure of knowing and being inspired all the time by the many women leading this sector. I’m a believer that we need all the bright minds tackling our energy and environmental challenges, and that by having more women in this industry working on these issues we will achieve great things more quickly.

Research consistently shows that diverse teams outperform homogeneous ones in complex problem-solving, and the clean energy transition represents one of the most complex challenges of our time. Women bring different perspectives on risk assessment, stakeholder engagement, and systems integration that are crucial for developing solutions that work across diverse communities and use cases.”

What’s one fun fact about you most people don’t know? 

“In my pre-kid days, I competed heavily in endurance sports – completing more than a dozen marathons and two full Ironman Triathlons. Just as training for endurance races requires months or years of consistent effort toward a distant goal, the clean energy transition demands sustained commitment over decades. It’s helped me develop endurance in my career as well by knowing that change happens through persistence and focus rather than quick fixes. I still race but the distances are shorter these days.”