Department of Energy

Bio, via Department of Education:

Prior to joining the Administration as Secretary of Energy, Perry served as the 47th Governor of Texas. As Governor of the Lone Star State, Perry championed conservative principles that helped Texas become America’s economic engine. Under Perry’s leadership, Texas became a national leader for job creation, innovation, and population growth. Perry’s leadership of Texas proved that economic growth and protection of the environment can be achieved simultaneously. While adding population and more than 2.2 million jobs during his tenure, Texas also experienced major reductions in carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide emissions. Despite having a rapidly growing population and one of the largest petrochemical refining industries in the world, Texas saw its air quality improve. Perry grew up the son of tenant farmers in the tiny West Texas community of Paint Creek. The younger of Ray and Amelia Perry’s two children, he was active in scouting and earned distinction as an Eagle Scout. He was one of the first in his family to go to college, earning a degree in Animal Science from Texas A&M University, where he was also a member of the Corps of Cadets and a Yell Leader. Between 1972 and 1977, Perry served in the U.S. Air Force flying C-130 tactical airlift aircraft in Europe and the Middle East. He is a lifetime member of both the NRA and American Legion Post #75. Prior to being elected Lieutenant Governor in 1998, he served two terms as Texas Commissioner of Agriculture and three terms in the Texas House of Representatives. Perry married his childhood sweetheart, Anita, in 1982. They have two children and two beautiful granddaughters.

Bio, via Department of Education:

Ms. Plowfield has more than 20 years of project management experience working on energy policy and public service issues. Prior to joining the Department of Energy, Ms. Plowfield served as the Executive Administrator and Senior Public Policy Analyst for the FutureGen Industrial Alliance, a consortium of energy and utility companies in a public-private partnership with the Department of Energy to design and build a $1 billion commercial-scale, coal-fueled power plant with carbon capture and storage technologies. Ms. Plowfield was part of the management team that worked to solve the financial, legal, regulatory, and political issues involved in any large energy infrastructure project. Prior to the FutureGen project, Ms. Plowfield served as the Deputy Director for the Brookings Institution’s Presidential Appointee Initiative, a project of the Center for Public Service to reform the presidential appointments process and encourage public service. She was also the Deputy to the Vice President and Director of Governmental Studies where she provided organizational and strategic planning and worked on the Center’s Volcker Commission to improve how the federal government works, as well as other organizational effectiveness and capacity-building projects. Ms. Plowfield holds a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy from Drew University, and completed coursework at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute.

Bio, via Department of Education:

Mr. Sneed brings more than two decades of experience in government infrastructure investment and management from his time working for the State of Texas. As a member of the Texas Bond Review Board, Mr. Sneed helped to ensure the prudent use of debt financing to meet the state’s infrastructure needs. In his capacity as Senior Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Mr. Sneed served as liaison to the Texas Enterprise Fund, the largest “deal-closing” fund of its kind in the nation, and the Emerging Technology Fund, which provided incentives for commercialization activities for early-stage technologies. Prior to leading LPO, Mr. Sneed served as Executive Director of the Texas State Preservation Board, where he was charged with managing the care, maintenance, and preservation of more than one million square feet of property, including the State Capitol, Governor’s Mansion, State Cemetery, and Bullock Texas State History Museum. In that role, Mr. Sneed led enterprise operations that helped to fund historic preservation and management of the State History Museum. A proud fifth-generation Texan, Mr. Sneed earned a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University. He and his wife Michelle have been married for more than thirty years and they have two daughters and two sons-in-law.

Bio, via Energy Policy Institute via Internet Archive:

As the Director of EPI, David Solan has been the Principal Investigator or co-Principal Investigator for almost $5 million in research grants and cooperative agreements from the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Energy, the Western Governors’ Association, and the State of Idaho, among others. He is on the faculty in the College of Engineering at Boise State University and he is a member of the Board of Directors for the Idaho Strategic Energy Alliance. Solan was also on the Board of Managers for the Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA), which is the operator and manager of the Idaho National Laboratory. He served on the Science and Technology Committee while on the BEA Board. Prior to his arrival in Idaho, Solan worked on energy policy in the nation’s capital. He served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the US Environmental Protection Agency, reporting directly to the Deputy Administrator and the head of the Office of Research and Development on energy and management issues. He served as an energy policy analyst and investigator on the chief oversight committee in the US House of Representatives. Solan’s experience also includes tenure as a Legislative Director for a Member of Congress serving on committees for resources, science, and transportation policy. He received his doctorate and master’s from the University of Delaware, and his bachelor’s at Drew University.