The Alliance to Save Energy announced that Kelly Speakes-Backman has joined the Alliance leadership team to serve as the Senior Vice President of Policy and Research. Speakes-Backman has an extensive public policy portfolio, with a focus on energy and the environment, and a strong track record of business development and communications.

“We are delighted to have Kelly join our team, and we are confident that her impressive experience and recognized leadership on energy, environmental and utility issues will inform and inspire our public policy advocacy at all levels of government as well as in the international arena,” said Alliance President Kateri Callahan. “Kelly is a results-driven leader who understands energy issues, and her addition to the Alliance’s senior leadership is both timely and very exciting given the current regulatory and legislative climate.”

Speakes-Backman’s list of career achievements have contributed to her status as a champion of energy efficiency. As Maryland Public Service Commissioner, appointed by Governor Martin O’Malley in September 2011, Speakes-Backman helped shape the EmPOWER Maryland program, a state initiative that began in 2008 and has worked to reduce energy consumption by 15 percent by 2015. As an adjunct to her responsibilities as Commissioner, Speakes-Backman served as the chair of the Board of Directors of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), as co-vice chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment, and as a member of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Energy Efficiency & Grid Modernization Public Advisory Group. Prior to her leadership role as Maryland Public Service Commissioner, Speakes-Backman served as Clean Energy Director for the Maryland Energy Administration, and prior to that worked in the private sector in various leadership roles of strategic business planning, communications and engineering firms, dedicated to power generation technologies.

The Dow Chemical Company’s Business President for Building & Construction and Alliance Board of Directors Co-chair Jane Palmieri said “Kelly is a perfect fit for the Alliance and its goals, providing important leadership for organizational management and a distinct passion for energy and environmental issues. We have full confidence that Kelly’s leadership of the Alliance’s policy team, combined with her fundraising assistance and support of the organization’s business agenda, will bring the Alliance to new heights and successes.”

Speakes-Backman’s addition to the Alliance team will help expand its knowledge base and reach into the utility and regulatory sectors at a critical time as the EPA rolls out the final rule on the Clean Power Plan, which will allow states to use energy efficiency as a key tool for meeting the C0² reduction targets included in the plan. Callahan noted, “Kelly’s business acumen, coupled with her experience leading state government efforts to advance energy efficiency, position her to help fulfill the Alliance’s mission to drive energy efficiency across all sectors of the economy.”

“In joining an organization with over 35 years of results, I am excited to join the Alliance as it establishes new strategies to advance energy efficiency for private industry, government and consumers,” Speakes-Backman commented. “It is a critical time for America’s energy sector, and I look forward to helping position the Alliance and the energy efficiency industry at large into the forefront of energy policy.”