Bobi Garrett

Chief Operating Officer, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Retired)

2020 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Bobi Garrett served as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) Deputy Laboratory Director and Chief Operating Officer, prior to her retirement. During her tenure at NREL, she integrated and implemented the lab’s strategy across research and operations and ensured business and operating systems enabled high-quality, impactful research.

Under Garrett’s leadership, NREL’s energy analysis capabilities were elevated to focus on critical research questions to provide credible and objective information for decision makers. The Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis, established under her direction, connected NREL with leading research institutions in the United States and abroad. Garrett also catalyzed development of a long-term relationship with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), leading to new strategies and programs to reduce energy-related vulnerabilities in forward operating bases and U.S. installations. In addition, she championed the enhancement of NREL’s systems integration capabilities, helping secure NREL’s roles in systems. In her early career at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, she held leadership roles in energy, environment, defense, and healthcare research.

Garrett launched the NREL Women’s Network, a support system to attract and retain women, and mentored numerous staff members—both women and men—at NREL and other national labs. Through programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Battelle, she helped train emerging leaders throughout the national laboratory system.

Her external roles included serving as a DOE-appointed ambassador for Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) and as a member of the Ames National Laboratory Operations Review Committee, the CO-Labs Board (a consortium of federally funded labs in Colorado), the Colorado Innovation Network (COIN), the National Laboratory Chief Operating Council, and the Defense Science Board Study on DoD Operational Energy Use.

Garrett received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Montana State University and an MBA from the University of Washington.