Jessica Waldorf

Chief of Staff & Director of Policy Development, New York State Department of Public Service

Jessica Waldorf is currently serving as the Chief of Staff & Director of Policy Implementation at the New York State Department of Public Service (DPS) where she is responsible for the development and implementation of regulatory policies in the areas of clean energy, utility regulation, and innovation. Prior to joining DPS, she served as Acting Deputy Secretary for Energy in the Office of the Governor of New York State where she oversaw operations for the energy agencies and authorities in the State of New York, including administrative, budget, legislative, program, and policy priorities. She worked across this interagency portfolio to develop and implement policy and legislative initiatives to advance the Governor’s ambitious energy and environmental goals, with a focus on the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. She has over fifteen years of experience working on complex clean energy projects and initiatives across New York State. Focus areas for this work include affordable housing and benefits for low-to-moderate income (LMI) individuals, development of innovative financing models, climate finance strategy, power generation, large-scale renewable technologies, clean energy workforce development, clean transportation, and building decarbonization and electrification.

Mrs. Waldorf served as a Lead Key Account Executive within the Clean Energy Solutions department at the New York Power Authority (NYPA). In this role, she served a trusted advisor to customers seeking assistance from NYPA to help meet their energy conservation and distributed energy generation needs in the Capital District, Mohawk Valley and North Country regions. Additionally, she led the development of new products and services including new customer utility rate offerings.

Prior to joining NYPA, Jessica worked at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for ten years in various roles and most recently served as a Project Manager on the Communities and Local Government team. In addition to working on NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities program, she managed the development and implementation of Phase II of the Cleaner Greener Communities Program and the implementation of Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing in New York State. Mrs. Waldorf also managed the development of a new statewide Community Energy Engagement program for locally based organizations to drive energy efficiency and renewable energy deployment to residential, multifamily, and small business customers, with a focus especially on low-to moderate income customers.

Mrs. Waldorf received her Bachelor of Arts from the University at Albany with a concentration in Political Science and a minor in Spanish. She also holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration with a focus on Environmental and Education Policy from the University at Albany.