Kelly Speakes-Backman

Executive Vice President, Public Affairs, Invenergy LLC

Ambassador

Kelly Speakes-Backman is the Executive Vice President of Public Affairs at Invenergy, LLC, the leading privately held developer, owner, and operator of sustainable energy solutions. A nationally recognized thought leader in the clean energy industry, Speakes-Backman leads Invenergy’s communications, government affairs, and marketing activities. She most recently served as the Acting Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. A “Day 1” appointee of the Biden Administration, she led the Office’s $3.2 billion portfolio of renewable power, energy efficiency, and sustainable transportation. Speakes-Backman has also served as the first Chief Executive Officer of the Energy Storage Association, now merged with the American Clean Power Association. She has spent 25 years working in energy and environmental issues in the public, NGO, and private sectors; organizations include United Technologies, Wärtsilä, SunEdison, and The Alliance to Save Energy. She is a former Commissioner of the Maryland Public Service Commission, where she also served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Co-Vice Chair of the Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), and member of the EPRI Energy Efficiency & Grid Modernization Public Advisory Group. She has been quoted in Bloomberg, MarketWatch, CNBC, and NPR’s Marketplace and has contributed to numerous opinion editorials. She has testified before Congress many times and has served on several boards and advisory committees related to energy. In 2019, she was honored by The Cleanie Awards® as Woman of the Year.