Doreen M. Harris was appointed President and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) on April 7, 2021, after serving as Acting President and CEO since June 2020.
President Harris is leading NYSERDA’s role to advance the policy frameworks, clean energy technologies, and solutions to help further New York’s clean energy transition while creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying clean-energy jobs and building an equitable economy.
Under President Harris’s direction, NYSERDA is supporting New York’s clean energy initiatives through advancing infrastructure and innovation, large-scale and distributed renewables, building decarbonization, advanced nuclear, energy storage, transportation electrification, clean fuels, transmission and resiliency. Additionally, as Chair of the State Energy Planning Board, NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen M. Harris was instrumental in leading the development and finalization of a State Energy Plan in 2025 that ensures New York State has an actionable and objective framework to guide progress toward an affordable, abundant, reliable, clean energy system for all New Yorkers.
President Harris joined NYSERDA in 2010 and served as Vice President of Large-Scale Renewables, where she spearheaded the strategic development of New York’s land based renewable and offshore wind resource, including the execution of the State’s offshore wind master plan. Prior to her career in public service, President Harris spent more than a decade in the private sector, serving in management and engineering roles.
President Harris serves as chair of the State Energy Planning Board, and on the boards of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC), Alliance to Save Energy, National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium, NY BEST and Veloz’s Public Policy Board; and is a member of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Leadership Council and an ambassador for the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Initiative.
President Harris holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester and a Master of Business Administration from the University at Albany, State University of New York.