Washington, D.C. — The Center for American Progress has announced that Kate Kelly, former senior advisor to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, is the newest Director of CAP’s Public Lands team. Kelly, a former U.S. Senate aide, served in senior positions under two interior secretaries where she managed communications, outreach, and policy strategies for some of the department’s most high profile conservation, energy, and climate initiatives.
“Kate was on the leading edge of the progressive public lands policies that the Obama administration implemented, from helping grow the outdoor economy and expanding clean energy production to protecting open lands and wildlife,” said CAP Vice President for Energy and Environment Policy, Christy Goldfuss. “With America’s public lands and clean energy future under attack from the Trump administration and an anti-environmental Congress, Kate will play a pivotal role in defending our natural heritage and finding alternative paths to advancing our nation’s proud conservation legacy.”
A native of Denver, Colorado, Kelly served as senior advisor to Secretary Jewell and oversaw the communications and outreach strategy for the Sage-Grouse Initiative, the largest landscape-level conservation effort in U.S. history. As communications director under Secretaries Jewell and Ken Salazar, she helped advance key priorities, including the groundbreaking renewable energy projects on public lands and the federal coal program review. Kelly will head the team tasked with defending and advancing progressive natural resource and energy policies on America’s public lands. She will lead the development of national, state, and local strategies to defend against the weakening of critical public land conservation policies.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Tom Caiazza at [email protected] or 202.481.7141.