Kathleen McGinty

Kathleen Alana "Katie" McGinty is an American environmentalist and government official. She currently serves as Chief of Staff for Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf.^[1] An advisor to Vice President Al Gore, she became a key environmental advisor to President Bill Clinton. Later, she served as Secretary of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in the Cabinet of Governor Ed Rendell. Prior to the nomination of Lisa P. Jackson, she was mentioned as a possible United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator under President Barack Obama,^[2] and as a possible candidate to succeed Ed Rendell as Governor of Pennsylvania, but was not a candidate in the 2010 election.^[3] McGinty was a candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania in 2014.^[4]

Early life and education

The ninth of ten children of a retired police officer and a hostess, McGinty was born in Philadelphia. She graduated high school from St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls, in Northeast Philadelphia. She graduated with a B.S. in chemistry from Saint Joseph’s University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.^[5]

Business career

Kathleen McGinty recently left her position as Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Strategic Growth at Weston Solutions, Inc., an environmental redevelopment and specialty construction firm to devote her full-time to an announced run for Governor of Pennsylvania.^[4] Weston Solutions, Inc. was founded 60 years ago and now does business in 60 offices across the United States and in India and Taiwan. Joining the company in October 2010, Ms. McGinty leads Weston Solutions Inc.’s brownfield redevelopment, clean energy and water businesses. Ms. McGinty also chairs the Investment Committee at Weston Solutions, Inc., a board charged with reviewing and approving proposed equity and debt commitments across our various sustainability opportunities.

Ms. McGinty is an Operating Partner of Element Partners, a clean technology investment firm. She serves on the board of directors at NRG Energy, Inc., a leading wholesale power company, and Iberdrola USA, a gas and electric utility. She is a member of two shale gas advisory boards, one established by U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and one created by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Ms. McGinty also serves as a Director on the Board of the World Resources Institute, a global non-profit organization focused on sustainability, and formerly as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of her alma mater, Saint Joseph’s University.

Political career

On Friday, April 12, 2013, Ms. McGinty announced she would be a candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania in 2014.^[4]

A native of Philadelphia, PA, Ms. McGinty was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), where she served from January 2003 until July 2008. During her tenure, she helped attract leading clean energy companies to Pennsylvania, bringing a billion dollars in new investment and creating 3000 new jobs in the state. Ms. McGinty chaired the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, investing in and supporting energy infrastructure projects across the commonwealth. She also instituted a new approach to clean water requirements that encourages watershed protection as an economically and environmentally attractive alternative to conventional, chemical- and energy-intensive water treatment methods. Additionally, she required substantial cuts in toxic mercury pollution from power plants and tailpipe emissions from transportation fleets.

Prior to her tenure as Secretary of the PADEP, Ms. McGinty held various national and international public policy positions. A recipient of the Congressional Fellowship of the American Chemical Society, Ms. McGinty was legislative assistant to then-Senator Al Gore from 1989 to 1993. She became Deputy Assistant to President Bill Clinton and chaired the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) from 1993 to 1998. After leaving the CEQ, Ms. McGinty spent a year in India as a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Tata Energy Research Institute. There she worked to increase cooperation on environmental issues and forge new advanced energy technology business ventures between the U.S. and Indian governments. She returned to the U.S. in 2000 and served as an adviser to former Vice President Al Gore during his presidential campaign, and later became Vice President for Asset Management at Natsource LLC, a company involved in energy and environmental transactions.

Awards and honors

Ms. McGinty holds honorary Doctorate degrees from Clarion University, Dickinson College, and Muhlenberg College. She was named a “Global Leader for Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the “Business Leader of the Year” award of the Women’s Network for a Sustainable Future; the “Woman of the Year Award” of the Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment; the “All the Right Stuff” award of the Apollo Alliance, and the “Ansel Adams “ award of the Wilderness Society.

Education

• Juris Doctor - Columbia University School of Law
• Bachelor of Science in chemistry - St. Joseph’s University

Personal life

Ms. McGinty is married to Dr. Karl Hausker. They have three daughters and reside in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kathleen McGinty.