The Oregon Department of Energy's director is Janine Benner.
Janine
joined ODOE in February 2017 as our Assistant Director for Planning and
Innovation, and was named agency Director by then-Governor Brown and confirmed by the Senate in February 2018. As director, she
provides leadership and policy direction to the department’s 120+ employees and
oversees a $200+ million budget.
Janine came to ODOE from the U.S.
Department of Energy, where she served as Associate Assistant Secretary
in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the largest government
funder of clean energy research and development. Before that, she served as
Deputy Assistant Secretary in USDOE’s Office of Congressional and
Intergovernmental Affairs. Janine also spent 12 years working for Congressman
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), first as an energy and environmental policy advisor and
then as deputy chief of staff. She grew up in Portland, Oregon, and has a
degree in history from Princeton University.