Aimee Witteman

Aimee Witteman is a fierce, mission-driven advocate for climate action and clean energy leadership. With twenty years experience leading philanthropic, policy, and grassroots campaign strategies aimed at state and federal venues, she currently is serving in an appointment to the U.S. Department of Energy as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental & External Affairs. In her role, she is building out and leading a new team of regional specialists charged with connecting the Department’s resources and technical assistance with local communities, states, Tribal nations, and external stakeholders.

Previously, Witteman was Director of U.S. States Policy at Energy Innovation, where she led the design and launch of the Climate Imperative Foundation’s States program, a new philanthropic initiative aimed at building an equitable and just energy economy. Prior to that, for ten years, she was Program Director at the McKnight Foundation where she founded and led the Midwest Climate & Energy program focused on decarbonizing the upper Midwest economy and advancing democratic participation. Working with the McKnight board in 2019, Witteman successfully doubled the climate program, making it the largest climate funder focused on the Midwest with a $32 million annual grantmaking portfolio.

Witteman served as the first executive director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition in Washington, D.C. from 2005-2010 where she led the national grassroots campaign for commodity and conservation policy reform in the 2008 Farm Bill.

She holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and a M.S. from Tufts University.