Katie McGinty

The daughter of a Philadelphia police officer and a restaurant hostess, Katie McGinty has spent her career working to protect the environment while creating new opportunities for Pennsylvania’s working families. She is a leader in innovative clean energy, a no-nonsense policymaker who knows how to get the job done, and the proud mom of Tara, Alana, and Allie.

Katie grew up in Northeast Philadelphia, the ninth of ten kids. She learned the value of public service at home, from her dad who walked the beat as a police officer for more than 20 years.

With the help of scholarships and loans, Katie studied chemistry at Saint Joseph’s University, the first in her family to attend a four-year college right out of high school, before heading to Columbia Law School.

From there, Katie earned a fellowship to go to Capitol Hill to work for Senator Al Gore. Senator Gore asked her to stay on as his top environmental advisor. She agreed, and put her science background to good use working with Republicans and Democrats alike to strengthen the Clean Air Act and take the first steps to address climate change.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Katie to be his top environmental aide and later to chair the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the first woman ever to hold this position. In this capacity, Katie helped deliver major gains on renewable energy and clean air and water — all the while proving that a safe environment and a strong economy can go hand-in-hand.

Katie and her husband Karl then went to India to study the ways in which the two nations could work together to fight climate change. Before moving back to Washington D.C., they adopted twin daughters, Tara and Alana.

Katie returned home to Pennsylvania when Governor Ed Rendell asked her to serve as Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. In that role, she made it her mission to cross party lines and help bring leading renewable energy companies to Pennsylvania, putting 3,000 people to work in good paying clean energy jobs.

Since then, Katie has been a leader of several companies, continuing her work to protect the environment and promote clean energy. As Chief of Staff to Governor Tom Wolf, she led the charge to expand Medicaid to over 600,000 Pennsylvanians. Throughout her career, Katie has never lost sight of her working family roots or her love for the Keystone State.

Katie lives in Wayne, Chester County, with her husband Karl, their daughters Tara, Alana, and Allie, and their dogs Marshall and Ginger.