Judy W. Chang, a Boston-based energy economist and regulatory policy expert, was confirmed as a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on June 3, under President Biden’s nomination. Chang will be the first Asian American woman to serve on the FERC, where she will work alongside four other members serving the commission’s mission to promote reliable, affordable, and modern energy as well as environmental and economic justice.
Prior to her confirmation, Chang has a long history of working for both private firms and academia around energy and policy. She most recently was a managing principal at Analysis Group in Boston, exploring energy, climate, and natural resources with analysis on strategies and policies. She also served as an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. As a senior fellow at the Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, she conducted roundtable discussions surrounding the investment of critical technologies for a clean energy economy, while also working on the research project, “Decarbonization of Buildings in the U.S.: The Roles of Government and Private Investors,” to examine the role of financing and collaboration between the private and the public sectors to build decarbonization efforts. Earlier in her career, Chang founded the New England Women in Energy and the Environment (NEWIEE), where she is now director and former president. The NEWIEE aims to advance professional development and highlight women’s voices in the energy and environmental sectors. Since founding NEWIEE, Chang has continued to promote women’s leadership in clean energy as an ambassador for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Education & Empowerment Initiative.
From 2020 to 2023, Chang also served as Undersecretary of Energy and Climate Solutions for Massachusetts under former Gov. Charlie Baker. In addition, she collaborated with the Independent System Operator (ISO) for New England, a non-profit corporation committed to innovative clean energy transitions, to launch a progressive transmission planning process in an effort to address financial costs and the reliability of electricity grids.
Chang’s investment in energy sustainability and climate analysis is rooted in her diverse experiences and cross-cultural background. Her years growing up in Taiwan, the Philippines, and California, influenced her career path. In her written testimony for the Energy and Natural Resources Committee addressed before the United States Senate, she recalled her personal background of having “experienced firsthand power outages as a daily event…” From a young age, her parents instilled in her the principle that no resource should ever be wasted, working hard to save every penny so that she and her brother could have the opportunity to get a good education in the U.S., she said.
After graduating high school in California, Chang continued her studies at the University of California, Davis, earning an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and computer science before pursuing her master’s degree in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.
The FERC’s mission statement emphasizes the responsibility to “assist consumers in obtaining reliable, safe, secure, and economically efficient energy services at a reasonable cost through appropriate regulatory and market means, and collaborative efforts,” aligning with much of Chang’s work that centers around building resilience and improving the affordability of energy systems.
In written testimony, Chang said she is hoping to “commit to keeping both reliability and affordability at the forefront” and will continue to dedicate herself to the sustainable practices of clean energy transitioning and lead the energy regulatory field to combat financial and equity issues.
Chang did not return requests to be interviewed for this story by deadline.
Numerous organizations have applauded Chang’s confirmation to the FERC.
Principal Dr. Sam Newell at the Brattle Group, a firm specializing in economic modeling, econometrics, and financial analysis where Chang had previously served as principal at the Boston office, said in a statement that “Her expertise, impartiality, and effectiveness will be an asset to the Commission and its many stakeholders.”
Robert Gee, the president of the Asian Americans in Energy, the Environment and Commerce (AE2C), has said in a statement that “Judy will be an excellent FERC commissioner. Her extensive experience in both the public and private sectors of the energy industry will allow her to provide outstanding leadership in energy regulatory and financial issues that profoundly affect all Americans.”
