Richard L. Kauffman

Chair
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
Appointed June 2013

Work History

Richard L. Kauffman is Chair of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). He is also Chair of Generate Capital, a leading owner and operator of clean energy projects, and is a Senior Advisor the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Prior to these roles, Richard served as New York State Chairman of Energy and Finance and oversaw the Department of Public Service, the New York Power Authority, the Long Island Power Authority, and NYSERDA. He stepped down from this role in January 2019 while continuing as Chair of NYSERDA.

As Chair of NYSERDA, Richard helps lead the implementation of New York State’s nation-leading climate change and carbon emission reduction goals as outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act). Signed into law in 2019, the Climate Act is the most aggressive climate and clean energy initiative in the nation that places the State on a path to economy-wide carbon neutrality.

Richard established and led New York State’s comprehensive energy policy, known as Reforming the Energy Vision (REV). Through change in utility financial incentives and reforms of the State’s clean energy support mechanisms, REV is a market-based approach to build clean, affordable, and resilient electric system. In addition to utility regulatory reform, REV includes a ten-year commitment to support renewable energy and efficiency markets through the $5 billion Clean Energy Fund, the $1 billion NY-Sun solar program, and $1 billion NY Green Bank. Through REV, New York State is advancing a Clean Energy Standard with a proposed mandate to achieve 70 percent of statewide electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

As the State’s most senior energy official, Richard was New York’s lead delegate in Paris at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP21. In 2017 and 2018, he represented the U.S. at the invitation of the State Department on energy issues in Brazil, Nepal, and Norway. Richard was named by Fortune Magazine as a “World Top 25 Eco-Innovator.” He has received the Solar Champion Award from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Smart Electric Power Alliance; the 2016 Leadership and Innovation in Clean Energy Award from the New York League of Conservation Voters; the U.S. Green Building Council’s Galvin Award for environmental leadership; and the Intersolar 2017 Champion of Change Award. He received the Educational Leadership award from the New York League of Conservation Voters in September 2020.

Prior to joining New York State government, Richard served as Senior Advisor to Secretary Steven Chu at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) where he oversaw the restructuring of DOE’s Loan Program after the Solyndra bankruptcy and advanced debt and equity capital market development policies, including proposed uses of REITs and MLPs for renewable energy.

In his private sector career, Richard was CEO and President of Good Energies, Inc., a leading investor in clean energy technologies; a partner of Goldman Sachs where he chaired the Global Financing Group and served on the Partnership and Commitments Committees; and Vice Chairman of Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Securities business and co-head of its Banking Department. In London, he served as Vice Chair of Morgan Stanley International.

Boards

As a corporate board member, Richard served as Chairman of the Board of Levi Strauss & Co.; as board member of Q-Cells, a German manufacturer of solar cells; and Cofra, a Swiss holding company for the Brenninkmeijer family business. He currently serves on the board of Altaba, the successor company of Yahoo.

He previously served on the boards of the Brookings Institution, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the New York Philharmonic and Alvin Ailey. He was a co-chair of the advisory board of the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale and a member of the Yale School of Management advisory board. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and currently serves on a study group on energy.

As a non-profit board member, Richard currently serves on the boards of the Wallace Foundation, Clean Energy America, Emergent, and the advisory board of the Precourt Energy Institute at Stanford.

He previously served on the boards of the Brookings Institution, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the New York Philharmonic, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He was a co-chair of the advisory board of the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale and a member of the Yale School of Management advisory board. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served on a study group on innovation in energy.

Education

Richard received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, a master’s degree in international relations from Yale University, and a master’s in public and private management from the Yale School of Management.