The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) announced three senior hires who expand the Association’s advocacy muscle in federal affairs, public affairs, and policy. The trio joins AWEA’s Government and Public Affairs team, led by Senior Vice President Amy Farrell, as the wind industry looks to continue its growth as a major energy provider delivering affordable, reliable and clean energy for consumers across the U.S.
Together, AWEA’s new hires — Sari Fink, Diane Miller, and Bree Raum — lend roughly 50 years of experience in the energy sector to the Association’s advocacy and policy efforts.
Bree Raum will serve as AWEA’s new Vice President, Federal Affairs, starting on May 29th. Diane Miller will join as AWEA’s Vice President, Public Affairs, beginning June 4th. And Sari Fink came on board as Senior Director, Electricity and Transmission Policy earlier this month.
“Bree and Diane are known for their ability to build coalitions, strengthen advocacy and deliver results, and Sari is a respected, solutions-oriented electricity markets expert,” said Amy Farrell. “I’m excited to add such talent to the AWEA team as we continue to up our game and refocus our efforts on a suite of opportunities to grow American wind power.”
Diane Miller, AWEA’s new Vice President, Public Affairs, has over two decades of experience managing complex, integrated public affairs campaigns, organizing grassroots advocacy, and developing strategic communications plans. Miller takes the helm of AWEA’s Public Affairs team, where she will be responsible for the Association’s external communications and grassroots advocacy. Her experience includes senior leadership roles at DDC Public Affairs and DCI Group, where she developed and executed winning public affairs strategies in nearly every state for major energy and infrastructure business clients.
Bree A. Raum, AWEA’s new Vice President, Federal Affairs, has worked at the intersection of energy and government for twenty years where she is known as a go-to expert and honest broker on Capitol Hill. Raum was previously the Senior Director of Federal Affairs for the American Gas Association, where she led activities to shape legislative policies and developed, implemented and managed federal affairs strategies to advance national energy policies and initiatives.
This will be Raum’s second stint with AWEA, having previously served as the Director of Grassroots Advocacy and WindPAC, directing the Association’s political giving and shaping the industry’s national grassroots lobbying program. Earlier in her career, she worked on regulatory and legislative issues at the National Propane Gas Association.
Sari Fink, AWEA’s new Senior Director, Electricity, and Transmission Policy brings more than 15 years of energy and electricity industry expertise to the Association’s policy and regulatory affairs team. She will lead efforts to advocate for market and regulatory improvements that fully value wind energy and help get vital transmission infrastructure built. Most recently, Fink was the subject matter expert on electricity policy at the American Petroleum Institute where she had primary responsibility for wholesale electricity market designs and state policy outreach.
AWEA is the national trade association of the U.S. wind power industry, representing over 1,000 member companies and 105,500 jobs in the U.S. economy. Wind is the largest source of U.S. renewable electricity generating capacity with 89,379 MW installed. Wind power generated a record 6.3% of U.S. electricity in 2017 and supplies more than 30% of the electricity in four states.
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