Elizabeth Johnson Klein

Elizabeth Johnson Klein was the State Impact Center’s deputy director from August 2017 through January 2021. Klein now serves in the Biden administration as Senior Counselor to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

Elizabeth Klein is an experienced attorney who specializes in clean energy, climate change, and environmental issues. She served at the Department of the Interior during both the Clinton and Obama administrations, including as Interior’s associate deputy secretary as well as principal deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Policy, Management and Budget. Prior to her most recent government service, Klein was an attorney at Latham & Watkins specializing in energy and environmental law issues, and a law clerk at the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and its Environmental Enforcement Section. Before becoming an attorney, she worked in various government relations and communications roles, including for the National Park Foundation and the Democratic Governors Association. Klein graduated summa cum laude with a degree in economics from the George Washington University and received her JD from American University’s Washington College of Law, where she was president of the Environmental Law Society and senior articles editor of the Sustainable Development Law & Policy journal, graduating summa cum laude and Order of the Coif.