With more than 30 years of experience in environmental and energy policy, Nancy Seidman works with RAP’s U.S. team to advise policymakers, advocates, and other utility sector participants on the intersection of environmental and energy policies. Her work focuses primarily on climate change, air quality policy, and the benefits of energy efficiency.
Until December 2016, she was the assistant commissioner for the Bureau of Air and Waste at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), where she managed three divisions. In one of the divisions, Seidman worked on air quality regulatory and monitoring programs, climate and energy policy and regulations, including implementation of the Global Warming Solutions Act and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. She also represented MassDEP on the Mass Energy Efficiency Advisory Council. Nancy Seidman has managed programs covering solid and hazardous waste permitting, policy, compliance, enforcement, and monitoring, other toxic pollutant reduction programs, and a range of fiscal and data operations. In her more than 20 years with MassDEP, Seidman served as the deputy assistant commissioner for climate strategies, division director for transportation and consumer programs, and deputy director for air program planning. Nancy Seidman also served as the president of the National Association for Clean Air Agencies (NACAA) and co-chaired the agency’s mobile source and fuels committee from 2002 through 2016.
Prior to joining MassDEP, Seidman worked for the United States Environmental Protection Agency in the New England regional office and for the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM).
Nancy Seidman holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University and a master’s of business administration in public management from Boston University.
How Nancy Seidman is Energizing Change
Designing a 24/7 Carbon-Free Electricity Transition Tariff
In a webinar panel discussion, presenters discussed the fundamentals of designing an effective 24/7 carbon-free electricity transition… Read More +
24/7 Carbon-Free Electricity Transition Tariffs: A Regulatory Tool for Accelerating Decarbonization [Technical paper]
(A summary version of this paper is also available.) An increasing number of national, state and… Read More +
How did you catch the “energy” bug?
The bulk of my career was spent designing and implementing environmental policies and programs but early on I learned that most air quality problems originate in energy use whether for electricity, heating, transportation. I began working with energy officials within the first five years of my career, explaining how air quality programs are designed and implemented. I focused on how environmental and energy regulators working together could improve outcomes for both programs. And that is what I still do today at RAP!
What is something that makes you feel hopeful about the future?
Working with younger staff at RAP and in state agencies who are smart and enthusiastic about making change and improving environmental outcomes.
By the time I was 12, I was very interested in environmental protection, I knew I wanted to make the world a cleaner place.