Emily Peterson
Program Officer, Philanthropic Advisory Services
Emily is a Program Officer on the Philanthropic Advisory Services team at Energy Innovation, where she supports the firm’s clients in developing grantmaking strategies that advance the most effective and equitable clean energy policies. She has more than 15 years of experience working at the intersection of environmental philanthropy and public policy.
Prior to joining Energy Innovation, Emily was a Director in the Philanthropic Services practice at CEA Consulting. During her ten-year tenure at CEA, she supported strategic planning and implementation for dozens of environmental funders and nonprofits, with a focus on the climate and marine conservation sectors. As the editor of Our Shared Seas, she also focused on the role of strategic communications to elevate solutions-oriented insights for philanthropic impact. In this position, she authored or co-authored several publications, including field-building research tracking the state of conservation philanthropy, the first-ever estimate of the mitigation potential of ocean-climate actions in the US, and original research on philanthropic commitments towards global biodiversity targets.
Emily started her career engaged in the post-Katrina rebuilding process in her hometown of New Orleans. She spent five years in a variety of positions across the social impact and environmental sectors, with experiences ranging from the Pacific and Southeast Asia to Washington, DC and southern Africa.
Emily holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College and a master’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University. Outside of the office, she enjoys backpacking throughout the U.S. West and further afield, cycling along the California coast, and traveling to visit family and friends.