Niki Woodard is the director of communications and external affairs for the California Energy Commission (CEC). She oversees the Media and Public Communications Office, which shares information and creates communications products to increase the public’s understanding of California’s clean energy transition.
Woodard has spent most of her career working in environmental and climate communications. Before joining the CEC, she was senior communications officer at Resources Legacy Fund where she advanced communications strategies supporting a variety of goals at the intersection of conservation, climate, and community. Prior to that, she was deputy assistant director of the Public Affairs Office at the Department of Water Resources. Previously, Woodard worked at the Climate Center as communications director and founded a business providing writing, editing, and marketing services to environmental nonprofits. She also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala.
Woodard has a master’s degree in communications, culture, and technology from Georgetown University and bachelors’ degrees in economics and rhetoric from UC Berkeley.