EDF taps new senior director for smart power collaboration

Environmental Defense Fund has hired Diane Munns as senior director, smart power collaboration.



Munns joins EDF from MidAmerican Energy Company where she served as VP of regulatory relations and energy efficiency since 2008. She represented the company at national and regional regulatory forums and was responsible for direct management of the energy efficiency group, including strategy, personnel, budget and compliance.



In 2006, Munns received the United States Energy Association Public Service Energy Leadership Award, which recognizes government officials who have advocated for action to address energy efficiency. She also established the Institute for Energy Efficiency while serving as the executive director of retail energy services at the Edison Electric Institute.



Before that, Munns spent more than two decades with the Iowa Utilities Board first as general counsel and later as the chairman and member. As general counsel, she was the chief legal officer for the agency, and as chairman, she acted as chief administrative officer responsible for budgeting, personnel, strategy and media messaging for the 65 member state agency. While chair of the commission, Munns served two terms as the president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). And, finally, as a gubernatorial-appointed member of a three-member quasi-judicial board, she was responsible for regulating gas, electric and telecommunication companies within the State of Iowa.



In her new role at EDF, Munns will apply her many years of experience in the public and private energy sectors to form collaborative alliances with partners such as utilities, other NGOs, the clean tech industry and others working on efforts that support EDF’s Smart Power Initiative. This ambitious campaign aims to accelerate the transition to a clean, low-carbon energy economy by finding smarter ways to power the world. In nine states that make up nearly half the U.S. energy market, EDF is working to strengthen clean energy requirements, remove obstacles to investment and realign utility business models. Putting the right policies in place to accelerate investments in clean, homegrown energy will address the need for reliable power, reduce harmful pollution sharply, spur economic development and create American jobs, according to the organization.