Keishaa Austin is Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP). Prior to joining the office, she was the Director of External Engagement of the Office of the Under Secretary for Infrastructure at DOE. She served as the Head of Community at Rewiring America, and as a Senior Public Utilities Regulatory Analyst at the California Public Utilities Commission. Prior to that she worked as a Program Analyst at the Office of the People’s Counsel for the District of Columbia, where she chaired the Distributed Energy Resources Committee for the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA).

Keishaa has also held a variety of roles with media and entertainment companies including Urban One, BET Networks and Capitol Music Group. She has deep experience in marketing and stakeholder engagement and consumer outreach, complemented by policy expertise in grid planning and reliability and renewable energy. Keishaa earned her law degree at Texas Southern University and her bachelor’s degree from Howard University.