Kerry Duggan was recruited to UVM as a talented basketball player but changed course to follow a passion she found reading Rachel Carson in her high school environmental studies class. “I came to play basketball. But I got into the Environmental Program and went back to my roots—I found that there’s a lot more to life than just shooting hoops.”
Inspired by the teachers, by the global approach and by the books she read, it all started to come together for Kerry in her sophomore year. “I remember a book by David Orr about digging in and really living, not just in a residence hall or a dorm, but actively participating in your community. I started to understand that everything I threw into the waste basket was going somewhere.” Duggan graduated from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences with a major in Environmental Studies. (Note: This major has since been moved to the College of Arts and Sciences.)
After UVM, Kerry returned home to Detroit, motivated to take up graduate study in environmental justice with a Master’s degree from the University of Michigan. Fired up about local political issues, she served as an organizer for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters and later took up national issues at the LCV office in DC.
“Probably the biggest thing I learned in the Environmental Program was critical thinking—looking at the connections between things, a systems thinking approach and why policy matters. I think back to learning about Rachel Carson and how one person can really make a big change.”
Kerry C. Duggan is a CEO, sustainability expert, board director, angel investor, on faculty at the University of Michigan, a mentor, a public speaker, national political advisor and former climate advisor to President Joe Biden.
Known as “climate MacGyver”, Duggan founded SustainabiliD in 2017, which is now the leading global strategic advisory firm that enables established organizations to see around the corner on climate and scales up the most innovative climate tech on the planet, all to equitably solve the climate crisis. SustainabiliD's wide-ranging partners include multinational corporations, many of the Breakthrough Energy Ventures portfolio companies (ONE, LuxWall, AeroSeal, Mill, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, ClearFlame) and other novel climate tech companies, such as WallBox, Gradient and Vesta; as well as major universities and foundations, national laboratories and think tanks, global investment firms and banks, economic development agencies, and more!
Duggan sits on several boards, including Perma-Fix (NASDAQ: PESI) and Michigan LCV; and advisory boards, such as ONE, Aclima, Walker-Miller Energy Services, Arctaris Impact Investors, Commonweal Ventures and BlueConduit. She is a senior advisor at RockCreek Global Investment. Duggan is also on Faculty at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) and was named Founding Director of the SEAS Sustainability Clinic in Detroit.
Duggan is an angel investor, supporting innovative Michigan-based companies such as The Electric Plant Co. and Renaissance Man. She is also an Executive Producer of SWIMMOBILE, a Detroit-based film in pre-production.
Duggan holds several political appointments, including the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board under Secretary Jennifer Granholm; and two appointments by Michigan's Governor Gretchen Whitmer, on the Growing Michigan Together Council (Infrastructure & Places Workgroup) and Council on Climate Solutions. In 2020, Duggan served on the Biden-Harris Transition Team for the Energy Agency Review and the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force as one of five Biden delegates alongside Gina McCarthy and Secretary John Kerry. From 2010-2017, Duggan served in various roles in the Obama-Biden Administration. She worked at the White House as climate policy advisor for then Vice President Joe Biden; and simultaneously as deputy director of the Obama Detroit task force. She held several senior roles at the Department of Energy, including as Secretary Moniz's Liaison to the City of Detroit, where she championed the LED streetlight conversion. After her public service, she co-founded the Smart Cities Lab and was a Partner at the Honorable Thomas J. Ridge’s firm. Duggan was named to Crain’s Detroit Business prestigious “40 Under 40” list, and their inaugural “Notable Leaders in Sustainability”.
