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Faculty, Alumni, Experts

Richard L. Kauffman

Chairman of the Board at NYSERDA
Chairman of the Board at Chair Generate Capital
MPPM 1983
Richard L.  Kauffman

At Yale, Mr. Kauffman teaches two courses focused on clean energy, Financing Green Technologies at the Yale School of Management, and Innovation, a core course of the Certificate in Financing and Deploying Clean Energy.

From 2013 to 2019, Richard Kauffman was a part of the administration of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo as New York State’s first “energy czar." In this capacity, Mr. Kauffman was responsible for developing and advancing the Governor’s ambitious plan to create a cleaner, more resilient and affordable energy system. Mr. Kauffman oversaw and managed New York State’s entire energy portfolio, including the New York State Department of Public Service, the New York Power Authority, the Long Island Power Authority, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). He was appointed chair of NYSERDA’s board in June 2013.

Mr. Kauffman led New York State’s comprehensive Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative. REV includes groundbreaking regulatory reform to fundamentally restructure the energy and utility industry, an unprecedented ten-year commitment to support local renewable energy and efficiency markets through the creation of the Clean Energy Fund, and other bold initiatives such as NY Green Bank and the pioneering $1 billion NY-Sun solar program.

Prior to joining the administration, Mr. Kauffman worked in energy and finance at some of the nation’s highest levels, most recently serving as Senior Advisor to Secretary Steven Chu at the U.S. Department of Energy. In his private sector career, he was Chief Executive Officer of Good Energies, Inc., a leading investor in clean energy technologies, a partner of Goldman Sachs where he chaired the Global Financing Group, and vice chairman of Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Securities Business and co-head of its Banking Department.

Mr. Kauffman has served as Chairman of the Board of Levi Strauss & Co., as well as on the boards of several organizations, including the Brookings Institution and the Wildlife Conservation Society. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Kauffman earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, a master’s degree in international relations from Yale University, and a master’s in public and private management from the Yale School of Management.