DOE Announces New Leader of Energy Jobs Office

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced Betony Jones, previously Senior Advisor on Workforce in the Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, will lead the Office of Energy Jobs as Director. In this role, Jones will play a critical role ensuring DOE programs — including those created by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — meet the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to creating quality energy jobs. 

“Betony’s years of experience at the intersection of labor and energy make her perfect for this position at this critical moment,” said DOE Chief of Staff Christopher Davis. “In her new role, Betony will lead the Department’s work with unions, industry, and other stakeholders to ensure the transition to the economy of the future provides opportunities for high-quality jobs across the country.” 

The Office of Energy Jobs works with stakeholders, particularly labor unions, to support the creation of jobs in the energy sector and leads efforts to align energy workforce building and training programs. The office publishes the annual U.S. Energy and Employment Report, a comprehensive summary of national and state-level data on employment, occupation, unionization, demographics, and hiring in the energy field. 

The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to creating good-paying, union jobs, in part through pursuing President Biden’s climate goals, including a net-zero economy by 2050.

This month the Office of Energy Jobs will convene meetings between labor leaders and DOE leadership to discuss labor’s concerns and priorities and to ensure the Department continues to align its actions with the Administration’s support for union jobs.

President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which will create jobs for workers, including hard-hit energy workers across the country, invested $62 billion in DOE and will stand up 60 new programs, including 16 demonstration and 32 deployment programs, at the Department over the next five years. The Office of Energy Jobs plays a key role in making sure that funding reflects the Administration’s priorities for job creation.

About Betony Jones

Prior to joining the Office of Energy Jobs, Betony Jones was a Senior Advisor on Workforce for DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Jones began her career working on climate science in the White House Office of Science and Technology policy in the Clinton Administration, where she saw the complex economy-wide nature of climate change as both a challenge and an opportunity. From there, she spent 20 years directing implementation and conducting policy research to demonstrate the employment and economic impacts and opportunities associated with climate action, including as Associate Director of the Green Economy Program at the University of California, Berkeley Labor Center and as Founder and CEO of Inclusive Economics, a national strategy firm working at the intersection of labor, workforce, and clean energy. She has published dozens of papers and reports on these topics and is a nationally recognized expert in labor-climate issues. Jones earned her master’s degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a B.S. degree from the University of Michigan.