Danielle Sass Byrnett

Danielle Sass Byrnett is senior director of the National Association of Regulatory Utility 
Commissioners (NARUC) Center for Partnerships & Innovation (CPI). She leads this 
technical assistance team focused on identifying emerging challenges and connecting 
the 54 state public utility commissions with expertise and strategies to navigate their 
complex decision-making. CPI builds relationships, develops resources, and delivers 
training across the full range of energy issues facing utility commissions—from 
transmission to distributed energy resources, including electrification, natural gas 
infrastructure, cybersecurity, resilience, and much more.

While at NARUC, Ms. Sass Byrnett launched, co-led, and facilitated the Task Force on 
Comprehensive Electricity Planning between NARUC and the National Association of 
State Energy Officials (NASEO), the NARUC Grid Data Sharing Collaborative, the 
NARUC-NASEO Distributed Energy Resources Integration & Compensation Initiative, 
and other multi-stakeholder path-setting efforts in addition to overseeing members-only 
working groups on EVs, microgrids, performance-based regulation, and demand 
flexibility.
Prior to joining NARUC, Ms. Sass Byrnett served in DOE-EERE and the EPA’s Climate 
Protection Partnerships Division. During this time, Danielle launched the Better 
Buildings Residential Program Solution Center, led the development of national 
residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) guidelines, and managed the 
Better Buildings Neighborhood Program—a $500-million initiative to expand energy 
efficiency upgrade programs across 32 states. In all these roles, Ms. Sass Byrnett 
supported state environmental and energy agencies in expanding their clean energy 
policies and programs through facilitated workshops, direct technical assistance, 
national- and state-level analyses, and newly developed resources.
Ms. Sass Byrnett has authored and edited dozens of publications. She was a 2014 
finalist for a C3E award in the government category. She is a member of the board of 
directors for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and Smart Electric 
Power Alliance’s Research Advisory Council; she also previously served on the Alliance 
to Save Energy’s Active Efficiency Steering Committee. She holds a master’s degree in 
public policy from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Swarthmore 
College.