Pamela Franklin
Program Director
As EPIC's Program Director, Pamela Franklin will lead a major new initiative to develop practical, nonpartisan blueprints for modernizing the environmental governance systems that protect clean water, clean air, and community resilience across the country. Pamela has spent more than two decades designing and leading federal environmental governance programs that function across administrations, sectors, and stakeholders with competing interests. As a senior leader at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, she built and directed voluntary partnership programs engaging hundreds of companies, state and local governments, tribal nations, academic institutions, and environmental organizations — managing large teams, multimillion-dollar budgets, and global partnerships to achieve durable results across five presidential administrations. Among her signature achievements, she directed the EPA technical team and the secretariat for the Global Methane Initiative, a 49-country alliance coordinating nearly 1,000 partner organizations across government, industry, and civil society. She designed and launched the EPA Methane Challenge Program, a voluntary commitment framework that enrolled more than 70 oil & gas companies. Her career has been built on a core conviction she shares with EPIC: that environmental protection becomes more effective and more durable when we fix how governance systems work. She earned a B.S.E. in chemical engineering from Princeton, an M.S. in civil engineering from Stanford, and a Ph.D. at the Energy & Resources Group at University of California, Berkeley.
Get to Know Me Further
As a native Washingtonian who grew up in the Maryland suburbs, I have a lifelong appreciation for Chesapeake blue crabs, authentic crabcakes, and anything involving Old Bay seasoning. My passion for the environment traces back to my mother, who was an avid re-user and recycler long before it was in vogue. After college, I spent 11 years in the San Francisco Bay Area for work and graduate school — which is where I met my husband and developed a healthy respect for California environmental politics. The through-line of my life outside work is water — specifically, swimming through it. I was a competitive swimmer through college and beyond, including open water relay swims across Lake Tahoe and the Maui Channel and solo races from Alcratraz and across the Chesapeake Bay. These days I spend my pool time on deck cheering for my son and daughter. I even did a stint as head coach of our summer league team this year — which I can now say with confidence is a very different skill set from environmental policy.