McCarthy, Gina
(Regina McCarthy), 1954- , American environmentalist and government
official, Brighton, Ma., Univ. of Ma., Boston (B.A., 1976), Tufts Univ.
(M.S., 1981). McCarthy landed her first position as the health agent for the
town of Canton, Ma., in 1980. She subsequently served as
Massachusetts’ Undersecretary for Policy for the Exec. Office of
Environmental Affairs (1999-2003), and then as Deputy Secretary of the
Office of Commonwealth Development (2003-04). From 2004-09, she served as
the Commissioner of the Connecticut Dept. of Environmental Protection, where
she spearheaded the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. She next joined the
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) as Asst. Administrator for its Office
of Art and Radiation (2009-13). President Barack Obamanominated her to serve as the
director of the EPA in 2013, but Republican Senators stalled her
confirmation for 143 days. As the EPA director, she tightened environmental
regulations, including writing new clean power regulations that were the
subject of several lawsuits After serving in the Obama administration,
McCarthy was named the director of the new Center for Climate, Health, and
the Global Environment at Harvard’s Chan School (Harvard C-CHANGE) in
May 2018. In November 2019, she was named president and CEO of the Natural
Resources Defense Council, effective January 2020, but resigned that
position in late December 2020 to serve as President Joseph Biden’s National Climate
Advisor, a newly created role.
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