Governors Serve a Crucial Role
Sue Gander is Director, Energy, Environment and Transportation, National Governors Association
PUF's Steve Mitnick: Tell me about this great meeting that National Governors Association just had.
Sue Gander: Absolutely. I just returned from Denver, Colorado, where we held our Energy Innovation Summit. That is part of Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval's NGA Chair's Initiative for the 2017-18 calendar year called Ahead of the Curve: Innovation Governors. It was a fantastic meeting.
We had teams from thirty-four states represented: governors' offices, energy offices, public utility commissions, folks that work on economic development, information technology and workforce development. We had a great couple of days together hearing from an assortment of national experts, and from states that are living and breathing energy technology innovation.
PUF's Steve Mitnick: Where do the governors fit into energy innovation? What's their role?
Sue Gander: This is a critical issue for governors. It's one of the reasons Governor Sandoval chose to focus this year on technology innovation. Energy and transportation innovation are important, because his state of Nevada and states across the country are seeing the transformation of these sectors due to technology developments.