Melanie Nakagawa

United States of America
Special Assistant to the President and NSC Senior Director for Climate and Energy

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Melanie Nakagawa serves as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Climate and Energy at the National Security Council, where she advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s policy of integrating climate change and energy security into U.S. foreign policy and national security. Prior to joining the Administration, she was the Director of Climate Strategy at Princeville Capital. In this role, she led the firm’s climate-focused strategy to invest in global growth-stage technology-enabled companies delivering transformative solutions to climate change and launched its inaugural climate tech fund. She previously served in the Obama-Biden administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Transformation at the U.S. Department of State and was Secretary of State John Kerry’s strategic advisor on climate change. Earlier in her career, she was the Senior Energy and Environment Counsel for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Nakagawa earned a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law, an M.A. in International Affairs from American University’s School of International Service, and an A.B. from Brown University.