Gabe Klein, who has led transportation departments in Washington, DC and Chicago, will head the Biden administration’s $7.5 billion program to build out the country’s electric vehicle charging network.
Klein will serve as executive director of the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, which was established by the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and coordinates between the US Departments of Energy and Transportation. The departments announced the news Tuesday morning.
“We look forward to working with Gabe to help deliver on President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the American people and ensure that every community—from the largest cities to the most rural areas—can reap the benefits of the electric vehicle revolution,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.
Klein was previously a partner at the consulting firm Cityfi, which focuses on urban transportation and planning. He also served on the Biden-Harris transition team for the Department of Transportation. His leadership in DC and Chicago was marked by being among the first transportation departments to embrace emerging transportation trends like car-sharing, bikeshare and bike lanes.
Klein has long been outspoken about climate change and transportation’s role in it. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
“I will seize the opportunity to steward a critical shift in our transportation economy from fossil fuels to clean, electric energy systems, as there has never been a more important mission in our recent history than solving the climate crisis,” Klein said in a statement.
