Lissa Pawlisch joined the Minnesota Department of Commerce in March 2023 as the Energy Development Office Director in the Division of Energy Resources and became Assistant Commissioner of Federal and State Initiatives in September 2024. Since joining Commerce, she has worked to expand the Energy Development team to respond to the influx of Minnesota clean energy opportunities. With her team, she has worked to secure additional federal funding, to stand up and implement an array of new state and federally funded programs, and to continue the technical assistance, environmental review, and education and outreach activities Commerce has done for many years. She has worked on advancing clean energy – conservation, energy efficiency and renewable energy – for over 20 years. She previously led the Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) partnership working to support and center community engagement clean energy project development. Pawlisch received her bachelor’s degree from Macalester College and M.S. degree in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.