Lea Lupkin – Pittsburgh

Lea is dedicated to helping solve the greatest challenge facing humanity in this century: climate change. She is a practitioner at the intersection of energy and climate, human-centered design, community change, and environmental justice. She is currently Senior Manager of Customer Insights and Behavioral Science at ICF, a global consultancy leading in decarbonization, electrification, and resilience. At ICF she works with energy utilities to engage residents and businesses across the U.S. and Canada in an equitable clean energy transformation. Lea is a third-generation Jewish American whose grandparents fled anti-semitism in the years leading up to the Holocaust. Her commitment to social justice and advocacy is rooted in her Jewish upbringing. In college, Lea was a youth climate activist in Virginia immersed in grassroots organizing, consensus building, and anti-oppression work. Initially focused on sustainable development, she grappled with the white savior complex and decided she needed to focus on her own home and community in the U.S. She found a passion for driving community change through applied social sciences and evidence/data-based approaches. Lea holds a master in environmental management (MEM) from the Yale School of Environment. During her time at Yale, she was a research fellow with the Yale Center for Climate Communications and the Center for Business and Environment. She also served as President of Yale Environmental Women and volunteered with an initiative that empowered young girls to pursue green careers. As part of her passion for applying science for the greater good, Lea has volunteered with the Behavioral Science and Policy Association (BSPA) since it was founded in 2016 and served on committees for the Behavior Energy and Climate Change Conference. Previously, Lea was a Senior Project Manager at SEE Change Institute, a research institute that blends social science and design to address global issues through human solutions. She was a fellow with the Behavioral Insights Team on the What Works Cities initiative bringing evidence-based approaches to benefit citizens in U.S. cities. For nearly five years, Lea helped to grow a GreenerU, a Boston-based startup driving energy and sustainability solutions at higher education institutions in the Northeast U.S. At GreenerU she was a founding member of the Change Management team. She has held leadership positions with SustainUS, the Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition, and the Energy Action Coalition. Lea holds a BA in Environmental Policy from Roanoke College. When she isn’t working, you can find her hiking with her pups, reading female and POC-authored fantasy and sci-fi, and striving to be a native pollinator gardener.