Kathryn Wright

Kathryn serves as the Program Director for Buildings for the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN). USDN is a network of over 230 local governments in the U.S. and Canada. As Program Director, Kathryn oversees the network’s strategic direction, programmatic and innovation work in the built environment. As part of this role, she has worked with local governments and regional networks on topics such as energy codes, building performance standards and improving the livability of rental housing. She dedicates a substantial portion of her time to helping local governments and community-based organizations center equity in building decarbonization and evolve the field of climate planning and practice. To help support this goal, Kathryn is part of the NAACP’s Centering Equity in the Sustainable Buildings Sector Initiative, and she serves on the Board of Directors of the New Buildings Initiative. She hopes to bring her experiences working with local governments to the Advisory Board of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy.

She holds Bachelors degrees from the University of Pittsburgh in Marketing and Environmental Science and a Masters from Yale the Yale School of Environment in Environmental Management where she focused on Industrial Ecology and Energy. Kathryn is based in Quincy, Massachusetts and is an active yogi, dancer, and violinist.