Lena Perkins is a respected leader and expert in Energy Markets, Utility Management, and Emissions Accounting, with a deep background in mechanical engineering and thermosciences.

She currently serves as a Senior Manager at the City of Palo Alto Utilities, where she co-manages the electric supply portfolio, a significant asset valued at approximately $100M per year, covering generation and transmission.

Lena leads the city's advocacy for hydroelectricity, transmission, and energy market developments across the Western USA, as well as managing the Program for Emerging Technologies, keeping the utility at the forefront of grid innovation.

Her PhD dissertation from Stanford University's Mechanical Engineering program focused on building a techno-economic model to identify the least expensive and most efficient pathways to generate electricity and avoid carbon dioxide emissions.

She has practical experience consulting for energy start-ups and working on isolated grids in locations like interior Alaska and American Samoa. Notable projects include operating Alaska's first isolated-grid binary cycle low-temperature geothermal plant and instigating the deployment of a Tesla hybrid solar storage system on the island of Ta'u in American Samoa.

Lena and her family enjoy Christ Church as it offers a welcoming community for her lawyer husband and two boys, where she serves as co-Senior Warden, her first position on Christ Church Vestry.