SEIA Elevates Trio of Policy Experts to Leadership Roles

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) announced today that Ben Norris, Sara Birmingham, and Kevin Lucas are now vice presidents at the organization.

Norris is SEIA’s vice president of regulatory affairs, Birmingham is vice president of state affairs, and Lucas is vice president of policy analysis. These experts collectively hold decades of experience in energy policy and energy market roles, and have deep knowledge of the challenges facing the U.S. solar and storage industry.

Ben, Sara, and Kevin are three of the brightest minds in the energy policy space, and all three have been key pieces of SEIA’s advocacy success over the last several years, said SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper. It’s a critical time for the solar and storage industry and these leaders will help us capitalize on recent policy wins and deliver a robust, equitable clean energy future.

Birmingham has been with SEIA for more than a decade and will oversee the organization’s state policy team, while Norris will lead SEIA’s growing regulatory team to further engage with the White House and federal agencies.

As vice president of policy analysis, Lucas will expand on his work as an expert witness for regulatory dockets and build the organization’s expertise on a range of issues, including energy storage integration, rate design, utility resource planning, cybersecurity, and interconnection.

I am thrilled to continue my tenure at SEIA and lead state advocacy efforts on behalf of the entire solar and storage industry, said Birmingham. There is so much important work happening at the state level that will determine how solar projects of all sizes can be deployed, and I look forward to bringing my decades of experience to this new role.

We’re coming off an unprecedented year for solar as implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) rapidly advances and agencies consider new rules on interconnection and project siting, said Norris. It is a privilege to lead the solar and storage industry’s advocacy work on these issues as we stand at the forefront of America’s energy transition.

I am excited about this new role and look forward to working across the industry on a range of policy issues that are shaping the energy transition, said Lucas. SEIA will continue to build out its team of subject matter experts as we tackle a variety of challenges such as cybersecurity, rate design, long-term resource planning, distribution system planning, reliability, and interconnection everywhere solar and storage is deployed.

These personnel changes are effective immediately.

SEIA advocates on behalf of the entire solar and storage industry in the United States. These personnel changes reflect a broadening of SEIA’s policy and technical expertise to better advocate on behalf of its 1,200 member companies.

Learn more about SEIA and its Solar+ Decade vision.

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About SEIA®: 

The Solar Energy Industries Association® (SEIA) is leading the transformation to a clean energy economy, creating the framework for solar to achieve 30% of U.S. electricity generation by 2030. SEIA works with its 1,000 member companies and other strategic partners to fight for policies that create jobs in every community and shape fair market rules that promote competition and the growth of reliable, low-cost solar power. Founded in 1974, SEIA is the national trade association for the solar and solar + storage industries, building a comprehensive vision for the Solar+ Decade through research, education and advocacy. Visit SEIA online at www.seia.org and follow @SEIA on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Media Contact: 

Morgan Lyons, SEIA’s Director of Communications, mlyons@seia.org (202) 556-2872