Area of Focus
As a clean energy senior policy advisor, AnnaLinden works to accelerate the decarbonization of New Mexico’s electricity sector by developing and advocating for policies, regulations, and legislation which will expand clean energy generation, increase energy efficiency and beneficial electrification, and support grid modernization and transmission development in the state.
Background
Prior to working at WRA, AnnaLinden was policy director at the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD). There, she worked to achieve EMNRD’s clean energy agenda through legislative analysis and advocacy, policy development across the agency, and acting as the EMNRD Cabinet Secretary’s representative in statewide, regional, and national organizations devoted to climate and energy policy. Amongst many other initiatives, she shaped EMNRD’s implementation of the 2020 Grid Modernization Act; worked to develop best practices in renewable energy siting alongside the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority and representatives from industry and advocacy groups; and was part of the team that established the New Mexico Land of Enchantment Conservation Fund in 2023.
Before AnnaLinden worked in climate policy, she was a research academic with a specialty in Byzantine and Armenian history. She is also, under the pen name Arkady Martine, an award-winning science fiction author.
Accomplishments
While policy director at EMNRD, AnnaLinden had the honor serving on the board of directors for both the New Mexico Finance Authority and the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority, as well as being one of New Mexico’s representatives to the U.S. Climate Alliance.
Education
- Masters of Community and Urban Planning from the University of Maryland
- Ph.D. in Byzantine History from Rutgers University
- Masters in Classical Armenian from Oxford University
- Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies/Physics from the University of Chicago
Favorite thing about the West
The incredibly rich and stark beauty of the high desert!
