Catherine (Katie) Jereza is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transmission Permitting & Technical Assistance (TPTA) in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Electricity (OE). She is responsible for leading the Department's efforts to facilitate the development of reliable and affordable electricity infrastructure. Ms. Jereza has 25 years of experience in the energy, water and manufacturing industries, where she led multiple startup, turnaround and major problem solving initiatives that delivered real-world solutions and high-impact results.

Prior to joining OE, Ms. Jereza served as the Director for Infrastructure Resilience at the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) where she co-led the smarter energy infrastructure initiative and helped launch the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council's Cyber Mutual Assistance program. She was a management consultant with the McLeod Group, LLC and Energetics Incorporated and also worked for the Maryland Department of the Environment, GE Water and Process Technologies (formerly BetzDearborn), and the Lincoln Electric Company. She holds an MBA from the Loyola University Maryland and BS in Chemical Engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.