Associate Administrator for the Office of Policy

Vicki Arroyo

Vicki Arroyo currently serves as the Associate Administrator for Policy at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In this role she oversees a diverse portfolio at the agency that includes regulatory policy and management, climate adaptation, environmental economics, community revitalization, NEPA and more. She also oversaw the environmental justice work of the Agency from January 2021 through September 2022, when a new Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights was launched, and still works to incorporate environmental and climate justice considerations in all of EPA’s work. For 12 years prior, Arroyo served as Executive Director of the Georgetown Climate Center, where she was also a Professor at Georgetown Law and Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Program. Arroyo oversaw the Georgetown Climate Center’s work at the nexus of climate and energy policy, supervising staff and student work on climate mitigation and adaptation at the city, state, and federal level. She also served as an Assistant Dean for Centers and Institutes.

Earlier in her career, Arroyo directed the Pew Center on Global Climate Change’s domestic policy program for over a decade while also managing the Center’s work on science, environmental impacts, adaptation, and economics. Previously, she practiced environmental law with Kilpatrick Stockton in Washington DC and served in two offices at U.S. EPA: the Office of Air and Radiation and the Office of Research and Development, where she reviewed development of standards under the Clean Air Act. From 1988 to 1991, she created and directed the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s policy office, and also served during some of that period as Governor Buddy Roemer’s environmental advisor.

Arroyo has served on several federal panels and boards, including the National Science Foundation, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, serving as Chair of the Transportation Research Board. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Emory University, where she received high honors, a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University where she received the top honors in her program, and a JD Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University’s Law Center.