Brenda Mallory

Brenda Mallory (born September 14, 1957) is an American lawyer specializing in environmental law who served as the chair of the Council on Environmental Quality in the Biden administration from 2021 to 2025. She previously served as director of regulatory policy at the Southern Environmental Law Center, and helped lead the Climate 21 Project.

Mallory served as acting general counsel for the Council on Environmental Quality in the Obama administration from January 4, 2013 to August 6, 2013 between Scott Fulton and Avi Garbow.

Early life

Mallory was raised in an industrial, working-class community in Waterbury, Connecticut, and then attended the prestigious Westover boarding school in Middlebury, Connecticut, on a scholarship. Mallory graduated from Yale College and then Columbia Law School, and started in private practice as an attorney before joining the U.S. federal government in 2000.

Career

Mallory is the former executive director and senior counsel at the Conservation Litigation Project, which works to protect public lands, and served as general counsel of the White House Council on Environmental Quality in the Obama administration. She served in both Democratic and Republican administrations over fifteen years at the EPA.

According to the Environmental Law Institute, Mallory is a Fellow in the American College of Environmental Lawyers and is a member of the Environmental Defense Fund's Litigation Advocacy Committee. Mallory also serves on the Environmental Policy Innovation Center's Advisory Committee, the Advisory Council for Women in Conservation Leadership, and the Board of Directors of the Environmental Law Institute and at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

Mallory helped lead The Climate 21 Project, which NPR reports "delivered recommendations for how the Biden administration could enlist the breadth of the government to address climate damage, including that 'the Council on Environmental Quality is best suited to elevate environmental justice to the White House and to lead the agenda on climate change resilience.'"

On December 16, 2020, Mallory was reported to be the nominee selected by President-elect Joe Biden to run the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) in his administration. Reuters wrote that Biden's choice "signals a focus by the incoming administration on environmental policies that would aim to ensure improved clean air and water for poor and minority communities that have historically taken the brunt of industrial pollution, and on pursuing Biden’s overarching plan to fight climate change." Bloomberg News wrote that if confirmed, Mallory will "play a pivotal role guiding environmental policy decisions across the federal government," including the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act. She is the first African American chair of the CEQ. The CEQ is responsible for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and has influence over large infrastructure projects. In a statement, Mallory said, "By helping forge unity of purpose – across communities, across the country, and across government – CEQ will help our nation rise to the environmental challenges of our time, from climate change and the nature crisis to the environmental injustices that have plagued our country for too long."

Personal life

Mallory resides in Rockville, Maryland with her husband and has three adult children.