Richard Cowart is a Principal at the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), a Vermont-based, global non- profit that advises governments on energy regulation, electricity markets, and climate policy (1999- present). Over the past decade he built and directed RAP’s European program in Brussels, Berlin, and Warsaw. He has advised governments across the US and Europe, in China, Brazil, and several other nations.
Before joining RAP, Mr. Cowart served as Chair of the Vermont Public Service Board (now PUC) for 12 years. He was elected president of the New England Conference of Public Utility Commissioners, and Chair of the US regulators’ national Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment.
In addition to his RAP position, Richard served for six years as Chair of the US DOE’s Electricity Advisory Committee, on the International Energy Agency’s Demand-Side Management program. and the Board of Directors of the Electric Power Research Institute. He now serves on the Environmental Advisory Committee of the New York ISO and chairs the Board of VEIC, which operates the “energy efficiency utilities” in Vermont, Washington DC, and several cities in Ohio.
Richard also has experience in natural resources and land use management. He served as Executive Officer and general counsel of the Vermont Environmental Board for two years, and taught courses in environmental law, land use law and natural resource policy at the University of California and Vermont Law School for more than a decade. He and his wife manage a commercial Christmas tree farm and sugar maple/land conservation projects in Calais and Marshfield, Vermont.