NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Former United States EPA Chief Gina McCarthy is joining private equity firm Pegasus Capital Advisors as an Operating Advisor, announced the firm today.
McCarthy spent her 30-year career in public service focused on environmental protection and public health. Her leadership and perseverance has led to federal, state, and local actions on critical environmental issues, and her significant accomplishments include action to advance environmental, clean energy, public transportation and public health goals consistent with a growing economy in New England and across the United States.
“Gina has significant experience and expertise that fits very well with the two sectors that Pegasus focuses on, namely Sustainability and Wellness,” said Pegasus Founding Partner and Chairman Craig Cogut. “Gina adds to our deep and accomplished team of operating and strategic advisors, a key factor in Pegasus’ success as one of the leading middle market private equity firms in these sectors.”
“Pegasus has by far the most talented group of operating and strategic advisors that I’m aware of working in the Sustainability and Wellness sectors, and I look forward to joining the team,” said McCarthy. “I’m excited to put my public service and academic experience to use in the private sector, which is increasingly where most innovation is happening.”
From 2013 – 2017, McCarthy served as Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Obama. As Administrator, McCarthy was the nation’s leading advocate for common-sense strategies to protect public health and the environment. Willing to take bold action, Administrator McCarthy achieved notable success by finalizing the Clean Power Plan (CPP) which set the first national standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for fossil-fuel fired power plants. The CPP demonstrated the United States strong commitment to climate action, sparking broad international support for adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement. Under her leadership, EPA also finalized the Clean Water Rule to protect rivers and streams that 117 million Americans rely on for their source of drinking water.
Prior to her role as EPA Administrator, McCarthy held the position of Assistant Administrator in EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. Previously, McCarthy served as the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, where she began an initiative called “No Child Left Inside” to introduce families to the natural world by visiting state parks, and she helped design and implement the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the nation’s first cap and trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for power plants. She has also held senior positions in Massachusetts, serving five governors, including Deputy Secretary of the Office of Commonwealth Development and Undersecretary for Policy for the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.
Since leaving the Obama Administration, McCarthy has been serving as a fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government’s Institute of Politics and as the Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Social Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts at Boston and a joint Master of Science in Environmental Health Engineering, Planning and Policy from Tuft’s University.
A native of Massachusetts, McCarthy lives in the Greater Boston area with her husband and spends as much time as she can with her three children Daniel, Maggie, and Julie.
About Pegasus Capital Advisors, L.P.
Pegasus is a private equity firm founded and led by Craig Cogut. Since inception in 1996, Pegasus has invested across five private equity funds and currently manages approximately $1.9 billion in assets. The Firm’s principal investment theme is providing strategic growth capital to companies within the middle-market that are focused on global resource scarcity, particularly energy, waste, food, water as well as on health & wellness related companies. www.pcalp.com
