Longtime GOP staffer and Legislative Consultant Brings Extensive Clean Energy Expertise
AUSTIN, TEXAS (Dec 11, 2023) . . . Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation (CTEI) announced
today that Carrie Simmons has joined the organization’s Advisory Board. Simmons has deep
experience advocating for critical energy issues and has worked closely with key leaders at the
Capitol as well as key agency leadership on the regulatory front.
Simmons currently represents the AES Corporation, the Texas Advanced Energy Business
Alliance, Cypress Creek Renewables (a utility-scale solar and energy storage developer),
Enchanted Rock (a resiliency microgrid provider), and Tesla. In the most recent legislative
sessions, she was active in negotiations for legislative efforts that rehauled the energy
regulatory market, transmission expansion, energy resilience, electric vehicles, and geothermal
energy development.
In 2014, she was named the #1“Rising Lobby Star” by Capitol Inside. Over the past decade, she
has repeatedly proven herself to be one of the top lobbyists in the state. Prior to her career
with Texas Lobby Partners, Carrie was a legislative aide in the Texas House of Representatives,
and later an account associate at Elizabeth Christian Public Relations and Affairs firm.
In 2009, Carrie was hired as the Executive Director of the Texas House Republican Caucus. She
provided legislative research and communication assistance to Republican legislators in the
Texas House of Representatives for over six years, three legislative sessions and multiple special
sessions, providing a unique expertise. After the 83rd Legislative Session in 2013, Carrie joined
forces with fellow female Republican leaders to start Red State Women PAC. Red State Women
was created to engage, empower, and inspire women to become politically active within the
Republican Party. Carrie holds a degree in public relations from the University of Texas at
Austin.
Matt Welch, State Director of CTEI, said, “we are incredibly fortunate and very appreciative that
Carrie is joining our organization. As one of the best lobbyists in Austin, her institutional
knowledge of energy policy in Texas is a tremendous resource and will be invaluable toward our
future efforts.”
Welch added, “As conservatives, we fundamentally believe free markets are the key to job
creation, continued innovation, and technological advancements across the energy spectrum.
In contrast, the proposed massive ‘Green New Deal’ and other similar ill-conceived efforts
would wreck the national economy and erode our personal freedoms in the process.
Draconian, unworkable proposals authored by left-leaning progressives underscore the need
for conservatives to lead on clean energy advancement. When we fail to offer constructive
solutions to our challenges, it makes big-government outcomes more likely.”
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CTEI is a non-profit clean energy education and advocacy organization launched to promote
energy innovation and clean energy policies grounded in the conservative principle of common
sense, market-based solutions that allow fair competition and provide greater access to clean,
affordable, and reliable energy.
For more information, visit Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation at
www.conservativetexansforenergyinnovation.org. Like us on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/cnsrvtxns4nrg/ and follow us on Twitter @cnsrvtxns4nrg .
