Patrick Hughes

Patrick E. Hughes, AStd, is Senior Vice President of Operations and Strategy for the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), an ANSI-accredited standards developing organization.

Patrick leads a team of nearly 30 technical experts and oversees NEMA’s strategic planning activities to position NEMA and electrical manufacturers for long-term success and sustainability. He also oversees the NEMA Strategic Initiatives program—an idea accelerator that incubates innovative projects to prepare NEMA members for emerging opportunities and technologies, including electrification, digitalization, smart cities, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, connected and autonomous vehicles, wireless communication (5G), and more.

With expertise on energy technology and policy—including energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy finance, building codes and standards, climate science and policy, smart grid, electricity transmission and distribution, electricity markets, and utility business models—Patrick has been sought out as an expert witness, conference presenter, and published author.

Previously at NEMA, Patrick was Senior Director of Government Relations and Strategic Initiatives, where he was the principal lead for NEMA’s legislative and regulatory government relations work on grid modernization, high-performance buildings, energy storage systems, electric vehicles, and more.

Before joining NEMA, Patrick was Senior Associate at the Energy Future Coalition, an initiative of the United Nations Foundation, where he developed innovative new policy approaches to increase the energy efficiency of commercial buildings and advocated for policies that resulted in increased investment in electric grid infrastructure to interconnect remote renewable energy resources. Prior to that, he worked in the Washington, DC office of Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano (D-CA) and for multiple congressional campaigns.

Patrick has an M.S. in Energy Policy and Climate Science from Johns Hopkins University and B.A. degrees in Political Science and Spanish from the University of Rochester. He is a certified as a Standards Professional (AStd) by the Society for Standards Professionals.