Bio for Douglas L. Faulkner
Deputy Under Secretary
Rural Development
U.S. Department of Agriculture

Douglas Faulkner was named U.S. Department of Agriculture's Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development in June 2006. He served previously as Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) in the U.S. Department of Energy from June 2005 - March 2006. He also was appointed EERE's Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in June 2001 and served in that role for five years. In April 2006 Secretary Bodman gave him the Secretary of Energy's own award for excellence.

Mr. Faulkner proposed and defended a bold and responsible EERE budget for fiscal year 2007. He led its three designated Presidential technology initiatives in biomass, solar and hydrogen. In line with the President's call to restrain federal spending, the new budget request ended or cut significantly other EERE programs.

After over a decade of delays, controversy and litigation in setting appliance standards, Mr. Faulkner led EERE in 2006 to publish a timetable for meeting all statutory deadlines in five years, saving energy in new consumer and industrial equipment. He directed new voluntary partnerships with businesses and the federal government to reduce their energy use and cut costs. EERE promoted rebuilding on the Gulf Coast with energy efficient and hurricane resistant technologies.

Under his direction, management reforms replaced an outdated organization with a smaller, more streamlined workforce, saving millions of dollars and increasing productivity and morale.

Mr. Faulkner has testified several times before Congress. Interviews of Mr. Faulkner have appeared on television and radio and in the print media. He has given numerous speeches to a wide variety of groups.

Mr. Faulkner's first job in Washington, D.C., was as an aide to the late Edward Madigan, a former Illinois Congressman and Secretary of Agriculture. Mr. Faulkner then progressed rapidly at the Central Intelligence Agency and later the Department of Energy. He rose from China analyst to a senior policy advisor to Secretaries of Energy in both Bush Administrations.

Born and raised in central Illinois, Mr. Faulkner received a B.A. in Asian Studies from the University of Illinois and a M.A. from The Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies. He also attended the University of Singapore as a Rotary Scholar. Mr. Faulkner played intercollegiate basketball at home and abroad.

An Eagle Scout, he is active in his church and community. Mr. Faulkner was appointed in the early 1990s to two Arlington County, Virginia, economic commissions. He still lives there with his wife and son.

(June 2006)

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