Ralph Cavanagh

Who is Ralph Cavanagh?

Ralph Cavanagh is a senior attorney and co-director of Natural Resources Defense Council's energy program. Cavanagh has been with the NRDC since 1979 and was on the Secretary of Energy Advisory board from 1993-2003. Cavanagh has served as Visiting Professor at both Stanford University and UC Berkeley.

Cavanagh has won multiple awards, including the Heinz Award for Public Policy, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Mary Kilmarx Award, the Yale Law School’s Preiskel-Silverman Fellowship, the NW Energy Coalition’s Headwaters Award, and the Bonneville Power Administration’s Award for Exceptional Public Service.

Cavanagh graduated from Yale College, where he was a member of the Yale debate team, and the Yale Law School. He is married to Deborah Rhode, MacFarland Professor of Law at Stanford Law School.