Juliana Pino: Strategic Leader in Climate and Social Impact

Title: Vice President of Policy and Development

Organization: Elevate

Age: 39

Juliana Pino is the Vice President of Policy and Development at Elevate, a national non-profit headquartered in Chicago seeking to create a just and equitable world in which everyone has clean and affordable heat, cooling, power, and water in their homes and communities. Juliana leads Elevate’s Policy and Development divisions, leveraging the organization’s long track record in program administration, consulting, and equitable innovation to advance economic, social, and environmental benefits where they are most needed.

Juliana is an experienced climate and environmental justice policy strategist, organizer, negotiator, and advocate. Her work focuses on: advancing justice and community self-determination in regulatory and policy arenas, creating just transition with meaningful collaborative and participatory management of shared environmental resources, and centering frontline community leaders as generators of transformative policy ideas and governance models. 

She is known for developing, advocating for, and passing groundbreaking laws and policies rooted in innovative, elegant solutions to complex environmental problems. She pairs this with robust administrative advocacy, driving high-quality implementation that changes material conditions in communities.

Juliana has been honored as a Midwest Energy News 40 Under 40 recipient (2017), New Leaders Council Fellow (2017), and national Grist 50 Fixer (2018). She is a People for Community Recovery Clinton Awardee (2018), inaugural Rachel’s Network Catalyst Awardee (2019), Illinois Legislative Green Caucus Karen May Environmental Leadership Awardee (2019), and an Elevate Climate Changemaker (2020). Most recently, she was named an Earth Day Honoree by City Council for her environmental contributions to Chicago (2025).

She serves on the National Board of Directors of GRID Alternatives and the Board of Directors of the Illinois Environmental Council. She is the former gubernatorially appointed final Chair of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation. Juliana is a graduate of the University of Michigan (MS, MPP) and the University of Chicago (AB). Previously, Juliana contributed to the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Great Lakes Commission, NOAA, and USDA, among others.