Melanie Nutter is the Principal of Nutter Consulting that provides sustainability and smart cities strategy development and implementation for cities, foundations and companies. In July of 2010, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Melanie Nutter as the Director of the San Francisco Department of Environment. She continued to serve in that capacity for Mayor Edwin Lee through February 2014. Nutter led the Department, which helps all San Francisco residents and businesses take an active role in protecting the urban environment, conducts outreach and education on sustainable practices, and runs many innovative environmental programs including on zero waste, green building, climate and energy, toxics reduction and clean transportation.
Nutter is a frequent speaker on urban sustainability and smart cities, having presented at TEDx, South by Southwest Eco, the Urban Environmental Accords Summit, GreenBiz’s VERGE conference, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and the Smart Cities World Congress, among other events. She most recently curated the Sustainability Track for the City Innovate Summit. She has also been featured as a contributor on CNN.com and the Today Show. Nutter holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Northwestern University in Communications and Environmental Studies. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and son.