Adrienne Lotto To Become APPA’s New Senior VP of Grid Security, Technical and Operations Services

September 10, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 10, 2022

Adrienne Lotto, Vice President and Chief Risk and Resilience Officer at the New York Power Authority (NYPA), will join the American Public Power Association (APPA) as APPA’s new Senior Vice President of Grid Security, Technical and Operations Services, starting on October 1.  

“As we continue to enhance APPA’s existing portfolio of technical and operations services and programs and national mutual aid response as well as to build out new offerings to our members under our DOE cooperative agreements, Adrienne will bring her considerable energy, talent and intellect to help the excellent T&O team undertake this important work,” said Joy Ditto, President and CEO of APPA.

“Adrienne will also bring to bear her strategic abilities and relationships to help position APPA and public power vis-à-vis federal agencies such as DOE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House,” Ditto said.

“Public power plays a vital role in the lives of millions of Americans. I am grateful for the opportunity to join the APPA team, to partner with public power utilities and the federal government to ensure the sector remains secure and resilient into the future,” said Lotto. 

“Adrienne has been an asset to the New York Power Authority, leading our risk management strategies to ensure NYPA remains resilient in the face of disruptive events like COVID19, supply chain disruptions, and current and future potential impacts of climate on our critical infrastructure facilities,” said Justin E. Driscoll, NYPA’s interim president and CEO. “NYPA has benefitted from a strong partnership with APPA and we know Adrienne will be key in leading resilience strategies, strengthening the industries’ mutual aid response and informing research and development for the grid of the future. “

Lotto joined NYPA in October 2019 as Senior Director for Energy Security and Resilience Programs, a role that she served in until January 2021 when she was named as NYPA’s Chief Risk and Resilience Officer.

In her current role at NYPA, Lotto sets NYPA’s strategic risk management and resilience vision and implements, oversees and monitors all risk management and resilience activities of NYPA. She also determines NYPA’s risk tolerance in alignment with the risk appetite set by the Board of Trustees and the Executive Risk and Resilience Management Committee.

Lotto developed NYPA’s first emerging threats program to mitigate NYPA’s key operational processes and functions from external threats and has regularly presented to NYPA’s Board of Trustees and executives on risk trends by developing and implementing key risk indicators and other metrics for a going-forward strategic view of risk.

While at NYPA, she has also partnered with the Authority’s research and development team to ensure projects mitigate cyber security and supply chain risk to enhance resilience and clean energy.

In addition, she worked strategically with federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Energy and has worked to strengthen public-private partnerships  with New York State and trade groups and associations including APPA, the Electric Power Research Institute and the Large Public Power Council, among others.

Prior to NYPA, Lotto worked at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). From March 2018 to October 2018, she served as Chief of Staff in the DOE’s Office of Electricity and from March 2018 to October 2019 she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration in the DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response.

From July 2010 to March 2018, she served as Senior Deputy County Attorney for Risk and Compliance for the County of Putnam, N.Y.

Lotto received a Juris Doctor from the Pace University School of Law in New York and a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at Albany.