Brandy O’Quinn is the current Program Director, of SolSmart for the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. SolSmart is a national designation program that has been working with local jurisdictions since 2016, to provide free technical assistance to help them streamline their solar permitting and inspection processes. She oversees all aspects of the program in partnership with ICMA, ensuring that more local governments can deploy solar equitably by removing barriers and spurring economic development.
Prior to SolSmart, Ms. O’Quinn was the North Texas Program Manager with the Texas Electric Transportation Resources Alliance, TxETRA, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to advocating for the electrification of Texas transportation systems. Ms. O’Quinn worked closely with local governments and connecting them to resources and information about converting city fleets to electric, developing robust electric charging station network and organized an EV Road Show in West Texas, partnering with local chambers and cities.
Previously, she served as the Public Affairs Senior Manager for Blue Zones Project, a community wide well-being initiative in Fort Worth. In this role, she led many efforts in collaboration with community partners, one of which was securing $6.4 million for the transit authority to purchase electric buses for a circulator connecting two entertainment districts and raised funds for a large portion of the operations. Ms. O’Quinn worked with city staff to reduce barriers to healthy food access, focusing on produce, by proposing amendments to the Produce Cart ordinance, Mobile Fresh Market and introducing an Urban Agriculture ordinance.
Prior to Blue Zones, she held a nine-year tenure as President of Camp Bowie District, a commercial public improvement district, formed by commercial property owners to revitalize Camp Bowie Blvd. Ms. O’Quinn initiated and oversaw infrastructure improvements, coordinated marketing, maintenance and repair of brick and asphalt streets and beautification which included planting over 200 street trees. Additionally, she served on the city’s Zoning Commission for approximately four years.
Ms. O’Quinn is a Certified Economic Developer, is an avid urban planner and thrilled to be working in the renewable energy space to play some small part in securing a healthy planet for the future. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a political science degree and received her Masters in Real Estate with the focus on Sustainability from University of Texas at Arlington. She is married and has one daughter.