When Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin talks about an “all-of-the-above” energy policy that makes clean and affordable energy available to residents of the Commonwealth, one of the officials charged with making that happen is Julianne Szyper.
In July, Szyper (pronounced ci-per) became Deputy Director of the Virginia Department of Energy. In making the appointment, Governor Youngkin hailed Szyper’s “breadth of knowledge and experience” in the corporate, nonprofit, and government spheres. Immediately before joining the Energy Department, Szyper served three years as chief of staff for Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears.
“The Youngkin administration and the Director of the Energy Department, Glenn Davis, have been very supportive of innovation and finding ways to be creative with new technologies and finding ways to get to the goal, which is cleaner, affordable, reliable energy. There are a lot of different ways we can get there and something that I appreciate and think a lot of folks appreciate is that they’re not trying to shut the door on anything but find the best way to get there.”
Getting there can be complicated. Szyper’s previous experience in lobbying and government makes her a key player in implementing policies, especially working with the state legislature. “An administration doesn’t have carte blanche to completely overhaul anything unless it has a General Assembly that’s willing to work with them. Often, it’s a compromise between different policy positions.
“A large portion of what the Department of Energy oversees is mineral and coal mine safety and permitting, and coal, and 80% of the coal that we mine is metallurgical coal.
“It’s not thermal coal used for burning, for electricity, and heat, and so on. It’s used for making steel and other manufacturing. We have a geology section that identifies and maps where critical minerals exist. There are a lot of things that are not partisan.”
Szyper told the magazine, “You can let life’s challenges be like a 50 lb. backpack weighing you down and keeping you from moving forward, or you can use it as a stepping stool to reach higher.”
Of course, some energy issues are political. Nuclear energy traditionally has been politically charged but Szyper says it is winning acceptance. “Nuclear energy is incredible—it’s clean, it’s reliable, it’s 24/7,” Szyper says, “and I think you’re seeing both parties now finally embrace it. I think the more people are becoming educated about nuclear and reading nonpartisan sources and not getting bogged down in political opinions, there is becoming more agreement than not out there.”
“I’m thinking of the General Assembly in particular, where the majority of the legislation that becomes law is passed through on a bipartisan basis and is not partisan,” she says. “Governor Youngkin has made it crystal clear he is very supportive of an all-of-the-above approach and believes that this approach is something that contributed to Virginia’s being named America’s top state for business this year by CNBC.”
Before joining the Youngkin administration, Szyper was vice president of a small lobbying firm that specialized in government relations and association management. The firm also served clients in the fields of education and health care. Szyper’s varied career also includes property management, real estate investment, legislative assistant for state House and Senate members, and campaign work. Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears has announced that she plans to run for governor. Szyper, a government employee, declined to comment on the race at this time.
“Nuclear energy is incredible—it’s clean, it’s reliable, it’s 24/7,” Szyper says, “and I think you’re seeing both parties now finally embrace it.”
But, we can guess she is enthusiastic about the potential for a female governor in Virginia. Szyper has always been concerned with women’s participation in public life. In 2022, she received an Architect of Society award; the award is based on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s belief that “women are the real architects of society.” She is the founder of the Virginia Conservative Women’s Coalition. “One of the things I noticed from working on political campaigns and in conservative nonprofit spaces,” she tells IWF, “is that we didn’t have a lot of women who were right-of-center coming forward to get into politics. At the same time, I saw voters electing interesting female candidates if given the option.”
Szyper has three sons. When not working, she devotes her time to gardening and painting oil portraits. “I like the Impressionists and post-Impressionists,” she says. “I try to copy different works that I really like, or I spin off my own interpretations of their work. That’s using a different side of my brain. My mother, who passed away a few years ago, was an artist who was featured in different galleries. She was very talented.”
The daughter of a Polish father and Italian mother, Szyper was born and grew up in a Chicago suburb. “We were a very creative, artistic family and took advantage of the great cultural experiences in Chicago. I was very involved in foreign exchange student programs, helping foreign exchange students feel welcome in our high school, and helping them get oriented when they came each year. We had a very culturally diverse school, and I was very involved in that, as a result of my foreign language study.” She is fluent in French, speaks a little Italian, and is trying to learn Polish.
Szyper’s previous experience in lobbying and government makes her a key player in implementing policies, especially working with the state legislature.
“My father is a Democrat, and my mother was fairly non-political,” she recalls, “but I was fascinated with Reagan. I thought he made a lot of sense, and the things he offered made a lot of sense. Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, and Margaret Thatcher were very instrumental in how I started formulating my opinions. But it wasn’t until later, when I had young children, that I really formulated my political philosophy. I was asked to go as a citizen lobbyist to D.C. and advocate for different education and family issues, along with several organizations, and some of the work brought me on to focus on education policy here in Virginia. So, that’s how I got started.”
When Szyper was preparing to go to college, her sister became sick, and her father suffered financial reverses and asked her to delay her educational plans. The delay was longer than Szyper anticipated. She completed work for a bachelor’s degree from Regent University, primarily taking online courses, at the age of 45. She now has a master’s degree. A profile in the Regent magazine noted that she was “building the plane while flying it.” As for the original setback, Szyper told the magazine, “You can let life’s challenges be like a 50 lb. backpack weighing you down and keeping you from moving forward, or you can use it as a stepping stool to reach higher.”
We look forward to seeing how far this woman can go and how her work can continue to benefit all of Virginia.