Katie Mehnert

Mehnert received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Louisiana State University in 1997 and later attended Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business in 2009 for executive education in energy. She is a graduate of the Center for Houston's Future.

Mehnert worked as a management consultant from 1997–2004 in the energy industry with Enron, Duke Energy, Waste Management, and Entergy. She left her position to join Shell as a global program & change leader in 2004, having stayed for 7 years working in health and safety. She joined BP as the director of culture, safety, and operational risk after the Deepwater Horizon spill.

In 2013, Mehnert got the idea for Pink Petro. A year later, she left BP to launch Pink Petro and focus on creating an online community to improve the livelihood of women professionals in the energy industry. She launched the community with initial support from Shell, Halliburton and KPMG. In 2016, she launched the HERWorld Energy forum (now called Energy 2.0) to foster connections between women in energy worldwide.

In 2020, Pink Petro rebranded as ALLY Energy. In 2021, ALLY acquired Clean Energy Social, a jobs and networking community for the clean energy industry.

For her advocacy in gender and racial equality in the energy sector, Mehnert was named a Top 40 under 40 in the Houston Business Journal. She was named a Top Woman to Watch in Energy and a Top 50 Houston Woman. She's also received the Vanguard Award for developing a pool of talent in STEM careers from Girls Inc, and the recipient of the YWCA's Top Woman in Energy. Mehnert has also received the Women Who Mean Business award in energy, and was named a Global World Affairs Council Leader of Influence in 2021.

In 2019, Mehnert testified before US Congress on the Clean Energy Workforce of the Future. In 2021, Mehnert joined the cast of Hot Money, a documentary aimed at discussing the financial impact of climate change. The film was directed by Susan Kucera and produced by actor Jeff Bridges and Wesley Clark.