Betin Santos' expertise is in environmental, health, and educational policy. At Tagos, she leads energy planning for a major Texas utility (as part of its market transformation program) for more than 75 school districts in East Texas. She has engaged in environmental policy development and advocacy, grant and program development, and various educational program evaluations. Betin lobbied for and secured $7.5M in state air quality funds for the Texas Clean School Bus Program. She helped develop a comprehensive climate action plan for the City of Houston and has written grants to secure over $10M for various organizations. Betin recently lead the South Central Regional Capacity Center for ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability where she lead the Regional Center’s strategic planning and business development efforts. Using ICLEI’s emissions inventory software, Betin helped develop the emissions inventory for the sectors of municipal operations and helped analyze and develop sustainable strategies with an emphasis on energy efficiency, renewable energy, and clean energy fleets.

Prior to ICLEI, Betin served as a manager for Houston Clean Air for Life Campaign for the Environmental Defense Fund. While there, she lobbied for various air quality initiatives, including reducing pollution from school buses, and spearheaded the statewide process that garnered $7.5M for the new Texas Clean School Bus Program. Betin worked with a mix of stakeholders, including grassroots organizations, private industry, and state and federal regulatory agencies on local diesel emissions and air toxics initiatives and the regional State Implementation Plan. While at Environmental Defense, she also built and developed strategic coalitions to address local diesel pollution at “hot spots” such as construction sites, large truck stops, and the Port of Houston.

Betin is a published author in the area of environmental issues. She has a Masters of Public Administration, Environmental Policy, and Planning, from Texas A&M University and a B.S., Political Science, Summa Cum Laude, University Honors, University of Houston.