Amy Oliver Cooke is a founder, President, and Chairman of the Board of Always On Energy Research, a national organization redefining how energy policy is measured and debated by focusing on affordability, reliability, and real-world outcomes.
She is also the founder of East x West Strategies, a public policy consulting firm where she leverages decades of experience in think tanks, legislative strategy, and political campaigns to help clients achieve durable policy wins across the country.
Amy serves as an Energy Fellow for both the Independence Institute and the State Policy Network, where she leads the Energy and Environmental Policy Working Group. She is co-host of the energy podcast Power Gab and serves as Vice Chair of Action Colorado’s influential Energy Committee. She was appointed by the Colorado Senate Minority Leader to serve on the Colorado Utility Consumers Board, where she helps represent ratepayer interests in utility regulation.
Prior to launching Always On, Amy served as CEO of the John Locke Foundation and as Executive Vice President of the Independence Institute, where she directed energy and environmental policy and built one of the most effective state-based energy policy programs in the country.
In 2016, she was appointed by Donald Trump to serve on the Environmental Protection Agency Transition Team.
Amy is a veteran of Colorado’s oil and gas wars and has led successful issue advocacy and political campaigns nationwide. Her work has earned top industry recognition, including the Pollie Awards, often called “the Oscars of political advertising,” and Reed Awards, widely considered the most exacting honors in political campaigning.
A committed First Amendment advocate, Amy has testified before Congress on the importance of protecting free speech in the energy debate. She is a prolific writer and commentator whose work has appeared in outlets including the Washington Examiner, The Hill, Denver Post, Colorado Politics, Charlotte Observer, and Raleigh News & Observer. She is also an award-winning radio host and columnist.
Isaac Orr is a founder and Vice President of Research at Always On Energy Research, where he conducts energy modeling and writes about energy and environmental issues, electricity policy, and natural resource development. His writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the New York Post, The Hill, and many other publications. He and his colleague Mitch Rolling have modeled the cost and reliability impacts of Environmental Protection Agency regulations in the Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator and Southwest Power Pool. They have also evaluated the cost and reliability implications of energy policies in more than twelve states. Isaac grew up on a small family dairy farm in Wisconsin, so he cares deeply about the issues affecting rural America.
Mitch Rolling is a founder, and Director of Research at Always On Energy Research, where he models energy proposals, analyzes the energy industry and electricity policy, and writes about energy and environmental issues. His research has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Forbes. Mitch and his colleague Isaac Orr co-authored an award-winning report highlighting the impact of Minnesota’s 50 percent renewable energy proposal and have designed several energy models to analyze the impact of energy proposals in twelve states and Environmental Protection Agency regulations in the Midcontinental Independent System Operator (MISO) and Southwest Power Pool (SPP). Mitch graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in history, and he earned an MS in Finance and Economics at West Texas A&M University in 2022.
