Sarah Hipel

Non-Resident Fellow, Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology

Bio

Sarah Hipel is a Non-Resident Fellow with the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology. She is a strategist and technical advisor specializing in secure, connected infrastructure for energy and mobility systems, with deep experience spanning federal leadership, private sector innovation, and global standards development. Her work focuses on building resilient, interoperable systems at the intersection of cybersecurity, mobility, and energy.

In government, Sarah most recently served as Acting Chief Technology Officer at the U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, where she led national efforts to standardize and secure electric vehicle infrastructure. From the Joint Office she directed cross-sector strategies to integrate cybersecurity and system resilience into large-scale deployment, and served as Program Manager for Standards and Reliability, helping shape federal guidance for infrastructure investments in partnership with state agencies, national labs, and private industry stakeholders.

In the private sector, Sarah held senior leadership roles in the mobility and energy industries, where she focused on advancing secure, interoperable systems for connected vehicles and charging infrastructure. Her work has spanned product strategy, cybersecurity integration, and standards development, with an emphasis on aligning technical innovation with regulatory and operational needs. Sarah also served as Chair of SAE’s OpenPKI Consortium, advancing scalable digital trust frameworks.

Sarah holds a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Michigan University, and professional certificates in sustainable infrastructure (MIT) and electric vehicle technology (Wayne State University).