Carbon Negative Shot Summit Agenda  

Wednesday July 20, 2022

View the agenda and speaker biographies for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Carbon Negative Shot Summit. Watch a replay of each session by clicking on the presentation name.

TIME (EDT) PRESENTATION SPEAKER
11:00 a.m.

Welcome And Carbon Negative Shot Summit Introduction

Dr. Jennifer Wilcox, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management  
11:10 a.m. Opening Remarks Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy
11:20 a.m.

Congressional Perspectives 

In 2021, Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which made historic investments of approximately $12.1 billion over the next five years in carbon management, including carbon reduction and atmospheric removal, carbon dioxide transport, storage, and utilization. This bicameral session will focus on Congress’ support of large-scale carbon dioxide removal in the United States and what the future of carbon dioxide removal can hold.

U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)

U.S. Representative Scott Peters (CA-52)

11:30 a.m.

State Voices

States are laboratories of innovation: offering opportunities to research and implement nascent energy solutions before they can be advanced at a national level. Join this session to learn how Oklahoma is deploying carbon dioxide removal technologies and developing a business model for others to follow.

Kenneth Wagner, Secretary, Oklahoma’s Office of Energy and Environment

Moderated by: Bradford Crabtree, Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management

11:40 a.m.

Climate Context Keynote

Nearly all climate scenarios in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment report that show pathways to 1.5°C indicate the need for a near-term deployment of carbon dioxide removal. Join this keynote session to learn about the role of carbon dioxide removal in meeting global climate goals.

Ko Barrett, Senior Advisor for Climate, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
11:50 a.m.

Environmental And Climate Justice Keynote 

What will it take for carbon dioxide removal to advance environmental and climate justice? Join this keynote session to learn how the Carbon Negative Shot can address the climate crisis in a just and sustainable manner.

Shalanda Baker, Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity
12:00 p.m.

Overview Of Carbon Dioxide Removal In U.S. Climate Policy Panel 

This session will highlight how the Carbon Negative Shot aligns with the climate policy goals of the Biden Administration.

Dr. Sally Benson, Deputy Director for Energy and Chief Strategist for the Energy Transition, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Catherine Flowers, White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council

Trisha Miller, Senior Director of Industrial Emissions, White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy

Dr. Candace Vahlsing, Associate Director for Climate, Energy, Environment, and Science, White House Office of Management and Budget

Moderated by: David M. Turk, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy

12:50 p.m. Break  
1:00 p.m.

U.S. Department Of Energy's Carbon Dioxide Removal Activities Spotlight

Want to learn about major Department of Energy carbon dioxide removal efforts already underway? Join us for this session to hear from Department of Energy leaders as they discuss the work the Department is doing to advance the development of the emerging and necessary carbon dioxide removal industry.

Dr. David Babson, Program Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)

Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science

Kelly Cummins, Acting Director and Principal Deputy Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations

Noah Deich, Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management

Ushma Kriplani, Commercialization Executive, Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions

Kelly Speakes-Backman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy 

1:30 p.m.

State Of Carbon Dioxide Removal: Social, Political, Economic Landscape Panel 

Carbon dioxide removal is critical component to a portfolio of solutions needed to address the climate crisis. Join this panel discussion to learn about the private sectors’ major initiatives to advance deployment of commercially viable carbon dioxide removal and their intersection with justice and equity, environmental protection, and workforce development.

Anna Fendley, Director of State and Regulatory Policy, United Steelworkers

Dr. Clea Kolster, Partner and Head of Science, Lowercarbon Capital

Ugbaad Kosar, Deputy Director of Policy, Carbon180

Dr. Arun Majumdar, Jay Precourt Provostial Chair Professor, Stanford University

Nan Ransohoff, Head of Climate, Stripe

Moderated by: Robinson Meyer, Staff Writer, The Atlantic

2:15 p.m.

Innovation Panel

To meet the Administration's goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, carbon dioxide removal pathways will need to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and store it at gigaton scales for less than $100/net metric ton of CO2-equivalent by 2032. Join this panel discussion to learn how we can advance the Carbon Negative Shot by addressing research and development challenges in carbon dioxide removal.

Dr. Brian Anderson, Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory

Andrew Chang, New York Managing Director, Activate

Dr. Scott Doney, Joe D. and Helen J. Kington Professor in Environmental Change, University of Virginia

Saritha Peruri, Head of Corporate Partnerships, Elemental Excelerator

Dr. Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Senior Staff Scientist and Group Leader, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Jigar Shah, Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s Loans Program Office

Moderated by: Dr. Geri Richmond, Under Secretary of Science and Innovation, U.S. Department of Energy

3:00 p.m.

Equity And Economic Opportunity Panel 

Join energy and justice experts as they discuss the biggest gaps in community engagement and how Carbon Negative Shot can help address these gaps and advance the Biden Administration’s Justice40 Initiative.

Dr. Holly Buck, Management and Program Analyst, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management

Genesis Granados, Environmental Justice Coordinator, Air Alliance Houston

Dr. Damon Hartley, Group Lead, Idaho National Laboratory

Wahleah Johns, Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs

Jason Walsh, Executive Director, BlueGreen Alliance

Moderated by: Kate Gordon, Senior Advisor, U.S. Department of Energy

3:45 p.m.

Closing Keynote 

Get a sneak peek of upcoming Carbon Negative Shot activities and learn how you can partner with the Department of Energy on carbon dioxide removal.

Bradford Crabtree, Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management

 

Speakers

Welcome and Carbon Negative Shot Summit Introduction

Jennifer Wilcox

Dr. Jennifer Wilcox

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management

 

Jennifer Wilcox is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management at DOE and is on leave as the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, as a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute (WRI), she led WRI’s Carbon Removal Program.  

Having grown up in rural Maine, Dr. Wilcox has a profound respect and appreciation of nature. That appreciation permeates her work; she focuses on minimizing climate and environmental impacts of our dependence on fossil fuels.  

Dr. Wilcox holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and an M.A. in Chemistry from the University of Arizona and B.A. in Mathematics from Wellesley College. Dr. Wilcox's research takes aim at the nexus of energy and the environment, developing both mitigation and adaptation strategies to minimize negative climate impacts associated with society's dependence on fossil fuels. She has served on committees of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Physical Society to assess carbon capture methods and impacts on climate. She is the author of the first textbook on carbon capture, Carbon Capture, published in March 2012. She co-edited the CDR Primer on carbon dioxide removal in 2021. 

OPENING REMARKS

Jennifer Granholm

Jennifer M. Granholm

Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy

Jennifer M. Granholm was sworn in as the 16th Secretary of Energy on February 25, 2021, becoming just the second woman to lead DOE. Secretary Granholm will lead DOE in helping America achieve President Biden's goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 by advancing cutting-edge clean energy technologies, creating millions of good-paying union clean energy jobs, and building an equitable clean energy future. Secretary Granholm will also oversee DOE's core missions of promoting American leadership in scientific discovery, maintaining the nuclear deterrent and reducing nuclear danger, and remediating the environmental harms caused by legacy defense programs. Prior to her nomination as Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm was the first woman elected Governor of Michigan, serving two terms from 2003 to 2011. 

CONGRESSIONAL PERSPECTIVES

U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)

U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) 

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has earned a reputation in the Senate as a fierce advocate for progressive values and a thoughtful legislator capable of reaching across the aisle to achieve bipartisan solutions. Senator Whitehouse has been at the center of bipartisan efforts to pass laws overhauling federal education policy, rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, reforming the criminal and juvenile justice systems, protecting Americans from toxic chemicals in everyday products, and addressing ocean plastic waste. Recognizing the devastating toll of addiction in Rhode Island and across the nation, Whitehouse authored the first significant bipartisan law to address the opioid crisis, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. Representing the Ocean State, Whitehouse plays a key role in crafting policies addressing climate change, environmental protection, and a price on carbon. He passed into law a dedicated fund to support ocean and coastal research and restoration and bipartisan legislation to confront the crisis of marine plastic and other waste polluting our oceans. He has worked to enact bipartisan measures to reduce carbon pollution and boost America’s clean energy economy. Whitehouse has stood as a staunch defender of Social Security and Medicare, and has made improving care and reducing costs in our health care system a hallmark of his career. To counteract the corrosive effects of special interests in our democracy, Whitehouse has championed efforts to root out dark money from our elections and make Congress and the courts accountable to the American people. “While fighting in Washington against corporate interests and their influence on the political process,” wrote the Providence Journal, “Senator Whitehouse has not forgotten the people back home.” A graduate of Yale University and the University of Virginia School of Law, Sheldon served as Rhode Island’s U.S. Attorney and state attorney general before being elected to the Senate, where he serves on the Finance Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee, and the Budget Committee. He and his wife Sandra, a marine biologist and environmental advocate, live in Newport. They have two grown children. 

U.S. Representative Scott Peters (CA-52)

U.S. Representative Scott Peters (CA-52)  

Congressman Scott Peters serves California’s 52nd Congressional district, which includes the cities of Coronado, Poway, and most of northern San Diego. First elected in 2012, he currently serves on the House Budget Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as the Joint Economic Committee.  

Scott Peters is a civic leader who has made improving the quality of life in San Diego his life’s work. As a Member of Congress, Scott’s emphasis has been promoting and expanding San Diego’s innovation ecosystem, advocating for San Diego’s pivotal role as a partner in the national defense, and making government work again. Ranked the 4th most independent Democrat in Congress by the National Journal, Scott Peters understands that business problems have bipartisan solutions, and is never afraid to work across party lines to build consensus and get things done.  

State Voices

Ken Wagner

Kenneth Wagner

Secretary, Oklahoma’s Office of Energy and Environment

 

Kenneth Wagner serves as Oklahoma’s Secretary of Energy and Environment where he was appointed in 2019 by Oklahoma’s new Governor J. Kevin Stitt. In this role, he is responsible for over 30 state agencies, boards, compacts, and commissions as well as advancing policies that encourage economic growth, sensible regulation that fosters responsible energy production, protects natural resources, and ensures clean air, land and water for all Oklahomans.

Previously, Mr. Wagner served as the Senior Advisor to the Administrator for Regional and State Affairs within USEPA’s Office of the Administrator where he also served as Director of the Office of Regional Operations. In addition to his regional duties, he served as the main point of contact in the Administrator’s Office with all 50 states’ top environmental regulators and tribal governments. He lead the efforts to reform and redefine the federal-state relationship and its efforts around cooperative federalism.

Before joining the Agency he came from the private sector where he practiced law and held private business interests for nearly 25 years. He was a founding member and managing partner of a successful mid-sized law firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma where he practiced and managed a diverse practice that included commercial, energy and environmental matters.

He received his degrees from the University of Oklahoma and the University of Tulsa College of Law.

Brad Crabtree

Moderated by: Bradford Crabtree

Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management

 

Mr. Brad Crabtree is the Assistant Secretary for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), where he leads and directs FECM’s research and development programs and oversees the Office of Petroleum Reserves.

Mr. Crabtree brings nearly three decades of experience in energy and climate policy to his role as Assistant Secretary.  Prior to coming to DOE, he served as Vice President for Carbon Management at the Great Plains Institute (GPI), where he cofounded and directed the Carbon Capture Coalition, which works to advance carbon management technologies to meet climate goals, create high-wage jobs, and support domestic energy and industrial production. 

At GPI, Mr. Crabtree also helped launch the bipartisan State Carbon Capture Work Group to foster deployment of carbon capture and CO2 transport infrastructure, and he led GPI’s efforts to establish the Industrial Innovation Initiative aimed at decarbonizing key industries.  Additionally, he co-directed Powering the Plains, a project that crafted a comprehensive 50-year regional blueprint for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and carbon capture.

Mr. Crabtree previously coordinated energy policy advisory groups for the Midwestern Governors Association and facilitated the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord Advisory Group for six governors and the premier of Manitoba. He has also led multiple overseas delegations of U.S. policymakers and private sector leaders to examine other countries’ policies and experience in carbon management and renewable energy technology.  

A North Dakota native, Mr. Crabtree is a graduate of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service and has an MA in history from Johns Hopkins University.

CLIMATE CONTEXT KEYNOTE

Ko Barrett

Ko Barrett

Senior Advisor for Climate, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

 

Ms. Barrett currently serves as the NOAA Senior Advisor for Climate. She is widely recognized globally as an expert on climate policy, particularly on issues related to climate impacts and strategies to help society adapt to a changing world. Ms. Barrett provides strategic advice and scientific leadership for climate research, applications, and services to coordinate and integrate activities across NOAA's portfolio of climate-related programs to enhance the effectiveness of NOAA in meeting climate mission goals. She is also currently serving as a Vice Chair for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a role she has held since 2015.  

Prior to her current role, Ms. Barrett served as the NOAA Research Deputy Assistant Administrator for Programs and Administration, where she supervised daily operations and administration of several major NOAA research programs, including the Climate Program Office, Ocean Acidification Program, and National Sea Grant College Program. Ms. Barrett has also served as deputy director of NOAA Research’s Climate Program Office. In addition, for over fifteen years, she served as a member of U.S. delegations charged with reviewing and adopting scientific assessments undertaken by the IPCC, and as the lead U.S. climate adaptation negotiator to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Ms. Barrett was instrumental in negotiating the Global Framework for Climate Services under the World Meteorological Organization and was NOAA’s climate representative to its Executive Committee and Congress for many years. Before joining NOAA, she was the Global Climate Change Program director at the United States Agency for International Development. 

ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE JUSTICE KEYNOTE

shalanda baker

Shalanda Baker

Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity    

Shalanda H. Baker is the Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity at the U.S. Department of Energy. Prior to her appointment, she was a Professor of Law, Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. She has spent over a decade conducting research on the equity dimensions of the global transition away from fossil fuel energy to cleaner energy resources. She is the author of over a dozen articles, book chapters, and essays on renewable energy law, energy justice, energy policy, and renewable energy development. In 2016, she received a Fulbright-Garcia-Robles research fellowship to study climate change, energy policy, and indigenous rights in Mexico. She is the co-founder and former co-director of the Initiative for Energy Justice, an organization committed to providing technical law and policy support to communities on the frontlines of climate change.   

OVERVIEW OF CARBON DIOXIDE REMOVAL IN U.S. CLIMATE POLICY PANEL

Dr. Sally Benson

Dr. Sally Benson

Deputy Director for Energy and Chief Strategist for the Energy Transition, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy 

 

Dr. Sally Benson is the Deputy Director for Energy and Chief Strategist for the Energy Transition in the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Trained as an earth scientist and engineer, she is an expert on wide variety of topics related to energy and the environment. For the past 25 years, she has focused on deep decarbonization of the global energy system. 

She comes to OSTP from Stanford University where she is the Precourt Family Professor of Energy Resources Engineering, in the School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences. During her time at Stanford, she was also the Director of the Global Climate and Energy Project, a research program focused on discovering and developing new technologies for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the energy system. Prior to joining Stanford University, she was at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she held many positions, including Earth Sciences Division Director, Associate Laboratory Director for Energy Sciences, and Deputy Director for Operations. She has been a coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and a member of several National Academies of Sciences studies related to energy and the environment, most recently the study on Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration. 

Catherine Flowers

Catherine Flowers

White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council 

 

Catherine Coleman Flowers is a member of the White House’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council. She is also the founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ) which seeks the implementation of best practices to address the reduction of health and economic disparities, improve access to clean air, water, and soil in marginalized rural communities by influencing policy, inspiring innovation, catalyzing relevant research, and amplifying the voices of community leaders. This is done within the context of climate change and through the lens of environmental justice.  

A member of the Board of Directors for the Climate Reality Project, she is employed as the Rural Development Manager for the Equal Justice Initiative and serves as a Senior Fellow for the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary. Her goal is to find solutions to raw sewage that exist in rural communities throughout the United States. Catherine is also an internationally recognized advocate for the human right to water and sanitation and works to make the UN Sustainable Development Agenda accountable to front-line communities. Her journey is chronicled in her book entitled Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret, which will be published by the New Press this November. Catherine was recently awarded a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship grant for her work as an Environmental Health Advocate. 

Trisha-Miller

Trisha Miller

Senior Director of Industrial Emissions, White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy

Trisha Miller is the Senior Director for Industrial Emissions in the White House Domestic Climate Policy Office. Her work focuses on the intersection of clean manufacturing and climate action. Previously, Trisha served as the Chief Innovation and Development Officer at Elevate, a national organization dedicated to ensuring that the benefits of clean energy reach those who need them most. In this role, she led Elevate’s climate policy and building decarbonization programs. She formerly served as a Senior Director at Gates Ventures and Breakthrough Energy – a network of entities and initiatives linked by a common commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Trisha developed a comprehensive climate policy framework for Breakthrough Energy, where she led industrial decarbonization, procurement, and transmission policy. Trisha also served on the DOE Agency Review Team for the Biden-Harris Transition Team.

Trisha is an expert in climate and energy solutions and served as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where she worked to advance President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. At HUD, she oversaw the expansion of the Better Buildings Challenge to the multifamily sector and led a federal initiative to triple the amount of renewable energy reaching low-income communities. This built on her former role managing the National Green Communities Program at Enterprise Community Partners, where she helped in the development of 20,000 green affordable homes. Before joining Enterprise, she directed the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights’ Community Development Initiative.

Trisha holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School and a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She also has a B.A., magna cum laude, in Environmental Policy from the University of Michigan.

Candace Vahlsing

Dr. Candace Vahlsing

Associate Director for Climate, Energy, Environment, and Science, White House Office of Management and Budget

Dr. Candace Vahlsing is the Associate Director for Climate, Energy, Environment, and Science for the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. In 2019 Governor Newsom appointed her as the science and technology policy advisor to the chair at the California Air Resources Board. Vahlsing has served as senior advisor for energy, climate change, and environment for U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and the minority staff director for the U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources and Infrastructure since 2017. She was senior policy advisor of energy and climate change for the U.S. Domestic Policy Council, Executive Office of the President from 2014 to 2017, special assistant to the associate director for energy and climate change at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Executive Office of the President from 2013 to 2014, and energy and environment policy advisor at Obama for America in 2012. She held various positions at the California Air Resources Board from 2009 to 2012, including air pollution specialist, legislative analyst and special assistant to the chair. She earned a Master of Public Policy degree, a Master of Science degree, and a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley.

David Turk

Moderated by: David M. Turk

Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy 

 

Prior to his nomination as Deputy Secretary, Turk was the Deputy Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), where he focused on helping countries around the world tackle their clean energy transitions. He also directed reports on the digitalization of energy systems, the future of clean hydrogen, and a project tracking progress on a wide range of clean energy technologies.  

During the Obama-Biden Administration, Turk coordinated international technology and clean energy efforts at DOE. During this time, he helped spearhead the launch of Mission Innovation—a global effort to enhance clean energy innovation. 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S CARBON DIOXIDE REMOVAL ACTIVITIES SPOTLIGHT

Dr. David Babson headshot

Dr. David Babson

Program Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) 

 

Dr. David Babson’s focus at ARPA-E includes bioenergy, agricultural systems innovation, and carbon management.  

Prior to joining ARPA-E, Babson served as the Senior Advisor for Renewable Energy, Natural Resources, and the Environment in the Office of the Chief Scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). There, he led R&D coordination efforts on carbon management, climate adaptation, sustainability, agricultural systems innovation, bioenergy, and biotechnology. Prior to joining the USDA, Babson was a Technology Manager in the Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) where he oversaw several Conversion Program projects and worked to understand how to leverage new technologies to advance the emerging bioeconomy and address global energy and climate challenges. Before BETO, Babson advocated for sustainable transportation solutions as a Senior Fuels Engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists.  

Babson earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University. 

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe Portrait

Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe

Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science

 

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is a Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry; the Ted and Jan Falasco Chair in Earth Sciences and Geology; and Interim Associate Dean for Graduate Education at the University of California, Merced. Her research is at the intersection of soil science, global change science, and political ecology with an emphasis on how the soil system regulates the earth’s climate and the dynamic two-way relationship between the natural environment and human communities. She previously served as the Chair of the US National Committee on Soil Science at the National Academies; was a Leadership board member for the Earth Science Women’s Network; and is currently a co-principal investigator in the ADVANCEGeo Partnership – a National Science Foundation funded effort to empower (geo)scientists to respond to and prevent harassment, discrimination, bullying and other exclusionary behaviors in research environments. Her scholarship on how physical processes such as erosion, fire, and changes in climate affect the biogeochemical cycling of essential elements in the earth system and her efforts to ensure equity and inclusion of people from all walks of life in the scientific enterprise have received numerous awards and honors. She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America, and a member of the inaugural class of the US National Academies New Voices in Science, Engineering, and Medicine.    

Asmeret was born and raised in Asmara, Eritrea. She received a B.Sc. in Soil and Water Conservation from the University of Asmara, an M.Sc. in Political Ecology from Michigan State University, and a Ph.D. in Biogeochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2020 she was named a Great Immigrant, Great American by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. 

Kelly Cummins headshot

Kelly Cummins

Acting Director and Principal Deputy Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations  

 

Ms. Kelly Cummins is responsible for delivering more than $20 billion provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support large-scale clean energy demonstration projects.  

Ms. Cummins has worked in the field of national and energy security at DOE for more than 20 years. Prior to her role in OCED, Ms. Cummins served as the Associate Deputy Director for Field Operations in the Office of Science, where she was responsible for management and operational oversight of the Office of Science field complex. Prior to that, Ms. Cummins served as the Deputy Assistant Deputy Administrator and Program Executive Officer for Production Modernization in the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) Office of Defense Programs. From 2013 to 2017, Ms. Cummins was a Senior Advisor to former Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. 

Prior to joining the Department, Ms. Cummins worked in the U.S. Senate for the Assistant Majority Leader and in the private sector for a consulting company supporting the Department of Defense.  

Ms. Cummins has a Master of Science degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She currently resides with her husband and two sons in Washington, DC.

Noah-Deich

Noah Deich

Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management 

 

Noah Deich is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Carbon Management at the U.S. Department of Energy. Previously, Noah co-founded the US-based NGO Carbon180, and has a background in consulting on a range of clean energy and corporate sustainability projects.  

Noah received his M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and his B.A. from the University of Virginia. 

Ushma Headshot

Dr. Ushma Kriplani

Commercialization Executive, Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions  

 

Dr. Kriplani serves as the Commercialization Executive at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE's) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT).  

She also serves as the Interim Associate Laboratory Director for the Science and Technology Partnerships and Outreach directorate at Argonne National Laboratory. 

Dr. Kriplani joined Argonne in 2015 to work on commercializing laboratory-developed technologies through various avenues. Prior to becoming Interim Associate Laboratory Director for the Science and Technology Partnerships and Outreach directorate, she worked as a Business Development Executive within the Technology Commercialization and Partnerships Division, and more recently, as Manager of Strategic Planning and Initiatives. 

Prior to joining Argonne, Dr. Kriplani was a Senior Systems Engineer with NanoSonix, a startup with a focus on novel devices and instrumentation for high-tech and biotech industries. Before that, she worked in several technology and business development roles at startups and at Schlumberger Doll Research in the energy industry. 

Dr. Kriplani received a BS from St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai, India; an MS in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Bombay); a PhD in Physics from Caltech; and was a postdoctoral fellow in Molecular Biology at Argonne. 

Kelly Speakes-Backman

Kelly Speakes-Backman

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

 

Speakes-Backman leads and directs the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, focused on creating and sustaining American leadership in the transition to a global clean energy economy.  She oversees the planning and execution of the organization’s $3.2B portfolio of research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable transportation.  

Speakes-Backman most recently served as the first CEO of the Energy Storage Association, the national trade organization for the energy storage industry. She has spent more than 20 years working in energy and environmental issues in the public, NGO and private sectors. In 2019, Speakes-Backman was honored by The Cleanie Awards as Woman of the Year. 

STATE OF CARBON DIOXIDE REMOVAL: THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE PANEL

Anna

Anna Fendley

Director of State and Regulatory Policy, United Steelworkers

 

Anna Fendley is the United Steelworkers’ director of regulatory and state policy. Anna has been with the union for over a decade and previously served as the associate legislative director and in the union’s Health, Safety & Environment Department. Her portfolio includes health and safety; climate, energy, and environment; administrative law; and working families. She has helped the union build power by working in coalition with other organizations, particularly in her role representing USW on the BlueGreen Alliance steering committee. Anna was recently appointed as IndustriALL Global Union’s vice president for North America. She also represents the AFL-CIO as the chairperson of the International Trade Union Confederation’s Global Youth Committee where she led the effort to create a global economic platform for young workers.  

Anna earned her BS and MPH from Boston University and attended the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law. 

Clea

Dr. Clea Kloster

Partner and the Head of Science, Lowercarbon Capital 

 

Clea is a Partner and the Head of Science at Lowercarbon Capital and leads all of the firm’s technical research, development, diligence, and scientific strategy efforts. Clea’s career has always been focused on solving the climate emergency through innovation in technology, business models, and policy. 

Clea sits on the technical advisory board of Third Derivative, a hard science-driven climate innovation accelerator founded by the Rocky Mountain Institute. She is also a founding fellow of On Deck’s first Climate Tech program where she advises entrepreneurs and scientists on key areas of focus on climate innovation.  

Clea earned her Ph.D. in chemical engineering and energy policy at Imperial College London. She was awarded the Grantham Institute’s full scholarship to conduct her Ph.D. Clea conducted her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Imperial College London. 

Clea’s Ph.D. work focused on the techno-economics of large scale carbon capture and storage systems, part of which she conducted at Stanford University’s Energy Resources & Engineering department. With multiple publications under her belt, including “Cost and Performance of Some Carbon Capture Technology Options for Producing Different Quality CO2 Product Streams” (link) and “CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery: A Catalyst for Gigatonne-Scale Carbon Capture and Storage Deployment?” (link) each cited dozens of times, she was invited to present her research at several international conferences including at the distinguished Stanford Energy Seminar in 2018. 

Ugbaad Kosar

Ugbaad Kosar

Deputy Director of Policy, Carbon180 

Ugbaad Kosar supports Carbon180's federal policy work, as deputy director, leading the organization's environmental justice initiative and forestry efforts. With over nine years of interdisciplinary experience in environmental science research, policy development, advocacy, and data analysis, Ugbaad’s work focuses on promoting intersectional and equitable climate policy. Previously, she worked for the City of Ottawa, informing municipal and provincial environmental legislation on the ground, and developed policy for both a grassroots organization and the City of Edmonton. Ugbaad holds a dual Master’s of Science in forest sciences and renewable resource management. 

Arun Majumdar Profile Photo

Dr. Arun Majumdar

Jay Precourt Provostial Chair Professor, Stanford University 

Dr. Arun Majumdar is the Jay Precourt Provostial Chair Professor at Stanford University, a faculty member of the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering (by courtesy), and Senior Fellow and former Director of the Precourt Institute for Energy. He is also a faculty in the Department of Photon Science at SLAC. In October 2009, Dr. Majumdar was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate to become the Founding Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), where he served until June 2012 and helped ARPA-E become a model of excellence and innovation for the government with bipartisan support from Congress and other stakeholders. Between March 2011 and June 2012, he also served as the Acting Under Secretary of Energy, enabling the portfolio that reported to him: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Electricity Delivery and Reliability, Office of Nuclear Energy, and Office of Fossil Energy, as well as multiple cross-cutting efforts such as Sunshot, Grid Tech Team, and others that he had initiated. Furthermore, he was a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu, on a variety of matters related to management, personnel, budget, and policy. In 2010, he served on Secretary Chu's Science Team to help stop the leak of the Deep Water Horizon (BP) oil spill.

Nan Ransohoff Headshot

Nan Ransohoff

Head of Climate, Stripe 

Nan Ransohoff is currently Head of Climate at Stripe, where her team is working to kickstart a market for permanent carbon removal. She leads Stripe Climate as well as Frontier, a $925M advance market commitment to accelerate carbon removal. Prior to Stripe, Nan led product and business teams at Opower, Nest, Uber, and most recently at Nuro as Head of Product. She received her BA from Harvard University and her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

 

 

INNOVATION PANEL

Portrait of Brian Anderson

Dr. Brian Anderson

Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory 

 

As director of the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Brian J. Anderson, Ph.D., manages the complete NETL complex, including delivery and execution of the Laboratory’s mission and national programs in carbon-based energy and program support to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Offices of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; Electricity; and Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response. Anderson leads NETL’s more than 1,300 employees and guides more than 1,000 R&D projects in 50 states with a total award value of $5 billion. Under Anderson’s leadership, NETL initiated critical technology development and deployment projects including direct air capture technologies for decarbonization, chemical looping combustion with potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and non-variable renewable energy for future low-carbon power systems.  

In April 2021, the Biden Administration named Anderson executive director of the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization. In this role, Anderson strategically leverages NETL’s resources and expertise to help ensure the shift to a clean energy economy creates good-paying jobs, spurs economic revitalization, remediates environmental degradation and supports energy workers in coal, oil and gas, and power plant communities across the country.  

Anderson is the recipient of the 2020 Federal Laboratory Consortium Laboratory Director of the Year award, and Secretary’s Honor Award and Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for his research. Anderson earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at West Virginia University and his master’s and doctorate in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Andrew Chang

Andrew Chang

New York Managing Director, Activate 

 

Andrew Chang is the New York Managing Director for Activate. He started off as a climate and energy analyst for Al Gore’s nonprofit and worked on his book “Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis” (the sequel to “An Inconvenient Truth”) analyzing research on climate solutions and modeling, and engaged with scientists, labs and policy teams. He went on to serve at the US Dept of Energy during the Obama Administration implementing building energy efficiency programs seeking to identify new innovations for reducing carbon emissions.  

Suffering from back pain, he later co-founded a digital health and wearable device company (that helped solve his pain) and grew the company from Seed to Series B to acquisition. He led roles in engineering, IP, product, manufacturing, and built a team that shipped multiple hardware/software products at scale. Then he moved to Singapore and helped build ASUS’ internal AI/ML incubator from scratch that deployed a portfolio of in-house AI services across multiple domains, led strategic partnerships across the region, and evaluated investment opportunities in deeptech startups.  

Andrew holds 13 patents and earned a Master’s in Atmosphere and Energy from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan.  

Scott Doney

Dr. Scott Doney

Joe D. and Helen J. Kington Professor in Environmental Change, University of Virginia

 

Dr. Scott Doney's expertise spans oceanography, climate and biogeochemistry, with particular emphasis on the application of numerical models and data analysis methods to global-scale questions. Much of his research focuses on how the global carbon cycle and ocean ecology respond to natural and human-driven climate change. One of his current areas of study is ocean acidification due to the invasion into the ocean of carbon dioxide and other chemicals from fossil fuel burning. He is the author of nearly 300 peer-reviewed research publications and co-author of a textbook on data analysis and modeling methods for the marine sciences.  

Doney was the inaugural chair of the U.S. Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) Program, a convening lead author for the Oceans and Marine Resources chapter of the 2014 U.S. National Climate Assessment, member of a number of National Academy of Sciences reports, and served on both the NSF Geosciences and NSF Environmental Research and Education Advisory Committees. He is the past Director of the Ocean and Climate Change Institute and Chair of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). He was awarded the James B. Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union in 2000, WHOI Ocean and Climate Change Institute Fellow in 2003, an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow in 2004, the WHOI W. Van Alan Clark Sr. Chair in 2007, an AAAS Fellow in 2010, and the Huntsman Award for Excellence in Marine Science in 2013 from the Royal Society of Canada.   

He graduated with a BA in chemistry from the University of California, San Diego in 1986 and went on his first oceanographic expedition in 1984 with Sea Education Association. He completed his PhD in chemical oceanography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography in 1991. He was a postdoctoral fellow and later a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, before returning to Woods Hole in 2002. In August 2017, he joined the University of Virginia as the first Joe D. and Helen J. Kington Professor in Environmental Change. 

Saritha Peruri

Saritha Peruri

Head of Corporate Partnerships, Elemental Excelerator 

 

Saritha cultivates relationships with corporate partners that catalyze growth for Elemental Excelerator’s startups through project deployments, investments, and acquisitions. She also helps the pipeline team attract and select the highest potential startups. 

Saritha started her career as an Investment Banking Analyst in Credit Suisse First Boston’s Global Energy Group in New York, followed by a Consultant role at Bain & Company in Chicago. She made the move to California to build the biopower business segment of Ceres, a biotech company that developed high-yielding energy crops. In this role, she interfaced with farmers, utility companies, and lawmakers to help create a new market, as well as the incentives to support it. In 2013, Saritha shifted her focus from biopower to the fast-growing solar industry, where she spent five years developing onsite solar installations, including over a dozen rooftop solar installations across Amazon Fulfillment’s distribution centers in the Northeast.  Most recently, Saritha was with Pattern Energy where she originated long-term wind and solar power purchase agreements with utilities and large commercial and industrial customers across the US. 

Saritha holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Relations from Brown University. 

Dr. Jennifer Pett-Ridge headshot

Dr. Jennifer Pett-Ridge

Senior Staff Scientist and Group Leader, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 

Dr. Jennifer Pett-Ridge is a senior staff scientist and group leader at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). She is the lead for the Carbon Uptake pillar of the LLNL Carbon Initiative and uses the tools of systems biology and biogeochemistry to identify how plant-microbial interactions and the ecophysiology of soil microbial communities affect sequestration of soil carbon. The recipient of a DOE Early Career award to work on responses of tropical soil microbes to climate change, she has pioneered combinations of isotopic imaging and isotope tracing with microbial genomics approaches in the fields of microbial biology and soil biogeochemistry. Pett-Ridge holds a BA in both Environmental Biology and Environmental Studies from Yale University, a Masters of Forest Science from the Yale School of Forestry, and a Ph.D. in Soil Microbial Ecology from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Headshot of Jigar Shah, LPO Executive Director

Jigar Shah

Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s Loans Program Office 

Jigar Shah was most recently co-founder and President at Generate Capital, where he focused on helping entrepreneurs accelerate decarbonization solutions through the use of low-cost infrastructure- as-a service financing. Prior to Generate Capital, Shah founded SunEdison, a company that pioneered “pay as you save” solar financing. After SunEdison, Shah served as the founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, a global non-profit founded by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite to help entrepreneurs address climate change. Originally from Illinois, Shah holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois-UC and an MBA from the University of Maryland College Park 

Dr. Geri Richmond is the Under Secretary for Science and Innovation

Moderated by: Dr. Geri Richmond

Under Secretary of Science and Innovation, U.S. Department of Energy 

 

She is currently on leave from the University of Oregon where she holds the Presidential Chair in Science and Professor of Chemistry. Richmond's research throughout her career has been on the use of laser-based and computational methods to understand the molecular, adsorption structure and dynamics at liquid surfaces that have relevance to environmental and technological interests.   

She is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been honored by numerous awards including the National Medal of Science (2016), the Priestley Medal from the American Chemical Society (2018) and the Linus Pauling Medal Award (2018).   

Her service to the nation includes serving two terms as a presidential appointee to the National Science Board (2012-2021) and as the U.S. State Department Science Envoy for the Lower Mekong River Countries (2015-2016). In addition to serving on many other national and international advisory boards, Richmond has been President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Sigma Xi, and the Scientific Research Honor Society.  

A career-long advocate for underrepresented groups in STEM fields,  she is the founding director of a grassroots organization called COACh that has helped over 25,000 women scientists and engineers in career advancement in the U.S. and in dozens of developing countries around the world. A native of Kansas, Richmond received her B.S. in chemistry from Kansas State University and her Ph.D. in physical chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. 

EQUITY AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY PANEL

Holly Buck

Dr. Holly Buck

Management and Program Analyst, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management

 

Dr. Holly Buck is a Management and Program Analyst in the Stakeholder Engagement Division of the Office of Carbon Management. She also supports justice and engagement efforts across the office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.   

Holly is an Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University at Buffalo, and holds a Ph.D. in Development Sociology from Cornell. Her research focuses on community concerns, ideas and priorities around carbon capture, utilization and storage and carbon removal approaches. She is a contributing author to the carbon removal chapter of the IPCC WG3 report and a co-author of the National Academies report on a research strategy for ocean carbon removal. 

Genesis Granados

Genesis Granados

Environmental Justice Coordinator, Air Alliance Houston 

 

Genesis Granados is Air Alliance Houston’s (AAH) Environmental Justice Outreach coordinator. They are responsible for engaging community residents and organizations in implementing community led efforts such as trainings, meetings or forums to prevent air pollution through the Environmental Justice Leadership Lab. In the last decade before joining AAH in April of 2022, they have focused on breaking down health care barriers via advocacy, education and capacity building. At their previous job at Legacy Community Health, they built a deep understanding of the various issues and existing disparities that are worsened by their physical environments. 

Genesis holds a Masters in Psychology from the University of Houston–Clear Lake. 

Damon Hartley

Dr. Damon Hartley

Group Lead, Idaho National Laboratory 

Dr. Damon Hartley works in Idaho National Laboratory’s Biofuels and Renewable Energy Technology department. He most recently comes from Morgantown, WV, having completed a Ph.D. in forest resources science at West Virginia University. The topic of his dissertation research was Modeling and Optimization of Woody Biomass Supply Chains in the Northeastern United States. Prior to entering the doctorate program, Damon worked from 2005 to 2010 as an extension specialist in timber harvesting at the Ohio State University and a watershed forester for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, in 2004 and 2005. He has a master’s in forest products-timber harvesting from the University of Idaho (2003) and a bachelor’s in wood science-forest utilization from West Virginia University (2001). 

Wahleah Johns headshot

Wahleah Johns

Director, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs 

 

Wahleah Johns is responsible for upholding and advancing the Office of Indian Energy’s mission to maximize the development and deployment of energy solutions for the benefit of American Indians and Alaska Natives.  

Johns is a member of the Navajo (Dine) tribe and comes from northeastern Arizona. Her background is in renewable energy and community organizing, having co-founded Native Renewables, a nonprofit that builds renewable energy tribal capacity while addressing energy access. Her work with the Black Mesa Water Coalition and Navajo Green Economy Coalition has led to groundbreaking legislative victories for groundwater protection, green jobs, and environmental justice. In 2019, she was awarded the Nathan Cummings Foundation Fellowship. 

Jason Walsh

Jason Walsh

Executive Director, BlueGreen Alliance 

 

Jason Walsh is the Executive Director of the BlueGreen Alliance. In that role, he provides overall leadership and management of the organization in accordance with the strategic  direction set by the Board of Directors.  

Walsh has more than twenty years of experience at state and federal levels in policy development and advocacy in a range of issue areas—including climate, clean energy, and economic and workforce development—and as a coalition organizer and manager. Walsh previously served in the Obama administration, as the Director of the Office of Strategic Programs in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and as a Senior Policy Advisor in the White House Domestic Policy Council, where he led Obama administration’s efforts to align and scale up federal investments in workers and communities impacted by the shift away from coal in the power sector.  

Walsh has also held leadership positions in a number of non-profit, policy-focused organizations, including as the Director of Policy and Strategic Partnerships at the BlueGreen Alliance, as well as positions at Green For All and the National Skills Coalition. Earlier in his career he was a union organizer, homeless shelter supervisor, and a policy fellow for the U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota.  

Jason holds Bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington and a Masters degree in public policy from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute.  He is also a graduate of the AFL-CIO’s Organizing Institute. 

Kate-Gordon

Moderated by: Kate Gordon

Senior Advisor, U.S. Department of Energy 

 

Kate Gordon has spent the past two decades working at the intersection of climate change, energy policy, and economic development. Most recently, Gordon served under California Governor Gavin Newsom as the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and Senior Policy Advisor to the Governor on Climate. Trained as a community organizer, and later in law and regional economic development, her focus has long been on bringing diverse groups together to work toward a more sustainable, inclusive economy. Prior to being appointed OPR Director, Gordon was the founding director of the Risky Business Project, which focused on quantifying the economic impacts of climate change on key U.S. regions and sectors. Gordon has served in senior leadership positions at several nonpartisan think tanks including the Henry M. Paulson Institute, the Center for the Next Generation, the Center for American Progress, and the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Gordon got her start on energy and climate issues working at the national Apollo Alliance, where she ultimately served as co-Executive Director until the merger with the Blue-Green Alliance in 2011. Under her leadership, the Apollo Alliance drafted key parts of the American Recovery And Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) including the Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit, and also partnered with the AFL-CIO to draft "just transition" proposals for several key energy and climate bills.  

Gordon earned a J.D. and a Masters in City and Regional Planning from the University of California-Berkeley, and an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University. 

CLOSING KEYNOTE

Brad Crabtree

Bradford Crabtree

Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management 

 

Mr. Brad Crabtree is the Assistant Secretary for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), where he leads and directs FECM’s research and development programs and oversees the Office of Petroleum Reserves.  

Mr. Crabtree brings nearly three decades of experience in energy and climate policy to his role as Assistant Secretary.  Prior to coming to DOE, he served as Vice President for Carbon Management at the Great Plains Institute (GPI), where he cofounded and directed the Carbon Capture Coalition, which works to advance carbon management technologies to meet climate goals, create high-wage jobs, and support domestic energy and industrial production.   

At GPI, Mr. Crabtree also helped launch the bipartisan State Carbon Capture Work Group to foster deployment of carbon capture and CO2 transport infrastructure, and he led GPI’s efforts to establish the Industrial Innovation Initiative aimed at decarbonizing key industries.  Additionally, he co-directed Powering the Plains, a project that crafted a comprehensive 50-year regional blueprint for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and carbon capture.  

Mr. Crabtree previously coordinated energy policy advisory groups for the Midwestern Governors Association and facilitated the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord Advisory Group for six governors and the premier of Manitoba. He has also led multiple overseas delegations of U.S. policymakers and private sector leaders to examine other countries’ policies and experience in carbon management and renewable energy technology.    

A North Dakota native, Mr. Crabtree is a graduate of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service and has an MA in history from Johns Hopkins University.