Dr. Richard G. Newell was sworn in on August 3, 2009 as the seventh Administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Dr. Newell is on leave from his position as the Gendell Associate Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Previously he served as the Senior Economist for energy and environment on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He also spent many years as a Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF), an independent, non-partisan environmental and resource economics research institution in Washington, DC. He has published widely on the economics of markets and policies for energy, the environment, and related technologies, particularly alternatives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving other energy and environmental goals.

Prior to his confirmation, Dr. Newell was a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a University Fellow of RFF, and on several boards including the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, the journal Energy Economics, the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, and the Automotive X-Prize. He has served on several National Academy of Sciences expert committees related to energy, environment, and innovation.

Dr. Newell holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University in environmental and resource economics. He also holds a Master in Public Affairs (M.P.A.) from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and a B.S. in materials engineering and a B.A. in philosophy from Rutgers University.

Joseph E. Aldy is the Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Environment at The White House.  Dr. Aldy reports through both the National Economic Council and the Office of Energy and Climate Change.  He is an assistant professor and currently on a public service leave of absence from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  Previously, he was a Fellow at Resources for the Future where his research focused on climate change policy, mortality risk valuation, and energy policy. He has been published in Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Review of Economics and Statistics, The Energy Journal, and other academic journals.  Dr. Aldy has co-edited two books: Architectures for Agreement: Addressing Global Climate Change in the Post-Kyoto World published in 2007 and Post-Kyoto International Climate Policy: Implementing Architectures for Agreement published in 2009, both by Cambridge University Press. Dr. Aldy served on the staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1997 to 2000 where he was responsible for climate change policy and other energy and environmental issues.

He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University, a Master of Environmental Management degree from the Nicholas School of the Environment, and a B.A. in water resources from Duke University.

Jason S. Grumet is Founder and President of the Bipartisan Policy Center. Throughout his career, Mr. Grumet has worked at the intersection of policy and politics.  In 2007, with the leadership of former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell, he founded the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) to develop and promote bipartisan solutions to the country’s most difficult public policy challenges. Currently, the BPC conducts projects in the areas of energy and climate change, national and homeland security, health care, science and transportation policy.  Since 2001, Mr. Grumet has directed the National Commission on Energy Policy (NCEP).  NCEP, now a project of the BPC, has released a number of significant studies and continues to actively advocate for its policy recommendations in Congress and with the Administration.  Most recently, NCEP worked with Congress on key aspects of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Prior to joining the Commission, Mr. Grumet worked for NESCAUM (Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management), a nonprofit association of air quality agencies in the Northeast. 

Mr. Grumet is a frequent witness at Congressional hearings and has made appearances on NBC News, CNN, MSNBC, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and National Public Radio. He has also been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and the Los Angeles Times, among other leading publications.

Mr. Grumet received a B.A. degree from Brown University and his J.D. degree from Harvard University. He lives with his wife, Stephanie, and their three children in Washington, D.C.

Karen Alderman Harbert is president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy (the Institute). Ms. Harbert leads the Institute’s efforts to build support for meaningful energy action nationally and internationally through policy development, education, and advocacy.

At the Institute, she was instrumental in formulating 88 specific policy recommendations that were presented to President Obama and the members of the 111th Congress. Harbert frequently testifies in front of Congress and provides analysis to the media, policymakers, and industry leaders.

Ms. Harbert is the former assistant secretary for policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy . She was the primary policy advisor to the Secretary and to the department on domestic and international energy issues, including climate change, fossil, nuclear, and renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Ms. Harbert was the deputy assistant administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She had oversight of programs in 11 countries, totaling more than $800 million and 1,000 employees.

In the private sector, Ms. Harbert worked for a developer of international infrastructure and power projects valued at more than $9 billion in countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. Ms. Harbert gained experience on issues associated with economic reform and privatization through earlier positions at the USAID, the Organization of American States, and the International Republican Institute.

Ms. Harbert received a degree in international policy studies and political science from Rice University in Houston, Texas. She is active in numerous international policy forums and resides in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two children.

As Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Air and Radiation, Gina McCarthy has been a leading advocate for win-win strategies to confront climate change and strengthen our green economy.  During her tenure, OAR has taken important steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions, including the Endangerment Finding, the Mandatory Reporting Rule, the first tailpipe greenhouse gas emission standard for passenger vehicles, and the Prevention of Significant Deterioration Tailoring Rule.  These rules are common-sense ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect public health and the environment.

Prior to her confirmation, Ms. McCarthy served as the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. In her 25 year career, she has worked at both the state and local levels on critical environmental issues and helped coordinate policies on economic growth, energy, transportation and the environment.  Ms. McCarthy also has extensive experience with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the nation’s first market-based greenhouse gas cap-and-trade system.

Ms. McCarthy received a B.A. in Social Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts at Boston and a joint M.S. in Environmental Health Engineering and Planning and Policy from Tufts University.