• Joseph Majkut

    Director, CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program

  • Geoff Pyatt

    Former Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources

  • Sagatom Saha

    Adjunct Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA

  • Taiya Smith

    Co-Founder & CEO, Phylleos, Inc.

  • Clay Seigle

    Senior Fellow and James R. Schlesinger Chair in Energy and Geopolitics, CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program

  • Raad Alkadiri

    Managing Director, Energy, Climate & Resources, Eurasia Group

  • Leslie Palti Guzman

    Senior Associate (Non-Resident), CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program

  • Leslie Abrahams

    Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program

  • Robin Millican

    Former Head of Strategic Initiatives and Integration at Breakthrough Energy

  • John Helveston

    Assistant Professor, Engineering Management and Systems Engineering, George Washington University

  • Cy McGeady

    Associate Fellow, Energy Security and Climate Change Program

  • Tim Fox

    Managing Director, ClearView Energy Partners

  • Jane Nakano

    Senior Fellow, CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program

  • Ilaria Mazzocco

    Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, CSIS Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics

  • Ed Keith

    Head of Consulting, Rho Motion

  • Mark Nelson

    Vice Chairman, Chevron Corporation

Biographies

 

Joseph Majkut

Joseph Majkut is director of the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). In this role, he leads the program's work understanding the geopolitics of energy and climate change and working to ensure a global energy transition that is responsive to the risks of climate change and the economic and strategic priorities of the United States and the world. Joseph is an expert in climate science, climate policy, and risk and uncertainty analysis for decisionmaking. He is frequently cited in trade and national media on the politics of climate change and has testified before Congress on climate change and science. Before CSIS, Majkut worked as the director of climate policy at the Niskanen Center, where he led that group's efforts to research and promote carbon pricing, low-carbon innovation, regulatory reform, and other market reforms to speed decarbonization. From 2014 to 2015, he worked in the U.S. Senate as a congressional science fellow, supported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geosciences Institute. He holds a PhD from Princeton University in atmospheric and oceanic sciences, a master’s degree in applied mathematics from the Delft University of Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Harvey Mudd College.

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Leslie Abrahams

Dr. Leslie Abrahams is a leading expert in energy systems, clean technology innovation, and climate policy. As deputy director and senior fellow with the Energy Security and Climate Change program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), she provides strategic insight at the intersection of energy security, emerging technologies, and decarbonization pathways. Prior to joining CSIS, Leslie served as assistant director for clean energy and energy systems innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy where she helped shape federal energy policy and advance technology deployment. She previously served as a policy fellow with Elemental Impact where she focused on climate finance and emerging clean energy technologies. She was also previously the director of energy systems analysis at Clean Air Task Force where she led research on decarbonization pathways and scaling clean energy infrastructure to manage risk and uncertainty. Leslie holds a doctorate in engineering and public policy and civil and environmental engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a BS in chemical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.

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Jane Nakano

Jane Nakano is a senior fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Her research interests include U.S. energy policy; energy geopolitics; global market and policy developments concerning natural gas, hydrogen, nuclear energy, and critical minerals; and energy security and climate issues in the Asia-Pacific region. She frequently writes and speaks on these issues at domestic and international conferences and to media around the world. She has also testified before Congress on China's competitiveness in energy technology manufacturing and exports as well as U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on U.S.-China nuclear energy cooperation. Prior to joining CSIS in 2010, Nakano worked in the Office of International Affairs in the U.S. Department of Energy, where she covered a host of energy, economic, and political issues in Asia. From 2001 to 2002, she served at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo as a special assistant to the energy attaché. Nakano graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

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Clay Seigle

Clayton Seigle is a senior fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and holds the James R. Schlesinger Chair in Energy and Geopolitics. An experienced energy industry analyst with specialization in market intelligence and political risk, Clay provides policymakers and corporate leaders with thought leadership and strategic insights to navigate regional and global energy security challenges. Previously, Clay led the Global Oil Service at Rapidan Energy Group. Prior to Rapidan, he served in analytical and leadership roles at Vortexa, Genscape, Maxar, IHS, Enron, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Clay has been a commentator on CNBC, CNN, and Bloomberg Television and a contributor at Petroleum Economist, and has been interviewed in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Houston Chronicle, Reuters, and Sky News. He serves on the Board of Directors at the Houston Committee on Foreign Relations and is a past vice president of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics. Clay holds a master’s degree in international relations and economics from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin.

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Cy McGeady

Cy McGeady is a fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He covers power markets, the energy transition, climate finance, and the macro trends affecting investment in the energy sector. Cy has years of experience working in the power sector across a series of roles at Genscape and Wood Mackenzie. Cy has experience consulting on project development, managing assets in short-term markets, and originating long-term transactions with a wide range of parties in the power sector. Cy has also closely studied transmission systems, generation dispatch, and price formation in power markets. Cy has recently worked in a capital advisory role with private funds seeking to invest in sustainability and climate solution projects. He is currently studying for a MA in liberal arts at St. John’s College and holds a BA in economics from the University of Rochester.

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Ilaria Mazzocco

Ilaria Mazzocco is deputy director and senior fellow with the Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She has over a decade of experience researching industrial policy, Chinese climate policy, and the intersection between the energy transition and economic and national security. Prior to joining CSIS, she led research on Chinese climate and energy policy for Macropolo, the Paulson Institute's think tank. She holds a PhD from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where her dissertation investigated Chinese industrial policy by focusing on electric vehicle promotion efforts and the role of local governments. She speaks Chinese and Italian.

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Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt

Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt leads the McLarty Energy and Critical Minerals Practice and contributes to our Europe, Eurasia and South Asia practices. During a 35-year career in the Foreign Service, Amb. Pyatt managed complex challenges across issues of international energy, military cooperation, regional geopolitics, and European and Asian affairs.

Amb. Pyatt most recently served as Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources (ENR) where he led the G7+ effort to mobilize international support for Ukraine's energy resilience and reduce Russia's energy revenues. As America's chief energy diplomat, Amb. Pyatt advanced energy partnerships with key allies and partners including Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Australia, Brazil, and the European Union, and directed US diplomatic efforts to diversify supply chains for critical minerals to power the energy transition.

Prior to his confirmation as Assistant Secretary, Amb. Pyatt was U.S. Ambassador to Greece during the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, and Ambassador to Ukraine from 2013 to 2016. In Greece Amb. Pyatt led efforts to build regional energy cooperation and worked with U.S. partners to expand bilateral cooperation in shipbuilding, high technology, military coordination and education. He was widely recognized for his leadership as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine during Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea. In Washington he also served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs and was Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna, where he represented the United States to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Among other recognitions Amb. Pyatt is a recipient of the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Medal (DoD’s second highest civilian honor) and the Secretary of State's Distinguished Honor Award. He holds a MA in international relations from Yale University and a BA in political science from the University of California, Irvine.

Mark Nelson

Mark A. Nelson, 61, is vice chairman of Chevron Corporation. In addition to his corporate responsibilities, Nelson is executive vice president of Oil, Products & Gas, where he is responsible for the entire value chain, advancing a more integrated approach to capital allocation, asset class excellence and value chain optimization.

Nelson was recently executive vice president of Strategic Business Solutions, which included Business Development, Corporate Affairs, IT, Strategy and Sustainability, and Supply Chain Management. He was executive vice president, Downstream & Chemicals, a position he held from 2019–2022, with responsibilities for directing the company’s worldwide manufacturing, marketing, lubricants, chemicals and Oronite additives businesses. He also oversaw Chevron’s joint-venture Chevron Phillips Chemical Company.

Other positions include vice president, Midstream, Strategy & Policy where he was responsible for the company’s shipping, pipeline, power and energy management, and supply and trading operating units, corporate strategic planning and policy, government and public affairs; vice president, Strategic Planning for Chevron; president, International Products; and president, Chevron Canada Limited.

With nearly 40 years of experience, Nelson has served in numerous leadership positions with increasing responsibilities. He has also served on several advisory boards and councils, including Singapore’s Economic Development Board and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. He currently serves on the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Board of Directors.

Edward Keith

Ed brings over a decade of expertise in leadership and project management. His experience spans the entire battery supply chain, from mining operations to grid integration and battery recycling initiatives. He typically focuses on downstream lithium-ion battery projects, the range of which includes commercial vendor due diligence, market entry strategies, and strategic advice. Collectively, their value reaches into the billions of dollars, highlighting the scale and significance of his contributions.

Beyond Benchmark, Ed has a robust leadership background shaped by eight years of service in the British Army’s Household Cavalry. This tenure included a two-year role within the Royal Household. Ed holds a scientific foundation from his studies in Chemistry at Edinburgh University, where he concentrated on the hydrometallurgical recovery of nickel.

Leslie Palti-Guzman

Leslie Palti-Guzman is a seasoned commodity market research analyst, political risk adviser, entrepreneur and podcaster and with nearly two decades of experience. Her expertise spans commodities, global trade flows, geoeconomics, security risks, shipping, natural gas, LNG, low-carbon fuels, and energy transitions. She was the co-founder and CEO of Gas Vista, a market intelligence and predictive analytics firm specializing in seaborne commodity trade flows and shipping routes. Gas Vista’s predictive maritime platform, Leviaton, provided unique analytical and data-driven insights into liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows, shipping, and emissions. In September 2023, hedge fund manager Bill Perkins and his start-up SynMax acquired both Gas Vista and Leviaton, after which Leslie served as Head of Research and Market Intelligence and Leviaton Product Owner at SynMax. She is also a Senior Associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) and a Senior Fellow (non-resident) at New York University’s SPS Center for Global Affairs. Additionally, she hosts the Energy Vista podcast. Previously, Leslie led the Global Gas Service at Rapidan Energy Group, was a nonresident fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, and served as a senior analyst at Eurasia Group. She has testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on oil and gas market challenges and opportunities. A recognized thought leader, Leslie is frequently invited to speak at global energy forums and appears on television as an expert commentator. She holds an MA in International Affairs from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and both an MA and BA in Political Science and International Affairs from Sciences Po Paris. She is fluent in French and Spanish. She lives in NYC with her husband and two children.

Timothy Fox

Timothy Fox is a Managing Director at ClearView Energy Partners, a DC-Based research firm for institutional investors and corporate strategists. He leads the Firm’s power sector coverage and contributes to its U.S. policy research. For more than 20 years, Mr. Fox has provided timely and forward-looking analysis of electricity policies and trends, including keen insights regarding state-level dynamics. He appears frequently in print and broadcast media, and he speaks before national associations and educational institutions. Mr. Fox is a member of an energy storage consortium led by Sandia National Laboratories, and he is an active participant in the American Energy Society, the Energy Bar Association and the National Energy Resources Organization.

Taiya Smith

Taiya Smith is Co-Founder and CEO of Phylleos, Inc., a cloud native information ecosystem designed to help corporate and government decision makers understand the implications of economic dynamics, policy changes, complex global supply chains and climate change on their businesses.

Previously, Smith managed the China Program at the Climate Leadership Council focusing on the nexus of carbon pricing and trade, and was a climate and technology consultant to multinational companies. She also served as an expert advisor to U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern in the lead up to the Paris Accord.

In service to the United States government, Smith was Deputy Chief of Staff and Executive Secretary to U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. At Treasury, Smith led the U.S. — China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), managed the U.S. negotiating team across seven government departments and established the U.S. – China Ten Year Framework on Energy and the Environment and the EcoPartnership program. Through her years in and out of government, Smith has extensive experience designing and implementing policy, especially those involving driving the energy transition.

Raad Alkadiri

Dr Raad Alkadiri is managing partner at 3TEN32 Associates, an international advisory group concentrating on the nexus between geopolitics and energy markets. Drawing on three decades of experience, his work focuses on identifying the political, economic, and social trends that shape energy-market dynamics and public policy, and on evaluating the implications of for governments and corporations.

Over the course of his career, Raad has held senior political-risk-management and energy-market-analysis roles at Eurasia Group, Boston Consulting Group, IHS, and PFC Energy. He also served as Assistant Private Secretary to the UK Special Representative to Iraq from 2003-2004, and as Senior Political Advisor to the UK Ambassador to Iraq from 2006-2007.

He has published widely on Middle East politics, energy markets, and geopolitical developments, and is a regular media commentator. He holds a DPhil from St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, and is a non-resident Senior Associate in the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Sagatom Saha

Sagatom Saha is an Adjunct Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA. He is an expert on the geopolitics of the global energy transition and U.S. competitiveness in clean energy technologies. In addition to his role at CGEP, he is a senior associate in the energy transition practice at Macro Advisory Partners. Sagatom previously worked on cleantech competitiveness at the International Trade Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce and served as a special advisor in the Office of the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. In this role, he was chief of staff to Secretary Kerry’s clean energy and innovation team and led on cleantech competitiveness, nuclear energy, industrial decarbonization, Ukraine and Eastern Europe, and India. Sagatom was also a Fulbright researcher in Kyiv, Ukraine, where he advised the Ukrainian Parliament and cabinet ministries on strategies to advance energy reform. Sagatom previously helped direct the Council on Foreign Relations’ Program on Energy Security and Climate Change, managing its geopolitics portfolio.

John Helveston

John Paul (JP) is an Assistant Professor at George Washington University in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering. His research focuses on understanding how consumer preferences, market dynamics, and policy affect the emergence and adoption of low-carbon technologies, such as electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies. He also studies the critical relationship between the US and China in developing and mass producing these technologies. He has expertise in discrete choice modeling, conjoint analysis, survey design, exploratory data analysis, interview-based research methods, the R programming language, China, and the global electric vehicle industry. He speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese and has conducted extensive fieldwork in China. John holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.S. in Engineering Science and Mechanics.

Robin Millican

Robin Millican is a clean energy policy expert who previously worked at Breakthrough Energy, a network of initiatives founded by Bill Gates focused on scaling clean energy technologies. At Breakthrough Energy, she served as the Head of Strategic Initiatives and Integration, overseeing a team of experts who developed long-term strategies to advance federal and state policy priorities across sectors such as power, industry, buildings, transportation, and agriculture. Robin's team was also responsible for philanthropic giving to partner organizations.

Before her role at Breakthrough Energy, Robin led the clean energy innovation policy portfolio at Gates Ventures, the private office of Bill Gates. With over a decade of experience in energy, science, and technology policy, Robin has also served as a senior strategy consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton and as a legislative aide to U.S. Senator John Cornyn. Robin received a B.A. from Southern Methodist University and a Master of Public Policy from Duke University.