Joseph R. Bankoff
Chair and Professor of the Practice, The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology
Joseph R. Bankoff was appointed chair of The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs in August 2012. Bankoff’s professional experience ranges across law and policy, economic development, government legislation, fiscal planning, and global issues. He has been involved with the Nunn School’s Sam Nunn Bank of America Policy Forum since its inception.
Bankoff’s work with Georgia Tech spans nearly two decades beginning with his role as partner in the law firm of King & Spalding where he founded the firm’s intellectual property practice group. He served as co- chair of the external advisory board to the College of Computing, and as a member of the board of the Georgia Center for Advanced Telecommunications Technology (GCATT), and as an advisor in the preparation of the 2010 Georgia Tech Strategic Plan.
Prior to joining the Georgia Tech faculty, Bankoff was, for six years, the President & CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center, one of the nation’s four largest performing arts centers. He spearheaded development of a new amphitheater and created a comprehensive strategic and financial plan encompassing the Center’s four artistic divisions, a new governance structure, a new campus master plan, and greatly expanded the Center’s arts education outreach.
Prior to that Bankoff was a partner for 30 years at King & Spalding LLP, working in the areas of technology and communication disputes trying major lawsuits in patent, copyright, trade secret, media and technology-related matters. Repeatedly recognized as one of Atlanta’s top lawyers, Bankoff was selected by Chambers USA as a leading lawyer in his practice area and as one of “The Best Lawyers in America.” As Television Counsel to the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG), he negotiated television rights agreements for the 1996 Olympic Games in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Africa, the Arab States Broadcasting Union, Latin and South America. He also represented the Sydney Olympic Committee in its U.S. TV agreement.
Bankoff received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management from Purdue University. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois. In 1992, he was a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law in Munich, Germany.
Rafael L. Bras
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology
Rafael L. Bras is a professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He holds the K. Harrison Brown Family Chair. Prior to becoming provost, Bras was distinguished professor and dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering of the University of California, Irvine (UCI). For 32 years prior to joining UCI, he was a professor in the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is past chair of the MIT faculty, former head of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, and former director of MIT’s Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory. He currently serves on the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board.
Peter C. Evans
Vice President, Center for Global Enterprise
Peter C. Evans is responsible for the Center for Global Enterprise’s research agenda and global partnerships. Recently established by Sam Palmisano, former chairman and CEO of IBM, the Center for Global Enterprise is dedicated to fostering a deeper understanding of the transformation of companies and economies as a consequence of a world defined by the freer movement of digital and physical goods, services, people, and capital.
Previously, Evans held key strategy and market intelligence roles at General Electric (GE). He was director of GE Corporate’s global strategy and analytics team. He also led GE Energy’s global strategy and planning team for five years. Prior to joining GE, he was a director at Cambridge Energy Research Associates and a key member of the firm’s global energy scenario team. He also worked as an independent consultant for a variety of corporate and government clients, including the U.S. Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee, U.S. Department of Energy, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the World Bank.
Evans has extensive international energy experience, including two years as a Visiting Scholar at the Central Research Institute for the Electric Power Industry in Tokyo, Japan. His many articles and policy monographs include: The Age of Gas and the Power of Networks (General Electric, 2013); The Industrial Internet: Pushing the Boundaries of Minds and Machines (General Electric, 2012); Japan: Bracing for an Uncertain Energy Future (Brookings Institution, 2006); Liberalizing Global Trade in Energy Services (AEI Press, 2002); and Fettered Flight: Globalization and the Airline Industry with D. Yergin and R. H. Vietor (CERA, 2002).
He received his master’s degree and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a board member of the National Association for Business Economics.
Thomas R. Kurfess
Professor and HUSCO/ Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control, The George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Thomas R. Kurfess received his S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1986, 1987, and 1989, respectively. He also received an S.M. degree from MIT in electrical engineering and computer science in 1988.
Following graduation, Kurfess joined Carnegie Mellon University where he rose to the rank of associate professor. In 1994, he moved to the Georgia Institute of Technology where he rose to the rank of professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. In 2005, he was named professor and BMW Chair of Manufacturing in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research. In 2012, he returned to Georgia Tech where he was appointed the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control and professor of mechanical engineering.
During the period 2012-2013, Kurfess was on leave serving as the assistant director for Advanced Manufacturing at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States of America. In this position, he had responsibility for engaging the federal sector and the greater scientific community to identify possible areas for manufacturing-related policy actions.
Kurfess has also served as a United Nations’ special consultant to the Government of Malaysia in the area of applied mechatronics and manufacturing, and as a participating guest at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in their Precision Engineering Program.
Kurfess currently serves on the board of directors for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining, and the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences.
Kurfess’ research focuses on the design and development of advanced systems targeting the automotive sector including vehicle and production systems. He has significant experience in high precision manufacturing and metrology systems. He has received numerous awards including a National Science Foundation (NSF) Young Investigator Award, an NSF Presidential Faculty Fellowship Award, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Pi Tau Sigma Award, the SME Young Manufacturing Engineer of the Year Award, the ASME Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award, the ASME Gustus L. Larson Award, an ASME Swanson Federal Award, and the SME Education Award. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the SME, and the ASME.
Sarah O. Ladislaw
Director and Senior Fellow, Energy and National Security Program, Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)
As director and senior fellow at CSIS, Sarah O. Ladislaw concentrates on the geopolitics of energy, energy security, energy technology, and climate change. She has been involved with CSIS’ work on the geopolitics portion of the 2007 National Petroleum Council study and the CSIS Smart Power Commission, focusing particularly on energy security and climate issues. She has published papers on U.S. energy policy, global and regional climate policy, clean energy technology, as well as European and Chinese energy issues. She teaches a graduate-level course on energy security at the George Washington University.
Ladislaw joined the Department of Energy (DOE) in 2003 as a presidential management fellow, and, from 2003 to 2006, worked in the Office of the Americas in the DOE’s Office of Policy and International Affairs, where she covered a range of economic, political, and energy issues in North America, the Andean region, and Brazil. While at the department, she also worked on comparative investment frameworks and trade issues, as well as biofuels development and use – both in the Western Hemisphere and around the world. Ladislaw also spent time at Statoil as the senior director for International Affairs in the Washington office. Ladislaw received her bachelor’s degree in international affairs/East Asian studies and Japanese from the George Washington University in 2001, and her master’s degree in international affairs/international security from the George Washington University in 2003 as part of the Presidential Administrative Fellows Program.
Raoul LeBlanc
Managing Director, Global Gas, PFC Energy
Raoul LeBlanc is a managing director in the Gas Practice. He is responsible for leading PFC Energy’s analytical teams focused on global gas dynamics and the rapidly evolving North American Onshore Upstream.
LeBlanc joined PFC Energy in January 2007, bringing 15 years of experience in strategic and industry analysis. Familiar with a wide range of corporate and market issues, he has extensive experience on issues related to North American independents and natural gas market developments.
From 1997 to 2006, LeBlanc worked at Anadarko Petroleum. During his tenure there, he directed the company’s strategic planning effort, which assumed responsibility for strategy formulation, portfolio optimization, scenario planning, and competitor analysis. He also worked on the company’s Mergers and Acquisitions team, evaluating and modeling financial results, operational performance, and E&P corporate valuation.
Prior to Anadarko, LeBlanc was a senior oil analyst at Energy Security Analysis, a market analysis consulting company in Washington, DC where he held responsibility for Asian markets and worldwide distillate fuels.
LeBlanc has worked and studied in Japan, the Western Pacific, and Britain. He holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and an M.A. in International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University.
Timothy C. Lieuwen
Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Executive Director of the Strategic Energy Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology
Timothy C. Lieuwen is a top international authority on clean energy, particularly low emissions combustion. He has authored or edited four combustion books, including the textbook Unsteady Combustor Physics. He has also authored seven book chapters, 90 journal articles in leading journals, and over 170 other papers. Additionally, he has received three patents.
Lieuwen is a fellow of the ASME, an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and has been a recipient of the AIAA Lawrence Sperry Award and the ASME Westinghouse Silver Medal. Other awards include ASME Best Paper Awards, Sigma Xi Young Faculty Award, and the NSF CAREER Award.
Lieuwen has managed over $15 million in research while at Georgia Tech. He also maintains a high profile international consulting practice and is co-founder of two successful companies that are commercializing low emissions combustion technology and power plant monitoring technologies. He is a member of the National Petroleum Counsel and is editor-in-chief of an AIAA book series.
Lieuwen is a board member of the ASME International Gas Turbine Institute and is past chair of the Combustion, Fuels, and Emissions technical committee of the ASME. He is also an associate editor of Combustion Science and Technology and the Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, and has served as associate editor for the AIAA Journal of Propulsion and Power.
Donald P. McConnell
Executive Director, Office of Industry Research, Georgia Institute of Technology
As Georgia Tech’s executive director of Industry Research, Don McConnell has responsibility for the Institute’s engagement with industry through strategic research collaborations and the commercial deployment of innovations arising from Tech’s research. He also serves as the executive director at the Georgia Tech Research Institute for industry collaboration and commercialization. He joined Georgia Tech in October 2012, having served as a consultant to the Institute focused on enhancing and expanding the scope and economic impact of research for industry.
Prior to joining Tech, McConnell served for 30 years as a senior executive and corporate officer of the Battelle Memorial Institute, the leading independent research and development organization with annual research revenues of $6.5 billion. His career spanned the full spectrum of research, development, and deployment of innovations for government and industry, with McConnell having served as Battelle’s senior vice president for the Commercial and Industrial Technology Division with responsibility for Battelle’s technology development and commercialization efforts. He was chair of Battelle’s first venture fund, Battelle Innovation Partners, and served as a Board member of several Battelle spinout ventures. Most notably, he led Battelle’s successful efforts to monetize their joint venture with Mitsubishi and Nippon Telephone and Telegraph, Photonic Integration Research Inc. (PIRI), a manufacturer of photonic multiplexing and splitters, which was monetized for cash and stock valued at $2.2 billion.
McConnell’s last position at Battelle was president of Battelle Energy Systems where he directed development of five lines of energy business focusing on near-zero emission hydrocarbon conversion, carbon management solutions, sustainable energy, power grid solutions and nuclear fuel cycle solutions. These businesses served the energy industry and collaborated in energy research with the National Laboratories of the U.S. Department of Energy. Including the operations of the National Laboratories, he oversaw some $920 million annually in energy-related research.
Ernest Moniz
U.S. Secretary of Energy
As the U.S. secretary of energy, Ernest Moniz is tasked with implementing critical Department of Energy missions in support of President Barack Obama’s goals of growing the economy, enhancing security, and protecting the environment. This encompasses advancing the president’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, maintaining the nuclear deterrent and reducing the nuclear danger, promoting American leadership in science and clean energy technology innovation, cleaning up the legacy of the Cold War, and strengthening management and performance.
Prior to his appointment, Moniz was the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was a faculty member since 1973. At MIT, he headed the Department of Physics and the Bates Linear Accelerator Center. Most recently, he served as the founding director of the MIT Energy Initiative and of the MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment and was a leader of multidisciplinary technology and policy studies on the future of nuclear power, coal, nuclear fuel cycles, natural gas, and solar energy in a low-carbon world.
From 1997 until January 2001, Moniz served as under secretary of the Department of Energy. He was responsible for overseeing the department’s science and energy programs, leading a comprehensive review of nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship, and serving as the secretary’s special negotiator for the disposition of Russian nuclear materials. From 1995 to 1997, he served as associate director for science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President.
In addition to his work at MIT, the White House and the Department of Energy, Moniz has served on a number of boards of directors and commissions involving science, energy, and security. These include President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the Department of Defense’s Threat Reduction Advisory Committee, and the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.
A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Moniz is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Humboldt Foundation, and the American Physical Society.
Moniz received a bachelor of science degree, summa cum laude, in physics from Boston College; a doctorate in theoretical physics from Stanford University; and honorary degrees from the University of Athens, the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Michigan State University, and Universidad Pontificia Comillas.
Sam Nunn
Distinguished Professor, The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology; Co-Chairman and CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative
Sam Nunn is co-chairman and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a charitable organization working to reduce global threats from nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. He served as a U.S. senator from Georgia for 24 years (1972-1996) and is retired from the law firm of King & Spalding.
In addition to his work with NTI, Nunn has continued his service in the public policy arena as a distinguished professor in The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology and as chairman of the board of the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, D.C.
During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Nunn served as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He also served on the Intelligence and Small Business Committees. His legislative achievements include the landmark Department of Defense Reorganization Act, drafted with the late Senator Barry Goldwater, and the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which provides assistance to Russia and the former Soviet Republics for securing and destroying their excess nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.
Nunn attended Georgia Tech, Emory University, and Emory Law School, where he graduated with honors in 1962. After active duty service in the U.S. Coast Guard, he served six years in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. He first entered politics as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives in 1968.
Adam N. Stulberg
Associate Professor and Co-Director, Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy (CISTP) in The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology
Adam N. Stulberg teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on international security, Eurasian politics and security affairs, nuclear nonproliferation, and energy and international security, as well as interdisciplinary courses on science, technology, and international security policy. His current research focuses on strategic energy interaction, geopolitics of natural gas networks, energy statecraft in Eurasia, new approaches to strategic stability and denuclearization of military arsenals, nuclear security and nonproliferation, internationalization of the nuclear fuel cycle, and counter-network warfare. At CISTP, Stulberg directs programs on global nuclear security, the geopolitics of energy, emerging technologies and international security, and regional security issues.
Stulberg earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He also holds an M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University, an M.A. in Political Science from UCLA, and a B.A. in History from the University of Michigan.
Stulberg served as a political consultant at RAND from 1987 to 1997, and as a senior research associate at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), Monterey Institute of International Studies (1997-1998). He has worked closely with Senator Sam Nunn drafting policy recommendations and background studies on future directions for the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, building regional and energy security regimes in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, and engaging Russia’s regional power centers.
Stulberg was a postdoctoral fellow at CNS (2000-2001); policy scholar at the EastWest Institute; and has been a consultant to the Carnegie Corporation of New York (2000-present) and the Office of Net Assessment, Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense (2000-present).
Stulberg has either authored or edited four books and is published widely in leading academic and policy journals.
Elin Suleymanov
Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United States of America
In October of 2011, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev appointed Elin Suleymanov as Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to the United States of America. Prior to that, for over five years, Mr. Suleymanov had been the nation’s first Consul General to Los Angeles and the Western States leading the team, which established Azerbaijani diplomatic presence on the West Coast. Earlier, he served as Senior Counselor at the Foreign Relations Department, Office of the President in Baku, Azerbaijan and as Press Officer of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington, DC. His experience before joining diplomatic service includes working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Azerbaijan, as well as with the Open Media Research Institute in Prague, Czech Republic, and Glaverbel Czech, a leading manufacturing company in East-Central Europe.
A graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford, Massachusetts, Mr. Suleymanov also holds graduate degrees from the Political Geography department of the Moscow State University, Russia, and from the University of Toledo, Ohio. He has authored numerous articles and is a frequent presenter at academic events. He speaks Azerbaijani, English, Russian and Czech languages.
Valerie Thomas
Anderson Interface Associate Professor of Natural Systems, H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Valerie Thomas is the Anderson Interface Associate Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, with appointments in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and in the School of Public Policy.
Prior to joining Georgia Tech, Thomas was the 2004-05 American Physical Society Congressional Science Fellow in the legislative office of Representative Rush Holt, where she worked on energy and science legislative issues, including managing the Congressional R&D Caucus for Rep. Holt. She also worked on the Energy Policy Act of 2005. She spent her earlier career at Princeton University at the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, the Princeton Environmental Institute, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs; and at the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.
Thomas was a member of the U.S. EPA Chartered Science Advisory Board from 2003 to 2009. In 2006, she was chair of the Gordon Research Conference in Industrial Ecology, held at Oxford University, U.K. She is currently chair of the 5000-member Forum on Physics and Society of the American Physical Society, Associate Editor of the Journal of Industrial Ecology, board member of the Federation of American Scientists, board member of the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance, Council Member of the International Society for Industrial Ecology, and a member of the U.S. DOE/USDA Biomass Research R&D Technical Advisory Committee.
Thomas’ current research is on the environmental impacts and costs of energy systems, the environmental impacts of products and services, and the effects of policies and technologies on the development of energy systems. In 2009, her work was featured in the New York Times’
9th Annual Year in Ideas, and she provided testimony on recycling research needs to the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives. Her work has also been cited in the Wall Street Journal, ABC News Now, and Popular Science.
Thomas has a Ph.D. in high-energy physics from Cornell University and a B.A. in physics from Swarthmore College. Her Ph.D. thesis work was on the catalysis of proton decay in grand unified theories, and her postdoctoral research was on the verification of nuclear arms control treaties. She was a participant in the 1989 Black Sea Experiment on the detection of nuclear warheads, and was one of the founders of the International Summer Symposium on Science and World Affairs, now in its 26th year. She has more than 80 technical publications spanning energy, environment, optimization, physics, and nuclear arms control.
At Georgia Tech, Thomas teaches a graduate course in energy technology and policy, and undergraduate courses in energy and environmental analysis, engineering economics, and senior design.
John Trawick
Vice President, Commercial Operations and Services, Southern Company
John Trawick was named vice president, Commercial Operations & Services for Southern Company in August 2013 and is responsible for Southern Wholesale Energy, fleet operations and power trading, financial and contract services, and budget and reporting for the Operations organization.
Prior to rejoining Southern, Trawick was the senior vice president of Power Supply & Fuels for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Knoxville, Tenn. In this role, he was responsible for power trading, power origination, coal and gas services, system planning, structuring and portfolio management, and fleet coordination. He joined TVA in January 2008 and also held roles with responsibilities in power rates and pricing, corporate strategy, and energy efficiency and demand response. He led an effort to restructure the TVA wholesale rate design for the first time in 20 years with TVA’s 155 electric cooperative and municipal customers.
In his prior employment at Southern, Trawick was director of Strategic & Corporate Affairs with Southern Power Company in Birmingham, Ala., where he was responsible for strategic planning, governmental affairs, compliance, and generation asset acquisition. He was the project director for the Franklin 3 tolling agreement and acquisition of the Rowan and DeSoto facilities from Progress Energy and also had roles in power trading and portfolio management at Southern.
Between 1996 and 2002, Trawick was employed at Southern Energy, Inc. (Mirant). In addition to roles in asset acquisition and pricing, he served as director of Market Affairs for Mirant Americas Inc., where he managed North America regional teams participating in wholesale energy restructuring. He was responsible for all federal and state regulatory filings on market-structure design and evaluated the commercial impact of federal and state regulatory rulemakings.
Trawick started his career as a senior consultant with J. Kennedy & Associates in Atlanta, Ga. where he performed financial and economic analyses in utility, cost-of-service, rate design, and production cost modeling.
Trawick is a native of Montgomery, Ala. and has a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from Auburn University and a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He serves on the Leadership Council of the College of Science & Mathematics at Auburn and has served in various community roles including the chair of the Smoky Mountain Combined Federal Campaign with the United Way in 2009 and 2010.
Jan Vrins
Managing Director and Global Energy Practice Leader, Navigant
Jan Vrins is the leader of Navigant’s Global Energy Practice. He advises utility executive leaders on developing and operationalizing their strategies and achieving sustainable excellence. This covers enterprise and operational strategy, operating model design, organizational (re)structuring, business process improvement, business transformation and change management, performance management, post-merger integration, and technology strategy and implementation.
Prior to Navigant, Vrins held multiple global energy industry leadership roles at Accenture, KPMG Consulting, and BearingPoint. While with KPMG Consulting, he developed the Utility of the Future Framework, which helps utility companies understand the trends in the market, potential strategies, underlying integrated business processes, and business models aimed at further improving commercial, operational, and financial performance.
Vrin’s utilities industry experience includes investor-owned and government-owned utilities in North America, Europe, and Latin America. He also has early career experience in the natural resources, oil and gas, aerospace, automotive, and industrial manufacturing industries.
Navigant’s Global Energy Practice provides research and consulting services for energy companies in areas including market structures and pricing, operational strategy, business models and partnerships, energy efficiency and demand side management, emerging technologies, renewables, distributed generation, energy storage and transmission (electric and gas), grid operations, and smart grid.