About the Speaker

Griffin M. Thompson, Ph.D

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Energy Transformation

Director, Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

Bureau of Energy Resources

U.S. Department of State

As the Director for the Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, Griffin Thompson is responsible for establishing and managing the strategic direction and programmatic implementation of the Office’s mission in promoting clean energy to advance U.S. foreign policy and national security goals. The Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency leads the Department of State efforts to identify and disseminate innovative policy, business, technical and finance models for electricity systems around the world to accelerate the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and practices and create opportunities for U.S. trade and investment. The Office is focused on national and regional electricity system reform and market development (including promoting regional interconnections); power sector investment requirements and promotion; and energy efficiency in power, industry, buildings and other demand sectors.

Before joining the Bureau of Energy Resources, Dr. Thompson was Senior Climate Change Program Manager in the Department’s Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science, and Lead Negotiator for the U.S. on Technology at the UNFCCC. Past positions include: Director of the Office of Energy at the U.S. Agency for International Development; Executive Director of the International Institute for Energy Conservation; and, Senior Policy Analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Dr. Thompson is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and the University of Maryland. He has a B.A. in English Literature from Gonzaga University; and a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from Georgetown University.

Future of Global Energy Series: Geopolitics of the Global Energy Transition