Women in Energy and Energy Opportunity Lab at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia SIPA is pleased to host Dr. Lauren Ross, deputy director for Energy Justice and Policy in the Office of Energy Justice and Equity at U.S. Department of Energy. Join us for a discussion moderated by Anjaly Ariyanayagam, featuring insights on Dr. Ross’ career and energy justice at the Department of Energy.
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Registration is required. This roundtable is open only to currently enrolled Columbia University students. To register, you must use the email address that contains your UNI.
This event will be hosted in person, and capacity is limited. We ask that you register only if you can attend this event in its entirety. For more information about the event, please contact energypolicyevents@columbia.edu.
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This event is open only to currently-enrolled Columbia University students.
The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia SIPA’s Women in Energy initiative, in collaboration with the Columbia Political Union, iGNiTE, Women in Law & Politics, and the Columbia Policy Institute invites you to an Energy Debate centered around the question: “Can developing countries have high growth without using coal?”
Registration is required. This event is open only to currently-enrolled Columbia University students. To register, you must sign in with your UNI.
This event will be hosted in person and capacity is limited. We ask that you register only if you can attend this event in its entirety.
Interested in pursuing a career in energy? Or want to hear from women who have achieved successful careers as policymakers, industry leaders, and academics? Join us for an insightful event featuring accomplished women who will share their career paths, offer advice, and provide information on navigating a successful career in energy policy.
The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA Women in Energy Initiative (WIE), Georgetown University’s McCourt Energy & Environment Club, and Women in Public Policy Initiative welcomes those interested in pursuing or thriving in an energy career. Following the discussion we will host a networking reception, to facilitate connections between organizations seeking new talent and individuals passionate about pursuing a career in the energy sector.
The WIE initiative envisions a world with equal gender representation at every level within the energy sector. Our mission is to elevate women and enhance inclusion within the energy workforce by developing and sharing research, expanding entry into the sector, and supporting professionals.
To expand entry into the sector, WIE hosts events to provide opportunities to connect energy organizations recruiting new talent with those interested in pursuing a career. Our events also feature women who have thrived in a specific energy subsector. Join us to learn more about our work or contact us at womeninenergy@columbia.edu.
Constance Thompson, SVP, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice, American Council on Renewable Energy
Biographies:
Patricia Beneke most recently served as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) regional director for North America, with responsibility for interfacing with the U.S. and Canadian governments on behalf of UNEP. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and served as an assistant secretary of the Interior during the Clinton Administration. Ms. Beneke worked for over twenty years as a democratic senior counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, where she specialized in a broad range of issues, including energy development on public lands, water resources, mining, oil, and gas development, and national energy policy. She has taught natural resources law and policy as a visiting lecturer of law at Harvard Law School and adjunct faculty at Columbia University Law School and the University of Virginia School of Law, and currently teaches energy and natural resources law and policy at Georgetown University. Early in her career, Ms. Beneke worked at the Departments of Justice and Agriculture. She holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a BA from Iowa State University.
Honorable Vicky Baileybegan her career as a commissioner, at the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission appointed by Governor Robert Orr, and at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission appointed by President Bill Clinton, and as President/CEO, and member of the Board of Directors, of PSI Energy, Inc., Indiana’s largest electric utility, now Duke Indiana. She was appointed by President George W. Bush to be the leading international official at the United States Department of Energy (2001-2004) as the first assistant secretary for both International Affairs and Domestic Policy. During her appointment, Ms. Bailey served as vice chair of the International Energy Agency (IEA) headquartered in Paris, France, and post-Sept. 11th, she was chair of several bilateral international working groups among energy-producing nations.
Ms. Bailey is a graduate of the Krannert School of Management, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award and was a Krannert School Dean’s Advisory Council member. In July 2013, she completed the Advanced Management Program at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. In 2023, Ms. Bailey was a recipient of the Rosa Parks Trailblazer Award. Presently, she is the founder of Anderson Stratton International LLC management advisory services.
Ana Unruh Cohen is the senior director for NEPA, Infrastructure and Clean Energy at the White House Council on Environmental Quality where she works to make federal permitting more effective and efficient to help meet President Biden’s climate and clean energy goals. In 2023, she was chosen by Time for their inaugural list of the 100 most influential climate leaders in business.
Dr. Unruh Cohen has spent more than two decades working on U.S. federal climate and energy policy in Washington, D.C. From 2019 through 2022, she served as the majority staff director of the House Select Committee on the Climates Crisis, supporting the passage of the historic set of energy and climate laws in the 117th Congress that has since unleashed a wave of investment in clean energy. In addition to other staff positions in the House and the Senate, Dr. Unruh Cohen was a distinguished visiting fellow at the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and has worked at the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for American Progress. Dr. Unruh Cohen has a B.S. in Chemistry from Trinity University and received her D.Phil. in Earth Sciences from the University of Oxford.
Paula R. Glover is the president of the Alliance to Save Energy, a bipartisan, nonprofit coalition of business, government, environmental, and academic leaders advocating to advance federal energy efficiency policy. As the seventh president in the organization’s 45-year history and a long-time member of the Board of Directors, Ms. Glover provides over 25 years of industry expertise and leadership.
Ms. Glover has 15 years of experience in the energy industry, working on both electric and natural gas distribution. During that time, she built a stellar reputation working with state legislators and regulators — commanding a clear understanding of the consumer and community sides of the business enterprise.
Ms. Glover serves on the Board of Directors for Talos Energy where she serves as chair of the Safety, Sustainability, and Corporate Responsibility Committee. She also serves on the board of the Keystone Policy Center, Clean Energy Works, and Resources for the Future. Ms Glover is the recipient of numerous awards and received her B.S. in Marketing Management from the University of Delaware.
Constance Thompson is responsible for collaboratively driving and implementing the American Council of Renewable Energy’s (ACORE) Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice strategy focused on leveraging ACORE’s public and private networks to build opportunities for smaller renewable energy companies owned and operated by women, Black, Indigenous, and people of color leaders while advocating for national policies and industry best practices that accelerate social and economic justice as a part of our nation’s transition to a renewable energy economy.
She brings to ACORE over 20 years of experience collaboratively launching, sustaining, and measuring the impact of transformational DEI-focused initiatives, coalitions, membership programs, and strategic partnerships on behalf of leading Fortune 500, Ivy League, scientific, and engineering-focused institutions.
A Cornell University Certified Advanced Diversity Practioner (CCDP/AP), Thompson holds a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and French from Virginia State University and serves on the boards of Renewables Forward and Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (WRISE).
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Advance registration is required. This event will be hosted in person and capacity is limited.
This event is open to press, and registration is required to attend. For media inquiries or requests for interviews, please contact CGEP Communications (cgepmedia@columbia.edu).
This roundtable is open only to currently enrolled Columbia University students. If you are no longer a student and would like to be removed from this mailing list, please reply directly to this email.
Every energy company in the world is in the process of adapting to the energy transition. Please join the Women in Energy Initiative program at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, for a student breakfast roundtable discussion with Amy Myers Jaffe and Gretchen Watkins, about her experience as president of Shell USA, Inc. and her insights on a changing energy system.
Biographies
Gretchen Watkins
As President of Shell USA, Inc., Gretchen Watkins oversees the strategic integration of all Shell businesses in the United States and leads the US country coordination team. Since being named to this post in 2018, she has become the company’s leading voice, with public and private leaders, across a wide range of energy-related policy and societal challenges. In addition to these responsibilities from May 2018-June 2021, Gretchen also served as executive vice president of Shell’s global shales business, overseeing the exploration, development, and production of Shell’s upstream shale oil and gas portfolio, which included assets in the United States, Canada, and Argentina. Before joining Shell in 2018, Gretchen served as the chief executive officer of Maersk Oil, following two years as chief operating officer. Gretchen’s tenure at Maersk coincided with a low-price environment for oil, but under her leadership, the company delivered above-target operational and financial results, enabling a safe and successful enterprise sale of Maersk Oil to Total in 2017.
Gretchen began her career nearly thirty years ago as a facilities engineer for Amoco in the Gulf of Mexico. She then worked as a trading manager for Amoco and BP before commencing an international career that has included a variety of senior executive roles at BP, Marathon Oil, and Maersk Oil in North America, Europe, and Asia. She has led joint ventures and negotiated contracts with countries and companies across the upstream, midstream, and downstream businesses.
Gretchen currently serves as a non-executive director of the Mosaic Company, one of the world’s leading producers and marketers of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients, and previously served as a non-executive director for W. S. Atkins, a global engineering consultancy and FTSE 200 company from 2014 until its merger with SNC Lavalin in 2017. Gretchen graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and has had executive education at Cambridge and Stanford Universities.
Amy Myers Jaffe
Amy Myers Jaffe serves as Director of the Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab at New York University’s School of Professional Studies and is a research professor who teaches graduate-level courses examining global climate finance, energy and climate justice, and clean technology innovation and business. A leading expert on global energy policy, sustainability, and geopolitical risk, Jaffe is the author of several books, including her most recent book, “Energy’s Digital Future” published in 2021 by Columbia University Press. Ms. Jaffe is co-chair of the Women in Energy Initiative at Columbia University and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Climate Policy Lab at Tufts University. From 2014 to 2017, Ms. Jaffe served as senior advisor on sustainability to the Office of the Chief Investment Officer of the University of California, Regents, where she helped design the sustainable investing framework for the UC’s $140 billion in pension and endowment funds.
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Registration is required. This roundtable is open only to currently enrolled Columbia University students. To register, you must use the email address that contains your UNI.
This event will be hosted in person and capacity is limited. We ask that you register only if you can attend this event in its entirety.
For more information about the event, please contact energypolicyevents@columbia.edu.
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