We are thrilled to share what is now our sixth annual COBT Thanksgiving episode, showcasing and thanking the hardworking people working in energy who make Thanksgiving Day possible. Earlier this year, after hosting Jim Grech, President and CEO of Peabody on COBT (episode linked here), Mike Bradley floated the idea of filming our Thanksgiving episode at the North Antelope Rochelle Mine (NARM). Jim and his team were gracious enough to say yes and made this special visit possible. Our tea...

It is our honor to welcome back Governor Mike Dunleavy of Alaska. We last hosted the Governor on COBT in May of 2023 (episode linked here), and there has been much to cover since our last visit. Governor Dunleavy is Alaska’s 12th Governor and was first elected in 2018 (and again in 2022). He moved to Alaska in 1983 and served as a teacher, principal, and superintendent in Arctic communities before his 5-year term as a State Senator from 2013 to 2018. Throughout his career, Governor Dunleavy h...

Today we had the opportunity to host Jim Bride, President of Energy Tariff Experts (ETE). We became familiar with Jim after reading his report on power generation costs and impacts on electric bills earlier this year (linked here). Jim founded ETE in 2013 to provide expert consulting, data products, and analysis related to retail electricity, natural gas, and water rates. Before founding ETE, Jim served as a Portfolio Manager at EnerNOC and earlier in his career worked as an environmental pro...

Today we had the very exciting opportunity to host Håkan Agnevall, President and CEO of Wärtsilä. Håkan assumed the role of CEO in February 2021 and most recently served as President of Volvo Buses and a member of the Volvo Group Management. In his career, he has held senior management positions with ABB and Bombardier in power systems, robotics, and industrial automation. He has extensive international experience, having worked and lived in the U.S., Canada, Thailand, Brazil, Switzerland and...

Today we were delighted to welcome Dr. Anas Alhajji, Managing Partner of Energy Outlook Advisors and Author of the Energy Outlook Advisors Substack (linked here). Dr. Alhajji is a leading expert on global energy markets. He advises governments, companies, financial institutions, and investors on oil and gas outlooks, energy geopolitics, energy security, and the impact of disruptive technologies on supply and demand. Anas previously served as Chief Economist at NGP Energy Capital Management an...

Today we had the pleasure of hosting Obinna Isiadinso, Global Sector Lead for Data Center Investments at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group and the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Obinna leads investment teams on valuation and execution considerations, reviews private equity and credit transaction structures, and participates in transaction negotiations in the Data Center and Cloud sectors in ...

Today was a truly incredible day. As you know, COBT began in the spring of 2020 with the original mission of trying to share better and more informed energy macro perspectives with the energy-curious world. Over the past five and a half years, it has evolved to become something much bigger, a platform to share a wide range of energy perspectives. Today marked a watershed moment in the history of energy education. As noted in the official press release linked here, Bob Zorich, Partner a...

Today we had the pleasure of hosting William Clouston, Party Leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the United Kingdom. William has served as Party Leader since 2018 and was re-elected in March 2020. He originally joined the SDP in 1982 and spent four years in the Conservative Party, becoming a District Councilor and serving on Tynedale Council. He holds both undergraduate and master’s degrees in Urban Planning and Property Management. We became interested in connecting with William a...

Today we were thrilled to host Julien Dumoulin-Smith, Managing Director of U.S. Power, Utilities, and Clean Energy Research at Jefferies. Julien joined the firm in July 2024 after serving as a Senior Research Analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and as an Executive Director at UBS. He holds an MBA and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University. Institutional Investor magazine has ranked Julien as a #1 double-ranked analyst in both Utilities and Alternative/Clean Energy, and he...

We are back on the road this week for an insightful visit with Ray Zage, CEO of Tiga Investments, and Shon Hiatt, Director of the Zage Business of Energy Initiative and Associate Professor of Business Administration at the University of Southern California. Ray is a seasoned global investor who has led Tiga since 2017. He began his career at Goldman Sachs and has held roles in Singapore, New York, and Los Angeles. He serves on multiple boards and also advises early-stage technology ventures. ...

Today we had the exciting opportunity to host Thomas Popik for a power-focused discussion. Thomas is the Chairman and President of the Foundation for Resilient Societies, a non-profit dedicated to strengthening the resilience and recoverability of critical infrastructure. In addition to his volunteer leadership at the Foundation, Thomas serves as a Principal at Geosegment Systems Corporation. He holds an MBA from Harvard and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. The Foundation for Resili...

Today we were delighted to welcome KR Sridhar, Ph.D., Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Bloom Energy. KR’s academic background includes a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, a Master’s in Nuclear Engineering, and a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. Before founding Bloom, KR served as Director of the Space Technologies Laboratory at the University of Arizona, where he led a NASA project to develop fuel cells capable of producing oxygen for future Mars missions. That breakthrough research ultimate...

It was our pleasure to welcome back our good friend Roger Pielke Jr., Author of The Honest Broker on Substack and Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, for an insightful discussion on the U.S. Department of Energy’s climate risk assessment report on the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions (linked here). Roger is a Professor Emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he previously served as a professor in the Environmental Studies de...

It was our honor to welcome His Excellency Mohamed Al Hammadi, Managing Director and CEO of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Company (ENEC) and Chairman of the World Nuclear Association (WNA), along with Dr. Sama Bilbao y León, Director General of the WNA. H.E. Al Hammadi has served as CEO since 2008 and has led ENEC in successfully delivering the UAE Peaceful Nuclear Energy Program, focusing on the implementation of the highest national regulations and international standards of safety, sec...

This week we are delighted to welcome Betty Jiang, Managing Director of U.S. Integrateds and E&P Equity Research at Barclays. Betty joined Barclays in 2023 after leading the U.S. ESG Research team at Credit Suisse and has more than 15 years of equity research experience, with prior roles at UBS, Illuminate Capital Group, and Bank of America. We were thrilled to hear Betty’s insights on what’s top of mind for investors, key themes from earnings, and a preview of Barclays’ upcoming 39th Ann...

Yesterday we had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University. On Monday, we spent the day in Phoenix with Dr. Crow and his team, learning how ASU has been rethinking and reshaping the traditional university model to better reflect today’s fast-paced, high-tech world. The changes we saw are significant. Michael and his team are bringing innovation and disruption to a space long associated with tradition and stability. We loved the day and were delighted to h...

We were honored this week to welcome Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Jack Balagia for a Special Edition COBT. Senator Hutchison is a Founding Member of the KBH Energy Center at the University of Texas, with a distinguished career spanning both public and private sectors, from bank executive to U.S. Senator to most recently U.S. Ambassador to NATO. Jack served as Vice President and General Counsel of ExxonMobil for nearly two decades before joining the University of Texas School of Law facult...

Today we had the pleasure of welcoming Jillene Connors Belopolsky, Chief of Staff and Chief External Affairs Officer at the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA), to our Houston studio. Jillene joined the CCA in 2021 and has over a decade of experience in energy sustainability, strategy, and innovation. She previously served as Head of North America for Earth Security Group and in several senior roles at BP, where she developed strategies addressing the environmental and societal impacts of technology...

We are back on the road this week for an exciting visit with Emily Morris, CEO and Founder, and Tom Cuthbert, CTO, of Emrgy. Our team traveled to one of Emrgy’s hydropower facilities on Colorado’s Front Range to see their technology up close and in action before sitting down for a hydropower focused discussion. Emily founded Emrgy in 2014 and brings 15 years of experience in emerging hard tech development. Before launching Emrgy, she managed multi-million dollar federal contracts at AMT, brin...

We are excited to share this “on-the-road” COBT episode featuring Tim Latimer, CEO and Co-Founder of Fervo Energy. Our team traveled to Milford, Utah, to tour Fervo’s Cape Station project before connecting with Tim for an in-depth conversation. Tim earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tulsa and started his career as a drilling engineer in the Permian and Eagle Ford basins. He co-founded Fervo in 2017 after earning an MBA and an MS in Environment and Resources from Stan...