Dr. Ernest Moniz is a renowned expert on biosecurity, energy policy, and the climate crisis. He is founder of the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI), a non-profit clean energy think tank, and Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), which works to prevent catastrophic attacks with biological, chemical, and nuclear warfare.

He is a  physicist and foremost expert in energy technology and policy and a long-time professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Dr. Ernest Moniz served as the 13th U.S. secretary of energy in President Obama’s second term.

During his tenure, Dr. Moniz advanced American scientific leadership, energy technology innovation, environmental stewardship, and nuclear security and strategic stability. Notably, he was a primary architect of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, an agreement to verifiably prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, thereby advancing important U.S. nuclear non-proliferation goals. To do so, Dr. Moniz partnered with Secretary of State John Kerry and other world leaders and negotiated directly with Iranian nuclear officials to conclude the deal and then to guide successful implementation for its first 18 months. In the run-up to the Paris climate negotiations, he led the successful effort to place energy technology innovation at the heart of the global response to climate change.

As secretary of energy, Dr. Moniz spearheaded partnerships between the public and private sectors in order to bolster U.S. global leadership in scientific, technological, environmental, and energy innovation. He led the effort to develop modern energy security principles appropriate to today’s energy markets, adopted by the G7 leaders in 2014, and approved U.S. exports into an expanding global LNG market. Dr. Moniz effected significant management change at the Department of Energy, an organization with a nearly $30 billion annual budget, emphasizing enterprise-wide approaches for mission success and a major focus on resilient energy infrastructure. At MIT, he led technology and policy studies on the future of nuclear, natural gas, coal, and solar energy in a low-carbon world. These studies have had significant impact on government energy policy and programs. Dr. Moniz founded the MIT Energy Initiative that engaged numerous faculty from multiple disciplines with global energy companies. He will continue to address nuclear security issues through his role as co-chairman and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. In 2017, Dr. Moniz became president and CEO of the Energy Futures Initiative, a non-profit organization aimed at advancing a cleaner, safer, more affordable, and more secure energy future.