Contact: Anne McGinn, amcginn@gmfus.org +1 202 683 2676

WASHINGTON (February 21, 2013) — The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) announces the appointment of Paul Bledsoe, Kristina Johnson, Andrew Light, and Simone Mori as non-resident fellows focusing on energy and climate issues.

Bledsoe, Johnson, Light, and Mori will work closely with Dymphna van der Lans, GMF’s senior director of public policy programs, to support GMF’s work on advancing transatlantic leadership on scalable and innovative policy and business solutions to achieve a secure, affordable, and low-carbon energy future, reduce the risks of climate change, and conserve natural resources.

“I am delighted to welcome Paul, Kristina, Andrew, and Simone to GMF,” said Senior Director Dymphna van der Lans. “Their collective expertise on energy policy will be an invaluable asset as we continue to expand our work in this area.”

In addition to providing analysis and insight on some of the most pressing issues in energy policy, each fellow will provide support to a range of GMF projects including GMF’s groundbreaking Energy Transition Forum. Bledsoe, Johnson, Light, and Mori will join existing Energy Program fellows Miriam Maes, Ian Muir, and Nigel Purvis.

PAUL BLEDSOE
Senior Fellow, Climate & Energy Program

Paul Bledsoe is president of Bledsoe & Associates, LLC, a strategic public policy firm specializing in national and global communications on tax policy, energy, natural resources and climate change, among other issues.  Bledsoe was senior advisor to the Bipartisan Policy Center and, from 2002 to 2010, he was director of strategy and communications for the National Commission on Energy Policy. From 2009 to 2012, he was senior communications strategist and spokesperson for the American Energy Innovation Council. Bledsoe was also senior policy advisor on the staff of the Presidential National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Off-Shore Drilling, from its inception in June 2010 to completion of its work in March 2011.

Bledsoe served as Director of Communications of the White House Climate Change Task Force under President Clinton from 1998 to 2000, and from 1995 to 1998 was special assistant to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. Bledsoe was communications director of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance under the chairmanship of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan from 1993 to 1995.  Previously, he was press secretary and legislative assistant to several members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

He was a Fellow at Oxford University’s Centre for the Environment from 2003-2005 and has been featured in leading print outlets in the U.S. and Europe and on many television and radio programs, including the CNN, MSNBC, BBC World Service Television and Radio, PBS, FOX, and NPR. He holds a B.A. with honors and an M.A. from Ohio State University.

KRISTINA M. JOHNSON
Senior Fellow, Climate & Energy Program

Johnson most recently served as an under secretary of energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, where she was responsible for unifying and managing a broad $10.5 billion energy and environment portfolio. The portfolio included research, development, demonstration, and deployment projects involving the national laboratories, universities, state and local governments and private industry in renewable energy, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear power, energy efficiency, smart grid and nuclear waste.

Prior to joining the Department of Energy, Johnson served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University. From 1999-2007, Johnson was dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University. In addition to her academic career, Johnson is an inventor and entrepreneur, holding over 45 U.S. patents (129 U.S. and international patents) and co-founder of several successful companies including, ColorLink, Inc.

Johnson was the 2008 recipient of the John Fritz Award, the highest honor of the Engineering Societies. She received her bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

ANDREW LIGHT
Senior Fellow, Climate & Energy Program

Light is currently a senior fellow and director of international climate policy at the Center for American Progress (CAP), where he leads a team working primarily on climate finance, short-lived climate pollutants, and bilateral energy and climate agreements between the U.S., India, and China. He is also co-chair of the U.S. Climate Leadership Group, a project to better coordinate the work of all international climate specialists in environment, security and development NGOs.

At the same time, Light is a professor of philosophy and public policy at George Mason University, and Director of the Center for Global Ethics. Past academic positions have included the University of Washington, NYU, and the State University of New York, Binghamton, NY. Light is the author or co-author of sixteen books, over 80 scholarly articles and book chapters, as well as numerous reports and editorials, primarily on terrestrial restoration ecology, urban ecology, and the social dimensions of new and emerging technologies.

Light received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside, and completed his post-doctoral research work in environmental risk assessment at the University of Alberta, Edmonton.

SIMONE MORI
Non-Resident Fellow, German Marshall Fund

Mori is currently the executive vice president in Enel Holding in charge of regulation, environment, and innovation as well as the head of Enel’s carbon strategy division. He is a member of the board of directors of Enel Trade, Enel Foundation, and Centro Elettrotecnico Sperimentale Italiano (CESI).

He is also a member of the Steering Committee of Assoelettrica (Italian Association of Electricity Companies) and of Assolombarda (Association of Enterprises of Milan Area). He teaches Economics and Management of the Energy Sector at “La Sapienza” and Luiss Universities in Rome.

Mori holds a degree in physics and an MBA.

The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) strengthens transatlantic cooperation on regional, national, and global challenges and opportunities in the spirit of the Marshall Plan.

GMF does this by supporting individuals and institutions working in the transatlantic sphere, by convening leaders and members of the policy and business communities, by contributing research and analysis on transatlantic topics, and by providing exchange opportunities to foster renewed commitment to the transatlantic relationship.

In addition, GMF supports a number of initiatives to strengthen democracies. Founded in 1972 as a non-partisan, non-profit organization through a gift from Germany as a permanent memorial to Marshall Plan assistance, GMF maintains a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to its headquarters in Washington, DC, GMF has offices in Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Belgrade, Ankara, Bucharest, Warsaw, and Tunis. GMF also has smaller representations in Bratislava, Turin, and Stockholm.