C.O.B. Tuesday

Today we were delighted to host James Calaway in our office in Houston for a broad discussion on mining, solar energy, and the energy transition. James is a solar and lithium industry veteran with a unique background centered on his desire to help the world reduce emissions and as he describes, “save the planet from killing itself.” He is the former chairman of Orocobre, has considerable experienc...

Today we had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Sama Bilbao y León, Director General of the World Nuclear Association ("WNA"). Sama joined the WNA as Director General in late 2020 and has had an extensive career in nuclear with over 20 years of experience in nuclear engineering and energy policy, serving in industry, academia, and international organizations. The World Nuclear Association repre...

We are very pleased today to be sending you a special 4th of July COBT. For our Canadian friends, we hope you had a fantastic Canada Day this past Saturday. For all of you celebrating the 4th today, we hope the baseball, hot dogs and apple pie are all flowing! With some grilling of course!   For today’s special show, we were delighted to host our dear friend Rob West. Rob is the fascinating Founde...

Today we had the pleasure of hosting John Bear, CEO of MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator), for a fantastic discussion. John has served as CEO since 2009 and joined the organization in 2004. In his 30+ years of executive leadership in the utility industry, John formerly served as the President of Reliant Resources, on the President’s Nuclear Energy Advisory Council, and is currently th...

Today we had the very interesting opportunity to visit with Professor Jesse Jenkins of Princeton University. Jesse is an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment. He has an extensive background in engineering systems and technology, getting his Ph. D. at MIT and his undergraduate degree in Computer and...

For today’s COBT, we had the pleasure of hosting our good friend and award-winning columnist Liam Denning. Liam is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the energy sector and was previously with the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. He has nearly twenty years of experience covering energy and has experience in energy investment banking and consulting. We were thrilled to connect with L...

Today we had the pleasure of visiting with Thomas Fox, President and Director of Innovation at Highwood Emissions Management. Thomas has an impressive academic and commercial background in emissions and from our previous interactions with him, we knew he could tackle the issues in a measured way that would help us all. While obtaining his Ph. D., Thomas invented LDAR-Sim (Leak Detection and Repair...

Today we had the pleasure of visiting with Pavel Molchanov, Managing Director of Renewable Energy and Clean Technology Research at Raymond James. Pavel joined Raymond James as an Associate 20 years ago and actually first began coverage of the new energy space in 2006. His team currently covers all aspects of sustainable-themed technologies including solar, wind, biomaterials, electric vehicles, hy...

As we head into Memorial Day Weekend, we are excited to share this Special Edition with Brigadier General Kevin Ryan (U.S. Army Retired). During his service with the Army, Kevin served in air and missile defense, intelligence, and political-military policy areas in Europe, Korea, and Iraq. Kevin was formerly head of the Moscow office of the POW/MIA Commission and served as Senior Regional Director...

Today we had the pleasure of hosting Takajiro Ishikawa in our office in Houston for a sweeping discussion of the technologies and broad topics influencing the future of energy. Tak is the President and CEO of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America (MHIA). MHIA has 10,000 employees in the US spread over 66 locations and accounts for 20% of MHI’s global business. Tak is a seasoned executive with over t...

It is our honor to welcome back Governor Mike Dunleavy of Alaska for today’s session. We hosted the Governor on COBT in July of 2022 and had much to cover since our last visit. Gov. Dunleavy moved to Alaska in 1983 and quickly became a proud local serving as a teacher, principal, and superintendent in Arctic communities before his 5-year term as a State Senator from 2013 – 2018. He was elected Gov...

Today it was our pleasure to host the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) for an offshore-wind and infrastructure focused session. With Governor Murphy’s leadership, the NJEDA is working to position New Jersey as a hub for US offshore wind and the organization is currently managing the development of a 200-acre wind port off the southern coast of the state. Joining us from the NJEDA...

Today we had the exciting opportunity to host George Bilicic, Vice Chairman and Global Head of Power, Energy and Infrastructure at Lazard. George has had a long and distinguished career including his time as a Partner at Cravath, as President of Sempra, and 20 years at Lazard in the investment banking business. We were thrilled to visit with him in our office in Houston.     Our discussion centere...

We had a fantastic Africa-focused session today with Andrew Kamau, Managing Director of International Programs at the Energy Opportunity Lab, an initiative of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP). Prior to joining the Energy Opportunity Lab, Andrew was the Principal Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Mining with the Government of Kenya and former Principal Secretary in the...

We are thrilled to be sharing this Special Edition COBT with you. The new film "Nuclear Now" is just a week away from hitting theaters and we had the opportunity to not only see it early but also to visit with the film’s acclaimed director, Oliver Stone, as well as Professor Joshua Goldstein, the co-writer of the book that inspired the film ("A Bright Future: How Some Countries Have...

Today we had the pleasure of hosting Saul Kavonic, Head of Integrated Energy, Resources and Carbon Research at Credit Suisse Australia. Saul is very well-regarded in the Australian and Asian energy community and joined us from Melbourne (on his Wednesday morning!). He was formerly the Head of Oil, Gas, LNG and Energy at Wood McKenzie and is a chemical engineer by training. We had an excellent and...

We had a fantastic session today with Arshad Mansoor, President and CEO of EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute). EPRI’s formation was initiated by Congress following the Great Northeastern Blackout of 1965 that left 30 million people in the US without electricity. Since then, the organization has served to support the electricity sector with research and development to drive technological inno...

Today we had the pleasure of hosting Lucas Arangüena, Global Head of Sustainable Tech and Group Head of Green Finance at Santander. Headquartered in Madrid, Santander is one of the leading European banks and the largest bank in Latin America. They are also the top financier of renewables globally and a leading advisor overall for M&A across renewables, hydrogen, battery tech, EV charging and e...

Today we were delighted to host our good friend Ken Hersh, President and CEO of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. Prior to his position at the Presidential Center, Ken was the co-founder and long-time CEO of energy private equity firm NGP. Ken’s first COBT appearance was in November of 2020 and since our last visit, Ken has written a new book entitled "The Fastest Tortoise Wins the Race...

Today we were thrilled to welcome back our good friend Corby Robertson, Chairman of the Carbon Neutral Coalition (CNC). Corby’s extensive career includes over 40 years of global investment and operations in energy and natural resources and as a proud Texan, he is focused on what the state looks like in the decades to come. The CNC’s mission is for the state of Texas to be carbon neutral by 2050 an...

Today we were delighted to host Jarand Rystad, CEO of Rystad Energy. Jarand founded Rystad Energy in 2004 following a long tenure with McKinsey & Company to build an independent research and consulting company rooted in granular data. Rystad Energy tracks all energy sources, from production to consumption, to provide detailed analysis. We had a wonderful visit!     Our discussion explored a ra...

Today we had the pleasure of hosting Georges Tijbosch, CEO of MiQ in our office for a special edition COBT. Georges and his team are in town for CERAWeek and have made exciting announcements during the conference. MiQ is an independent non-profit organization that set up a framework to certify natural gas graded on methane leak levels. They are largely funded by philanthropic efforts and are commi...

It’s CERAWeek in Houston and we are excited to share another interesting global perspective on energy. Today we had the opportunity to visit with Dr. Lars Schernikau, economist, entrepreneur, commodity trader, and Co-Author of “The Unpopular Truth about Electricity and the Future of Energy.” He is also the author of "Economics of the International Coal Trade." Lars joined from Geneva and...

Today’s COBT episode is focused on Norway and in particular, the country’s technology, climate tech, and broader energy landscape. What most of us don’t realize about Norway is the country is the 7th largest natural gas producer in the world, is the single biggest supplier of natural gas to Europe, gets 90 percent of its own power from hydro, and is a major source of energy innovation.  We have th...

We are excited to share with you this COBT Special Edition featuring our good friend Jigar Shah, Director of the US Department of Energy Loan Programs Office (LPO). The LPO is the largest private debt fund in the energy space with more than $400 billion available for innovative clean energy projects. As you will hear, Jigar and his team of 250 professionals at the LPO have immensely valuable insig...