Registration is now open!

Dr. Noël Bakhtian (pronunciation) serves as Director of Tech Acceleration at the Bezos Earth Fund, the $10 billion philanthropic commitment to fight climate change and protect and restore nature in this decade while advancing environmental justice and economic opportunity.

Formerly, Dr. Bakhtian held positions in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) national lab system, including most recently serving as founding Executive Director of the Berkeley Lab Energy Storage Center – a lab-wide center accelerating the translation of basic and applied research into real-world energy storage solutions. Previous to that, she served on the Senior Leadership Team at the $1.5B Idaho National Laboratory as director of the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES), where she led a refresh of the mission, vision, and strategy of this research, education, and innovation consortium bringing together INL with the four public research universities of Idaho and Wyoming. She provided Congressional testimony to the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development on “Energy Workforce Opportunities and Challenges” in 2018.

Before moving to the national labs, Dr. Bakhtian served as a senior policy adviser for environment and energy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), as the inaugural Energy-Water Nexus lead at the DOE Office of International Affairs, worked as technical lead on numerous innovative grant programs for DOE’s Wind and Water Power Technologies Office including the Wave Energy Prize, consulted on energy R&D and investment for DARPA, and served as an energy and environment Fellow in the U.S. Senate.

During her PhD, she worked at NASA Ames Research Center (NASA-ARC) in the Advanced Supercomputing Division and introduced a new deceleration technology concept to land human missions on Mars. Dr. Bakhtian earned her engineering doctorate at Stanford University’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics; holds master’s degrees from Stanford University and the University of Cambridge, where she was a Churchill Scholar; and completed her bachelor’s degree in 2005 at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering, where she majored in mechanical engineering and physics.

Dr. Bakhtian serves on the inaugural board of the DOE’s Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation (FESI). She is also a member of the National Academies Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy and the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems and is a member of the founding cohort of the Loomis Innovation Council at the Stimson Center.

Brian is a global energy and decarbonization leader with nearly 25 years of experience pioneering innovative approaches to marrying sustainability with business strategies. Brian is the Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder of Cloverleaf Infrastructure. Cloverleaf aims to solve the critical problem of expanding grid capacity to support the largest electric customer loads to spur economic growth and investment. Brian also serves as a Sr. Advisor with Green Strategies, advising early stage to Fortune 500 companies on energy and decarbonization strategies. Previously, Brian served as VP of Energy at Microsoft, supporting the development and execution of Microsoft’s global cloud and AI energy strategy. This included oversight of energy policy, procurement, renewable energy, distributed generation, and overall environmental impact. Prior to Microsoft Brian worked as a consultant at Brubaker & Associates, assisting Fortune 500 companies with energy procurement, policy, and sustainability matters.

Brian holds board positions with LineVision, a leader in dynamic line rating technology, VEIR, a pioneer in superconducting transmission technology, and the Institute for Energy Studies at Western Washington University. Brian has also previously served on the board of the American Wind Energy Association (now the American Clean Power Association). Brian holds an MBA from Webster University, a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Missouri.

Food and Drinks

West End Wine Bar | $$ Wine Bar | Location
Ponysaurus Brewing | $$ Brewery | Location
Motorco | $$ Live Music and Bar | Location
Velvet Hippo| $$ Rooftop Bar | Location

Registration is now open for the 2024 Duke University Energy Conference!

Sign up before October 25th to take advantage of the early bird discount.

Note – Registration cost includes an event ticket and catering provided during the event (e.g., light breakfast, lunch, evening reception refreshments). Registration fee also includes NC state sales tax.