Faculty, IEMP Program
The Center draws on existing members of the faculty of the School of International and Public Affairs and other schools at Columbia, as well as adjunct faculty from the public and private sectors with expertise in the energy and marine transportation industries.
Students benefit also from frequent participation by guest faculty who are leaders in energy and marine transportation business and policymaking.
Click on the faculty member's name to view their biography.
Albert Bressand, PhD | Executive Director, CEMTP; Director, Marine Transportation Program; and Professor in the Practice of International and Public Affairs
David Nissen, PhD | Director, Program in International Energy Management and Policy
Stephen A. Hammer, PhD | Director, Urban Energy Program
Deborah Bleviss | Adjunct Professor (SIPA), Energy Policy
Reidar Brekke | Adjunct Professor, Project Development Workshop
Louise Burke | Adjunct Professor (SIPA), Petroleum Markets and Trading
AJ Goulding | Adjunct Assistant Professor, Electricity Markets
Antoine M. Halff | Adjunct Professor, Geopolitics of Energy
Adam Hinge | Adjunct Research Scholar, Urban Energy Program
Irene King | Adjunct Assistant Professor, Petroleum Markets
Phillip LaRocco | Adjunct Professor, Energy and Economic Development
Ellen Morris, PhD | Adjunct Professor (SIPA), Energy and Economic Development
Shirley J. Neff | Adjunct Professor, Energy Policy
Roy Nersesian | Adjunct Associate Professor, Marine Transport Economics
Neil Quartaro, Esq. | Adjunct Assistant Professor, Marine Law and Policy
Adam L. Shrier | Adjunct Professor, Geopolitics of Energy
Klaus Lackner, PhD | Maurice Ewing and J. Lamar Worzel Professor of Geophysics; Executive Director, Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy; Adviser to the Center
David Walker, PhD | Higgins Professor of Earth & Enviromental Sciences, Alternative Energy Technologies
Deborah Bleviss |
Click here to download Deborah Bleviss' resume.
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Reidar Brekke |
Reidar Brekke joined Poten Capital Services LLC in 2002. Previously he was CFO and then President and COO of SynchroNet Marine, a logistics service provider to the global container transportation industry. From 1994 to 2000, held several senior positions with American Marine Advisors of New York, including Fund Manager of American Shipping Fund I LLC, and CFO of the Company's broker dealer subsidiary. Prior to this, was a Strategic Advisor for the Norwegian Trade Commission in New York & Oslo, Norway and a financial advisor and a commercial banker in Trondheim, Norway.
Mr. Brekke earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Nevada. He has undergone military training and education with the Royal Norwegian Corps of Engineers and the US Army at New Mexico Military Institute.
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Albert Bressand, PhD |
Albert Bressand is the Executive Director of Columbia University's Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP) and Professor of Practice in International and Public Affairs at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Formerly, Dr. Bressand headed the Global Business Environment department in Royal Dutch Shell's global headquarters in London from 2003–2006. In this capacity, he was responsible notably for designing a new generation of Shell Global Scenarios around an enhanced, original methodology for risk and opportunity assessment. Dr Bressand has also been appointed Special Adviser to the EU Commissioner in charge of energy in Brussels.
Previously, he was managing director and cofounder of Promethée, a nonprofit, Paris-based think tank specializing in the emerging global networked economy and its implications for corporate strategies, capital markets, and international economic relations. Dr Bressand also served as Economic Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of France and held key positions with the French Institute for International Relations and the World Bank.
Professor Bressand is a member of the faculty of the World Economic Forum, and has chaired a number of sessions at the Davos Annual Meetings. He serves on the Board of the New York Energy Forum and on the Advisory Council of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy. He has contributed to several major Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) studies on the world energy scene, notably the CERA 'Dawn of a New Age' scenarios and the just released 'Securing the Future' study on EU-Russia gas relations. He has published notably in Foreign Affairs, International Affairs, Politique Internationale, Revue d'Economie Financiére, Le Monde etc. The book he edited most recently, The Shell Global Scenarios to 2025, is distributed by the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Bressand earned advanced degrees in both mathematics and engineering at École Polytechnique in Paris, École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and Paris-Sorbonne, and an MPA and a PhD in Political Economy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Back to topLouise Burke |
Louise Burke began her career in the energy industry working for major oil corporations, Mobil Oil Canada, Alberta Energy Company and Petroleos De Venezuela. She worked in the planning departments performing analysis of energy markets. In 1987 she became involved in the financial energy futures and options industry when she joined the New York Mercantile Exchange. She served as Vice-President, Marketing and in that capacity supervised major energy and metals futures and options product launches.
In addition to private consulting Ms. Burke serves as the Executive Director for The Energy Forum, Inc.
Ms. Burke has a BA honors economics from the University of Alberta, and a MBA from New York University.
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AJ Goulding |
A.J. Goulding runs London Economics International LLC, a Boston-based global economic and financial consulting firm focused on energy and infrastructure industries. He has been working almost continuously in Ontario since 1998 on a range of electricity market design and asset valuation-related issues.
Outside of Ontario, Mr. Goulding is currently advising governments in Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong on electricity tariffs and market design, while in North America he has been working with private equity funds focused on small hydro. He also recently advised on the acquisition of a portfolio of cogeneration plants located across the US. A.J. has also worked extensively in Alberta on electricity market design related issues and on generation acquisitions. In addition to his role at London Economics, he serves as a faculty member in the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP) in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where he teaches a course in electricity markets.
Mr. Goulding holds an MA in International Business from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and a BA in Economics from Earlham College.
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Antoine M. Halff |
Antoine Halff is adjunct professor of international and public affairs at the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP) in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). He is head of energy research at Fimat, the brokerage arm of Societe Generale, where he focuses on oil, natural gas and biofuel fundamentals analysis and the interplay of market forces and geopolitics. From 2001–2005, Halff served a principal administrator of the International Energy Agency's Oil Markets and Emergency Preparedness Office. Among his responsabilities there were co-authoring the IEA's influential monthly Oil Market Report, demand forecasting and analysis and briefing IEA executives and member governments on oil markets and industry developments. While at the IEA, Halff helped greatly improve the Agency's monitoring and analysis of demand trends in emerging economies. In 2005–2006, Halff set up the energy practice of Eurasia Group, a New York-based political risk research and advisory firm in New York, directing the energy work of its core team of about 50 regional and country analysts and conducting research ranging from real-time analysis and forecasting to long-term scenario planning. This was Eurasia Group's first transregional practice.
Earlier, Halff was New York bureau chief of the Energy Intelligence Group, a trade publication group, having previously spent several years on the oil desk of the Dow Jones news agency, also in New York.
Halff was born and educated in Paris, where he earned an advanced studies degree from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales under the late Prof. Francois Furet. In 1985–1987, he served as staff member of the French Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, and in 1988–1989 was a visiting scholar at Columbia University.
Halff frequently appears as a commentator on energy issues on radio and television and is a regular speaker at industry conferences.
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Stephen A. Hammer, PhD |
Stephen A. Hammer is Director of the Urban Energy Project at Columbia University's Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP). Dr. Hammer is also the co-founder and Administrator of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), an international consortium of academic researchers focused on the analysis of climate change as it relates to cities.
In addition to his research and administrative responsibilities, Dr. Hammer teaches the CEMTPP course on Urban Energy Systems and Policy and oversees the Urban Energy workshop at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Dr. Hammer lectures internationally on environmental and energy issues and has published articles and opinion pieces in the New York Times, the New York Daily News, Aspenia, and several other international publications.
Dr. Hammer currently serves as a technical advisor to the Blue Ribbon Commission on Sustainability of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), and provides research, regulatory, technical, and project management support to other agencies at the federal, state and local levels, non-profit groups, and private firms. Dr. Hammer also serves on the board of directors of the Riverdale Nature Preservancy in the Bronx, and is a former board member and acting executive director of the Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership in New York City; past chair of the Massachusetts Recycling Coalition; past chair of the Bronx Solid Waste Advisory Board; and past co-chair of the New York City Recycling Advisory Board.
Dr. Hammer received his PhD degree from the London School of Economics, an MPP from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a BS in environmental studies from the University of California, Davis. Prior to joining Columbia, Dr. Hammer taught at the Milano Graduate School of Urban and Public Affairs and the Pratt Institute, both in New York City.
Back to topAdam Hinge, P.E. |
Adam Hinge, P.E. is an Adjunct Research Scholar with the Urban Energy Program, providing leadership and support on our buildings and technology research projects.
Mr. Hinge also serves as Managing Director of Sustainable Energy Partnerships, a consulting practice specializing in energy efficiency programs and policy issues in North America and developing countries around the world. Hinge works as an advisor to utilities, government agencies and others in developing energy efficiency market transformation initiatives. Recent clients include the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the China Green Lights Program Office, the International Copper Association, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, and numerous private energy services providers and consumers.
Hinge has degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is a registered Professional Engineer in New York State.
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Irene King |
Irene King is an independent energy consultant and lecturer at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
Until 2001 she was the Senior Energy Economist at JP Morgan & Co. and before that Manager of the firm's Commodities Research Group. Prior to joining JP Morgan in 1975 she was Research Associate at Dartmouth College, where she worked on projects funded by the Ford Foundation.
Irene King was born in Greece. She studied as a Fulbright Scholar in the United States, where she obtained her B.Sc. and M.A. degrees in Business and Economics from the Ohio State University, and conducted post-graduate research at Dartmouth College.
King's long career has included a special concentration in energy markets. She began as research associate at the Turk School of Business and at the Economics Department of Dartmouth College. In that capacity she worked on projects funded by the Ford Foundation, the U.S. Government, and the Common Fund. She worked for over 26 years at J.P. Morgan, where she was responsible for analysis of the oil and gas markets and price forecasts, as well as economic analysis of the major oil-exporting countries, particularly the members of OPEC.
She is a member of the International Association of Energy Economists (IAEE) and Global Business Network (GBN). King is the author of numerous J.P. Morgan publications on the energy markets.
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Klaus Lackner, PhD |
Klaus Lackner joined the Columbia University Earth Institute in 2001 as Ewing-Worzel Professor of Geophysics in Columbia's Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering. He joined the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1983, after earning postdoctoral positions at the California Institute of Technology and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. At Los Alamos, in addition to being a scientist in the Laboratory's theoretical division, he has held senior management positions including Acting Associate Laboratory Director for Strategic and Supporting Research. He is a founder of the Zero Emission Coal Alliance, an industry-led effort to develop coal power with zero emissions in the atmosphere. His recent work is on environmentally acceptable technologies for the use of fossil fuels.
Professor Lackner has published numerous papers and articles on clean fossil fuels technology. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics, summa cum laude, from the University of Heidelberg, Germany in 1978. He was awarded the Clemm-Haas Prize for outstanding Ph.D. thesis. He earned his vordiplom (bachelor of science) in 1975 and his diplom (master of science) in 1976. In 1985 he studied computational neuroscience at Cold Spring Harbor.
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Phillip LaRocco |
Philip LaRocco is the founder and Executive Director of E+Co, a not-for-profit, public purpose investment company with offices in Bolivia, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Ghana, the Netherlands, South Africa, Thailand and the United States.
Mr. LaRocco has over thirty years of international experience. Until 1990 he served as the Director of World Trade and Economic Development for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey with responsibility for the World Trade Center (NY), a network of trade development offices and a portfolio of industrial development and waste-to-energy projects.
In addition to his duties as E+Co's CEO, Mr. LaRocco focuses on financing structures and the creation of practical, hands-on training materials for entrepreneurs, financial professionals, development practitioners and policy makers. More than 700 entrepreneurs in over thirty developing countries have been trained through the efforts of E+Co and its partner organizations.
Mr. LaRocco was formerly Director of World Trade and Economic Development for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where he oversaw the New York World Trade Center and a network of international offices.
In August 2006, Mr. LaRocco received an Honorary Award for his contribution to the sector from the World Renewable Energy Congress (WREC) during the WREC IX Congress in Florence, Italy.
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Ellen Morris, PhD |
Ellen Morris started her consulting firm, Sustainable Energy Solutions, in 1996. She is engaged in international development, policy analysis, and research on energy issues for national governments, development agencies, foundations, and the private sector.
Ellen has been a senior consultant for the United Nations Development Programme in the sustainable energy program for the last nine years. Her work at UNDP has focused on technical and programmatic support for countries seeking to advance energy as a means for poverty reduction. Most recently, Dr. Morris has done pioneering work on consumer lending and microfinance to expand access to energy services by engaging with the private sector and microfinance institutions in developing countries.
Prior to starting her own firm, she worked for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in the international and geothermal groups. In the early part of her career, she worked as a Science Advisor for the U. S. Congress and as an exploration geophysicist for Texaco. Dr. Morris has a Bachelor of Science degree in Geophysical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a doctoral degree in Marine Geophysics from the University of Rhode Island.
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Shirley J. Neff |
Shirley Neff is the CEO of the Association of Oil Pipelines (AOPL) and an adjunct associate faculty member at the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP) in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). She is also an advisor to the National Renewable Energy Lab, the Center for Energy Economics at the University of Texas and Goldwyn International Strategies. She was the economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources from 1993–1996 and from 1999–2003. She was the lead drafter of the initial energy policy and tax bills that formed the basis of legislation passed by the Senate in 2002 (and again in July of 2003), was the lead staff behind Senate passage of the Renewable Portfolio Standard, and was responsible for development and passage of the OCS Deep Water Royalty Relief Act (1995). She was a member of the Congressional delegation to the international negotiations on the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
She has extensive private and public energy sector experience, including as senior governmental affairs director for Royal Dutch Shell and as an advisor at the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA). She served a member of an Independent Task Force on Strategic Energy Policy for the Council on Foreign Relations (2001). She is the President-elect of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics (USAEE) and a recipient of the organization's Senior Fellow Award. Ms. Neff holds an M.S. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.S. in economics from Iowa State University.
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Roy Nersesian |
Roy Nersesian is an adjunct faculty member at the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP) in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where he teaches courses in Marine Transportation and Quantitative Methods with a focus on risk. Professor Nersesian is also an Associate Professor at Monmouth University in the School of Business and is a maritime consultant for Poten & Partners.
M.E. Sharpe has just published Prof. Nersesian's newest book, Energy for the 21st Century: A Comprehensive Guide to Conventional and Alternative Sources. Other books include Corporate Financial Risk Management and Trends and Tools in Operations Management.
Professor Nersesian has spent most of his professional career observing the energy industry as part of his involvement in energy transportation. He holds a B.S. in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a MBA from Harvard Business School.
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David Nissen, PhD |
David Nissen is Professor of Practice in International and Public Affairs at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), and director of the Program in International Energy Management and Policy (IEMP) at Columbia's Center for Energy, Marine Transportation & Public Policy (CEMTPP).
For 12 years prior to joining CEMTPP, he was Manager of Strategic Consulting at Poten & Partners, a leading energy broker and LNG project consultant, where he pioneered the industry-standard LNG Cost and Competition service. He has held senior positions with Exxon's Corporate Planning Department and Chase Manhattan's Corporate Lending Group. During the Carter Administration, Dr. Nissen served in the U.S. Federal Energy Administration (precursor to the Department of Energy), where he directed the quantitative assessment of the Carter Administration's National Energy Plan.
Professor Nissen has held faculty positions at the Rutgers School of Business and the Rice University Department of Economics. His publications include articles in Econometrica, Review of Economic Studies, Management Science, and various energy journals. Nissen's current research is focused on the evolving industrial organizations of energy activities and implications for effective policy.
Dr. Nissen holds a BS from the California Institute of Technology as well as an MA in Statistics and a PhD in Economics, both from the University of California at Berkeley.
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Neil Quartaro, Esq. |
Neil Quartaro is an adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University's Center for Energy, Marine Transportation & Public Policy (CEMTPP) and an associate at the law firm Watson, Farley & Williams (New York). In the latter capacity, he assists primarily with commercial litigation, alternative dispute resolution and international law, with a specialty in maritime litigation, arbitration and charter parties.
Prior to Watson, Farley, Mr. Quartaro represented blue and brown water vessel owners in cargo disputes, collisions, and salvage matters. Mr. Quartaro serves on the Admiralty Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the International Law committee of the New York State Bar Association. Mr. Quartaro also writes the "Maritime Law" column in MARNEWS, a leading Latin American maritime magazine.
Mr. Quartaro received his JD degree from Fordham University in 2002, where he served as an Editor on the Fordham International Law Journal. He attended York University in Toronto, Canada, where he received a Specialized Baccalaureate in International Relations.
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Adam L. Shrier |
Adam Louis Shrier, President of Global Development Opportunities, LLC, has been a business developer and management consultant to the energy and chemical industries since 1988. He has started-up and acquired firms in the energy, environment and chemical fields, and has arranged for international investments and technology transfers. As a strategic advisor, he has helped private and state-owned companies to formulate and implement long-term investment strategies and to streamline their organizational structure and business processes, and he has consulted to government agencies on planning, policy development and economic reform programs. The scope of his activities has been worldwide, but he has maintained a special interest in the emerging market economies, with projects and clients in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and China.
Previously, Dr. Shrier spent 25 years at Exxon (now ExxonMobil) Corporation, in various commercial, technical and corporate positions, including management of international planning and policy activities. His earlier responsibilities spanned multiple functions, including corporate planning and government relations; international supply, transportation and trading; energy security and emergency preparedness; alternative energy; corporate ventures and new business development; and research and engineering.
From 1983–88 he served on the Industry Advisory Board of the International Energy Agency. Dr. Shrier holds degrees in chemical engineering from Columbia University, MIT and Yale University, and a law degree from Fordham University. He has lectured at universities in the US, China and Czech Republic, and since 2000 he has been adjunct professor of international business at American University.
Back to topDavid Walker, PhD |
David Walker received his B.A. at Oberlin College, where he studied geology. While studying mining at Harvard, his interests turned to lunar rocks and he went on to earn his MA and PhD in experimental petrology. In his research he investigates the magmatic processes that have resulted in differentiation of the earth's core, mantle and crust and similar differentiation of other planets. This work also relates to the synthesis of new materials such as high-temperature superconductors.
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