Distinguished Speaker Series: Daniel Yergin

About the speaker:

Daniel Yergin
Vice Chairman of HIS Markit, author, speaker, energy expert and economic historian.

Daniel Yergin is a highly respected authority on energy, international politics, and economics, and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He is Vice Chairman of IHS Markit, one of the leading information and advisory firms in the world with 16,000 employees worldwide. He is chairman of IHS Markit’s CERAWeek conference, which CNBC has called 'the Super Bowl of energy', and of 'India Energy Forum Presented by CERAWeek' in New Delhi.

Time Magazine said, 'If there is one man whose opinion matters more than any other on global energy markets, it’s Daniel Yergin.'

Fortune said that he is 'one of the planet’s foremost thinkers about energy and its implications.'

The New York Times described Daniel Yergin as 'America’s most influential energy pundit.'

Dr Yergin’s new book The Map: Energy, Climate and the Clash of Nations is described by the London Sunday Times as a 'wonderful book'. In it, The Wall Street Journal observes 'Daniel Yergin turns his considerable talents to explaining how the world continues to be shaped by oil.'  USA Today said, 'at a time when solid facts and reasoned arguments are in full retreat, Daniel Yergin rides to the rescue.' Another review called The New Map 'a page turner'. The Washington Post called it 'a tour de force for geopolitical understanding.'

Dr Yergin is known around the world for his book The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil Money and Power, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. It became a number one New York Times best seller and has been translated into 20 languages.

Dr Yergin has served on the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board under Presidents Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump. He is a director of the Council on Foreign Relations and a trustee of the Brookings Institution. He serves on the Energy Advisory Council of the Dallas Federal Reserve.

Among his many awards, the Prime Minister of India presented Dr Yergin with a Lifetime Achievement Award and the U.S. Department of Energy awarded him the first James Schlesinger Medal for Energy Security. In 2015, the University of Pennsylvania presented him with the first Carnot Prize for distinguished contributions to energy policy. In November 2018, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Abu Dhabi.

Dr Yergin was awarded the United States Energy Award for lifelong achievements in energy and the promotion of international understanding. The International Association for Energy Economics gave Dr Yergin its 2012 award for 'outstanding contributions to the profession of energy economics and to its literature.' Dr Yergin was awarded the Medal of the President of the Republic of Italy for combining 'an understanding of the dynamics of the Markit with a broad view of the forces of geopolitics as he seeks to point the way to the positive outcomes for the world community.'

Dr Yergin is on the Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative, a member of the India Petroleum Ministry’s Think Tank and the U.S. National Petroleum Council, a director of the United States Energy Association and of the U.S.-Russian Business Council and on the Advisory Board of the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy.

Dr Yergin holds a BA from Yale University, an MA from Trinity College, Cambridge University, and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He has received honorary degrees from Dartmouth College, the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Houston, and the University of Missouri.