Varun Sivaram is a physicist, clean energy executive, and former U.S. diplomat with experience spanning the corporate, policy, and academic sectors. He currently serves as the Group Senior Vice President of Strategy & Innovation for Ørsted, a leading renewable energy company with the world’s largest offshore wind energy portfolio. He previously served in the U.S. Biden-Harris administration as the managing director for clean energy and senior advisor to Secretary John Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, where he spearheaded flagship U.S. initiatives such as the First Movers Coalition. He has also served as Chief Technology Officer of ReNew Power Limited, a multi-billion dollar renewable-energy firm that is India's largest; on the faculty of Columbia University and Georgetown University; as director of the energy program at the Council on Foreign Relations; and as senior energy advisor to the Los Angeles Mayor and New York Governor. TIME Magazine named him to its TIME 100 Next list of the next hundred most influential people in the world, MIT Technology Review named him one of the top 35 innovators under 35, and the World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader. His books include "Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet," "Energizing America: A Roadmap to Launch a National Energy Innovation Mission," and "Digital Decarbonization: Promoting Digital Innovations to Advance Clean Energy Systems." He serves on the boards of Aventurine Partners, the Atlantic Council, and the Breakthrough Institute, and he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. A Rhodes and Truman Scholar, he holds a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from Oxford University and undergraduate degrees from Stanford University.