Seth Hanlon serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax and Climate Policy in Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy. He was previously a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress focusing on tax and economic policy. From 2015-2017, he served as special assistant to the president for economic policy at the White House National Economic Council, where he coordinated the Obama administration’s tax policy. He has also served as senior tax counsel for the House Budget Committee Democratic staff and as tax counsel for Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), a senior Finance Committee member. He was previously an associate attorney at Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered, where he advised corporations, individuals, and non-profit organizations on tax law.
Phil Kangas is the Director of Outreach and Business Development (OBD) for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO). He leads LPO’s business development activities to engage with potential applicants and help borrowers move through pre-application consultations and the application process. OBD’s focus is to help energy industry leaders understand, apply for, and attain the right loan to enable their clean energy technologies to cross the “bridge to bankability” and achieve deployment at scale. Prior to joining DOE, Mr. Kangas spent 25 years in the private sector as a management consultant, including a 20+ year career at Grant Thornton LLP where he led the firm’s National Energy Advisory practice for Renewable Energy, Natural Resources & Mining clients. He also led the Federal sciences portfolio, including work delivered at the DOE, National Science Foundation, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He holds professional certifications as a Project Management Professional, Certified Government Financial Manager, and Six Sigma Green Belt. Mr. Kangas earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from John Carroll University and a Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. 318
Nick Montoni (they/them) is the deputy chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Nick brings over a decade of experience in federal, legislative, nonprofit, state, national laboratory, and academic clean energy policy and science. They previously worked on the House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, handling DOE’s science and innovation accounts totaling more than $15 billion. Nick also previously worked for Congressman David Price of North Carolina, working on legislation to protect science and scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency and mitigate the environmental impacts of agricultural waste. Nick has also worked as a policy advisor for Third Way’s Climate and Energy Program, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the Washington State Academy of Sciences. Nick has a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, with a concentration in data science and machine learning. 318
Dr. Rachael Nealer is the deputy director for the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. She also chairs the Transportation Research Board’s Alternative Fuels and Technologies Committee. Throughout her career, she has focused on researching transportation as a system of systems and developing strategies around how to decarbonize transportation through technology development in concert with supporting policies. Previously, she held various positions, including deputy director of transportation technology and policy for the White House Council on Environmental Quality and senior advisor and chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell, and Vehicle Technologies Offices. She has also worked in the nonprofit sector, at the Union of Concerned Scientists, researching the lifetime environmental impacts of electric vehicles compared to gasoline vehicles. Before that, she worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuels Standard Office. She received her joint doctorate in civil and environmental engineering and engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University, where she specialized in the lifecycle environmental impacts of transportation.
Jigar Shah was most recently co-founder and President at Generate Capital, where he focused on helping entrepreneurs accelerate decarbonization solutions through the use of low-cost infrastructure-as-a service financing. Prior to Generate Capital, Shah founded SunEdison, a company that pioneered “pay as you save” solar financing. After SunEdison, Shah served as the founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, a global non-profit founded by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite to help entrepreneurs address climate change. Shah was also featured in TIME’s list of the “100 Most Influential People” in 2024. Originally from Illinois, Shah holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois-UC and an MBA from the University of Maryland College Park.
Avi Shultz is the director of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO). He leads IEDO’s strategy to accelerate the innovation and adoption of cost-effective technologies that eliminate industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Avi also works with DOE leadership and interagency partners to position IEDO and the department for the most significant impact across America’s industrial sector. Previously, Avi was the deputy director of IEDO. Before his tenure in IEDO, he was the program manager for concentrating solar-thermal power for the DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office. Avi has been with DOE since 2013, where he started as a science and technology policy fellow, supporting the concentrating solar-thermal power program on a wide variety of topics. Before joining DOE, Avi was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Amsterdam, after getting his bachelor and doctoral degrees in chemistry from Columbia University and Northwestern University, respectively.
