Energy & Critical Minerals Policy Expert; Former Executive Director, White House National Energy Dominance Council; Former Director, Center for Energy and Environment at the America First Policy Institute
Dr. Oliver McPherson-Smith offers unparalleled insight into the intersection of energy policy, geopolitics, and innovation—making him an exceptional keynote speaker for forward-thinking conferences. As the founding Executive Director of the White House’s National Energy Dominance Council and a seasoned global journalist, he brings both policy expertise and real-world storytelling to the stage. His experience spans academic research, political leadership, and private-sector strategy in critical minerals, placing him at the center of today’s most urgent energy and innovation challenges. Event planners seeking authoritative, globally-minded voices on energy transformation and AI infrastructure would find him uniquely compelling.
Oliver McPherson-Smith: U.S Oil Firms Look To Ramp Up Offshore Drilling
Oliver McPherson-Smith Moderates: Energizing Pennsylvania Fueling America's Future
Energy policy has emerged as a domestic political flashpoint. From the Biden Administration’s climate agenda to the Trump Administration’s DOGE blitz, the federal government’s approach to energy has whipsawed in recent years. Meanwhile, energy demand is projected to soar due to the growth of artificial intelligence and data centers. How can businesses and investors navigate the tumult? Where is there bipartisan consensus? And where are the pitfalls?
Critical minerals are the building blocks of modern technology. Everything from satellites to cellphones requires one or more of these lucrative minerals. Though the United States was once a leading miner and refiner, global mineral supply chains have shifted towards Latin America, Asia, and Africa, with Chinese companies playing a leading role across the globe. Can the West refortify its critical mineral supply chains? What role will government and business play in America’s mineral future? Can technology and innovation mitigate the risks associated with China’s domination of critical mineral supply chains? And how will mineral-rich countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa navigate the Sino-American mineral rivalry?
Geopolitics is constantly redefining the production, trade, and use of energy across the globe. On any given day, OPEC rivalries and alliances shape global oil production, diplomatic negotiations set the pace of the global spread of nuclear power, and tit-for-tat trade disputes create fortune or famine in the ethanol industry. Within the global geopolitics of energy, both energy producers and consumers have significant leverage as they balance and reassess their national security, economic, and environmental interests. In an increasingly multipolar world, which segments of the energy industry—and in which countries—will the global chessboard make winners or losers?
There is no single energy transition. From wood to coal to oil to nuclear and beyond, the single constant in the history of global energy use is the search for cheaper and cleaner sources. This constant is bearing hard truths for the current generation of political and business leadership; after an initial burst of enthusiasm for wind and solar power, countries and companies alike are grappling with the realization that the designed overhaul of the global energy economy may not be as cheap or clean as initially anticipated. Will the green energy transition continue and, if so, in what form? How does technological innovation, such as carbon capture technology, shape that trajectory? And while the global energy mix is in flux, how can businesses drive and derive benefits for consumers, shareholders, and the environment?
Dr. Oliver McPherson-Smith is an internationally recognized thought leader on energy and critical minerals policy. In early 2025, he led the creation of the National Energy Dominance Council in the White House and served as its inaugural Executive Director. Prior to public service, Dr. McPherson-Smith worked on the 2024 Trump-Vance Transition Team and led the Center for Energy & Environment at the America First Policy Institute. From powering the next generation of artificial intelligence to strengthening critical mineral supply chains, he brings a first-hand perspective on the most pressing policy issues within the American energy sector.
A widely cited academic author, Dr. McPherson-Smith possesses an expert understanding of the geopolitics of energy. He graduated from the University of Cambridge, Harvard University, and the University of Oxford before joining Stanford University as a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Dr. McPherson-Smith’s award winning research and analysis has been published in peer-reviewed journals and cited in The Economist, Newsweek, and numerous Nigerian daily newspapers. His first book, Crude Calculations: Entrepreneurship and Regime Stability amid the Energy Transition, will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2025. Across one hundred years of economic and political history in the largest oil-producing economies of Africa and the Middle East, the book details how non-democratic regimes have come to manipulate economic reform initiatives to maintain their grip on power during the rollercoaster of commodity booms and busts. Amid a global rise in renewable energy generation and critical mineral demand, the book predicts which of the world’s resource-fueled autocrats can afford to reform their economies and which will cling to the economic status quo.
Prior to pursuing academic research, McPherson-Smith worked as a television journalist in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He reported live on Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. McPherson-Smith anchored a daily television show in Abuja, Nigeria. He currently leads the international expansion of an American natural resources company and is the third generation of his family to work in the minerals and mining industry.
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