Joseph Hezir

Joseph S. Hezir, Principal of the Energy Futures Initiative, served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy from 2013 through January 2017. As CFO, Mr. Hezir led a 200-person organization responsible for the $30 billion Department of Energy budget, including strategic planning, programming, budget formulation and budget execution. He also served as a senior advisor to the Secretary on management organization and strategic initiatives. Mr. Hezir led the analytical work, advocacy and negotiations processes with OMB and Congress to secure a total increase in the DOE budget of about 10 percent during his tenure. Mr. Hezir also played a key role in cross-Departmental management processes, serving as Chair of the Loan Program Risk Committee, Vice Chair of the Credit Review Board, and member of the DOE Operating Committee, the Energy Council and Cyber Council. As senior advisor, Mr. Hezir provided key contributions to the Quadrennial Energy Review, the Quadrennial Technology Review, Departmental reorganization, collective energy security policy, and National Laboratory strategic partnerships.

Prior to joining the Department of Energy, Mr. Hezir was senior member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative. He served as Executive Director of “The Future of Solar Energy” study from 2012-2013. He also was a co-author of “The Future of Natural Gas” study published in 2010. He led the analysis of industry demand opportunities for natural gas and natural gas liquids and co-led a meta-analysis of the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracking and a modeling analysis of natural gas substitution in electric power generation.

From 1992 to 2014, Mr. Hezir co-founded and served as Managing Partner of the EOP Group, Inc. He provided strategic advice to corporations, non-profit organizations and industry trade associations on environmental, energy and federal budget and regulatory policy. He also formed EOP Foundation and EOP Education, LLC, affiliated organizations providing public policy analysis and executive training programs. Mr. Hezir was co-author of two books published by the Foundation, Understanding the Budget of the United States Government, with over 10 editions, and Understanding the Regulatory Policy of the United States Government.

Mr. Hezir served for eighteen years (1974-1992) in positions of increasing responsibility at the White House Office of Management and Budget, rising to the level of senior career official responsible for federal energy, science and technology and space exploration policies and budgets. Mr. Hezir was the recipient of the William A. Jump Foundation Award for federal financial management and also received the President’s Outstanding Federal Executive Award in 1989. Early in his career, Mr. Hezir held short-term appointments with Exxon Research and Engineering Company, President Carter’s Government Reorganization Project, St. Joe Minerals Corporation, Carnegie-Mellon University and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

He served as an advisor to several public policy and public service organizations, including the NASA Advisory Council, the National Capital Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, the External Review Panel of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Academy of Sciences Boards on Space Studies and Physics and Astronomy.

Mr. Hezir attended Carnegie-Mellon University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and M.S. from the Heinz School of Public Policy. He is married with two children and two grandchildren.