The Center on Global Energy Policy hosted a roundtable discussion with James L. Connaughton, Chairperson, Nautilus Data Technologies, Senior Advisor, ClearPath Foundation, and former Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; Kellie Donnelly, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Lot Sixteen and former Chief Counsel for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; David R. Hill, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy, and former General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Energy; and Jeffrey A. Rosen, Nonresident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation.
The speakers discussed their careers, current energy and environmental legal and policy issues, and possible paths forward on some of those difficult issues currently facing the country and the world.
About the Speakers
Kellie Donnelly is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the Lot Sixteen firm in Washington, D.C., which joined in April 2020 after retiring from the federal government. Previously, she served on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee staff for 17 years, most recently as Chief Counsel. During her time in the Senate, she provided counsel on all energy policy and federal land management issues within the Committee’s vast jurisdiction. She also helped negotiate, draft, and enact everything from major legislative packages and budget reconciliations measures, to targeted provisions and stand-alone bills. Earlier in her career, Ms. Donnelly was a Counsel at the U.S. Department of the Interior., and Counsel to the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. She holds an undergraduate degree from The College of the Holy Cross, and her law degree from the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America.
Jeff Rosen was Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation (2017-2019) and also DOT’s General Counsel (2003-2006), where his responsibilities included energy-related issues such as fuel economy of vehicles, the safety of natural gas pipelines, and the carriage of oil by rail. He also served as general counsel and senior policy advisor at the White House Office of Management and Budget (2006-2009), where he worked on the Energy Security and Independence Act of 2007, as well as other energy policy issues. He served as Deputy Attorney General of the United States and Acting Attorney General of the United States from 2019 – 2021. and spent many years as a partner at a major national law firm where he litigated numerous disputes in the energy industry. He holds an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, and his law degree from Harvard Law School.
James Connaughton is the Chairperson of Nautilus Data Technologies and a member of the Advisory Board of the ClearPath Foundation. He also serves as an advisor to X (Google’s Moonshot Factory) and is a member of the Board of Resources for the Future. He served as Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality from 2001-2008. From 2009-2013, he was Executive Vice President and a member of the Management Committee of Exelon and Constellation Energy, and prior to his government service was a partner at a major Washington, DC law firm. He holds an undergraduate degree from Yale University and his law degree from the Northwestern University School of Law.
