Phil Sharp, who served as president of Resources for the Future from 2005 until 2016, has a distinguished record across energy and environmental research and policy. During a 20-year congressional tenure as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana, Dr. Sharp took key leadership roles in the development of landmark energy legislation including the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. After leaving Congress, he was a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on Effectiveness and Impact of Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards and he chaired the Secretary of Energy’s Electric Systems Reliability Task Force.
Dr. Sharp has also devoted significant time to academia, having taught at Ball State University and the Harvard Kennedy School, and serving as director of Harvard’s Institute of Politics. He also was a senior research fellow in Harvard’s Environmental and Natural Resources Program, and currently serves on the board of directors of the Energy Foundation, on the external advisory board of the MIT Energy Initiative, and chairs the advisory committee for the MIT study on the utility of the future.
Dr. Sharp was appointed to the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, and the National Academies’ Committee on America’s Climate Choices. He was the recipient of the 2015 James R. Schlesinger Medal for Energy Security awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Dr. Sharp graduated cum laude from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and received his PhD in government from Georgetown University.
