Our Team David Danielson Breakthrough Energy Ventures

Prior to his current role at BEV, David served as Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE), where he led the largest government clean-energy innovation funding agency in the world. At EERE, he directed the U.S. government’s innovation strategy in the areas of sustainable transportation, renewable power, energy efficiency and clean-energy manufacturing, directing investments of about $10B during his 4-year tenure. He is considered a global expert in the development of next generation climate technologies and the creation of new R&D and organizational models for high-impact climate-tech innovation.

Prior to serving as Assistant Secretary of EERE, Danielson was founder and employee #1 at the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), a highly successful funding agency that focuses on the development of high-risk, high-reward clean-energy technologies. Prior to his government service, he was a clean-energy venture capitalist at General Catalyst and was also the founder and president of the MIT Energy Club.

David is also an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University, where he teaches Stanford Climate Ventures, a course focused on teaching students how to identify and launch high-impact new climate-tech ventures. David received a PhD in Materials Science from MIT and a BS in Materials Science from UC Berkeley.