World Energy Forum Appoints Shawn Rae as its Global “Goodwill Ambassador”
Monitoring Desk: The 18 members of the Board of Trustees of the World Energy Forum have appointed Shawn Rae as the global “Goodwill Ambassador” for the World Energy Forum. The Board includes General Wesley Clark, H.E. President Olusegun Obasanjo President of Nigeria, Matthew Mellon former Chairman of the New York Republican Party’s Finance Committee and scion of the Mellon and Drexel families of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and Drexel-Burnham-Lambert, Governor of New York George Pataki and other distinguished Board of Trustees.
World Energy Forum Board of Trustees
Dr. Harold Hyunsuk Oh is the Founder, President, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the World Energy Forum, an international not-for-profit institution that campaigns for energy for all and sustainable development worldwide. He is Founder, President, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Oh Institute of New York, formerly known as New York Institute of Energy and Water, a global institution of research and advanced studies in energy, water, environment, and sustainable development and also heads the World Water Organization and the World Leadership Academy. Dr.Oh has received numerous honors and has been a frequent speaker at academic conferences and high-level international meetings especially at the United Nations in the area of energy, water, environment, and sustainable development. He is the publisher of the World Energy Monitor and has served and currently serving in the Boards of a number of not-for-profit organizations as well as corporations. He is an internationally recognized scholar and holds advanced academic degrees from Yale and Cambridge University including a Ph.D.
After leading several high-level international energy conferences at the United Nations, Dr. Oh chaired the Organizing Committee of World Energy Forum 2012 that was held on October 22-24 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where a large number of heads of states, ministers, and leaders from international organizations and private sector and more than 3,000 delegates representing 89 countries, came together under the slogan of Safer, Accessible, and Sustainable Energy for All. In Dubai, Dr. Oh proposed that energy access should be a fundamental human right of every person and proclaimed October 22, the Opening Day of World Energy Forum 2012, as World Energy Day to be annually commemorated worldwide. Dr. Oh also initiated Smart Energy Movement (SEM) which envisions a New Global Energy Civilization, where Energy for All shall be realized.
H.E. President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria is a former Nigerian Army general who was President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007. A Nigerian of Yoruba descent, Obasanjo was a career soldier before serving twice as his nation’s head of state, as a military ruler from 13 February 1976 to 1 October 1979 and as a democratically elected president from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. Obasanjo is also a member of the Club de Madrid, a group of more than 80 former leaders of democratic states who are committed to strengthening democratic leadership and governance. Obasanjo is a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), a group of ten distinguished individuals who advocate at the highest levels for equitable and sustainable development in Africa. Every year, the Panel releases a report, the Africa Progress Report, that outlines an issue of immediate importance to the continent and suggests a set of associated policies. In 2012, the Africa Progress Report highlighted issues of Jobs, Justice, and Equity. The 2013 report will outline issues relating to oil, gas, and mining in Africa.
Obasanjo was recently appointed Special Envoy by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo. In May 2014, Obasanjo wrote to the President Goodluck Jonathan requesting that he should mediate on behalf of the Nigerian government for the release of the Chibok girls held by the Boko Haram militants. He is also a role model for the youth of Africa. He established the African Leadership Forum, which organises workshops advocating African solutions to African problems through better leadership, state capacity building and the encouragement of private enterprise.
Prof. Mark Z. Jacobson, Ph.D: Director and co-founder, Atmosphere/Energy Program, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, 2004-present. Jacobson’s research looks at the causes and effects of vastly complex processes — the physics and chemistry of our atmosphere. He and his team at Stanford have pioneered new atmospheric research and analysis techniques that give a picture of the current state of our atmosphere, show what pollution from aerosols, ethanol, agriculture, and ultraviolet radiation are doing to it, and predict how these might affect the climate. Jacobson’s group developed the world’s first wind map based on data at the height of modern wind turbines — serving as the scientific justification for major wind farm proposals in recent years.
Quotes from Mark Z. Jacobson
“To power the entire world with 50 percent wind [energy], you would need about one percent of world land.” Mark Z. Jacobson
“You can power the entire U.S. vehicle fleet with 73,000 to 145,000 five-megawatt wind turbines. That would take between one and three square kilometers of footprint on the ground.” Mark Z. Jacobson
Prof. Heskia Heskiaoff, Ph.D: Dean Emeritus of NYIT. He has been a member of the American Institute of Physics, the American Institute of Industrial Engineers, the New York Academy of Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Herbert Fox, Professor PhD: First Dean of Science and Technology at NYIT. He consults worldwide on alternative fuels and energy conservation. His clients in both the public and private sectors include the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, IBM, Lockheed Martin, United Technologies, and Con Edison of New York.
General Wesley Clark is a retired General of the United States Army. He graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He later graduated from the Command and General Staff College with a master’s degree in military science. He spent 34 years in the Army and the Department of Defense, receiving many military decorations, several honorary knighthoods, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Clark commanded Operation Allied Force in the Kosovo War during his term as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000.
Clark joined the 2004 race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination as a candidate on September 17, 2003, but withdrew from the primary race on February 11, 2004, after winning the Oklahoma state primary, endorsing and campaigning for the eventual Democratic nominee, John Kerry. Wesley Clark has been awarded numerous honors, awards, and knighthoods over the course of his military and civilian career. Notable military awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters, the Legion of Merit with three oak leaf clusters, the Silver Star, and the Bronze Star with an oak leaf cluster. Internationally Clark has received numerous military honors such as the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Grand Cross of the Medal of Military Merit from Portugal and knighthoods.] Clark has been awarded some honors as a civilian, such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000. The people of Gjakova, Kosovo, named a street after him for his role in helping their city and country.The city of Madison in Alabama has also named a boulevard after Clark. Municipal approval has been granted for the construction of a new street to be named “General Clark Court” in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He has also been appointed a Fellow at the Burkle Center for International Relations at UCLA. He is a member of the guiding coalition of the Project on National Security Reform.
Thomas Blees: Author of Prescription for the Planet: The Painless Remedy for Our Energy and Environmental Crises. He is the President of the Science Council for Global Initiatives (SCGI), an international NGO dedicated to uplifting the standard of living of people in all nations while repairing our damaged environment. He is a member of the selection committee for the Global Energy Prize, considered Russia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize for energy research. Mr. Blees’ work has generated considerable interest among scientists and political figures around the world. He has acted as a consultant and advisor to private industry, NASA, the Department of Energy, members of Congress and the Obama White House.
Matthew Mellon: Born in New York City into the renowned Mellon and Drexel families of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and Drexel-Burnham-Lambert, Matthew Mellon was surrounded by the worlds of banking, business, and innovative technology. Today, Matthew carries on his family’s legacy as an entrepreneur, private equity investor, business advisor and philanthropist.
Matthew served as the former Chairman of the New York Republican Party’s Finance Committee and maintains associations with Drexel University and Carnegie Mellon University, both of which were founded by family members. He is also involved with the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, where a majority of the collection was donated to the nation by his great relative Andrew Mellon.
Edward R.F. Cox, JD: Member of Council on Foreign Relations. Son-in-law of Richard Nixon. Married Tricia Nixon at the White House on June 12, 1971.
H.E. Dr. Adnan Ahmed Al-Ansari – Ambassador and Observer, Permanent Mission of the Gulf Cooperation Council to the United Nations; former Director, Research Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sultanate of Oman.
Governor George Pataki: is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995, until December 31, 2006.
Dr. Evgeny Velikhovs is a physicist and scientific leader. His scientific interests include plasma physics, lasers, controlled nuclear fusion, power engineering and magnetohydrodynamics (high-power pulsed MHD generators). He is the author of over 1500 scientific publications and a number of inventions and discoveries. He currently holds the post of president of the Russian Scientific Center ” Kurchatov Institute.” He is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and has been the vice-president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
Prof. Barry Brook, Ph.D: He is a professor and ARC Future Fellow in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Adelaide, Australia, where he holds the Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change. He is also Director of Climate Science at the Environment Institute and co-runs the Global Ecology Lab. He has published three books and 250 peer-reviewed scientific papers, is an ISI highly cited researcher, and regularly writes opinion pieces and popular articles for the media. He is known for his work in ecological systems models, conservation biology, paleoecology and climate change impacts.
Ilan Juran, Ph.D has been a Senior Advisor of Technology and Science and Chaired United nations Development Programme (UNDP) Task Force ECO-INWARDS on Economic Integration of Neutralized Waste as a Resource Deployment Strategy. Prof. Juran holds a D.Sc. (Doctorat Es Science) in Applied Mechanics and a Ph.D. in Soil Mechanics both from University of Paris. He is presently the Secretary General of IMPACTS, International Forum of Metropolitan and Capital Cities in Europe and North America on Information Management Policy Assessment for City Transportation Systems.
Dr. Noel J. Brown currently serves as President of the Friends of the United Nations, a non governmental organization dedicated to advancing the cause of the United Nations by mobilizing public support on its behalf and directing public attention to its major programmes and achievements. He is a fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences, Chairman of the International Institute for Peace through Tourism and Chairman of the Rene Dubos Center for Human Environments. Dr .Brown introduced the Environmental Sabbath Programme to the United Nations, now celebrated worldwide by thousands of congregations in connection with World Environment Day, and he has recently edited a volume entitled Ethics and Agenda 21: Moral Implications of a Global Consensus. Dr .Brown is a recipient of the 1998 World Academy of Arts and Science Award for Distinguished Public Service.
Daniel D. Rubino is the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of GCA Capital Group. Previously, he co-founded 787 Capital Group LLC, a privately-held merchant banking firm, and was its Chief Executive Officer. The former Governor of New York State, Mario M. Cuomo, was Chairman of the Board of 787 Capital. Mr. Rubino specializes in sovereign financial and governmental advisory services, infrastructure development, public-private partnerships, gaming licensing and development, mergers and acquisitions, legal and financial investigations, and commodity trade and finance.
Vaclav Smil, Ph.D: In a 2009 review of one of Vaclav Smil’s books, Bill Gates wrote that “There is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil. Why? He understands a phenomenal range of subjects, from energy to agriculture. The word “polymath” was invented to describe people like him.” He has published some 200 articles and two dozen books on issues ranging from energy policy to nitrogen cycling. His research interests also include the environment, food, population, economics and public policy. His books include:
Energy at the Crossroads: Global Perspectives and Uncertainties
Energies
China’s Past, China’s Future
Energy, Food, Environment
He became the first non-American to receive the American Association for the Advancement of Science Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology. In 2010, Foreign Policy named him as one of the world’s Top 100 Global Thinkers “for keeping the West honest …” In 2013, he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada. He has given briefings and testimonies at the White House and in Congress as well as to the U.S. State Department and Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs. He has worked as a consultant to the European Union, the World Bank, U.S. Agency for International Development, OECD, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, CIA, Rockefeller Foundation, the Veronesi Foundation and the World Resources Institute.
Dr. Thomas Mensah has been described by Ebony Magazine as a genius. He holds 7 pioneering inventions in Fiber Optics Technology all awarded in six years. His innovations were critical to the Broadband and Fiber Optics infrastructure deployment in the United States. Dr. Thomas Mensah is one of the leaders in advanced materials that find applications in Aerospace, High Speed Rail, Windmill blade structures, and highly efficient cars. His current work in nano technology will revolutionize next generation batteries for electric vehicles and laptop computers. Dr. Mensah is one of the early proponents of High Speed Rail in America that integrates seamlessly with other modes of transportation to reduce green house effects. Dr. Mensah was named 100 engineers of the Modern Era, selected out of 1000 leading engineers by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He is the editor of two symposium book series, Fiber Optics Engineering, 1987 and Superconductor Engineering, 1992. Dr. Thomas Mensah’s technical contribution has impacted several industries, namely energy, environment, defense, transportation, and electronics to name a few. He is a recipient of Turner’s Trumpet Awards for Fiber Optics Innovation, Golden Torch Award, the highest award by NSBE, and Eminent Engineers award by AIChE. He has been profiled in Ebony Magazine Oct 2006 and the Chemical Engineering Progress Magazine, Oct 2008, and March 2009. Dr. Mensah is a member of the Executive Committee of the Nano Scale Engineering Forum (NSEF), the main committee on Nano Technology Development of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in the United States. Dr Mensah also serves on the Advisory Board of the United States High Speed Rail Organization. He is the Deputy Director for Technology Region 2 for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and member of the board for the NASA Space Grant Consortium. He has published extensively and speaks authoritatively on Innovation and competitiveness in America.
