Agnia Grigas (born November 21, 1979) is a Lithuanian-born American political scientist and author. She is known for her writing on security and energy issues of Russia, Europe, and

Post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

. She holds a Doctorate in International Relations from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. She is a nonresident Senior Fellow at the

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...

in Washington, DC.

Education and early life

Agnia Grigas (née Baranauskaitė) was born in

Kaunas, Lithuania Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

while the country was still part of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. At the age of ten, she immigrated with her mother to the United States. In 2002 Grigas graduated ''cum laude'' with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. In 2006 she earned a Master’s (

MPhil A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at least ...

) in International Relations from

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economics, politic ...

and subsequently in 2011 her Doctorate (

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

) in International Relations from

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The l ...

Career

In 2002, Grigas started her career as a financial analyst at

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...

in London, where she worked on Eurobond issuance for corporations and governments. In 2007, after completing her master’s studies, Grigas joined as an associate with global consultancy

Eurasia Group Eurasia Group is a political risk consultancy founded in 1998 by Ian Bremmer. History Eurasia Group reports on emerging markets including frontier and developed economies, in addition to establishing practices focused on geo-technology and energ ...

, where she advised for clients on Central and Eastern Europe,

post-Soviet States The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

and launched the company’s coverage of the

Baltic States The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

. In 2008-2009 Grigas served as an advisor on energy security and economy to the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under Minister

Vygaudas Ušackas Vygaudas Ušackas (born 16 December 1964 in Skuodas, Lithuania) is Member of the Board of Directors of a Lithuanian born European-American company Avia Solutions Group, which is a Leader in End-to-End Capacity Provider for Passenger and Cargo Ai ...

. She worked on regional gas diversification solutions, including the early stages of the Klaipeda LNG FSRU and on concluding one of the nation’s largest foreign investment projects by

Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

. Subsequently, she went on to consult

including leading to launch their global engineering center in

Vilnius, Lithuania Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

. In 2014 Grigas became a nonresident Senior Fellow at the McKinnon Center for Global Affairs at

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is ...

in Los Angeles. In 2015, she joined the

Truman National Security Project The Truman National Security Project is a United States national security and leadership development organization based in Washington, D.C. The Truman Project's stated mission is to develop smart national security solutions that reinforce strong, e ...

as a Security Fellow. Since 2015 she is a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center in

in Washington, DC.

Books

* *:Grigas’s first book examines the foreign policies of the

towards Russia in respect of the politics of oil and gas, and the Soviet historical legacy.Robert Mundel
"Energy security and pipeline politics: the achilles heel of Eastern Europe"
, ''

Harriman Institute The Harriman Institute, the first academic center in the United States devoted to the interdisciplinary study of Russia and the Soviet Union, was founded at Columbia University in 1946, with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, as the Russi ...

'', Retrieved on June 30, 2016. The second edition was released in 2016 by

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

. * *:Grigas's second book illustrates how Moscow has consistently used its compatriots in bordering nations for its territorial ambitions and demonstrates how this policy has been implemented in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, and why countries like

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

, the

, and others are also at risk. * *:Grigas's third book demonstrates how the boom in

shale gas Shale gas is an unconventional natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations. Since the 1990s, a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has made large volumes of shale gas more economical to produce, and ...

production in the United States, the growth of global

LNG Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

trade, and the buildup of gas transport infrastructure worldwide has had a transformative effect on the natural gas industry.HU
"The New Geopolitics of Natural Gas"
''

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

'', Retrieved on October 17, 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grigas, Agnia Living people Soviet emigrants to the United States American women political scientists American political scientists 1979 births JPMorgan Chase employees Columbia College (New York) alumni Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford 21st-century American women