Daniel Bruce Poneman (born March 12, 1956) is an American lawyer and businessman. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Centrus Energy, a publicly traded energy company, (LEU) from 2015 to 2023. Prior to joining Centrus Energy, he served as

United States Deputy Secretary of Energy The deputy secretary of energy is a high-ranking position within the United States Department of Energy. The deputy secretary is the second-highest-ranking official of the department and assists the United States Secretary of Energy, secretary of ...

from 2009 to 2014. He is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Paulson Institute at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

and a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. Poneman was Acting Secretary of Energy in 2013 following the resignation of Steven Chu until Ernest Moniz was confirmed and sworn in.

Education

Poneman received A.B. and J.D. degrees with honors from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, and an M.Litt. in politics from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a 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 second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, where he was a student at Lincoln College.

Career

Prior to serving as chief executive position at Centrus Energy, Poneman was nominated by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

to be

on April 20, 2009, and was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on May 18, 2009. He also served as Chief Operating Officer of the Department of Energy. Poneman served as Acting Secretary of Energy following the resignation of Secretary Chu until his successor, Ernest Moniz was confirmed by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and was sworn in. Poneman was a principal of The Scowcroft Group, a consulting firm in Washington, D.C., in the eight years prior to his appointment to the United States Department of Energy. Before his consulting role, Poneman was a partner in the law firm of Hogan & Hartson.Daniel Poneman Biography on Energy.gov
/ref> Between 1993 and 1996, Poneman served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Nonproliferation and Export Controls at the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

. He joined the NSC staff in 1990 as the Director of Defense Policy and Arms Control after also serving as a White House Fellow in the United States Department of Energy. Poneman currently sits on th
Atlantic Council's
Board of Directors. Poneman is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.

Publications

Poneman has published widely on national security issues and is the author of ''Nuclear Power in the Developing World, Argentina: Democracy on Trial'' and ''Double Jeopardy: Combating Nuclear Terror and Climate Change''. His third book, ''Going Critical: The First North Korean Nuclear Crisis'' (coauthored with Joel Wit and Robert Gallucci), received the 2005 Douglas Dillon Award for Distinguished Writing on American Diplomacy.

Honors

Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd Class, Gold and Silver Star (2020)

References

External links

Daniel B. Poneman, Deputy Secretary of Energy on Energy.gov
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Poneman, Daniel 1956 births 21st-century American politicians Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Harvard Law School alumni Living people Obama administration cabinet members Politicians from Toledo, Ohio United States deputy secretaries of energy United States secretaries of energy University of Chicago fellows Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd class Harvard College alumni