Leadership

Brian J. Anderson, Ph.D., serves as senior advisor to the Under Secretary for Infrastructure in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and is the executive director of the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization (Energy Communities IWG). A native and longtime West Virginian, Anderson brings extensive expertise and a network of contacts in regional innovation, technology advancements and workforce development for the fossil energy sector.

In his dual roles, Anderson offers technical advice and strategically leverages DOE’s resources and expertise — along with those of a nearly a dozen federal agencies — to reduce barriers, increase efficiencies and raise awareness about resources to drive billions of dollars in competitive funding opportunities and tax credits to coal, oil and gas, and power plant communities. Led by priorities set forth by workers and leaders in their respective local areas, such efforts are helping to drive economic revitalization work in Appalachia and across the nation. In the past three years, the Energy Communities IWG facilitated more than $54 billion in federal awards and loans to America’s energy communities. During this same period, the private sector announced investments of approximately $315 billion in fossil energy communities.

Anderson previously served as director of DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) from 2018 to 2023. In that role, he advanced NETL’s mission to enable domestic coal, natural gas and oil to economically power our nation’s homes, industries, businesses and transportation, while safeguarding our environment and strengthening America’s energy independence. He was also responsible for NETL’s project portfolio, including research and development (R&D) conducted through partnerships, cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs), financial assistance, and contractual arrangements with universities and the private sector. In 2021, he was recognized as the Federal Laboratory Consortium National Laboratory Director of the Year.

Prior to joining DOE, Anderson served as director of West Virginia University’s (WVU) Energy Institute, where he coordinated and promoted university-wide energy research in engineering, science, technology and policy. Anderson earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at WVU and his master’s and doctorate in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.