Daniel Poneman

President and CEO, Centrus Energy Corporation, Deputy Secretary of Energy (2009-2014), Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, Distinguished Fellow at the Paulson Institute

Daniel B. Poneman is the president and chief executive officer of Centrus Energy Corp. He also serves on the company’s board of directors. Under his leadership, Poneman has been recognized for enhancing industry-government partnerships, particularly in preparing and responding to security threats in the electric sector, including during Superstorm Sandy.

From 2009 to 2014, Poneman was the Deputy Secretary of Energy, also serving as the chief operating officer of the U.S. Department of Energy. His responsibilities encompassed a broad spectrum of U.S. energy policies and programs—hydricarbons, renewables, nuclear, and efficiency—including cybersecurity, project management, national security, and international cooperation. He was pivotal in the Department's resilience and emergency response efforts, addressing crises from Fukushima to Hurricane Sandy. Between April 23, 2013, and May 21, 2013, Poneman served as Acting Secretary of Energy.

Prior to his tenure at the Department of Energy, Poneman spent eight years as a principal at the Scowcroft Group, providing strategic advice to corporations across various sectors. He also practiced law for eight years, first as an associate at Covington & Burling and then as a partner at Hogan & Hartson, advising clients on regulatory and policy matters.

Earlier in his career, Poneman held significant roles in government, including as a White House Fellow and director of Defense Policy and Arms Control at the National Security Council. From 1993 through 1996, he was special assistant to the President and senior director for nonproliferation and export controls at the National Security Council, where his work focused on policies involving peaceful nuclear cooperation, missile technology, space-launch activities, and conventional arms transfer policy.

Poneman has written extensively on national security issues. He is the author of "Nuclear Power in the Developing World" and "Argentina: Democracy on Trial." His book "Going Critical: The First North Korean Nuclear Crisis," coauthored with Joel Wit and Robert Gallucci, was awarded the 2005 Douglas Dillon Award for Distinguished Writing on American Diplomacy. His most recent publication, "Double Jeopardy: Combating Nuclear Terror and Climate Change," was released by the MIT Press in May 2019 and published by the Belfer Center Studies in International Security. Additionally, Poneman is a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School, a Distinguished Fellow at the Paulson Institute, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Poneman earned Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees with honors from Harvard University and a Master of Letters in Politics from Oxford University.