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Lucy ShawтАЩs mission is to make energy cheap and abundant without causing harm to people and the planet.
Lucy Shaw has delivered energy and infrastructure projects globally for over a decade. She currently leads Gordon Management, an investment consultancy focused on energy projects in the UK and Africa, and she regularly writes and speaks on energy topics.
Growing up on the island of Borneo, she experienced the impact of power cuts, deforestation, and disregard for both the environment and the infrastructure that humans need to thrive.
She went on to study mechanical engineering to understand how the world works, and became fascinated by the power of energy to shape lives. After a stint as an oil and gas engineer, she joined Boston Consulting Group in Australia to advise energy and public sector leaders.
She recognised that the challenge of energy access was more acute in emerging markets, and moved to Latin America then Africa to work on rural economic development in energy and agriculture.
There, she partnered with organisations like the United Nations, the Gates Foundation, the Foreign Office, and the Rockefeller Foundation, to deliver solutions that would grow incomes for rural communities and reduce their energy bills.
She wanted to grow her impact and channel finance into these solutions, so she studied a Masters in Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School and Masters in Business Administration at Harvard Business School on a Fulbright scholarship. After graduating in the top 5% of her class, she joined Blackstone, the worldтАЩs largest alternative asset manager, to invest in infrastructure in Europe.
Now Lucy Shaw leads Gordon Management, advising on energy deals and convening the public and private sectors to move projects forward. She writes Slow Burn, a column on the progress and pitfalls of the energy transition, and is the co-host of the Power Plays podcast on the tech, finance, and politics driving energy news each week. She is writing a book called Coal Blooded: Breaking Our Addiction to the WorldтАЩs Dirtiest Fuel.
In it, she offers a view into an industry hidden from the public eye, explaining the politics behind why we still depend on coal for a third of the worldтАЩs energy, the damage this does to our health and our wallets, and how we can stop without causing harm to communities.
Lucy offers a different perspective from journalists and academics, grounded in the practical realities of the transition. She is as comfortable speaking to mining engineers as the Chairman of Rio Tinto.
Her cross-disciplinary experience and deep global network of investors, academics, engineers and policymakers give her unusual insider access and make her a credible speaker on the energy transition, climate change, politics, and finance.
Lucy Shaw is also an inspiration to other young women from non-traditional fields and can speak to her journey in engineering, finance, writing, and politics. Outside the energy industry, LucyтАЩs philanthropic activities include serving on the Development Committee of the Imperial War Museums and she previously served as a Trustee of the British Friends of Harvard Business School.
Lucy ShawтАЩs Speaking Topics:
