Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Websites
Affiliations
Publications
SELECTED INTERNATIONAL & ALLIED ENGAGEMENTS
Certification
Timeline
Generic

DUANE R. VERNER

Bath

Summary

Deploy two decades of critical-infrastructure, global energy security, and NATO partner-engagement experience to help OpenAI for Countries stand up sovereign, secure AI/data-center ecosystems that advance democratic values, spur local innovation, and strengthen trans-Atlantic alliances.

Overview

22
22
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work History

Director, Global Energy & Climate Security

Argonne National Laboratory
01.2022 - Current
  • Lead Argonne support to the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation program, which promotes interconnectivity, security, and collaboration between the Central European energy sector and the United States.
  • Lead Argonne research program to develop a decision support tool for siting AI data centers, leveraging energy, water, and geospatial modeling.
  • Lead Argonne's technical support to the DOE Ukraine Task Force, U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, and U.S. Embassy Kyiv, rotating in-country deployments.
  • Working with frontier AI labs, direct applied AI research and red-teaming initiatives that stress-test critical energy infrastructure, advancing cyber-physical defensive capabilities.
  • Lead energy and climate security training program for OSCE, focusing on Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, and Central Asia.
  • Led program for the resilient integration of Ukraine and Moldova’s electric grids with the European grid and analysis of impacts to Europe from a loss of Russian natural gas imports.
  • Served as project manager in support of the Navy Energy Analytical Support exercise program in Azerbaijan, Lithuania, and Ukraine.

Resilience Assessment Group Leader / Senior Energy Security Analyst

Argonne National Laboratory – Decision & Infrastructure Sciences Division
01.2011 - 01.2022
  • Managed OSCE consultation meetings with Central Asian experts to produce a Preliminary Needs Analysis on climate change and security.
  • Principal Investigator for CIACC, an AI/NLP tool that extracts and synthesizes climate adaptation research to support decision-making.
  • Program Manager for DHS’s Regional Resiliency Assessment Program, directing analyses of critical infrastructure interdependencies, climate-adaptation needs, and cyber-physical vulnerabilities to inform resilience strategies and technical assistance for power, water, telecom, and transportation systems.
  • Led development of the Global Energy Security Testbed to identify vulnerabilities and inform resilience investments in global energy systems.
  • Principal Investigator in the Argonne Launchpad program to align lab capabilities with DOS, DHS, and NATO in countering hybrid threats to critical infrastructure.

Project Manager – Energy, Transportation & Homeland Security

Private-Sector Engineering Firm, New York City
07.2003 - 01.2011
  • Led environmental assessments for proposed capacity and service upgrades on transit and commuter rail lines in Chicago, North Carolina, and Cleveland.
  • Managed studies for DOTs nationwide assessing indirect, cumulative, and community impacts of transportation projects.
  • Led regional catastrophic planning for the NYC–Northern NJ area, developing hazard scenarios and coordinating federal, state, and local response strategies.
  • Deployed post-Katrina as a FEMA contractor to restore critical infrastructure and plan emergency housing while ensuring safety, NEPA, and floodplain compliance under ESF-3.

Education

Master of Arts - Urban Planning

Cleveland State University
Cleveland, OH

Bachelor of Arts - Sociology

Hiram College
Hiram, OH

Skills

  • Critical-infrastructure resilience
  • AI model red-teaming
  • Relationship building
  • Trans-Atlantic cooperation
  • European energy security
  • Project management
  • Creativity and innovation
  • Strategic planning

Affiliations

  • APA
  • IEEE Smart Grid
  • US-EU Energy Council Working Group
  • National Defense Industrial Association
  • Society for Risk Analysis

Publications

  • Assessing Energy Dependency in the Age of Hybrid Threats – Hybrid COE report, 2018 (hybridcoe.fi)
  • Keynote, World Economic Forum workshop “Mitigating Risks in the Innovation Economy,” Zurich, 2017 (anl.gov)
  • Incorporating Prioritization in Critical Infrastructure Security & Resilience – Homeland Security Affairs Journal, 2019 (hsaj.org)

SELECTED INTERNATIONAL & ALLIED ENGAGEMENTS

  • Civil Expert (Energy), NATO CEP Committee - Advise on secure energy-supply planning & collective-defense infrastructure, 2022-present
  • Member, OECD High-Level Risk Forum - Shape policy on systemic risks & resilient infrastructure finance, 2021-present
  • Active Member, Hybrid COE (Helsinki) - Co-author “Assessing Energy Dependency in the Age of Hybrid Threats”, 2018-present
  • U.S. Embassy Science Fellow - Western Balkans climate & energy diplomacy, 2021
  • OSCE Course Author & Lecturer - “Protecting Critical Energy Infrastructure” e-learning series, 2020

Certification

Strategic Laboratory Leadership Program, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, 2018.


Masters Certificate in Disaster Management and Community Preparedness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2005.


American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP)/#01988, 2005 (inactive).

Timeline

Director, Global Energy & Climate Security

Argonne National Laboratory
01.2022 - Current

Resilience Assessment Group Leader / Senior Energy Security Analyst

Argonne National Laboratory – Decision & Infrastructure Sciences Division
01.2011 - 01.2022

Project Manager – Energy, Transportation & Homeland Security

Private-Sector Engineering Firm, New York City
07.2003 - 01.2011

Master of Arts - Urban Planning

Cleveland State University

Bachelor of Arts - Sociology

Hiram College

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