David K. Garman

David Garman was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as Under Secretary of Energy on March 4, 2005 and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on June 15, 2005.

As Under Secretary, Mr. Garman is responsible for Department of Energy activities in Energy, Science, and Environment, with an annual budget of approximately $14 billion.

Under Secretary Garman oversees the Department’s widely diversified portfolio of energy research, development, demonstration and deployment activities. These activities include next generation nuclear power reactors, clean coal technologies, hydrogen fuel cells, superconductivity, advanced vehicle technologies, efficient building technologies, and thin film solar photovoltaics to name a few. Mr. Garman is also the official designated by law to hold primary responsibility for the Department’s efforts on energy conservation matters.

Under Secretary Garman also oversees the civilian science activities of the Department of Energy, including its 14 National Laboratories. The Department of Energy, the largest funder of physical sciences in the federal government, maintains world-class programs in basic energy sciences; high energy and nuclear physics; biological and environmental sciences; fusion energy; and computing.

In addition, Mr. Garman is responsible for managing many of the Department’s most difficult challenges including nuclear waste management and the environmental cleanup of the nuclear weapons complex.

Prior to being confirmed as Under Secretary, Mr. Garman served President Bush at the Department of Energy as the Assistant Secretary for Efficiency and Renewable Energy. During his four-year tenure in that position, Garman and his management team were credited by the National Academy of Public Administration for radically transforming the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy from a troubled organization to a model worthy of emulation.

Prior to joining the Department of Energy, Mr. Garman served on the personal staff of two United States Senators and on the Professional Staff of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Mr. Garman also represented the Senate leadership at virtually all major negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 1995-2000.

Garman holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from Duke University, and a Master of Science in Environmental Sciences from the Johns Hopkins University.