Energy Empires: The Race for Strategic Abundance
Aquitania West | 60 Chelsea Piers
Afternoon Panel at Lauder Global Impact Summit
Saturday, October 18 | 2:15 - 3:15PM
Themes
Energy Security | Industrial Strategy | Capital Markets | International Order Making
Description
The race for energy abundance is no longer just about powering economies - it’s about securing national advantage and redefining the global order. Reliable, affordable energy now underpins leadership in emerging domains, from advanced manufacturing to the intensifying race in artificial intelligence. Around the world, governments and markets are balancing resilience, industrial policy, and private capital against geopolitical pressures and shifting supply chains. With perspectives spanning the United States and Southeast Asia, this panel will explore how energy security is reshaping technological leadership, investment flows, and international competition.
Speakers
Panelist: Christine Harada
Panelist: Shawn Xu
Panelist: Ashley Smith
Panelist: Ravi Chidambaram
Moderator: Linh Nguyen
Bios
Linh Nguyen
Moderator Linh Nguyen is an Engagement Manager at Deloitte, where she has spent nearly a decade guiding Fortune 500 companies through complex global transformations. Her expertise lies in translating complex technical challenges into actionable pathways, crafting C-suite executive narratives that secure buy-in, and leading cross-functional teams through large-scale change.
Motivated by her roots in Vietnam, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, Linh is redirecting her expertise toward climate and energy innovation. She is a Climatebase Fellow and serves as a fractional operations leader for early-stage climate tech startups in the U.S. while also advising New Energy Nexus Vietnam on its mission to accelerate climate resilience and adaptation entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia.
Ashley Smith
Ashley Smith is Chief Customer Officer at Equilibrium Energy, where she leads business development and customer success, driving the company’s growth in new markets and with new products.
Prior to Equilibrium, Ashley was Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at AES, where she defined the company’s innovation agenda and launched a portfolio of renewable, electrification, and digital solutions that expanded AES’s global presence. Earlier in her career, she advanced the European energy transition at Shell, transforming the power sales and trading group, driving strategic renewable investments, and leading Shell’s European venture capital arm.
Ashley also co-founded and led Centrica’s venture capital group, where she oversaw the acquisition of a high-growth tech company that became the foundation of Centrica’s Connected Home business. She began her career at CT Investment Partners, Franklin Templeton Investments, and the Environmental Protection Agency, building a strong foundation in finance, technology, and policy.
She holds a B.S. from McGill University and an MBA from the Wharton School, grounding her career at the intersection of energy, innovation, and growth.
Christine Harada
Christine Harada currently serves as Under Secretary of California’s Government Operations Agency, where she advances data-driven, customer-centric government across the state enterprise. She has also served in the Obama and Biden White Houses, where she led government-wide efforts on decarbonization, resilient infrastructure, and procurement that help mobilize private-sector innovation. She has advised companies, investors, and public agencies on strategy at the intersection of climate, infrastructure, and technology, and served on several boards and advisory groups. Across roles in the White House, industry, and consulting, she focuses on translating policy into scalable projects and measurable outcomes. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT, a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University, an MBA from the Wharton School, and a Master of Arts in International Relations from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.
Ravi Chidambaram
A strong believer in ethical, purpose-driven, and environmental-focused principles, Ravi Chidambaram has brought much value to the community through his knowledge and expertise. He shares his insight as a Professor of Sustainability at Yale-NUS and as a global commentator on sustainability issues. His latest company, RIMM, is a sustainability platform designed to be intuitive, simple yet comprehensive, where companies can make an impact with intelligent tools for sustainability management, applications and optimization. Ravi started his career in the investment banking industry where he held global senior leadership positions at Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. He subsequently built his own boutique M&A advisory firm in Singapore, TC Capital , which is recognized as one of the leading independent M&A and capital markets advisory firm in Asia. The firm has developed a particularly strong practice in the climate tech and environmental sectors. He holds a BA (Honors) from Duke University, an MBA/MA from the Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania and was a Fulbright Fellow at the Institute for World Economics in Germany. Ravi also sits on a number of corporate boards and leads a number of charitable initiatives.
Shawn Xu
Shawn Xu (WG '19) is a Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, a multibillion dollar venture capital fund founded by Chris and Crystal Sacca that backs companies making real money slashing emissions, sucking carbon out of the sky, and buying us time to unf*ck the planet. Shawn focuses on software and deeptech that's accelerating the energy transition, and also leads their work with founders based outside the United States - now a quarter of the portfolio. Before he was an investor, he led international expansion for technology companies like Square. He's based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he grew up.