Ex-energy chief, Greek official on tap for Headliners Newsmaker events Wedmesday morning

The National Press Club will host two Headliners Newsmaker press events Wednesday morning,June 21.

At 10 a.m., in the Lisagor Room, former U.S, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz plans to propose ways to maintain America’s innovation leadership in energy. He will announce the formation of a new nonprofit organization, Energy Futures Initiative, that aims to push for clean energy.

At 11 a.m., in the Bloomberg Room, Greek Minister of Economy and Development Dimitri Papadimitriou plans to discuss the Greek debt crisis and next steps for the European nation.

Both Newsmaker events are open to credentialed media and Club members free of charge, but advance registration is required. To register for the Moniz event, click here.

For the Papadimitriou event, register here.

According to the creators, the Energy Futures Initiative to be proposed by Moniz will be a think tank and advisory firm working across all energy sources to provide evidence-based analysis on reducing the use of carbon-based sources of energy, creating high-paying energy jobs, and finding ways to make energy infrastructure and supplies more secure.

Moniz served as energy secretary under President Barack Obama from 2013-17. He is a Ph.D. physicist with a long affiliation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is currently a part-time professor of physics and special advisor to the president.

Papadimitriou is on leave from New York’s Bard College to serve in the Greek government. At Bard, Papadimitriou is a professor of economics and president of the Levy Economics Institute.

Greece is in its seventh year of a financial crisis that resulted in austerity measures including cuts to public services, and pension and benefits, while simultaneously increasing efforts to boost tax revenue.

The nation has been assisted with bailouts from the European Union and international organizations, however, the Greek economy has been slow to rebound, unemployment stands at roughly 25 percent, and the economy has shrunk by 20 percent since austerity measures began.