David M. Rubenstein Chair in Energy and the Environment

This chair was established in 2008 through a generous gift from CFR Board Chairman David M. Rubenstein. It supports a senior fellow committed to the study of the critical international challenges involving energy and the environment, such as climate change and energy security, and their significance to the broader foreign and energy policy debates.

David M. Rubenstein

David M. Rubenstein is cofounder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest private equity firms, with offices in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Japan. Prior to cofounding Carlyle in 1987, Rubenstein practiced law in New York with the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, served as deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy under President Jimmy Carter, and practiced law in Washington, DC, with the firm of Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge. A highly respected global business leader, Rubenstein joined CFR’s Board of Directors in 2005, becoming vice chair in 2012, and chairman in 2017. He also serves on many other distinguished nonprofit boards.

Rubenstein has served as chairman of the board of trustees of Duke University, co-chair of the board of trustees of the Brookings Institution, and chairman of the board of trustees of Tsinghua’s School of Economics and Management.

Rubenstein is an original signer of the Giving Pledge and a recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy. He is the host of The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations on Bloomberg TV and PBS. Rubenstein graduated from Duke and received his JD from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review.

David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellows in Energy and the Environment

2020–Present
Alice C. Hill

2017–20
Amy Myers Jaffe

2008–16
Michael A. Levi