Victor Der

Dr. Der is Executive Adviser for North America operations at the Global CCS Institute. Prior to this, he worked at the US Department of Energy (DOE) for over 37 years retiring as the Assistant Secretary (acting) for Fossil Energy. He has led the Office of Fossil Energy in the areas of clean coal, CCS, oil and gas R&D, and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He had served in various prior capacities at DOE including the Principal Deputy for Fossil Energy and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Clean Coal and CCS. Victor is also the former Chair of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum Policy Group, and had also served as the Chair of the CSLF Technical Group. As the Assistant Secretary (acting), Victor managed a multi-billion dollar portfolio of clean coal technology and CCS demonstration projects in addition to a multi-million dollar research portfolio on CCS, power generation, and enhanced oil and gas recovery research. Victor’s prior experience includes research and management in advanced nuclear energy, geologic storage of high-level nuclear waste, and superconductivity for magnetic fusion energy. Victor has also worked on NASA’s Apollo 15 moon mission project and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration program on modelling the upper atmospheric density. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree, a Master of Science degree and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland.