Paul Saunders
Managing Partner
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Paul Saunders is an experienced policymaker and non-profit executive who has worked for over three decades in Washington's policy community. His work has spanned key global regions, including Asia, Europe, and the Middle East as well as critical sectors including energy, defense, and technology.
Saunders is currently President of the Center for the National Interest and a Senior Advisor at Energy Innovation Reform Project. He was President of EIRP from 2019 to 2024 and Executive Director of the Center for the National Interest from 2005 to 2019. At CFTNI, he oversaw research programs covering China, Japan, and South Korea, the European Union and leading member states, Russia and the former Soviet Union, and the greater Middle East region, including North Africa, the Persian Gulf, and South and Central Asia. He traveled widely to organize and lead track two dialogue programs that engaged counterparts in both partner and rival nations. He was also Associate Publisher of CFTNI's prestigious foreign policy magazine The National Interest, which became America's most widely-read online foreign policy publication during this period. He organized major conferences and other events featuring U.S. and foreign heads of state, cabinet officials, and senior legislators. In addition, he engaged closely with corporate and foundation donors as well as with policymakers and the media.
As President of Energy Innovation Reform Project, a Washington-based non-profit research and advocacy organization, Saunders helped to draft legislation, briefed members of Congress and staff, and led research and programs addressing the collision between geopolitics and the global energy transition as well as key domestic challenges such as clean energy supply chains, land use and permitting, and nuclear licensing and exports. In 2021, Saunders created and led the high-profile bipartisan Task Force on U.S. Indo-Pacific Energy Strategy and prepared its final report, Advancing American Energy and Innovation in the Indo-Pacific Region. His recent work has included detailed assessments of state-level energy and climate policies and forthcoming reports on Russia's evolving role in global energy systems and on U.S.-South Korea cooperation and competition in battery and solar photovoltaic supply chains.
In recent years, Saunders has led bilateral and trilateral energy and energy technology dialogues with Japan and South Korea and has traveled frequently to both countries and to other key energy producing and consuming nations. He is the editor-in-chief of Energy Innovation Reform Project's Indo-Pacific Energy Update and Russian Energy Update newsletters.
From 2003 to 2005, Saunders was a political appointee in the U.S. Department of State, where he served as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs and managed a far-reaching portfolio including communications and speechwriting as well as energy, climate change, and other transnational issues. Earlier in his career, he was a Senior Policy Advisor to the Republican Policy Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Saunders has appeared frequently in national broadcast and print media and is the author of dozens of reports and articles. He holds a B.A. and and M.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan.
Saunders is currently President of the Center for the National Interest and a Senior Advisor at Energy Innovation Reform Project. He was President of EIRP from 2019 to 2024 and Executive Director of the Center for the National Interest from 2005 to 2019. At CFTNI, he oversaw research programs covering China, Japan, and South Korea, the European Union and leading member states, Russia and the former Soviet Union, and the greater Middle East region, including North Africa, the Persian Gulf, and South and Central Asia. He traveled widely to organize and lead track two dialogue programs that engaged counterparts in both partner and rival nations. He was also Associate Publisher of CFTNI's prestigious foreign policy magazine The National Interest, which became America's most widely-read online foreign policy publication during this period. He organized major conferences and other events featuring U.S. and foreign heads of state, cabinet officials, and senior legislators. In addition, he engaged closely with corporate and foundation donors as well as with policymakers and the media.
As President of Energy Innovation Reform Project, a Washington-based non-profit research and advocacy organization, Saunders helped to draft legislation, briefed members of Congress and staff, and led research and programs addressing the collision between geopolitics and the global energy transition as well as key domestic challenges such as clean energy supply chains, land use and permitting, and nuclear licensing and exports. In 2021, Saunders created and led the high-profile bipartisan Task Force on U.S. Indo-Pacific Energy Strategy and prepared its final report, Advancing American Energy and Innovation in the Indo-Pacific Region. His recent work has included detailed assessments of state-level energy and climate policies and forthcoming reports on Russia's evolving role in global energy systems and on U.S.-South Korea cooperation and competition in battery and solar photovoltaic supply chains.
In recent years, Saunders has led bilateral and trilateral energy and energy technology dialogues with Japan and South Korea and has traveled frequently to both countries and to other key energy producing and consuming nations. He is the editor-in-chief of Energy Innovation Reform Project's Indo-Pacific Energy Update and Russian Energy Update newsletters.
From 2003 to 2005, Saunders was a political appointee in the U.S. Department of State, where he served as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs and managed a far-reaching portfolio including communications and speechwriting as well as energy, climate change, and other transnational issues. Earlier in his career, he was a Senior Policy Advisor to the Republican Policy Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Saunders has appeared frequently in national broadcast and print media and is the author of dozens of reports and articles. He holds a B.A. and and M.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan.