John Banks

Background and Education

Mr. Banks is a Visiting Scholar and Adjunct Professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.  In addition to teaching a graduate-level course on Global Electricity Markets, he is assisting the Energy, Resources and Environment Program (ERE) in expanding electricity-related content in the curriculum.  Mr. Banks is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Foundation for Renewable Energy & the Environment. 
 
Mr. Banks focusses on the ongoing transformation of the global electricity sector, with a particular interest in the intersection of technology innovation, policy, and regulatory trends as they impact de-carbonization approaches and evolving business models.   He is currently working on an assessment of alternative, sub-national electricity service models in the U.S., specifically community choice aggregation, the sustainable energy utility, and municipal utilities.  Recently, he has overseen two student research field projects: examining electricity access challenges in Myanmar, and assessing the city of Seoul, South Korea’s efforts at deploying clean energy, especially solar PV.  
 
Previously, Mr. Banks served as Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution. He contributed to the formation of, and helped run, Brookings’ Global Electricity and Technology Roundtable, a bi-annual, private meeting of senior utility and technology industry executives, state and federal government officials, financial institutions, regulators, academia, and others designed to discuss major developments in the electricity sector globally.  While at Brookings, he worked on research dealing with nuclear power, the transition of the electricity sector in Germany and Japan, the role of distributed energy resources in the US, electricity access in emerging markets, and the future role of coal.

Prior to working at a think tank and in academia, Mr. Banks was a management consultant for over 20 years advising governments, companies, and regulators throughout the world on energy policy, security, and governance issues.  He has worked for a number of firms including Nexant, Inc. the successor company to Bechtel Technology & Consulting, and BearingPoint (now Deloitte) in New York.  

He has authored or co-authored dozens of energy reports, published numerous articles, and has provided expert testimony.  He is a co-editor and author of a recently published book examining the role of the nuclear industry in proliferation prevention.  Mr. Banks has worked in twenty-four countries outside the US.  He holds an MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.