Michelle Naomi (Billig) Patron (born 1974) is an energy policy expert who currently serves as the director of sustainability policy at

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

. From 2013 to 2015, she served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for energy and climate change on the U.S. National Security Staff. Patron received her bachelor's degree from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1996 and her master's degree in international studies from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

in 1999.Samuel W. Bodman, Julia E. Sweig, James D. Wolfensohn, "Global Brazil and U.S.-Brazil Relations", Council on Foreign Relations (2011), p. 97 From 1999 to 2003, Patron was an international policy advisor at the

U.S. Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States. ...

, advising on relations with major energy producing and consuming countries and designing strategies to

address climate change Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caused by emissions from fossil fuels b ...

, energy security, and market reform. During 2001, she served as Energy Attach¨at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Patron was an International Affairs Fellow at the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

in 2003-2004 and conducted energy research at

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

in New York. She also worked at the

International Energy Agency The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organisation, established in 1974, that provides policy recommendations, analysis and data on the entire global energy sector, with a recent focus on curbing carb ...

and the Center for International Environmental Law. In 2004, Patron moved to PIRA Energy Group, an energy consulting firm in New York, where she was senior director, managing a research service that tracked global political and regulatory developments and assessing their impact on energy markets. She was at the same time an adjunct professor at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

's Center for Global Affairs. Patron is a member of the

and has written for ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

'', ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', and the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''.

Personal life

Patron is the daughter of Judi Billig and Bob Billig, a Broadway director and conductor, of

North Miami Beach North Miami Beach (commonly referred to as NMB) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. Originally named "Fulford-by-the-Sea" in 1926 after Captain William H. Fulford of the U.S. Coast Guard, the city was renamed "North Miami Be ...

, Florida. She was married on November 15, 2008, to David I. Patron, at the time an executive with

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

. "Michelle Billig, David Patron"
The New York Times (November 16, 2008)

References

1974 births Living people Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies alumni {{US-gov-bio-stub Columbia College (New York) alumni Microsoft people