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Friday, Oct 10, 2025
12:00pm – 1:15pm
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Secretary Doug Burgum: The Future of Energy

This event is hosted by Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford Energy, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, and the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions at the Hoover Institution.
Open to
Faculty
Staff
Students
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Location

Stanford University
Stanford, CA
United States

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Event Details

Join us for a student town hall on energy innovation and conservation with Doug Burgum, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior, and four leading energy CEOs.  

The Secretary will be joined on stage by:

  • Drew Baglino, Founder and CEO, Heron Power
  • Patti Poppe, CEO, PG&E

Following opening remarks and the panel discussion, the Secretary and his guests will welcome questions from students in the audience. 

This event is primarily for students to explore career opportunities in the energy industry. Seats for faculty and staff are available on a limited basis.

This event is organized in collaboration with the American Conservation Coalition and the Hamm Institute for American Energy as part of their Energy Freedom Tour.

Registration and Stanford email are required for admission.

About the Speaker

Secretary Burgum Headshot

Doug Burgum is the 55th Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. 

Raised in Arthur, North Dakota, Burgum worked as a chimney sweep to help pay his way through North Dakota State University before earning an MBA from Stanford University. In 1983, Doug literally “bet the farm” to provide seed capital for a software startup called Great Plains.

Doug led Great Plains through a successful IPO and grew the company to over 2,000 employees before its acquisition by Microsoft. Burgum remained with Microsoft for six years as the Senior Vice President of Business Solutions.

Doug later co-founded Arthur Ventures and served as chairman for international software companies including Atlassian, SuccessFactors, and as a board member for Avalara.

In 2016, Burgum was elected to serve as North Dakota’s 33rd Governor. In 2020, he was re-elected in a landslide. Under his leadership, North Dakota passed the largest tax cut in state history and dramatically reduced red tape.

As a testament to Burgum’s leadership, Forbes named him “America’s Best Entrepreneurial Governor.” During his tenure, North Dakota experienced the highest growth in real GDP and had the lowest unemployment rate in the country.

Burgum has three adult children. He is married to Kathryn Burgum, a nationally recognized advocate for addiction recovery.

 

Event Organizers

Burgum Logos