Frank A Verrastro

Frank Verrastro is senior vice president and director in the CSIS Energy Program. Previously, he served as senior policy adviser at the law firm of Vinson & Elkins, working with the firm's task force on Iraq reconstruction. Prior to joining Vinson & Elkins in August 2001, he had spent 25 years in energy policy and project management positions in both the U.S. government and the private sector. fverrastroHis government service included staff positions in the White House (Energy Policy and Planning Staff) and the Departments of Interior (Oil and Gas Office) and Energy (Domestic Policy and International Affairs Office), including serving as director of the Office of Producing Nations and deputy assistant secretary for international energy resources. In the private sector, Mr. Verrastro has served as director of refinery policy and crude oil planning for TOSCO (formerly the nation's largest independent refiner) and more recently as senior vice president for Pennzoil. At Pennzoil, he was responsible for the company's government-relations activity, both domestic and international. He also served on the company's international risk assessment and negotiations teams, as well as on the management and operating committees and the Environmental Safety and Health Leadership Council. His undergraduate degree is in the sciences (a B.S. in biology/chemistry from Fairfield University). He earned a master's degree from Harvard University and, completed the executive management program at the Yale School of Business and Management. Mr. Verrastro is an adjunct professor at the University of Marylandand senior fellow at the James M. Burns Academy for Leadership and also teaches a graduate course on the geopolitics of energy at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. He has also lectured at Harvard and American Universities and at the Foreign Service Institute. He has been a frequent presenter on energy policy panels at SAIS/Johns Hopkins University, the Brookings Institution, Meridian House International, the National Press Club, and on NPR.