Dave Banks is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center. Banks is an economist, political analyst, and policy advocate, focusing on climate change, energy, and trade. He was previously the chief strategist for the Republican side of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. Banks has published peer-reviewed articles, reports, and opinion editorials on a variety of issues, including climate change, civil nuclear power, and energy markets and trade. 

A native southeast Missourian, Banks was most recently an adjunct research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and executive vice president at the DC-based American Council on Capital Formation. He was also President Donald Trump’s special assistant for international energy and environment at the National Economic and National Security Councils, Republican deputy staff director of the US Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, senior advisor on international affairs and climate change for President George W. Bush, a State Department foreign service officer, and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) economic analyst.

During his government tenure, Banks received multiple meritorious awards, including the Environmental Protection Agency Climate Protection Award for Diplomacy, a Department of State Superior Honor Award for promoting US diplomatic objectives for the environment, and a Commendable Service Award from the CIA. He holds a JD from George Mason University and an MA in economics and baccalaureate degrees in history, economics, and political science from the University of Missouri at St. Louis.