Jonah Goldman

Jonah Goldman

Managing Director at Breakthrough Energy

TED Attendee
Seattle, Washington, United States
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About Jonah

Bio

Jonah joined Gates Ventures, Bill Gates’s private office, in September 2014. He is responsible for the organization’s relationships with policymakers around the world. In 2015, he worked with Bill to establish the Breakthrough Energy Coalition (BEC) – a group of individuals and institutions committed to investing significant capital in energy innovations that do not contribute to climate change. As part of that effort, Jonah worked with the United States, France, India, and more than 15 other countries to establish Mission Innovation, which committed to double the government supported R&D into these technologies. In 2016, he worked with a group of members of the BEC to establish Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) - a fund focused on executing the vision of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition. He serves as a Senior Advisor to BEV. In 2020, he worked with Bill to establish Breakthrough Energy (BE) - a network of entities and initiatives, including investment funds, nonprofit and philanthropic programs, and policy efforts linked by a common commitment to scale the technologies we need to achieve a path to net zero emissions by 2050. Prior to Gates Ventures, Jonah worked on the communications team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Before that, he spent nearly 15 years in Washington, D.C., leading integrated advocacy, communications, and grassroots campaigns. He led a series of campaigns to affect policy on a variety of issues – from civil rights to education reform to nuclear non-proliferation. Before that, he served as primary spokesperson and chief strategist for the largest national campaign to protect voting rights. Jonah holds a J.D. degree from Boston College Law School and a B.A. degree in History from Binghamton University.