Brad Ives

Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Innovation Louisiana State University

  • Baton Rouge LA

Brad Ives is a leader in managing complex organizations in the renewable energy and university sectors.

Contact

Louisiana State University

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Biography

Brad Ives is the Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Innovation at Louisiana State University. Prior to joining LSU in 2023, Mr. Ives led Catawba College to become the first certified carbon-neutral college in the Southeast as Executive Director of its Center for the Environment. He also served as Chief Sustainability Officer and Associate Vice Chancellor at the University of North Carolina and as North Carolina’s Assistant Secretary for Natural Resources where he drove policy resulting in the state’s first wind farm.

Mr. Ives began his career as a finance lawyer on Wall Street where he worked on Louisiana’s only hydroelectric power plant. He later moved to institutional money management working on an early clean technology venture capital fund and spending four years in London.

After returning to the U.S., Mr. Ives developed an award-winning landfill gas project to supply renewable energy to ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Polyolefins Plant. Mr. Ives also led a biomass energy technology company and worked in energy storage and solar power sectors.

Mr. Ives holds the Sustainability and Climate Risk Certificate from the Global Association of Risk Professionals, is a GRI Certified Sustainability Professional and is the recipient of the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association’s Individual Energy Leader Award. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Law degrees from the University of North Carolina where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar.

Areas of Expertise

Renewable Energy
Energy Storage
Biomass and Bioenergy
Wind Power
Hydroelectric Project Development
Solar Power

Research Focus

Energy Transition Strategy & Carbon Management

Ives’s work focuses on energy-transition strategy and decarbonization, accelerating cleaner power, carbon management, and resilience across Louisiana’s economy. As executive director of LSU’s Institute for Energy Innovation, he forges cross-sector partnerships, policy frameworks, and applied R&D programs that catalyze sustainable energy solutions and spur economic growth.

Education

University of North Carolina

J.D.

Law

1989

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

B.A.

Political Science

1986

Accomplishments

N.C. Sustainable Energy Association Individual Energy Leader Award

2018

North Carolina School of Science & Mathematics Chancellor's Award for Exemplary Service

2017

Media Appearances

'The potential here is unreal.' LSU innovation leader sees Louisiana powering an energy renaissance

NOLA  online

2025-07-10

At the institute’s helm is Brad Ives, a North Carolina native who arrived at LSU in 2023 after a three-decade career that included stints as a Wall Street lawyer, investment banker, renewable energy executive, assistant secretary of the North Carolina natural resources agency and university administrator.

The institute’s goal, Ives said, is to figure out how to decarbonize the energy sector and do so in a way that’s “fair and just.” That includes funding research into technology, public policy and economics, as well as engaging in community outreach and education.

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Fueling Knowledge, Part Two

WWNO 89.9  radio

2025-03-21

HALLE: That money was used to create a new research center on campus: The Institute for Energy Innovation. It’s taking on Tate’s bold mission: to figure out the future of energy.

I sat down with the man in charge of making this happen.

BRAD:  I'm Brad Ives, and I'm the executive director of the LSU Institute for Energy Innovation.

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Louisiana’s flagship university lets oil firms influence research – for a price

The Guardian  online

2024-04-21

Asked to comment, the Institute for Energy Innovation’s director, Brad Ives, defended the partnerships, as did the oil majors. Two more companies have since entered into partnerships with the Institute for Energy Innovation, said Ives. But Shell is the only company to have donated at the level that gave the company a seat on the advisory board that chooses the institute’s research. The head of the Louisiana Chemical Association and the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association also sit on the advisory board, which can vote to stop a research project from moving forward.

Ives said being able to work with oil and gas companies is “really a key to advancing energy innovation”.

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Event Appearances

2024 Louisiana Energy Outlook Webcast

10/12 Industry Report and Baton Rouge Business Report  Online

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