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.
Areas of Expertise
Biography
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.
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.
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.
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”.
New solar-powered shelters have popped up around LSU campus. Where they came from and what they do
LSU Reveille online
2025-07-03
Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Innovation at Louisiana State University, Brad Ives, recommended the collaboration with Spotlight Solar. Ives previously worked with Spotlight Solar at Catawba College in North Carolina, which was the first college to commercially install the tables.
“I’ve seen them in action and I’ve seen how much students enjoy them,” Ives said, “so it was a really easy decision to recommend them to Dr. Bhattacharya for LSU.”
Media
