Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy welcomes three new advisors

Pranav Adani, Admiral James O. Ellis Jr., and Jay Rubenstein, have agreed to serve as advisors to Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy, which is part of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

“I am so fortunate to have Pranav, Jim, and Jay now at my side with the other wonderful members of our advisory council, energy and sustainability experts who generously volunteer their time, experience, insight, and support,” said William Chueh, the director of the Precourt Institute.

“The three new council members strengthen the institute, especially in terms of energy economics, energy security, and international representation,” said Chueh, who is a professor of materials science in the School of Engineering, of energy science and engineering in the Doerr School, and of photon science at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Pranav Adani is director of Adani Enterprises, the Adani Group’s business incubator and flagship company. There, he heads a portfolio of businesses, including real estate, city gas distribution, media, biogas, charging infrastructure, agriculture, and natural resources. The Adani Group is a diversified organization in India comprising 11 publicly traded companies. Adani earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business in 1999. He later completed the Owner/President Management executive education program at Harvard Business School.

Admiral James O. Ellis Jr. is a retired 4-star admiral and former commander, U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. Since his retirement from a 39-year career with the U.S. Navy in 2004, Ellis has been the Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, where he oversees the George P. Shultz Energy Policy Working Group and the Global Policy & Strategy Initiative. He was president and CEO of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations until May 2012. A 1969 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Ellis was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2019 for leadership in advancing safe nuclear power plant operations throughout the world. In May this year, he was elected chair of the National Academy of Engineering’s governing body.

Jay Rubenstein is the CEO of Citadel Energy Marketing, a subsidiary of Citadel Investment Group. He also serves on the management committee of Citadel Commodities. Formerly, Rubenstein was a managing director and global head of commodities trading at Morgan Stanley. There, he was a member of the fixed income management committee and the commodities management committee. Rubenstein graduated from Stanford in 2007 with a B.A. in economics. He is also a member of the board of governors of Stanford Professionals in Investing & Finance, an independent alumni club officially recognized by the Stanford Alumni Association.

Earlier this month, Stanford named Chueh the inaugural Kimmelman Professor. The endowed position was established by a gift from Douglas W. Kimmelman, BA ’82 (economics), who was a member of the Precourt Institute’s advisory council from the institute’s inception through May last year. Kimmelman established ECP (Energy Capital Partners) in 2005 and is its executive chairman. He is one of the founding donors of the Precourt Institute.

Jay Precourt, ’59, MS ’60, and his family provided the lead gift to establish the Precourt Institute in 2009. He served on the institute’s advisory council until his passing last year, co-leading the council with Secretary George Shultz and Michael C. Morgan for almost all of those years. The Precourt Institute for Energy Advisory Council is now co-chaired by Morgan and Ira Ehrenpreis, founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm DBL Partners.

Jay and Molly Precourt’s children, Amanda Precourt, ’96, and J. Anthony Precourt, Jr., continue to volunteer their time and insight as key advisors to the institute.