Daniel Yergin
Photo: World Economic Forum, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons20

Daniel Yergin

American business executive and author

Daniel Howard Yergin (born February 6, 1947) is an American author, economic historian, and consultant within the energy and economic sectors. Yergin is vice chairman of S&P Global.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Daniel Yergin (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Feb 6, 1947.1

About

He was formerly vice chairman of IHS Markit, which merged with S&P in 2022. He founded Cambridge Energy Research Associates, which IHS Markit acquired in 2004. He has authored or co-authored several books on energy and world economics, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, (1991) The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World (2011), and The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations (2020).

Yergin's articles and op-eds on energy, history, and the economy have been published in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Financial Times. He is affiliated with multiple organizations, as a director on the United States Energy Association, a trustee of the Brookings Institution, a long-term advisor to several U.S. administrations, as well as chairman of the annual CERAWeek energy conference.

From Wikipedia’s article on Daniel Yergin, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedSilliman College3
  • Date not recordedYale University3
  • Date not recordedBeverly Hills High School3
  • Date not recordedTrinity College3

Yergin was born on February 6, 1947, in Los Angeles, California. His father Irving Yergin worked at Warner Brothers and was editor of The Hollywood Reporter and a former journalist in Chicago. His mother Naomi Yergin was a sculptor and painter. He attended Beverly Hills High School. He received his B.A. from Yale University in 1968, where he wrote for the Yale Daily News and was founder of The New Journal in 1967.

He received his M.A. in 1970 and his Ph.D. in international history from Cambridge University, where he was a Marshall Scholar. While at Cambridge, he wrote for various British magazines as well as The Atlantic, where he was a contributing editor, and The New York Times Magazine. He has honorary doctorates from Dartmouth College, Colorado School of Mines, University of Houston, and the University of Missouri.

From Wikipedia’s article on Daniel Yergin (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: historian, economist, writer.7

Known for: The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World.8

1970s

Early in his career, Yergin worked as a contributing editor for New York magazine. Through 1980, he was a lecturer at the Harvard Business School and, until 1985, a lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School. Yergin's first book, Shattered Peace: The Origins of the Cold War and the National Security State (1977), was partly based upon his doctoral dissertation and focused on the origins of the Cold War.

In the mid-1970s, while a post-doctoral fellow, he began to take a particular interest in energy in his writing. Basing the book on four years of research, with Robert B. Stobaugh he co-authored and co-edited Energy Future: The Report of the Energy Project at the Harvard Business School in 1979. According to the Los Angeles Times, the book "caused a considerable stir with its optimistic view of the possibilities of energy conservation and such alternative sources as solar power." It proved to be a The New York Times bestseller, ultimately selling 300,000 copies in six languages.

Within its first year of release, Yergin and Stobaugh were called to Washington, D.C. several times to testify before Congressional committees. He also advised James Schlesinger, the first US energy secretary, around the time of the Iranian revolution. According to Reuters, "since then he has given advice to every administration."

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1980s–1990s

He founded Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) with Jamey Rosenfield in 1982 with the purchase of a $2 file cabinet from The Salvation Army. With Yergin as president, the energy research and consulting firm was created as a "quasi think-tank and source of energy industry analysis."

Yergin is arguably best known for his fourth book, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (1991). It became a number-one bestseller that won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1992 and the Eccles Prize for the best book on economics for a general audience, selling around 700,000 copies in 17 languages. The book was adapted into a PBS/BBC series seen by around 100 million viewers both domestically and internationally, with Yergin as the principal storyteller. His next book was Russia 2010 and What It Means for the World (1993), written with Thane Gustafson, which provided scenarios for the development of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

2000s–2010s

His 2002 book The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy, written with Joseph Stanislaw, described in narrative form the struggle over the "frontier" between governments and markets and the rise of globalization. In the "first major PBS series on business in more than a decade," he led the team that created an Emmy-winning six-hour PBS/BBC television series based on the book, serving as executive producer and co-writer and interviewing individuals such as Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, Vicente Fox, and Mikhail Gorbachev.

CERA was acquired by the information company IHS Inc. in 2004, with Yergin becoming an executive of the combined company and remaining chairman of CERA. Described as a sequel to his book The Prize, Yergin's The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World (2011) continued his history of the global oil industry but also addressed energy security, natural gas, electric power, climate change and the search for renewable sources of energy. Like his previous books, it was drafted in long-hand. In 2011 it was shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.

2020s

In September 2020, Yergin published The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations,with a revised edition published the following year. In December 2024, Yergin released an unabridged audiobook version of The Prize. The audiobook includes an epilogue narrated by Yergin reflecting on the relevance of the book's messaging present day, more than 30 years after its original publication date.

The Economist examined how the author addressed climate change in his book, The New Map. It said Yergin looks at climate change through the lens of prices, regulation, and subsidies, rather than through the eyes of a scientist, who may watch rising temperatures, tides, and migrating populations. "The question of what the Earth will actually be like in 2050—when Mr Yergin expects half of all cars sold still to be powered by fossil fuels—is not addressed."

From Wikipedia’s article on Daniel Yergin (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • BornFeb 6, 1947, Los Angeles9
  • CitizenshipUnited States10
  • ResidenceWashington, D.C.11
  • SpouseAngela Stent12

Awards

  • 1992Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction13 14
  • Date not recordedMarshall Scholarship13

Sources

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