Since CPI’s start in September 2009, Thomas C. Heller has served as the Executive Director. Before founding CPI, Heller was a professor at Stanford University for thirty years, serving as the Shelton Professor of International Legal Studies, Senior Fellow at the Stanford Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. An expert in law, economic development, and the performance of legal institutions, Professor Heller has focused his research on the rule of law, international climate control, global energy use, and the interaction of government and nongovernmental organizations in establishing legal structures in the developing world. Since 1991, Heller has been increasingly engaged in research and applied policy studies in energy and climate, with a principal concern regarding developments in China, India, Mexico, Brazil, and other leading emerging markets. He was a contributing lead author for the IPCC on the Third and Fourth Assessment Reports, as well as a contributor to the Special Reports on Technology Transfer and Emissions Scenarios. In 2008, Heller became a core team member directing Project Catalyst – an analysis-based project in support of the Copenhagen Climate process. Since March 2010, Professor Heller has also acted as the Vice-Chair of the Governing Board of the Global Green Growth Institute, with headquarters in Seoul, Korea. Professor Heller has a B.A. from Princeton University and an L.L.B. from Yale Law School.