David M. Klaus has spent more than half of his career in Washington, DC in public service, working in both the executive branch and on Capitol Hill. He served as the Deputy Undersecretary for Management and Performance at the U.S. Department of Energy from July 2013 to January 2017, functioning as the Chief Operating Officer of the Department and overseeing the $6 billion per year cleanup of the environmental legacy brought about from five decades of nuclear weapons development and government-sponsored nuclear energy research.

David previously served at the U.S. Department of Energy as the Director of Management and Administration during the final two years of the Clinton Administration.

During the Carter Administration, he coordinated the development of the President’s policy on personal privacy and also served as Associate Director of the U.S. Regulatory Council in the Executive Office of the President, directing programs on automobile and coal regulation.

He worked as Counsel to Chairman John D. Dingell and the Energy and Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1988, where he had primary staff responsibility for more than 40 federal statutes in the areas of energy, environmental, communications, consumer protection, and international trade policy.

David's private sector experience includes ten years in private law practice representing clients on a broad range of legislative, regulatory, and legal issues.

In addition, he spent twelve years leading and working as an independent consultant on behalf of non-profit and multilateral organizations on international trade, transportation, environmental and economic issues. He established and served as Consulting Director of the Wilson Center on the Hill Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and as President and CEO of the Congressional Economic Leadership Institute. 

Since leaving the Department of Energy in January 2017, David has been working as an independent consultant on energy issues and, in an academic capacity, examined issues related to the management of nuclear waste. He is an affiliate at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and serves on the board of a small environmental clean-up company. 

David obtained his law degree cum laude from Georgetown University Law School and holds a BA in U.S. History with Honors from Stanford University. He is a member of the DC Bar.