YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A board member of Brite Energy Innovators in Warren has resigned to take the position of chief of staff to Chris Wright, President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. secretary of energy.
Alex Fitzsimmons, an energy policy specialist who previously served in the U.S. Department of Energy during the first Trump administration, announced on his LinkedIn page earlier this week that he accepted the job.
“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Chief of Staff, Office of the Secretary at U.S. Department of Energy,” Fitzsimmons announced on the social media website.
As part of his work and professional experience, Fitzsimmons lists his serving as a board member of Brite Energy Innovators from 2022 to January 2025.
“Alex Fitzsimmons served on our board and resigned to take that position with the Department of Energy,” said Rick Stockburger, president and CEO of Brite.
“I am unbelievably grateful for Alex’s mentorship and service to the organization over the last four years and couldn’t think of a more dedicated, prepared and talented individual to lead our nation to ensure our rightful place of energy security, innovation and abundance,” he said.
Fitzsimmons first joined the DOE in 2019 as chief of staff for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, according to his LinkedIn work profile, before being named deputy assistant secretary for EERE that same year. He graduated from The George Washington University in 2012 and earned a Master of Science degree from Georgia Institute of Technology, according to his profile.
In October 2020, The Business Journal interviewed Fitzsimmons as part of the Ohio Next Energy Summit, while he still held the post at EERE.
Fitzsimmons said during the interview that energy storage, critical minerals, the circular economy, cybersecurity, digitization and grid integration were among the priorities within the DOE.
“When you’re talking about the future of our energy systems, it’s changing dramatically,” Fitzsimmons told The Business Journal via the zoom interview. “Five, 10 years ago, no one would have guessed that the United States would be the No. 1 producer of oil and natural gas in the world, but also be one of the leading wind and solar producers.”
He also emphasized declining costs for electric vehicle batteries, renewable energy technologies and even LED lightbulbs as factors. “These are technological innovations that are driving massive changes in the energy system,” Fitzsimmons said.
Fitzsimmons left his EERE post in November 2020 to join ClearPath, a conservative energy policy think tank, as its director for renewable energy, energy storage and advanced manufacturing. He was then hired as the head of government affairs for Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. until he resigned this month to rejoin DOE.
Stockburger said he first met Fitzsimmons when he was assistant secretary of EERE, where he interacted with other energy incubators and laboratories across the country and helped Brite build a relationship with the DOE.
After Fitzsimmons entered the private sector in 2022, he joined Brite’s board of directors, all of whom serve on a voluntary basis, Stockburger said.
“Being able to have insight from his national perspective of what was happening across the country was really important to our strategic growth,” Stockburger added. As such, Fitzsimmons provided expert analysis of what strategies worked and which ones did not.
“It’s one of the many things that helped us be extremely competitive with the other incubators in the country as far as outcomes,” he said.
Fitzsimmons, for example, introduced Stockburger to David Solan, an advanced energy consultant who is an expert-in-residency at Brite. “David is responsible for all of the federal funding that any of our companies have gotten over the last three or four years,” he said. “A brilliant, brilliant mind.”
Brite is a nonpartisan 501(c)3 based in downtown Warren that assists startup and early-stage energy companies that seek to commercialize their technologies. It also provides office and laboratory space for these firms to perform research and development, administrative and other functions.
Other board members have served in previous administrations, Stockburger added.
“Anna Siefken was on our board until she joined the Biden administration,” he said. Siefken formerly served as executive director of the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University and was appointed a Brite board member in 2021. She joined the DOE in 2022 and at present still serves as deputy director of the DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program.
Wright, Trump’s nominee to lead DOE, cleared the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and is expected to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate either Friday or early next week.
Michael Stacey, board chairman at Brite, said Fitzsimmons has “been an important asset to Brite and our planning efforts. We have a high standard for board members, and Alex exemplifies this.”
Pictured at top: In this image captured from video, Alex Fitzsimmons speaks to The Business Journal about high-growth opportunity areas such as energy storage, critical minerals and the circular economy during an interview in 2020.