Vijay Swarup is a former Exxon Mobil leader with a tenure of 35 years. Over his career, he held a variety of leadership roles in both business and technology functions. From 2014-2022, he headed the research and development team, overseeing a research portfolio that focused on groundbreaking initiatives in biofuels, carbon capture, direct air capture,...
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Vijay Swarup is a former Exxon Mobil leader with a tenure of 35 years. Over his career, he held a variety of leadership roles in both business and technology functions. From 2014-2022, he headed the research and development team, overseeing a research portfolio that focused on groundbreaking initiatives in biofuels, carbon capture, direct air capture, and hydrogen.
In his final role with Exxon Mobil, he led the corporation’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while meeting increasing energy demand. This included climate policy and advocacy initiatives, along with the interplay between policy and the advancement and implementation of technology.
Vijay previously served on Advisory Boards for the MIT Energy Initiative, Singapore Energy Center, Princeton Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment, and India International Think Tank for Energy. He was also a member on The National Academies of Science, Energy and Medicine Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology.
He is currently a member of The International Chamber of Commerce Global Technical Expert Panel on Carbon Accounting, whose mission is to develop a standardized, ledger-based carbon emissions accounting system.
Vijay has B.S. degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Rutgers University.
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Dr. Vijay Swarup in Media
Speaker Programs
"The Demand Nobody Priced In" — A Field Guide to Where Energy Demand Is Headed, and Who Has to Show Up to Meet It
Opens with the forecasting problem: every past energy transition was underestimated on the way in (the IEA's own numbers have data center demand more than doubling by 2030, and that's before accounting for reshored manufacturing, ...more
Opens with the forecasting problem: every past energy transition was underestimated on the way in (the IEA's own numbers have data center demand more than doubling by 2030, and that's before accounting for reshored manufacturing, electrified transport, and industrial heat). Argues investors are still pricing this as a single tech cycle (AI) rather than the start of a multi-decade demand supercycle. Second half maps who actually has to move to meet it — permitting reform on the government side, capital willing to underwrite construction timelines instead of demand curves, industry coordinating on shared transmission and interconnection rather than each player queuing separately, and communities who increasingly hold real veto power over where generation gets sited. Best fit: forward-looking investor/futurist stages — economic forums, energy-transition summits — where the audience wants a thesis, not a warning. ...less
"Powering What's Next" — A Blueprint for Meeting the Next Generation of Energy Demand
The most optimistic/visionary framing of the three — positions the demand surge as the biggest infrastructure opportunity in a generation rather than a risk to underwrite around. Walks through the realistic supply mix over the ...more
The most optimistic/visionary framing of the three — positions the demand surge as the biggest infrastructure opportunity in a generation rather than a risk to underwrite around. Walks through the realistic supply mix over the next 10-15 years (gas-heavy near term, renewables scaling fastest, nuclear/SMRs entering after 2030), then closes on what it takes to actually capture the opportunity: patient capital, faster permitting, industry standardization, and community partnership done right instead of as an afterthought. Best fit if the buyer wants an inspiring closing keynote rather than an analytical one — weaker if the room wants rigor over vision. ...less
"Who Actually Builds the Future Grid" — Aligning Capital, Policy, Industry, and Communities to Meet the Next Wave of Power Demand
Leads with the coordination problem rather than the forecast: the US can generate enough power on paper, but no single actor — not government, not capital, not utilities — can build the physical grid alone, ...more
Leads with the coordination problem rather than the forecast: the US can generate enough power on paper, but no single actor — not government, not capital, not utilities — can build the physical grid alone, and today they're mostly moving on separate clocks (permitting timelines, fund lifecycles, quarterly capex cycles, community review processes). Draws directly on his Baker Institute policy work and his ExxonMobil community-relations experience to make the case for what actual alignment looks like project by project, not in the abstract. This is the most explicitly "systems" talk of the three, and probably the one that plays best in front of an audience that includes policy people, not just capital allocators — worth knowing who's actually in the room. ...less
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