Meet Alex Breckel: Texas native, hot sauce fan and EFI’s Associate Director of Strategic Research.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be an engineer to design cranes and buildings and giant things.
What was your most rewarding experience prior to working at EFI?
In 2017, I worked on energy issues in Palestine for the Department of State. I worked on an issue that was, even if marginally, contributing to normalizing relations between Israel and Palestine. Working towards fostering peace was super rewarding and an incredible opportunity that I’ll cherish forever.
What’s the best thing about working at EFI?
My favorite thing about working at EFI is that my colleagues have a lot of diverse and strongly held perspectives. The diversity and intensity of opinions helps me see issues in a really new way every time I hear a new perspective. I’m really grateful that I work in a community of thoughtful and opinionated folks. We work hard, and I wind down on the weekend by taking long bike rides in the DMV and cooking super spicy food — I have a collection of strong hot sauces and I’m known for bringing them to the office to perk up my lunches.
What are you the proudest of since working at EFI?
I am proudest of having shepherded so many interns and analysts through that have told us that they really enjoyed their time at EFI and learned a lot and grew from their time here. Being a part of contributing to their positive experience at EFI has been really rewarding.
What gives you hope for the future?
A wider array of perspectives have come to understand the importance of climate change and the benefits of taking swift and substantive action to address climate change. Where we were once ideologically divided on this issue, I think now there’s a broader set of political predispositions that understand this to be a compelling policy issue. This broadening of people who take this issue seriously gives me a bit of hope for the future.
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