Aleshia Duncan

Aleshia Duncan currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Cooperation in the Office of Nuclear Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of International Cooperation spearheads the Department’s global engagement on civil nuclear energy. She also currently serves as Chair of the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC). Ms. Duncan has worked in various capacities in the international nuclear energy policy arena, managing bilateral and multilateral relationships on several continents.

Ms. Duncan has completed two overseas posts. In 2016, she joined the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) in France, as the policy adviser to IFNEC, where she coordinated the policies and programs of its 65 member countries and four international organizations with the common goal of the safe, reliable use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. She continued in that role in 2017 in addition to serving as the Director General’s Senior Advisor for Multilateral Coordination and Secretary of the NEA Steering Committee until her departure at the end of 2018.

From October 2010 to December 2013, Ms. Duncan was posted at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, as the Director for Nuclear Operations and served as a diplomat in the capacity of Energy Attache. Ms. Duncan had the opportunity to liaise with the government of Japan regularly before, during and after its change in nuclear policies and was awarded the Secretary’s Honor Award for her efforts in supporting the coordination of the United States crisis response to Fukushima.

Ms. Duncan's focus on developing regional country leaders has advanced our respective energy and national security priorities. She has also been a trailblazer on numerous mentorship and youth empowerment initiatives, including but not limited to: serving as co-founder and frequent instructor for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Lise Meitner Programme, teaching at IAEA's Nuclear Energy Management School (NEMS) and at numerous NEA's mentoring workshops.

Ms. Duncan holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Arts in Community Counseling from Trinity University in Washington, DC. She is currently pursuing her Ed.D. in Leadership and Innovation at New York University.