On June 24th, CRES Forum hosted its fifth and final CRES Academy session of the year: “Energy Policy and Capital Markets: What Policy Certainty Means for Research, Development and Innovation.” The event brought together energy financers, capital market investors and policy experts to give Hill staff an inside look at how decisions made on Capitol Hill translate directly into financing outcomes.
Angela Chiappetta, Vice President of External Relations at CRES Forum, delivered welcoming remarks before Owen Rosenberg, Legislative Assistant to Rep. Garbarino (R-N.Y.), offered congressional perspective on the energy legislation currently before Congress. Their remarks set the stage for a panel discussion that grounded the evening’s policy conversation in real capital market realities.
With an engaged room of attendees, panelists explored the relationship between federal energy policy and private investment decisions. Making the case that durable, technology-neutral policy is essential to meeting the country’s growing power needs, panelists drew on their direct experience in energy finance to explain how investors evaluate risk, structure deals and respond to the policy environment coming out of Washington.
The panel was moderated by Dylan Frost, Senior Vice President at Phronesis DC, and featured Jennifer von Bismarck, Co-Founder and CEO of Galway Sustainable Capital; Hasan Nazar, Head of Policy at Crux and former Department of Energy and Tesla advisor; and Pat Sonti, Managing Director of Advisory and Private Markets at ArcStone U.S. Corp.
A central theme of the evening was that uncertainty — not lack of capital — is the primary obstacle to energy deployment. Panelists noted that policy instability can move investment to the sidelines even when demand for new infrastructure is strong. With roughly 200 gigawatts of data center interconnection requests on the table, the urgency for faster grid expansion has never been greater. Speakers agreed that permitting reform, predictable tax credit rules and technology-neutral policy are some of the main conditions investors need to commit capital at scale.
Following the panel, CRES Forum celebrated its 2026 CRES Academy graduates –– Hill staff who attended four or more of the five sessions this year. Director of Government Relations Tommy Reynolds led the graduation ceremony before guests gathered for a reception to close out the evening. CRES Academy provides Republican staff with the opportunity to learn about energy, climate, resilience and conservation policy from industry experts, senior staffers and real-world energy practitioners.
