Executive Office
Nobuo Tanaka commenced duties as IEA Executive Director on 1 September 2007. Prior to that, he had been Director for Science, Technology and Industry at the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Mr. Tanaka began his career in 1973 in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Tokyo. He has extensive national government and international experience within METI, the Embassy of Japan in Washington D.C. and the OECD. Mr. Tanaka first joined the OECD in 1989 as Deputy Director of the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, and was promoted to Director in 1992. In 1995, he returned to METI and served in a number of high ranking positions, the most recent being Director-General, Multilateral Trade System Department, Trade Policy Bureau. In this role he led many trade negotiations for the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In the energy field, Mr. Tanaka has covered a variety of experiences. He was responsible for Japan's involvement with the IEA and the G8 Energy Ministers' Meeting during the second oil crisis. In the late 1980s he participated in establishing the comprehensive energy policy of Japan and he also oversaw the implementation of Japan's international nuclear energy policy and led negotiations of bilateral nuclear agreements. Mr. Tanaka worked on formulating international strategy as well as coordinating domestic environment policy and energy policy in the Kyoto COP3 negotiation. He was Minister for Industry, Trade and Energy at the Embassy of Japan, Washington DC from 1998-2000. Mr. Tanaka, a Japanese national, has a degree in Economics
from the University of Tokyo and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University,
Cleveland, Ohio. He and his wife, Gloria, have two children.
William C. Ramsay, Deputy Executive Director Ambassador William C. Ramsay is Deputy Executive Director of the International
Energy Agency and Director of its relations with countries outside its membership.
He was formerly Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Energy Issues,
Economic and Foreign Policy Sanctions and Strategic Commodities for
the United States
Department of State.
In his previous work, Ambassador Ramsay was U. S. Ambassador to the Republic of Congo, principal U.S. negotiator for the North American Free Trade Agreement for energy and petrochemical issues, economic/ commercial officer in Kinshasa, Zaire, and in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. He served in the Office of Fuels and Energy in Washington and subsequently in the U.S. delegation to the European Community in Brussels with responsibilities for policies on commodities, energy and nuclear policy. In the 1980s, he was Deputy Chief of the U.S. Liaison Mission in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and afterwards, Economic Counselor in the Embassy there before serving again in Washington as Director of the office which formulated and oversaw implementation of U.S. international energy policy. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy, Resources and Food Policy from 1989 - 1993, he was responsible for U.S. policy in the international trade and production of energy, industrial and agricultural commodities. At the same time he was the U.S. delegate to the International Energy Agency's Governing Board and Chairman of its senior standing policy committee. Ambassador Ramsay is a native of Michigan, and a graduate of Michigan State University, where he obtained bachelor's and master's degrees, and the University of Stanford, where he received a graduate degree in international economics. |
