As a Program Manager at the United States Energy Association (USEA), Marina Barnett oversees technical assistance and capacity-building programs that advance energy security and drive energy sector modernization across Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Her work supports the development of competitive power markets, enhances grid stability, enables renewable energy integration, promotes utility digitalization, and strengthens cybersecurity resilience in low- and middle-income countries.

Before joining USEA in March 2017, Marina served as a Program Officer for Eurasia at the Institute for Global Engagement, where she established a broad network of Central and South Asian experts to promote regional cooperation and sharing of knowledge and technologies and organized several successful international conferences on renewable energy and transport infrastructure in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Previously, Marina managed the al-Farabi Carnegie Program on Central Asia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she co-developed and managed pilot projects on renewable energy and remote community assistance in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, organized international conferences on sustainable development and regional security issues in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; and Washington, D.C.-based seminars and conferences on political, economic, and social issues in Russia and Eurasia.

Marina holds a Master of Arts in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Oriental Studies from the Far Eastern State University (Vladivostok, Russia).