Michelle Patron is Director of Sustainability Policy at Microsoft where she leads the company's policy efforts on sustainability and energy issues. She has two decades of unique experience forecasting energy markets for private investors and driving high impact energy, environmental, and foreign policy.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Patron served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Energy and Climate at the National Security Council at the White House from 2013 to 2015. In that role she led efforts to design and execute groundbreaking energy and climate policy, including the historic climate deal with China. Prior to the White House, she was Senior Director at PIRA Energy Group, a private energy research firm in New York City. Earlier in her career, Patron worked at the Department of Energy, Deutsche Bank, the International Energy Agency and the Center for International Environmental Law, and served as energy attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Patron holds a BA from Columbia University and a MA from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She has served as an expert commentator to CNBC, BBC, NPR, Fox, CBS, the Economist and the New York Times and written op-eds for Reuters, Foreign Affairs, the Financial Times and the Los Angeles Times. She has taught as an adjunct professor at New York University and is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.