Ari Benkler
Associate
Ari Benkler is an Associate in RCG’s New York office. He has studied the effect of local and state politics on wind power development, with particular emphasis on regulation that reduces cost or project uncertainty as a vital incentive for growth.
Mr Benkler has experience working with data, writing, editing, and performing strategic and policy analyses to identify least-cost renewable capacity build-out options. He is responsible for conducting market research for RCG clients and synthesizing individual insights into a coherent winning strategy.
Mr Benkler has experience both in a number of research and public-sector positions. As a researcher on several academic research endeavours at major US research institutions he has studied relevant policy questions both in energy and beyond. These include a project on the US coal industry, in particular the effect of changes in federal coal leasing policy on future production levels of US coal; a project on the price effects and economy-wide ramifications of more aggressive federal renewable energy policy; and a project examining the diffusion of legal mechanisms across early US states. Mr Benkler also has experience in the public sector, working as an aide in Massachusetts state government and on the senatorial campaign of a major US political figure. He has experience editing and publishing analytical and opinion content for journals.
Mr Benkler trained as an interdisciplinary social scientist with a focus on economics and political science.
Representative Assignments
- Demand projection, fossil fuel
- Conducted geospatial analysis of current and future cost of coal mining by resource area across the United States to determine likely future demand for coal and appropriate policy response.
- Policy analysis, onshore wind
- Researched and compared state-level policies to encourage wind adoption, with particular emphasis on economic opportunities produced by the interaction of new policy and existing energy infrastructure.
- Writing and communications, Campaign Staffer
- Curated written materials, photography, and videos to compile press briefing material that portrayed ideas, issues, and candidate in a positive light. Used experience editing opinion journalism to facilitate snappy, compelling written public-facing material.
