Michael Leifman is a strategist, analyst, and thought leader based in Washington, DC. Michael is the founder of Tenley Consulting, a firm offering advisory and strategic planning services to corporations, multilateral banks, foundations, and NGOs on a wide landscape of complex issues, including energy & environmental policy and economics, forecasting, business innovation, and “future of work,” including AI.

 

Most recently, Michael was the Senior Strategist for GE’s Business Innovations group, where he focused on the power business, artificial intelligence, startup businesses within GE, and the economies of China and India. He was previously the Principal Strategist for  GE Power, where he was responsible for injecting strategic thinking across the business, raising new ideas, opportunities and risks to senior leadership, and forcing attention on the non-obvious. In both strategy roles, Michael was an innovative communicator, podcasting and blogging across multiple (internal) channels.

 

Michael joined GE in 2008, and for many years was the Director of Forecasting & Analytics for GE Power & Water, as well as the Director of the Modeling Center of Excellence for GE Energy.  In this role, Michael developed a reputation not just for analytical rigor but also consensus building. Prior to GE, Michael worked for the US federal government, as the lead analyst in US DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and as a climate policy and economics analyst at US EPA. Michael also worked for an environmental policy consulting firm, analyzing a diverse set of issues, from chicken waste to the Kyoto Protocol. 

 

He holds master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon, and a bachelor’s degree from The University of Chicago.  He lives in Washington, DC with his wife and two sons.