About Dan Cass
Energy transition & comms leader
He is a compelling advocate of the economic and political opportunities of electrification and renewable energy. He has shifted debates through dozens of opinion pieces and television and talk-back radio interviews. He has media trained politicians and community spokespeople. He has successfully managed international and Australian PR crises. He negotiated an unprecedented collaboration between Greenpeace and News Corporation to jointly advocate on whaling.
Dan has worked closely with energy ministers. He has convened corporate and community stakeholders including Australian Industry Group, Tesla, … etc. He has worked with Presidents Mohamed Nasheed of The Maldives and Anote Tong of Kiribati. He has trained citizen lobbyists and run political campaigns. He organised Republican Congressman Bob Inglis’s lobbying tour of Australia.
Dan has helped found and develop not-for-profit organisations that raised over $21 million. He was on the board of Hepburn Energy when it raised capital and built Australia’s first community-owned wind farm. He has been chief of staff to a party leader. He has managed staff across multiple countries. He has volunteered for good green causes since high school.
In his first career as a science historian, Dan was the youngest curator appointed to Museum Victoria. He founded the science and society program and delivered an amateur museum at the Kew Lunatic Asylum.
He has a first-class Bachelor of Science (Hons) in the history of neo-Darwinism from the University of Melbourne, where he won a Lorna Stirling Fund International Scholarship and was admitted to the Science Dean's Honour List. He has a first-class Graduate Diploma in Energy and Resources Law from Melbourne Law School and won the Raynes Dickson Exhibition for Project Finance. He completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors course Governance Foundations for Non-Profit Directors.
Dan brings more than 25 years of senior experience in environment and energy to his consulting projects. His distinctive contribution sits at the intersection of energy expertise and strategic communications. He began as an environmentalist and is now a leader in the clean energy transition.
Until February 2025 he was CEO of Rewiring Australia, for which he was selected to be a mentee in the Kilfinan Leaders Program. He is on the Advisory Board of The Energy and a Research Affiliate at Sydney Environment Institute. He advises Rewiring Australia and mentors climate tech startups with EnergyLab.
Dan has published research on large-scale and consumer energy and contributes to The Conversation. He has written policy for clean energy investors. He was picked on a small group to advise the Energy Security Board on coal phase-out. He led the energy reform work of The Australia Institute.