Forty seats. One mission. The room where energy, commerce, and community leadership meet.
The National Leadership Council is the founding executive body of the National Association for Energy & Commerce (NAEC), operating as Power America Forward™. It brings senior leaders from energy, infrastructure, finance, manufacturing, government, and community life into one working body focused on America's energy and commercial future.
America's energy and infrastructure future is not one industry's problem to solve.
The United States is entering a period of sustained electricity demand growth, driven by data center and AI infrastructure expansion, industrial re-shoring, and electrification. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects overall electricity demand could grow between 25 and 50 percent by 2050, with data centers and electric vehicles accounting for the majority of that increase.
Meeting that demand requires more than any single trade association can deliver on its own. It requires energy producers, grid and transmission operators, manufacturers, investors, workforce developers, and community leaders working from a shared, credible set of facts, and willing to sit at the same table.
NAEC was built for that purpose. Most organizations in this space represent one industry. NAEC represents a mission: aligning energy capacity, infrastructure investment, workforce readiness, and community trust so that the projects America needs can actually get built. The National Leadership Council is the group of leaders who guide that work at the national level.
Three areas of focus, one coordinated body of work
The Council's work is organized around the three domains where energy capacity, economic growth, and community trust intersect.
Energy & Infrastructure
Power generation and grid modernization, data center and AI infrastructure planning, transmission, transportation, and broadband capacity. This is the physical foundation the rest of the economy depends on.
Commerce & Community Prosperity
Advanced manufacturing, workforce development, and the faith, civic, and community institutions whose support determines whether major projects earn the local trust they need to move forward.
Policy & Public Trust
Independent research and education for federal, state, and local decision-makers, and a credible, cross-sector voice on the policy questions shaping energy and infrastructure investment.
What the Council is working to accomplish
Build a shared, credible evidence base
Produce independent research on energy capacity, infrastructure gaps, and economic competitiveness that policymakers and industry can rely on, sourced and defensible rather than promotional.
Connect infrastructure investment to workforce readiness
Align employer demand with workforce and education partners so that major energy and infrastructure projects have the skilled talent pipeline they need to be built and operated.
Strengthen community trust in large-scale development
Bring community, civic, and faith leadership into the same conversation as industry and government, so projects are shaped with the communities that host them rather than around them.
Provide a credible, cross-sector voice on public policy
Offer federal, state, and local leaders a multi-stakeholder perspective on permitting, infrastructure investment, and workforce policy that no single-industry association can provide alone.
The Council is built around the industries most aligned with NAEC's mission
Seats are allocated deliberately across the nine industries NAEC has identified as most aligned with its mission, plus government & policy and community leadership. This composition, not any one industry's presence, is what gives the Council its credibility and effectiveness.
“For more than twenty years, I have worked to bring communities, civic leaders, and stakeholders to the same table, turning shared goals into real mission strategy, clear communication plans, and the kind of national relationships that help the country understand what is actually at stake. That is exactly the work this Council is built to do.”
Chris Hogan brings more than two decades of experience uniting community, civic, and business leadership around shared goals, and translating that alignment into mission strategy and communication plans that reach national audiences. As Chairman of the National Leadership Council, he works to keep the Council's industry and policy leadership connected to the communities its decisions affect, so members gain more than access to information: they gain the relationships and community credibility that make major projects possible.
What the Council asks of its members
Lead
with integrity and uphold the Council's mission
Participate
consistently in meetings, committees, and events
Invest
through annual dues and, where appropriate, sponsorship support
Connect
the Council to new partners, employers, and community leaders
Mentor
emerging leaders and entrepreneurs
Advocate
for policies that expand economic opportunity
Measure
impact and help the Council reach clear outcomes
Council members are expected to be active participants: contributing sector expertise, attending national gatherings, and serving as credible voices for a mission that extends beyond any single organization's interest.
What Council membership provides
Membership is structured around access to information, relationships, and forums, not around guaranteed outcomes with any government office.
Executive Intelligence Briefings
Regular, curated research and analysis on energy capacity, regulatory developments, and infrastructure investment trends, produced independently for Council members and delivered through NAEC's Executive Intelligence System™.
A genuinely cross-sector peer group
Direct relationships with a curated group of senior leaders across the Council's nine core industries, plus government and community leadership. A combination not found in any single-industry association.
National Summit & signature events
Four complimentary seats at the Annual Leadership Summit for every member, plus participation in NAEC's national gatherings and signature events throughout the year.
Washington & Congressional access
Where available, the opportunity to attend leadership meetings and educational briefings in Washington, D.C., and to meet with U.S. Senators and Representatives. These sessions are offered at the discretion of the participating office and are never guaranteed as a condition of membership.
A coordinated, multi-stakeholder voice
A shared platform for communicating cross-sector positions on energy capacity, infrastructure investment, and workforce policy, grounded in NAEC's research rather than any single member's commercial interest.
Founding Member standing
Permanent recognition as a member of NAEC's founding Council class in the organization's official record, along with visibility in NAEC's public communications about the Council's work.
Council membership is a strategic investment in access to information, relationships, and forums. It does not constitute a guarantee of specific government meetings, legislative outcomes, or commercial results. Any engagement involving public officials is offered as educational programming, subject to the availability and discretion of the participating office, consistent with NAEC's status as a 501(c)(6) business league.
Not a trade association. Not a networking group.
Mission-based, not industry-based
Most organizations in this space represent a single industry's interests. The Council is built around a mission: aligning energy capacity, infrastructure investment, workforce readiness, and community trust. That changes who is in the room and what the group can credibly speak to.
Public, private, and community leadership at the same table
NAEC formally integrates private industry, public officials, and community leadership into a single body. That structure is what makes the Council's research and positions credible to audiences that a single-industry group cannot reach.
Research-grounded, not opinion-driven
NAEC's positions are built on sourced, independent research on energy capacity and infrastructure investment, not on advocacy talking points. Every statistic the organization publishes is attributed to its source.
Deliberately small and structurally diverse
Forty seats, allocated across the Council's nine core industries by design, not by whoever joins first. The Council's value comes from that composition, not from scale.
The founding class of the National Leadership Council is being formed now.
Seats are capped at 40. If your organization belongs in this conversation, we would like to talk with you.
The prospectus outlines the Council's value, role, and member requirements in full. Or talk to NAEC directly.
Council membership is by invitation and subject to NAEC Board review. Membership does not constitute a guarantee of specific government access, and any official engagement is subject to the discretion of the participating office.