David W. Crane

David W. Crane (born 1959) is an American lawyer, investment banker and business executive in the energy industry. He served as the Undersecretary for Infrastructure in the United States Department of Energy from 2023 to 2025.

Early life and education David Crane grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois, on the Lake Michigan shore. His father was an aluminum sales executive. At 14 years old he wanted to be a lawyer. Crane graduated from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts and from Harvard Law School with a Juris Doctor.

Career From 1991 to 1996, Crane worked in various positions at ABB Energy Ventures as Vice President for the Asia-Pacific Region.

Crane joined then Minneapolis based NRG Energy in 2003 as CEO.

He doubled NRG's generating capacity, quadrupling sales. Shares of the company outperformed S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes as well as Exelon, NRG’s largest competitor.

In April 2016 Crane joined sustainability oriented investment firm Pegasus Capital Advisors as its Chief Strategy Officer, as Operating Advisor and Senior Operating Executive. He was confirmed by the Senate on June 7, 2023, and was sworn in on June 14, 2023.

Vision Crane has been part of the fossil fuel industry since the beginning of his career. When NRG shifted to green energies, NRG had 3 million customers. With its "shift to green power systems [he hopes this will] keep them." He stated that given "80% of residential solar installations are done on 20-year leases, that means you’re my customer for the next 20 years. You’re not leaving."

Personal life Crane lives in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, with his wife Isabella de la Houssaye, a corporate lawyer and endurance athlete, who died in December 2023 at the age of 59; Crane and his wife had welcomed their children to join them as part of their challenging activities. The couple has five children. His eldest son, Cason Crane, was the first openly gay mountaineer to scale the Seven Summits. Another son, Oliver Crane, is the youngest person to ever row across the Atlantic Ocean solo.

Crane once owned Graffiti, a bar in Hong Kong, has trekked across Costa Rica and rebuilt homes in Haiti with his children.