Dr. Sumesh Arora is the director of the state energy office at the Mississippi Development Authority. The Energy & Natural Resources Division’s mission is to strengthen Mississippi’s energy economy by promoting its energy assets, energy efficiency, workforce development and energy security.
He worked at Innovate Mississippi for 13 years in several roles including vice president and the director of the Strategic Biomass Solutions program.
Sumesh has 29 years’ experience in industry, non-profit and the public sector leading programs in energy, cleantech commercialization, STEM education, and innovation-based entrepreneurship.
Sumesh is the co-inventor of a patented waste-to-energy process and has published a book chapter on links between energy and terrorism. He was appointed by the former U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry to a three-year term on the DOE State Energy Advisory Board and previously testified before the U.S. Senate in support of advanced biofuels.
Sumesh received his Ph.D. in International Development from the University of Southern Mississippi and has taught the graduate course “Entrepreneurship and Technology-Based Economic Development” for six years in USM’s College of Business and Economic Development. He has a bachelor’s and a master’s in engineering from the University of Central Florida. Sumesh is active with several community organizations and resides in Madison, MS with his wife and has two children in college.
