Michael Polsky

Michael Polsky is a visionary entrepreneur, business leader, and energy industry pioneer whose work has defined the global energy landscape. He is the founder and Executive Chairman of Invenergy, North America’s largest independent power producer and energy infrastructure innovator. Under Polsky’s leadership, Invenergy developed over 220 projects, with a combined capacity of more than 38 gigawatts over the last 25 years. Driven by Polsky’s pragmatic and results-focused vision, Invenergy has become synonymous with growth and innovation.

An engineer by training, Polsky’s career spans over 45 years and almost every form of energy. Beginning with coal, he worked in oil, nuclear, and natural gas power generation before founding and building two successful independent power companies, which developed cogeneration and gas plants. In 2001, Polsky founded his third company, Invenergy, playing a critical role in the global expansion of power generation at scale.

Focused on technology, economics, and opportunity, Polsky pursues innovations that make practical sense, and his companies have developed some of the largest natural gas, solar, land-based wind, and storage projects in the world. Polsky-led Invenergy also explored cutting-edge advancements across emerging sources and technologies such as geothermal.

Known for its execution capabilities, Invenergy develops, builds, and operates some of the most complex energy projects. These include long-distance transmission projects, such as Grain Belt Express, which will be the largest single transmission investment in U.S. history; American manufacturing at scale, with one of the most advanced domestic solar factories; and the first liquefied natural gas (LNG)-to-power generator for El Salvador, Energía del Pacífico, which meets 30% of the country’s energy demand.

Polsky’s passion for entrepreneurship and energy innovation is also reflected in his philanthropy. With a groundbreaking gift in 2025, Polsky established the World Resources Institute Polsky Center for the Global Energy Transition and the Polsky Energy Transition Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago, both of which are developing practical solutions to address the world’s most urgent and critical energy challenges. He also endowed the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago, where he serves as a Trustee Emeritus.

Polsky has received widespread recognition for his impact and leadership, including the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and the 2026 Forbes lists of the 250 Greatest Self-Made Americans and America’s Most Successful Living Immigrants. Polsky was also named to the United States Secretary of Energy Advisory Board in 2026.

Polsky holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from the University of Chicago.