James Michelson is a distinguished Sr. Industry Specialist at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Washington D.C., where he's been contributing his expertise for over 12 years within the IFC's Climate Business Group. In this role, James focuses on the waste sector, aiding both private and public clients in advancing waste projects across a comprehensive value chain, from collection to energy conversion. Before IFC, he held pivotal roles as a Project Director at SCS Engineers, an Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, and notably, spent nearly nine years as a Project Developer/Manager at Covanta Energy, steering renewable electric energy projects across multiple countries. James's foundation in the industry was further solidified through urban infrastructure projects in Brazil during his tenure at The World Bank. An alumnus of the University of South Carolina, he holds an MIBS IMBA in Finance and pursued Civil Engineering at the University of Virginia.