Ex-Google exec Arun Majumdar top pick to be Biden's energy secretary

The Energy Department has a budget of about $35 billion and a disparate mission that includes helping to build the nation's nuclear warheads, maintaining its emergency stockpile of oil

A former Google executive who previously led an Energy Department unit that funded research into experimental power projects is among the front-runners to lead the agency under President-elect Joe Biden, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Arun Majumdar, a Stanford University engineering professor who was named Tuesday to lead the Biden transition team for the agency, is on the short-list to be Energy secretary, the people said.

“He has to be the front-runner if Joe Biden is looking for a politically savvy technical expert to lead the agency,” said Jeff Navin, a co-founder and partner at Boundary Stone Partners, a