Lawrence S. "Larry" Coben (born 1958) is an archaeologist who founded the ESCALA Initiative and the Sustainable Preservation Initiative. He is chairman, president and CEO of NRG Energy, a Fortune 200 integrated electricity and home services company.
Coben is a consulting scholar and archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the founder and Executive Director of the Escala Initiative. His most recent work focuses on Inca imperial strategy and the archaeology of performance.[1] He directs a multidisciplinary archaeological project in the Canete Valley of Peru and was director of a project at the monumental site of Incallajta in Bolivia.[2] With Takeshi Inomata, he co-authored the book Archaeology of Performance: Theater, Power and Community. Richard Schechner described this work as "an important work integrating performance theory, forensics, and classical archaeology to describe and analyze not a "dead past" but pasts that continue to operate as rich repositories of living behaviors." [3] [4] Coben has published articles on the Inca, archaeological site museums,[5] and the role of performance and spectacle in ancient society. Coben recently delivered a TED talk about alleviating poverty, empowering women and saving cultural heritage entitled "Build Futures, Save Pasts".
He also runs the aforementioned ESCALA Initiative. The ESCALA Initiative is focused on helping women entrepreneurs in developing countries build a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities. Through its 10-month formalized Business School and Capacity Building Program, ESCALA empowers women entrepreneurs to hurdle economic and social barriers as business owners. The comprehensive and proven curriculum teaches critical entrepreneurial and business skills through workshops and mentoring sessions that prepare students for success. All of the students have either started their own small business or plan to do so while enrolled in the program. They are engaged in a variety of industries such as textiles, food, and tourism. ESCALA presently works in Peru, Mexico, Tanzania, and Guatemala. This paradigm, designed by Coben, has been suggested by the Milken Institute as an optimal solution to preserve and develop Israel's cultural heritage[6] [7] Coben gave a TEDx talk on this subject in 2016. Coben Tedx Talk
Coben is an expert member of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management ("ICAHM"). He is Chairman of ICAHM's Nominations Assistance Committee and Vice Chairman of its Standards Board.[8] He was recently named to the jury of the prestigious Cotsen Prize in Archaeology[9]
In addition to his academic work in archaeology, Coben has started and run numerous energy companies. He is Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of NRG Energy, the Fortune 200 integrated electricity and home services company.[10] He was the founder and CEO of Tremisis Energy Corporation and was CEO of Tremisis's two eponymous publicly traded affiliates. Coben is on the board of Freshpet,[11] and was an Advisory Partner of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners. Coben was one of the founders of Catalyst Energy Corporation, one of the nation's first alternative energy companies. Catalyst was #1 on the Inc. Magazine Fastest Growing Public Company List for the years 1982-1986.[12] He is chief executive officer of the New York Stock Exchange traded Bolivian Power Company, Ltd., Bolivia's largest private integrated electric generator and distributor. He was also a director of Prisma Energy and the Chilean utility SAESA, among other companies.
Coben is also an advisor to several politicians and groups on energy policy. Ambassador Dick Swett and he wrote the national energy policy for Senator Joseph Lieberman's 2004 presidential campaign. He is a member of the Department of Homeland Security's Sustainability and Efficiency Task Force[13] and Cleantech and Green Business for Obama.
Coben wrote the Larry Coben energy policy and cultural heritage blog for the Huffington Post, and his own blog Energizing America, both of which discussed major energy policy and cultural heritage issues and comment on related news from around the globe.
Coben holds a BA in Economics from Yale University, a JD from Harvard Law School, and an MA and Ph.D in Anthropology (Archaeology) from the University of Pennsylvania.