Dabbar was previously head of energy mergers and acquisitions at J.P. Morgan. He has experience with investments and transactions in renewable energy, oil and gas production, nuclear energy, mining, efficiency, and the electrical grid.

At his Senate confirmation hearing Dabbar said, "I have gained significant experience in energy technologies, supporting both research and development, many of which started in various research laboratories before being deployed." He also expressed his enthusiasm for recent advances in research, saying, "In the area of fundamental science, opportunities exist for significant leaps in machine learning and artificial intelligence, as well as exascale computing and quantum information science."

Holding a degree in marine engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, Dabbar began his career as an officer aboard a nuclear submarine. He has also conducted research at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. More recently, he has served as a member of DOE’s Environmental Management Advisory Board (EMAB).

Dabbar told Fusion Power Associates that much of his time in these early months of his tenure would be spent "to visit the 17 national labs, certainly focusing on those I have not been to before. In addition I have many other non-Lab sites in the complex I also need to visit, as well as non DOE site trips. All told, It will take much of my first year to visit the Labs & sites. Given that, I need to visit places as tightly and as quickly as can be scheduled."

He can be reached at Paul.Dabbar@hq.doe.gov