2024 Advisory Board

Energy Industry Executive

Independent Consultant

Director, Innovation Strategy

Vistra Corporation

President & CEO

Middough Inc.

With over 30 years of experience in engineering, consulting, and leadership, Sam is the President & CEO of Middough Inc. Middough provides major project solutions and consulting by combining the experience, expertise and reach of a large EPCM firm with the flexibility and customer focus of a local service provider. Sam leads the executive team and oversees the functional and financial performance of the company, ensuring alignment with the vision, mission, and values. Middough provides project solutions across several industries including: Chemical, Oil & Gas, Power, Refining, Metals, Agribusiness, Food, and Advanced Manufacturing.

Dir. Generation

Austin Energy

Plant Manager Eastern Gas

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Kate has spent the last 20 plus years working for Tennessee Valley Authority honing her skills and knowledge in the policy procedures and power production and core business of the industry. She currently serves as site management in rotational development capacity for several power plants in the TVA network.

Chief Marketing Officer

Husk Power Systems

Senior Director Strategic Marketing NA, Clean Energy

W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc.

Business Development Manager, Advanced Energy Systems Research and Development

Southern Company

Ben Carmichael is part of the Advanced Energy Systems team at Southern Company Research and Development, where he works as a Business Development Manager to establish the national and international collaborations that support Southern Company’s advanced energy systems development programs. Ben joined Southern Company in 2006 and has had a variety of opportunities across Southern Company affiliates, including engineering roles in both Southern Company Fleet Operations and Generation Planning and Development, managing the nuclear fuel procurement program for Southern Nuclear Operating Company, and managing new nuclear development opportunities for Southern Nuclear Development, LLC. Ben holds a Bachelor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Master of Science of Civil Engineering from Auburn University, a Masters of Engineering in sustainability from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a Professional Engineer license in the State of Alabama.

Sr. Communications Business Partner

GE Vernova

Principal Nuclear Engineer

PSEG Energy Holdings

President

IEM Energy Consultants

Mr. Fassett is President and founder of IEM Energy Consultants LLC, (now part of CEIS), and has more than 39 years of broad-based experience in the power and related industries. He founded IEM in 1998 as a boutique consulting practice to provide consulting services in all aspects of power plant operations, maintenance, and management to clients worldwide. Mr. Fassett has provided services in outage planning, management and oversite, long range O&M budgeting, reliability assessments, plant staffing analysis and long-term service agreement negotiations. Prior to forming IEM, Mr. Fassett held roles of increasing responsibility with various utilities, both regulated and IPP’s, as well as petrochemical process facilities. These roles included Plant Engineer, Maintenance Engineer, Start Up Manager, Maintenance Manager and Plant Superintendent. His experience includes coal, simple and combined cycle CT’s, coal gasification and specialty chemical manufacturing. Mr. Fassett sits on the Board of Directors of the Plant Managers Institute, the Advisory Board of the Electric Power Conference, is a member of the ASME Power Committee. He has taught college classes in Energy & the Environment, Ethics in the Energy Industry, Electronics and Power Plant Operations. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Dakota State University with an emphasis in Power Plant System Design

Director, Generation Services

Kiewit

Delivering asset development, operational improvements and performance enhancement services, Diane Fischer, the Director of Generation Services at Kiewit, leverages her 30+ years of experience in the power industry to provide detailed engineering and design solutions. Throughout the project lifecycle, she partners with clients to address environmental issues, engineer components and systems and conduct facility evaluations and feasibility analyses. A recognized subject matter expert in the power market, Diane has shared her insights on combustion turbine issues, fuel flexibility, hydrogen combustion and energy storage at 12 conferences over the last three years. Holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University, she is also a licensed Professional Engineer in Missouri.

Director Digital Sales

Siemens Energy

Mr. George has worked in the North American Power industry for more than 35 years in the areas of Automation, Electrification and the Application of Digital Solutions for more than 35 years. In his career he has served as Design Engineering, Construction Engineer, Commissioning and Startup Management, Project Engineering, Project Management, Marketing, Sales, and Sales Management.

Professor. Director

University of Maryland

Ashwani Gupta is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park and also Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He received his Ph.D. and D.Sc. from Sheffield University, UK. He has co-authored three books and over 450 technical papers and edited 10 books. He is a Fellow of AIAA, ASME, SAE, and the Institute of Energy (UK). He is the recipient of AIAA Energy Systems award, and Propellants and Combustion award, the ASME George Westinghouse Gold medal award, James Harry Potter award and James Landis award, Worcester Reed Warner award, and University of Maryland President Kirwan research award and College of Engineering research award. He has also received several best paper awards from AIAA and ASME. He is an associate editor for AIAA J. Propulsion and Power, J. Applied Energy, and co-editor of the Environmental and Energy Engineering series of books published by CRC press.

President

M E H & Associates, LLC

Mr. Michael Harbison is the Founder and Owner of M E H & Associates, LLC. In this capacity, he performs unit walk-downs and assessments, modifies combustion systems, reduces emissions through advanced computational modeling, assesses and tunes boilers / boiler operations. Mr. Harbison covers the full US for the power generation sector. Mr. Harbison specialized in process optimization for over twenty-five years.

Vice President Operations & Asset Management

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative

Brian Heinbaugh is the Vice President of Operations and Asset Management at ODEC, where he oversees the safe, reliable operation and maintenance of the cooperative’s generation portfolio or if you want to use most of it and leave out some of the personal info. I also attached a updated headshot. Since joining ODEC in 2015, Brian served as Plant General Manager of the Wildcat Point Generation Facility, where he played a key role in its construction, startup, and ongoing operations. With over 25 years of experience in the power generation industry, Brian has held various leadership roles across a wide range of technologies, including simple cycle, combined cycle, and coal-fired plants. He previously served as Director of Operations with GDF Suez and NAES and began his career as a nuclear plant electrician in the U.S. Navy Submarine Force. Brian holds both an M.B.A. and a Master of Science in Energy Resources Management & Policy from the University of Maryland Global Campus. A Maryland native, he is married with three children. Outside of work, he is an active volunteer in his community, coaching cross country and track & field, and supporting organizations such as the Scouts, Boys & Girls Club, and Habitat for Humanity.

Vice President, Technology Strategy

CAEL - Council for Adult and Experiential Learning

Kristen Himmerick is a higher education and nonprofit administrator with extensive experience working with higher education institutions and systems to launch large-scale academic technology projects. She joined CAEL in June 2012 as Director of Academic Technology and Student Engagement for the CAEL's national portfolio assessment program, LearningCounts. As Director, Kristen led the internal operations and platform design of LearningCounts. In 2022, Kristen became the Vice President of the Solutions Team, which focused on developing technology to support regional, workforce, and higher education initiatives. She is currently CAEL's VP Technology Strategy, working on adapting AI for experiential learning and leading the technology for digital credential grant programs. Before joining CAEL, Himmerick was part of the Innovation Lab at Southern New Hampshire University, where she helped author the proposal for a self-paced, competency-based associate degree awarded the $1MM Next Generation Learning Challenge Grant for College Completion (SNHU?s College for America Program). Before SNHU, Kristen was the District Director of Academic Technology at the City Colleges of Chicago, managing the first system-wide LMS and student email system launches. She earned an M. Ed., concentration in eLearning from the University of Illinois, and holds a B.S. in Communication Studies and a Musical Theater certificate from Northwestern University. Kristen is a Prosci Certified Change Management Practitioner. Also, an actress and singer, Kristen, has performed in theaters across Chicago. Past regional theater appearances include roles at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Second City, and Drury Lane Oak Brook.

Sr Director, LaCygne and Hawthorn Stations

Evergy, Inc

Power Generation System Operations Director

Dominion Energy, Inc.

Rizwan James, Director-Power Generation System Operation Joined Dominion Energy in 2004 as a combustion turbine technician at the Fairless Energy Power Plant. Through series of career advancements his new role is Director Power Generation System Operations. Rizwan James is responsible for providing fleetwide operational support to Power Generation assets which include regulated fleet asset management and budgetary oversight, regulatory reporting, and oversight of the PG Operational Excellence team. He is also responsible for leading Power Generation operations teams, leading Power Generation’s hydrogen strategy for combustion turbines, and providing support for Project Construction

Associate Professor, ECE Department

University of Houston, College of Technology

Deputy Program Director

United States Energy Association (USEA)

Alex Krowka is the Deputy Program Director of USEA's Consensus Program. In this position, Alex helps manage this U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded Program to build global and domestic understanding, consensus, and cooperative action on Carbon Management Technologies. Additionally, Alex has worked with USEA’s Promoting International And Domestic Consensus On Oil And Natural Gas Program and USEA’s U.S. – East Africa Geothermal Partnership (EAGP). Alex has 11 years of experience in Energy and International Development having worked at Energetics and the International Tax and Investment Center. His past clients consisted of multiple programs and offices within DOE including: Appliance Standards, Emerging Technologies, Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), International Affairs, Residential Buildings Integration, and Zero Energy Ready Homes. Alex graduated magna cum laude from American University’s School of International Service with a B.A. in International Studies.

Training Supervisor

Omaha Public Power District (OPPD)

Mr. Kutz has over 17 years of operations and training experience obtained from working at an Ethanol plant, Oil Refinery, Gasification plant and Power Plant. Nik was hired at the Omaha Public Power District as a Plant Helper and worked his way up to a Unit Operator. Nik jumped at the opportunity to work in the Production Operations Training Department as a Training Coordinator for the Nebraska City Station and has since moved to the Production Operations Department Training Supervisor position. Some of his many responsibilities are providing Fire Brigade training to Operations Personnel as well as creating and delivering computer based training via OPPD’s Learners Management System. He currently resides in Nebraska with his wife and two children.

Operations and Maintenance Manager

Kissimmee Utility Authority

Bill Mangan is the Operations and Maintenance Manager at the Cane Island Power Park, a 750 MW gas power plant located in Central Florida. Bill’s career started in 1998 with the US Navy. Over a period of 14 years, Bill served on multiple submarines, in multiple leadership roles, to include power plant mechanic, Division Officer on the USS PITTSBURGH and USS TUCSON, Project Manager for the Afghan National Police in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Chief Engineer on the USS HELENA. Bill continues to serve in the Navy Reserve as a Commander and Commanding Officer. After leaving active duty, Bill worked with Nextera Energy, at the St. Lucie Nuclear Station. At St. Lucie, Bill served as an operations instructor, leading the electronic work package program development and training, and Mechanical Maintenance Department Head, where he led over 60 nuclear mechanics, welders, machinist, non-destructive testing specialist, and weld engineers. After leaving Plant St. Lucie, Bill was activated for one year with the Naval Reserves as the Executive Assistant to the Commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay. Bill has been working with KUA/FMPA for four years as the O&M Manager at Cane Island. Bill’s educational background includes an MBA from John Hopkins University, a Master of Engineering Management from Old Dominion University, and a BS from Jacksonville University. Bill also holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) and Six Sigma Green Belt certifications.

Director of Environmental Technologies, Licensing and Permitting

Sargent & Lundy

Wayshalee Patel works for Sargent & Lundy, a comprehensive consulting, engineering and design firm providing solutions for the electric power industry. She is currently the Director of S&L’s Environmental Technologies, Licensing and Permitting Group. Mrs. Patel is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Illinois and has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and Masters in Business Administration. She directs multiple project teams, each led by project managers and technical and engineering personnel. Her overall experience encompasses environmental permitting, regulatory compliance, and air pollution controls. She is well versed in existing and proposed environmental regulations, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). She has been involved with several air quality retrofit projects, new generation projects and transmission line projects where she assisted in project management, preliminary engineering and design, specification/procurement, and project implementation.

Senior Vice President, Corporate Development

Mesa Solutions

Tom Poteet is the VP of Corporate Development for Mesa Natural Gas Solutions. Tom’s purview in this role includes characterizing and casting the vision for the optimal use of natural gas-powered generation, monitoring the innovation stream for future sources of site power, and developing customized rate plans and progressive field applications to meet customers' needs and financial preferences. With over 30 years in engineering, Tom’s career has given him experience in electric power, telecommunications, and oil field production. Tom graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.

Sr. Security Engineer

Orlando Utilities Commission

CEO

NuConsult Services, LLC

Mitchell M. Samuelian is a highly experienced professional in the renewable energy sector, currently serving as the CEO and Founder of NuConsult Services, LLC. He has over 40 years of expertise in the electric utility industry, with a strong background in corporate asset management, engineering, compliance, plant management, and strategic planning. Current Role: CEO/Founder of NuConsult Services, LLC, a consulting company that develops innovative solutions for owners and operators of renewable power plants. Previous Roles: CEO of Tonian Renewables Vice President of Operations for Clearway Energy Group / NRG Energy, overseeing the safe and reliable operations of over 6 GW of wind and solar projects. General Manager of Ivanpah, a 392 MW concentrated solar thermal plant. Director of Plant Operations for First Solar, involved in the development, construction, and operations of over 5 GW of utility solar power plants. Head of Tennessee Valley Authority’s Hydro and Renewable Operations and Maintenance program, managing over 5 GW of capacity across various renewable energy sources. Educational Background: MBA with a minor in Human Resources from the University of Phoenix. BS in Nuclear Engineering from Thomas Edison State College. Holds a Reactor and Senior Reactor Operator License from the NRC. Mitchell Samuelian's extensive experience and leadership in the renewable energy industry make him a significant figure in the field, contributing to the advancement and operational excellence of renewable energy projects.

VP Energy Alliances

Volta Energy Inc.

Gursaran Singh is a Chemical/Process engineer with two decades of experience in engineering design development/management/delivery for upstream/midstream/downstream O&G facilities in North America, MENA, and Asia-Pacific regions through employment tenures at Bantrel/Bechtel, Suncor, SNC-Lavalin, FW-AMEC (WOOD group), Worley, & Petro-Techna. Gursaran leads the Circular Carbon based Net-Zero enabling technologies focused R&D division SPICE at Volta Energy Inc. As the Sustainability Champion and with the overall responsibility for Volta Energy's Corporate ESG and Green Future Initiative, Gursaran provides oversight on all SPICE projects. The current roster of SPICE projects include Solid Oxide Cell based Hydrogen/Power generation, Hydrogen integrated power grid solutions, drop-in fuel synthesis from waste organic matter/biomass, and Renewable Natural Gas upgrading to Hydrogen and High Value Carbon product.

Key Account Manager & EV Program Manager

Santee Cooper

Director, Plant Operations Spurlock

East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. [EKPC]

Joe VonDerHaar has over 35 years of experience in the utility and manufacturing industries. On the utility side he has held positions in System Operations, Transmission & Distribution and Power Generation. On the manufacturing front he was a Plant Manager for a Power Transmission OEM. A common thread in both industries is the tremendous change in process and mission because of competition, new technology and evolving regulations. Being able to adapt and even welcome change is critical to success. Joe is currently the Plant Director at the Spurlock Power Station, a 4-unit, coal fired, 1500MW facility in Maysville Kentucky. He holds an engineering degree from the University of Dayton.

Account Director

Trevi Communications

Justin Williams is a Senior Account Executive at Trevi Communications, a marketing/public relations firm with a focus on energy clients. He has worked with energy accounts since joining Trevi in 2021 and is one of the firm’s resident clean energy experts. He came to Trevi from corporate communications, having worked in media relations for the U.S. office of one of Europe’s largest tech companies. Justin also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Armenia, and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with an M.A. in Russian and East European Studies, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a B.A. in International Studies and History.