Tracks
Joe VonDerHaar
Plant Manager, Spurlock
East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. [EKPC]
Dennis Buchanan
Plant Director, Harrington Station
Xcel Energy
Brian Heinbaugh
Plant Manager - Wildcat Point Generation Facility
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative
Rizwan James
Power Generation System Operations Director
Dominion Energy/ Atlantic Coast Pipeline
Michael Burroughs
Plant Manager - Plant Scherer
Georgia Power
Willam Mock III
Plant Manager Coastal Generation (McIntosh CC, McIntosh CT, McManus, Robins, Mitchell)
Georgia Power
Kathryn Bowling
Plant Manager Eastern Gas
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Jeffrey Fassett
President
IEM Energy Consultants
Mr. James Goosby
Southern Company Executive in Residence, Auburn University McCrary Institute
Southern Company
Tricia Schulz
Group Leader, Embedded Systems Security
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
James Goosby
Southern Company Executive in Residence, Auburn University McCrary Institute
Southern Company
Clint M. Medlock
Project Manager - Research and Development
Southern Company Services
Jeremiah Haswell PE
Director, Project Oversight, Vogtle 3 & 4
Southern Company
Jhansi Kandasamy
Director, Net-Zero Program
Idaho National Laboratory
Mike Goff
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy
US DOE
Nicholas Smith
Deputy Director
National Reactor Innovation Center
James Schaefer
Senior Managing Director
Guggenheim Partners
Grace Stanke
Miss America 2023
Miss America
Rick Anderson
SVP | Culture & Strategy | Power Generation | Future Energy | Operations Excellence | Plant Management
Southern Company
Tim Echols
Commissioner
Georgia Public Service Commission
Joe Sullivan
Director of Sales
PXiSE
Hassan Obeid
Global Technical Advisor - Systems and Controls
Cummins Power Generation
Anderson Barkow
Co-Founder/CFO
BoxPower, Inc.
Ms DeLaine Bacon
VP - Business Strategy & Analysis
Block Energy
Nick Barilo
Executive Director of the Center for Hydrogen Safety
American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
Ms. Jean Ann Berthold
Staff Applications Engineering
Draeger Inc
Timothy Lebrecht
Industry Manager, Energy Transition and Chemical Processes
Air Products
Frank Andracchi, PE
Energy Industry Executive
Independent Consultant
Reed Lengel
Regional Sales Director, North America
Mitsubishi Power Aero
Jon Rodriguez
Energy Bus Director, Engine Power Plants
Wärtsilä
Siraj Taj
Principal / Owner
ST Power Services Consultants, LLC
David Little
Industry Technical Consultant
Nalco Water, an Ecolab Company
Willam Mock
Plant Manager Coastal Generation (McIntosh CC, McIntosh S/CT, McManus, Robins, Mitchell)
Georgia Power
Mr. Jeff Grubb
Director, Resource Policy & Planning
Georgia Power
Max Sherman
Kiewit
Julie Ann Soutuyo
Senior Manager
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Todd Snitchler
President & CEO
Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA)
Dr. Siari Sosa
Low Carbon Resources RD&D Technical Development Manager
SoCal Gas
Anthony Deorsey
Research Manager
THE CLEANTECH GROUP
Mark Hendricks
Vice President, Engineering
DEHN, Inc.
Justinn General
Product Design Engineer
Lamons
Benjamin Carmichael
Business Development Manager, Advanced Energy Systems Research and Development
Southern Company
Thomas Overton
Senior Strategic Development Specialist
General Atomics
Allan Schurr
Chief Commercial Officer
Enchanted Rock, LLC
Rahul Jha
General Engineer
Commonwealth Edison
Feliz Ventura
PROGRAM MANAGER, RESILIENCE
East Bay Community Energy
Chris Cantone
Chief Revenue Officer
Scale Microgrid Solutions
Marty Trivette
SVP, Energy Solutions and Digital Innovation & Technology
AlphaStruxure
Angie Lucas
Director
EPCE - Energy Providers Coalition for Education
Kristen Himmerick
Vice President, Solutions
CAEL - Council for Adult and Experiential Learning
Anna Munie
Manager of Carbon Neutrality Programs
Lansing Board of Water and Light
Rachel Wampler
Labor Forecast Center Leader
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Blake Osner
Director, Employee & Leadership DevelopmentJEA Academy
JEA/Jacksonville Electric Authority
Chase Bortone
Region Director
FieldCore
Rodolfo Tellez-Schmill
Product Champion - Process Simulation
KBC Advanced Technologies, Inc.
Dr. Ethan Simonoff
Technology Development Project Manager
SoCal Gas
Kirk Edelman
Chief Commercial Officer
Verdagy
Elias Greenbaum
President
GTA, Inc.
Peter Kelley
Managing Partner
RenewComm
Martin Milani
CEO
Sunverge Energy, Inc.
Drew Smith
Director of Utility Solutions, East Region
Smarter Grid Solutions
Hilary Lefko
Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright
Eric Fins
Vice President
Grove Climate Group
Bobby Noble
Program Manager Gas Turbine Research & Development
EPRI
Katrina Fritz
Executive Director
California Hydrogen Business Council
Carl Dunaway
Director, Business Development North Region
Wärtsilä
Robert Schrecengost
Program Manager, Advanced Turbines, Materials
US DOE
Hari Gopalakrishnan, Ph.D.
Lead Consultant, Market Intel and Strategy
Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc.
Ben Nowak
Mobile & AR Architect
CapTech Consulting
Mary Bartlett
Patrick Engineering
Robert Schulte
Principal
Schulte Associates LLC
Stephanie Judge
Head of Energy SaaS
NextEra Analytics, Inc.
Mrs. Wayshalee Patel
Manager
Sargent & Lundy
Mendy Lee
Asst. Director of NCCC
Southern Company Services
Kathleen Nelson Romans
Business Development Manager
Carbon America
Andrew Erickson
Senior Associate
Sargent & Lundy
Aaron Larson
Executive Editor
POWER magazine
Hamed Hossain
Business Owner SeaFloat
Siemens Energy, Inc.
Jakob Tyroller
Project Manager
Siemens Energy, Inc.
Jonathan Warren
Business Development Manger
Dominion Energy, Inc.
Anbarasan Sellappan
Deputy COO
Edra Power Holdings
Marc Lemmons
Senior Technical Leader - Boiler/HRSG
EPRI
Bob Kimball
Sr. Vice President, Industrial Water Lead
WSP
Jeffry Simmons
Senior Vice President and General Manager
Toshiba America Energy Systems Corp
Michael Cates
Area Vice President, Corporate Accounts
Nalco Water
Jamie Rotbert
Manager of Sales Enablement
GridPoint
Lance Haman
Resiliency Project Manager
Georgia Power
Joe Bush
Operations Manager
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative
Ross Sinclair
Manager, Pipeline Control
Williams
Paul McGlynn
Reliability Engineer
PJM Interconnection
Mr. Keith Higginbotham
Manager Customer Service
Williams
Charlie Moon
Energy Professional. Collaborator. Strategic Thinker
Uplight, Inc
Joel Gamoran
VP and GM of Energy Services
Arcadia
Nick Palumbo
Alderman
City of Savannah
Jim Madej
COO
Viridi Parente
Mike Harbison
President
M E H & Associates, LLC
Chris Bone
Senior Program Manager Generation Projects
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Patrick Kiser
General Manager, Strategy & Engineering
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Una Nowling
Technology Leader for Fuels, Combustion, and Efficiency
Black & Veatch
Jeffery Pope PE
Program Manager, Facility Decommissioning & Demolition Services
Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co. Inc.
Ed Davis
Senior Consultant and Team Lead
U.S. DOE, Loan Programs Office
Mike Kramer
Vice President of Growth and Finance
Constellation
Robb Homolka
Global Commercial Hybrid Microgrid Mgr - Caterpillar Electric Power
Caterpillar Inc
Ann Marie Augustus
Chief Operating Officer
Urban Electric
Keith Norman
Chief Sustainability Officer
Lyten
Joe Ferrari
VP of Sales
Energy Dome
Jeffrey Burkett
Clean Energy Associates
Tina Dornbusch
Director of Product Management
Merit Controls
Ron Kessler
Vice President- Robotic Inspection Solutions
Team Industrial Services
Steven Parente
Hydrogen Infrastructure & Integration Specialist Electric Power Division
Caterpillar (NI) Ltd
Jeff Chase
Clean Power Generation Lead, Research, Development, & Demonstration (RD&D)
SoCal Gas
Kenneth Koye
Chief Executive Officer
Gulf Coast Ammonia LLC
Kevin Moore
PE, PLS
East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. [EKPC]
Patricia Scroggin-Wicker
Director
Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc.
Todd Svoboda
East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. [EKPC]
Dr. Rachana Vidhi
Director Technical Sales
NextEra Analytics, Inc.
Nicholas Licht
Technical Sales Lead
NextEra Analytics, Inc.
Peter Prakash
CIO
Swell Energy
Shawn Borden, CEM
Utility Program Development Manager
Caterpillar Electric Power
Suleman Khan
CEO
Swell Energy
Dr. Greg Ledva
Director of Emerging Technologies
Virtual Peaker
Travis Duckro
Director
AutoGrid Systems
Diane Fischer
Director, Generation Services
Kiewit Engineering Group, Inc.
Darrell Furlong
Director of Energy Storage Product Management and Hardware Engineering
Wärtsilä
Scott Childers
Vice President, Essential Power division
Stryten Energy
Rick Moore
Vice President, Climate and Energy
Connected DMV
Shawn Bennett
Battelle
Dr. Will James
Battelle
Samuel R. Barnes, P.E.
Executive Director of Operations EPPC
Charge Infrastructure
Michael Smith, PE
VP Business and Technology Strategy
The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Inc. [ECSC]
Alex Urist
Vice President
XCharge North America
Tyler Hughes, PE
Vice President National Business Line Lead - Electrification
WSP
Darrell Proctor
Senior Associate Editor
POWER magazine
Ken Munson
CEO
Rhythmos
Eran Rozenfeld
VP North America
Driivz Inc
Joe VonDerHaar
Plant Manager, Spurlock
East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. [EKPC]
Joe VonDerHaar has over 25 years experience split between the utility and manufacturing industries. On the utility side he has held positions in System Operations, Distribution and Generation. On the manufacturing front he was Plant Manager of Force Control Industries, a Power Transmission OEM. While in manufacturing he lived through the cultural and process changes required to become ISO9001:2000 certified. Joe is currently the Plant Manager at the Spurlock Power Station, a 4-unit, coal fired, 1356MW facility in Maysville Kentucky. He holds an electrical engineering degree from the University of Dayton. Joe and his wife Carla are proud parents of three sons.
Dennis Buchanan
Plant Director, Harrington Station
Xcel Energy
Dennis Buchanan, PE, is a Plant Director for Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS). SPS is one of 4 operating companies of Xcel Energy. Dennis has worked in the Electric Utility, Power Generation field for over 40 years. His background includes performance and plant engineering, project management, and senior management. A large portion of his career was dedicated to power plant process controls where he designed and implemented DCS retrofits throughout the SPS fleet. Currently, Dennis is the Plant Director of the Harrington/Nichols complex that consists of 3 coal fired units and 3 gas fired units. Dennis has a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech University and is a Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.
Brian Heinbaugh
Plant Manager - Wildcat Point Generation Facility
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative
Brian Heinbaugh has a B.S. Engineering Technology and two Master's degrees, M.S. Management and Master of Business Administration. He has been in the Power Generation industry for over 25 years in a variety of O&M roles dealing with many different technologies. He has served as a Director of Operations with both GDF Suez and NAES over simple cycle, combined cycle, and coal plants. Currently he is a Plant Manager with ODEC at their new 1000 MW Combined Cycle Wildcat Point Generation Facility.
Rizwan James
Power Generation System Operations Director
Dominion Energy/ Atlantic Coast Pipeline
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
Michael Burroughs
Plant Manager - Plant Scherer
Georgia Power
Willam Mock III
Plant Manager Coastal Generation (McIntosh CC, McIntosh CT, McManus, Robins, Mitchell)
Georgia Power
William H. Mock III is plant manager for coastal generation at Georgia Power. In this role, he is responsible for four generating facilities along the Georgia coast and Warner Robins. Together, these plants encompass 21 generating units of various size, technology, and fuel diversity representing over 2,600 megawatts of capacity. Mock was named to his current position in March 2014. Prior, he served as assistant to the senior vice president of fossil & hydro generation for Georgia Power and senior production officer for Southern Company Generation. Mock began his career with Southern Company in 1990 as a junior engineer at Southern Nuclear's Plant Hatch. In 2005, he was named plant manager of the newly constructed Georgia Power McIntosh Combined Cycle Plant. In addition, Mock has served as maintenance manager at Georgia Power's Plant Bowen (Cartersville) and plant manager at Plant Yates (Newnan). A native of Savannah, Mock earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Kathryn Bowling
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.
Jeffrey Fassett
President
IEM Energy Consultants
Jeff Fassett, President & Co-Owner, IEM Energy Consultants, LLC
Mr. Fassett is Co-owner and founder of IEM Energy Consultants LLC has more than 36 years of broad based experience in the power and related industries. He founded IEM in 1998 as a boutique consulting practice which provides 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, and plant staffing analysis. In addition, he has also been involved in the negotiations of long-term service agreements representing over 30 GW of gas and steam turbine generating capacity worldwide and has testified as an expert witness regarding proper operations and maintenance practices and procedures. Under his guidance, IEM has experienced significant growth, and now employs almost 15 consultants.
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 and coal gasification. 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, and International Gas Turbine Institute, Education Subcommittee. 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
Mr. James Goosby
Southern Company Executive in Residence, Auburn University McCrary Institute
Southern Company
James Goosby is Business Technology Planning & Strategic Initiatives Director, responsible for ensuring that initiatives that require technology follow a framework that enables predictable outcomes. He serves as chair the Operations Technology Leadership Team that facilitates business technology planning and implementation while ensuring alignment to business priorities.
He has served for more than 26 years at Southern Company, most recently in the role of Assistant to the Executive Vice President of Operations, where he helped advance work in Moving to Equity and co-led a project to strategically align Operations-wide cyber and NERC-CIP program management. James earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Auburn University and served our country in the U.S. Marines.
Tricia Schulz
Group Leader, Embedded Systems Security
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
James Goosby
Southern Company Executive in Residence, Auburn University McCrary Institute
Southern Company
James Goosby is Business Technology Planning & Strategic Initiatives Director, responsible for ensuring that initiatives that require technology follow a framework that enables predictable outcomes. He serves as chair the Operations Technology Leadership Team that facilitates business technology planning and implementation while ensuring alignment to business priorities.
He has served for more than 26 years at Southern Company, most recently in the role of Assistant to the Executive Vice President of Operations, where he helped advance work in Moving to Equity and co-led a project to strategically align Operations-wide cyber and NERC-CIP program management. James earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Auburn University and served our country in the U.S. Marines.
Clint M. Medlock
Project Manager - Research and Development
Southern Company Services
Clint Medlock is a project manager for Southern Company Services - Research and Development, a subsidiary of Southern Company, the organization leading the company's innovation in advanced nuclear technology efforts. He earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Technological University. Clint joined Southern Company in 2005 and has over 30 years of nuclear energy experience with various utilities as well as architectural/engineering and consulting firms. At Southern Company, he has held several engineering, design, maintenance and construction oversight positions at the corporate office, Plant Farley and Plant Vogtle 3&4. In his current role, he serves as the Molten Chloride Fast Reactor (MCFR) Program Chief Engineer. Southern Company Services - Research and Development is working closely with TerraPower, an advanced reactor developer, and the DOE via multiple awards to work toward commercialization of this non-light water nuclear energy technology. Clint's engagement and leadership in programs like these are helping ensure Southern Company will continue to have energy options while meeting its long-term net-zero greenhouse gas emissions goal.
Jeremiah Haswell PE
Director, Project Oversight, Vogtle 3 & 4
Southern Company
Jeremiah is responsible for Project Oversight and Regulatory Compliance for Georgia Power and as agent for the Plant Vogtle 3 & 4 Project Co-Owners. Plant Vogtle 3 & 4 will be the first new nuclear units built in the United States in the last three decades. As construction continues, Georgia Power remains focused on completing Vogtle 3 & 4 with safety and quality as top priorities.
Jhansi Kandasamy
Director, Net-Zero Program
Idaho National Laboratory
Jhansi Kandasamy is an electrical engineer, business professional, past chair of U.S. Women in Nuclear (WIN), and co-founder of U.S. WIN Nuclear Executives of Tomorrow. Kandasamy has taken on numerous energy challenges over the course of her 30 years in nuclear energy and emerged as both a successful leader and sought-after mentor. Prior to her role as director of INL's Net-Zero program, Kandasamy took on the challenge of developing carbon-free energy as the executive vice president of engineering for GE-Hitachi. There, she contributed to the development of a new generation of nuclear reactors called small modular reactors. This work helped her achieve one of her core goals: protecting the planet by developing energy alternatives. Kandasamy was poised to take on this work after holding progressive roles as maintenance supervisor, operations supervisor, engineering manager, regulatory assurance manager and chemistry environmental manager at Exelon's Limerick Generating Station and Oyster Creek Generating Station. She then transitioned to Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) Nuclear Salem/Hope Creek New Jersey where she held positions as regulatory assurance manager, work management director and senior projects director. Kandasamy obtained U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission senior reactor operator certification at the Limerick Generating Station. As a woman in a largely male-dominated space, Kandasamy was motivated to help other women and historically underrepresented groups, which is why she became involved with U.S. WIN in various capacities, including being selected as the recent past chair of the organization. She served on the local American Nuclear Society executive committee and as co-founder of Atomic Allies, which was born from a memorandum of understanding signed by U.S. WIN, the Nuclear Energy Institute, North American Young 20-GA50518 continued on back...Generation in Nuclear and the American Nuclear Society. She is on the oversight committee for and initiated the U.S. WIN Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Working Group, which addresses not only gender gaps, but all diversity in the nuclear workforce. In her free time, Kandasamy is the president and chair for a college her father started in a rural part of India to educate underprivileged men and women from rural villages. Kandasamy is happily married and the proud mother of two children. She is also an avid reader -- a hobby fueled by her natural curiosity and love of learning -- and enjoys painting, travel, pickleball and walking.
Mike Goff
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy
US DOE
Dr. Michael Goff is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy. Prior to joining the office as the PDAS, Dr. Goff was on assignment from Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to the Office of Nuclear Energy, where he was serving his third term as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary. Dr. Goff also served a multi-year assignment as the Assistant Director for Nuclear Energy/Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President. He has held several management and research positions over more than 30 years at INL and Argonne National Laboratory. Dr. Goff has more than 70 publications related to the nuclear fuel cycle including separations technology, high-level waste development, and safeguards. Dr. Goff has a Bachelor of Nuclear Engineering (1986), a MSNE (1988), and a PhD in Nuclear Engineering (1991), all from Georgia Tech.
Nicholas Smith
Deputy Director
National Reactor Innovation Center
Nicholas Smith is the Deputy Director of the National Reactor Innovation Center. In this role, he is responsible for supporting initiatives to provide resources to reactor innovators to test, demonstrate, and conduct performance assessments to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technology concepts. Smith most recently was the Generation IV nuclear reactor R&D program manager at Southern Company Services. In this role, he was responsible for highly leveraged collaboration with reactor designers, national labs, influencing policy makers, and early engagement with regulators. He was also the technical lead on a $40 million DOE Advanced Reactor Concept collaboration to develop TerraPower's Molten Chloride Fast Reactor (MCFR), a collaboration with TerraPower, Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and Vanderbilt University.
As nuclear R&D program manager, he has created and managed work scope definition across multiple organizations to deliver nuclear R&D products such as uranium flow loops, molten salt corrosion tests, plutonium salt thermophysical properties, micro-reactor management systems with remote monitoring, and a 1MW electrically heated integrated effects test of the MCFR. He also led, on behalf of Southern, the proposal development to demonstrate the Westinghouse eVinci nuclear micro-reactor. Additionally, Smith led the Molten Salt Reactor Technology Working Group (MSR TWG) as Chairman where he was responsible for coordinating engagements with national labs, DOE, and NRC to work on regulatory issues, common technical challenges, and consensus standards related to MSRs. Smith holds an Economics Degree from San Diego State University, an Electrical Engineering Degree from University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a Master of Nuclear Engineering from North Carolina State University.
James Schaefer
Senior Managing Director
Guggenheim Partners
James Schaefer is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Guggenheim's Power, Utilities & Renewables team and covers a number of electric and gas utility and renewable energy accounts for Guggenheim Securities. Mr. Schaefer brings to Guggenheim extensive expertise in energy related mergers, acquisitions and financing, developed over his more than 27 years in the financial services industry. Mr. Schaefer has completed approximately $60 billion of strategic advisory assignments and over $30 billion of lead managed financings.
In addition to his role at Guggenheim Securities, Mr. Schaefer is active in a number of industry organizations. Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors for United States Nuclear Industry Council (USNIC). Recently, he served on a Board with the Department of Energy (DOE) to determine the awardees of $4.0 billion of grants through the DOE's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP).
Mr. Schaefer graduated with honors in Finance and Accounting from the University of Michigan's M.B.A. program and cum laude in Finance from the University of Vermont.
Grace Stanke
Miss America 2023
Miss America
On December 15, 2022, Grace Stanke, representing her home state of Wisconsin, was crowned Miss America 2023, and awarded $50,000 in scholarship. This was the third time Miss Wisconsin has been crowned Miss America in the history of the Organization.
During the competition, Stanke won the talent portion, performing a piece from "Vivaldi's Summer/Four Seasons - Storm" on her electric violin.
Stanke, a nuclear engineering student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has earned more than $68,000 in scholarship assistance through her state and Miss America competitions. During her year as Miss America, Grace is traveling the country using her national platform to advocate for "Clean Energy - Cleaner Future." Encouraging worldwide change for clean, zero-carbon emission energy sources, Stanke emphasizes the benefits of nuclear power and seeks to dispel the myths around nuclear energy while inspiring the next generation of female scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.
"In addition to helping change public perception of nuclear energy and technology, I hope to inspire youth, especially young girls, to explore STEM and to see that going into these fields, including nuclear engineering, is an option for them."
Rick Anderson
SVP | Culture & Strategy | Power Generation | Future Energy | Operations Excellence | Plant Management
Southern Company
Rick Anderson is senior production officer of Southern Company Operations' East Production Group. In this position, he oversees Georgia Power's diverse generating fleet, including its coal, natural gas, hydro, solar and distributed generation resources. Prior to this role, Anderson was vice president of Technical Services in Southern Company's Technical and Project Solutions (T&PS) organization where he led the team in providing technical support to customers across the Southern Company system. He began his career with Southern Company in 2001 as an engineer at Georgia Power's Plant Branch and has worked across several other generation facilities including Plants McDonough, Scherer, Barry, Wansley, Bowen, Miller, and Crist. His experience includes serving as Operations and Maintenance manager at Alabama Power's Plant Miller and subsequently serving as plant manager at Gulf Power's Plant Crist. In more recent roles, Anderson has been integral in Georgia Power's coal combustion residual (CCR) efforts, including helping the company establish formalized controls for Georgia Power's CCR and ash pond closure program. He has served on multiple community boards, including the Northwest Florida Chapter of Junior Achievement and the Central Gulf Industrial Alliance. Anderson earned a master's in Business Administration from Kennesaw State University as well as a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech.
Tim Echols
Commissioner
Georgia Public Service Commission
Commissioner Tim Echols was elected to the PSC in 2011. Th focus of the Public Service Commissioner is energy regulation and when Tim took office, Georgia was 34th in solar power. Now, the state is 9th in the nation for installed solar. In 2020, Conservatives for Clean Energy dubbed Echols the "Solar Architect of Georgia."
Commissioner Echols created a Clean Energy Roadshow that has traveled the state every summer for the last eight years. This educational event travels to cities around the state helping commuters, businesses and municipal governments evaluate alternative fuel for their transportation and residential use.
He was also instrumental in keeping Plant Vogtle moving forward. He believes carbon-free nuclear energy plus solar is the way forward for Georgia and has represented the United States at the World Nuclear Exhibition for the last six years.
Tim leads by example by adding solar hot water heating to his home that he shares with longtime spouse Windy and raised 7 children. He also owns a natural gas car, a propane van and now owns an electric car and working to raise funds for the Hog Hammock Foundation a 16-panel solar pavilion in Sapelo, the home of one of the last remaining Gullah Geechee communities and this array will provide free electricity to the library for the next 30 years.
With all that he does Tim has time for a weekly radio show called Energy Matters airing on Cox Media Group
Joe Sullivan
Director of Sales
PXiSE
Hassan Obeid
Global Technical Advisor - Systems and Controls
Cummins Power Generation
Hassan Obeid is a Senior Global Technical Advisor - Energy Management Solutions at Cummins Power Generation focusing on technical vision, business strategy and solving a wide range of complex problems. Hassan has been with Cummins since 2007 in a variety of roles: power systems design engineering, project engineering and applications engineering. Hassan has designed power systems involving switchgear, controls, paralleling, transfer switches, generator sets, renewable DERs, microgrids and digital solutions. He has developed and conducted technical power seminars on several topics and products involving paralleling, grounding, power systems and controls. Hassan received his bachelor's degree in Computer Science and master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Anderson Barkow
Co-Founder/CFO
BoxPower, Inc.
Anderson actively managed financial, administrative, and logistical operations for over 30 off-grid standalone power system deployments with BoxPower. Anderson Barkow co-founded BoxPower after spending three years at Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Corporate and Investment Bank, where he underwrote debt products and managed risk to Fortune 500 technology companies. He is a 2019 Halcyon Fellow, DRK Entrepreneur, 2019 GSBI Fellow, and 2019 Wild Gift Fellow. Anderson graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Finance from Santa Clara University.
Ms DeLaine Bacon
VP - Business Strategy & Analysis
Block Energy
DeLaine Bacon is VP - Business Strategy & Analysis for BlockEnergy. In her role, she has oversight of all financial aspects of the company. In addition to accounting and finance departments, she oversees economic modeling for potential customer opportunities including assessing electric load profiles, sizing system components, project budgeting, and ensuring economic viability of the potential project. She also oversees business modeling for alternative strategic deployments of the product. Prior to joining BlockEnergy at its formation in early 2018, DeLaine spent 34 years in the electric and gas utility industry, in the financial and regulatory areas of the business. After joining BlockEnergy, DeLaine has been a key contributor to the development of BlockEnergy's distributed renewable energy platform. DeLaine enjoys college football, cooking and boating. She has two Yorkies named Manny Marino and Maximus Marcus.
Nick Barilo
Executive Director of the Center for Hydrogen Safety
American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
Nick Barilo is Executive Director of the Center for Hydrogen Safety (CHS) at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (www.aiche.org/chs) and Hydrogen Safety Program manager at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). CHS is a global nonprofit resource that supports and promotes hydrogen's safe handling and use across industrial and consumer applications in the energy transition. As Executive Director of CHS, Nick helps to facilitate access to hydrogen safety experts; develop comprehensive safety guidance, outreach, and education materials, and provide a forum to partner on worldwide technical solutions.
Nick is also a licensed fire protection engineer having over 30 years of experience and has dedicated his career to reducing risks to personnel and property. He has served on the NFPA 2, Hydrogen Technologies Code committee and was instrumental in developing the document's fundamental chapters. His work at PNNL provides essential hydrogen safety support for the U.S. Department of Energy's Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Office. In this capacity, he directs the U.S. Hydrogen Safety Panel activities and leads safety knowledge dissemination and first responder training efforts. Nick has authored papers and journal articles and has presented both nationally and internationally on hydrogen safety.
Ms. Jean Ann Berthold
Staff Applications Engineering
Draeger Inc
Award-winning Entrepreneur known for successful New Product commercialization and Go-to-Market plans for both high tech startups and established companies in Process Analytics, Fire & Gas Detection Systems, and Process Safety. Experience in both traditional industry segments and the new Clean Energy applications of Hydrogen & EV Batteries. Visionary strategic planning paired with Subject Matter Expert technical knowledge in Fire & Gas hazard analysis and system design supports both a Trusted Advisor's role for customers and a contributing author and voting member of multiple Industry Standards & Regulatory Code committees including ISA 84, NFPA 72, and the AIChE's Center for Hydrogen Safety's "Best Practices".
Timothy Lebrecht
Industry Manager, Energy Transition and Chemical Processes
Air Products
Timothy D Lebrecht is the Industry Manager for Applications focused on the Chemicals, Refining, Power, Pharm/Biotech, Water Treatment and Industrial Cryogenics Industries at Air Products and Chemicals (1940 Air Products Blvd, Allentown, PA 18106; Phone: 610-481-8388; Mobile: 610-235-6842). Lebrecht has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and a Masters in Business Administration from Lehigh University. He has 30+ years of experience in both specialty and industrial gases and has had positions in Product and Project Management, Project Development, Manufacturing, and Process Engineering. His focus is currently on gas usage and optimization for processes using hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide.
Frank Andracchi, PE
Energy Industry Executive
Independent Consultant
Reed Lengel
Regional Sales Director, North America
Mitsubishi Power Aero
Reed Lengel is the Regional Sales Director for North America with Mitsubishi Power Aero, responsible for new unit sales of their aero-derivative gas turbines. Reed has 13 years of experience in the power generation industry, with roles ranging from the on-site management and execution of heavy-duty gas turbine commissioning activities, to the product line management and technical sales of industrial and aero-derivative gas turbines. Reed holds a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida.
Jon Rodriguez
Energy Bus Director, Engine Power Plants
Wärtsilä
Jon Rodriguez has over 20 years of professional experience with a diverse background covering power generation in multiple industries including data center, utilities, mining, oil & gas, and commercial/industrial customers. His roles over the years have included delivery of projects as a project manager, delivery of products as an operations executive in manufacturing, and delivery of sales opportunities as both an outside salesperson and sales leader. He holds a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and earned his Professional Engineer license in the state of Wisconsin. He resides in the Raleigh-Durham, NC area.
Siraj Taj
Principal / Owner
ST Power Services Consultants, LLC
A sought-after power generation industry consultant and thought leader, Siraj Taj has leveraged more than 30 years' experience in power generation into his latest pursuit: Helping power plant transform for the clean energy future.
Siraj and his team guide owners through critical business decisions and processes, to improve total asset performance, develop cost-effective O&M strategy to expertly integrate Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and Conventional Power Systems (CPS). This approach empowers owners to achieve life-cycle cost savings of 35%+. Most recently, Rebuild GT26 following a catastrophic failure with pragmatic and innovative solutions delivering significant time and cost savings. Also upgraded several turbine control systems to increase operational efficiency, reliability and profitability of plant with GT7EA, W501D5A, LM6000, and others.
Siraj served many roles at Alstom Power with focus on GT26, GT24, GT11N2, and GT11NM, including Contract Manager and Director of GT/CC Service Operation for Russia & CIS Countries. He also serves as a council member on the Gerson Lehrman Group, contributes to the development of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, contributes to POWER magazine, and regularly shares his thought leadership through his popular "Thinking Power" blog.
David Little
Industry Technical Consultant
Nalco Water, an Ecolab Company
David has over 20 years of experience in water treatment. A nine-year US Navy Veteran, David served in the Navy's Nuclear Power Program as an operator and instructor. He earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Tennessee. David has been with Nalco Water for over fifteen years serving as a field representative and technical consultant the Power Industry.
Willam Mock
Plant Manager Coastal Generation (McIntosh CC, McIntosh S/CT, McManus, Robins, Mitchell)
Georgia Power
William H. Mock III is plant manager for coastal generation at Georgia Power. In this role, he is responsible for four generating facilities along the Georgia coast and Warner Robins. Together, these plants encompass 21 generating units of various size, technology, and fuel diversity representing over 2,600 megawatts of capacity. Mock was named to his current position in March 2014. Prior, he served as assistant to the senior vice president of fossil & hydro generation for Georgia Power and senior production officer for Southern Company Generation. Mock began his career with Southern Company in 1990 as a junior engineer at Southern Nuclear's Plant Hatch. In 2005, he was named plant manager of the newly constructed Georgia Power McIntosh Combined Cycle Plant. In addition, Mock has served as maintenance manager at Georgia Power's Plant Bowen (Cartersville) and plant manager at Plant Yates (Newnan). A native of Savannah, Mock earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Mr. Jeff Grubb
Director, Resource Policy & Planning
Georgia Power
Jeff is the Director of Resource Policy & Planning at Georgia Power Company where he leads the team responsible for long term generation planning including the development of the Company's Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). Georgia's IRP is filed with the Georgia Public Service Commission every three years with the latest having been completed in July 2022. Jeff served as the lead public witness in the proceedings for the Company's 2019 and 2022 IRPs. Resource Policy & Planning also has responsibility for Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for generation capacity, Company-owned generation proposals, Power Purchase Agreements, Wholesale Power contracts, and Avoided Costs filings under PURPA.
Jeff has been with Georgia Power and Southern Company for 30 years since starting as a cooperative education student in 1992. After several years in Marketing, the Planning phase of his career began in 2003 when he joined Georgia Power Resource Planning as a Project Manager. He then served in several planning roles with Southern Company Services from 2007 to 2016 before returning to Georgia Power Resource Planning. He became the Director of Resource Planning for Georgia Power in 2018. Jeff supported the 2016 IRP at Southern Company Services and has led the Company's efforts in the 2019 and 2022 IRP.
Max Sherman
Kiewit
Max is a seasoned power industry professional. He has four decades of project management, business development, power plant development, consulting services, asset management and power marketing in the power industry. He originates opportunities in municipal, cooperative and utility markets in the central US, prepares proposals for a variety of clients and manages or participates in projects based on prior experience and contacts. Max supports Engineering Services' objective of entering markets that are new to Kiewit.
As project manager, he is responsible for client satisfaction and overall project performance, schedule, and cost success on a day-to-day basis. Max will also be the primary point of contact for the owner and for third-party interfaces related to the project.
Julie Ann Soutuyo
Senior Manager
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Julie A. Soutuyo works for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), where she has spent the past twelve years in leadership roles addressing a variety of challenging topics related to cybersecurity, disaster recovery, enterprise mobile and virtual technologies, emergency management, and supply chain.
A 20-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, a former GS-14 at U.S. Department of Transportation, and a former defense management consultant, Julie has a long history of supporting critical infrastructure and systems. With in-depth knowledge about rare events such as Geomagnetic Disturbance (GMD)/Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) threats to the power grid, deadly influenza viruses such as H5N1, and the full spectrum of cyber threats, Julie has supported numerous agencies with technical and operational plans and programs. She also has national level emergency response experience as a first responder to Hurricanes' Katrina and Rita at the National Response Coordination Center and is the co-author of a 2005 Federal Highway Administration publication: "Coordinating Military Deployments on Roads and Highways; A Guide for State and Local Agencies".
Julie is married with two daughters and lives in Chattanooga, TN. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Excelsior College, is a Certified Business Resilience Manager, and recently received her Masters Achievement in Business Resilience certification from the Business Resilience Certification Consortium International.
Todd Snitchler
President & CEO
Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA)
Todd Snitchler is the president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA). EPSA represents companies that own about 150,000 MW of capacity from competitive power generation assets throughout the U.S. and advocates for policies that focus on achieving and maintaining well-functioning and properly regulated competitive wholesale electricity markets.
Prior to joining EPSA, Todd served as the vice president of market development at the American Petroleum Institute where he worked with industry, government, and customer stakeholders to promote increased demand for and continued availability of our nation's abundant and clean natural gas resources.
Prior to that, Mr. Snitchler was a principal for Vorys Advisors, LLC in Ohio where he led government affairs efforts in the energy and utility space, representing competitive suppliers and independent power producers and developers. In that role, he established strong relationships in Ohio and nationally with policy makers and industry participants supportive of competitive markets.
Mr. Snitchler previously served as chairman of both the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the Ohio Power Siting Board. He was elected twice to represent the 50th House District in Stark County, Ohio.
Mr. Snitchler has published on numerous topics including the benefits of competitive energy markets; cyber security issues; electricity deregulation challenges; and the role of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Snitchler received his J.D. from the University of Akron School of Law and his B.A. from Grove City College.
Dr. Siari Sosa
Low Carbon Resources RD&D Technical Development Manager
SoCal Gas
Dr Siari Sosa is the Technology Development Manager for the Clean Energy and Renewable Resources Team of Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas). Her team is part of the Research, Development and Demonstration group (RD&D), focusing on innovative technologies in the areas of carbon capture, sequestration and utilization, as well as renewable gas production and hydrogen production applications. In her 20-year career with SoCalGas, Dr. Sosa acted as subject matter expert in multiple areas including materials engineering, welding, steel metallurgy and failure analysis, and studied biogas impacts in materials and equipment part of the natural gas infrastructure.
Dr. Sosa received a PhD and MSc in Materials Science from the University of Southern California.
Anthony Deorsey
Research Manager
THE CLEANTECH GROUP
Anthony manages Cleantech Group's research team, delivering critical insights on new cleantech innovation and opportunities for engagement to Cleantech Group's clients in the industrial, investment, and policy communities. He is based in the U.S.
Anthony joined Cleantech Group in late 2019 after over 8 years of work in US-China cross-border expansion consulting and start-up venture funding roles, including 5 years living in Shanghai.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from University of Rhode Island, a Masters in Sustainability from the Harvard Extension School, and an MBA at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
Mark Hendricks
Vice President, Engineering
DEHN, Inc.
Mark Hendricks serves as the Vice President of Engineering with DEHN, Inc. He has been published with IEEE on articles on lightning modeling, transient surge propagation and electromagnetic pulse protection. He has been in the power quality and protection industry for over 25 years with service on several IEC and UL technical standards committees. Produced video channel recordings of lightning protection seminar topics. Member of the Board of Directors of the Lightning Protection Institute industry consortium and Participating Member of the Technical Committee for UL96 lightning protection components.
Justinn General
Product Design Engineer
Lamons
Justinn General is a Product Design Engineer for Lamons, whose primary focus is on products and applications that support the energy transition. He has spent 9+ years in the oil and gas/chemical processing industry, with a broad understanding of material science (ferrous and non-ferrous metals), quality control & assurance, and critical manufacturing. Also has 3+ years of leadership of managing both the quality and engineering departments, currently the chair of American Petroleum Institute (API) 20N standard and was the chair of the local chapter of the American Society of Materials (ASM 2019-2020). He is a graduate of Texas A&M with a bachelors degree in Nuclear Engineering and a masters degree in Material Science.
Benjamin Carmichael
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.
Thomas Overton
Senior Strategic Development Specialist
General Atomics
Tom Overton is Senior Strategic Development Specialist with the General Atomics Energy Group in San Diego, where he supports GA's inertial and magnetic fusion energy programs by pursuing new opportunities and applications for GA's world-leading R&D efforts. Over his 25 years in the science, defense, and energy fields, Tom has had a wide-ranging career including tenures as a nuclear operator in the US Navy, an editor of POWER magazine, and an attorney specializing in intellectual property issues. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California, a law degree from UCLA, and a Certificate in Finance from UCSD.
Allan Schurr
Chief Commercial Officer
Enchanted Rock, LLC
Allan Schurr brings go-to-market expertise from over 30 years of experience in commercial and industrial energy services and innovative utility solutions. As Chief Commercial Officer at Enchanted Rock, Schurr is responsible for corporate and product marketing, direct sales, and channel sales functions.
Schurr holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Davis and a Master's in Business Administration from St. Mary's College in California. He is also a registered Professional Engineer in the State of California, and he is a co-inventor on seven patents related to distributed energy.
Rahul Jha
General Engineer
Commonwealth Edison
Rahul Jha received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Washington State University, Pullman, WA in 2020. He is currently working as a General Engineer at the ComEd in Smart Grid Emerging Tech group. His current research interests include optimal power flow, distribution system modelling and control, centralized and distributed algorithms for improving the efficiency of the distribution network with grid-edge devices.
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Feliz Ventura
PROGRAM MANAGER, RESILIENCE
East Bay Community Energy
Feliz leads EBCE's Resilience Program, focused on developing and implementing energy resilience solutions for municipal, residential and medical customers that result in wide-ranging benefits across EBCE's service area. Feliz brings nearly two decades of experience in making the case for investments that ensure communities thrive in the context of the rapid technological and climactic changes of the 21st century. Prior to EBCE, Feliz worked to integrate climate resilience into infrastructure, urban and real estate development at two global planning, design and engineering firms, led the State of Washington's clean tech economic and market development program, and worked with global startups to measure and improve their ESG performance at the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C. She is an alumna of Pomona College and the University of California at San Diego.
Chris Cantone
Chief Revenue Officer
Scale Microgrid Solutions
Chris Cantone leads Scale's sales and marketing teams as Chief Revenue officer, and is primarily responsible for driving revenue growth. Chris brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the role with over 25 years of leadership experience in the clean energy industry. Prior to joining Scale, Chris ran the C&I team for SunPower/Total Energies, bringing in over 270 MWs of renewable solar and storage projects and leading the company's sale to Total Energies. Previously, Chris built CPower into the first ever demand response company to help utilities manage grid stability, taking it through multiple acquisitions, and holding senior leadership roles before its sale to HIG Capital. Chris has worked with teams and deals of all sizes, from being employee #6 at Color Kinetics building computer-controlled LED lights, to then leading them and several other companies through acquisitions or IPO's during his career. Chris' deep understanding of the energy industry and his ability to drive revenue growth makes him an invaluable asset to the Scale leadership team.
Marty Trivette
SVP, Energy Solutions and Digital Innovation & Technology
AlphaStruxure
Marty has over 20 years of experience primarily within energy businesses with roles in Product Management, R&D, Marketing, M&A, IT and Manufacturing. He holds a master's degree in Engineering Management (MEMP) from Duke and a BSME from North Carolina State University. He is also a member of the Duke University Industrial Board of Advisors for the MEM Program and venture mentor for equity start-up teams and volunteer for university courses and various start-up challenges in the VC community.
He is currently the SVP of Energy Solutions and Digital in AlphaStruxure. He leads the solution architect, technical portfolio and IT/OT (information and operations technology) team. Coordinating the scope of internal and customer technical project solutions and digital offerings. Responsible for the digital strategy, design and logistics including software, hardware, control platforms and cyber operations. His team develops solution architectures and consultation to optimize integration of products, engineering and digital applications, answering specific segment and customer needs. He enjoys developing open minded teams that turn problems into solutions while looking around corners to uncover industry trends. He loves anything outdoors and time with family and resides in Cary, NC.
Angie Lucas
Director
EPCE - Energy Providers Coalition for Education
Angie Lucas is the Member Engagement Manager for the Energy Providers Coalition for Education (EPCE), a non-profit national membership of energy employers, energy-related associations, labor and education providers partnering together to educate and train the energy workforce. She facilitates the partnership and manages the development and implementation of EPCE's online education and training strategies. EPCE is a signature initiative of the Council for Adult Experiential Learning (CAEL), whose mission is to link learning and work to help working adult learners succeed. In her prior role, she gained experience in facilitating meaningful consultation between tribal leaders, federal offices and industry partners to address concerns and collect advice around the issues impacting energy and infrastructure development across Indian Country. Angie earned a bachelor's degree and MS in Leadership Development at Saint Mary of the Woods College.
Kristen Himmerick
Vice President, Solutions
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 focuses on developing technology to support regional, workforce, and higher education initiatives. In addition to tech development, Kristen leads the group that manages both EPCE and NACTEL signature programs and has a special interest in linking learning and work for a region or industry.
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.
Anna Munie
Manager of Carbon Neutrality Programs
Lansing Board of Water and Light
With over 10 years of experience in progressive roles within the energy industry, Anna Munie is a utility leader with a wide variety of successful projects and programs to her name. As the current Manager of Carbon Neutrality Programs, Anna was brought into Lansing Board of Water and Light in 2022 to lead a completely new department which was created to help Michigan's largest municipal utility reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2040. With direct oversight of programs such as energy efficiency, distributed generation, electric vehicles, renewable energy purchasing, greenhouse gas reporting, and others, Anna works closely with a variety of departments in her organization as well as local and state stakeholder groups within the state of Michigan. Prior to Lansing Board of Water and Light, Anna spent time at Consumers Energy where she held both technical and leadership roles associated with that company's integrated resource planning (IRP) and environmental management system (EMS) processes. A double graduate and dedicated fan of Michigan State University, Anna enjoys spending her time golfing with her husband and tailgating for college football games with her electric Rivian R1T pickup truck.
Rachel Wampler
Labor Forecast Center Leader
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Blake Osner
Director, Employee & Leadership DevelopmentJEA Academy
JEA/Jacksonville Electric Authority
Chase Bortone
Region Director
FieldCore
GE - FieldCore North Region Director.
Prior Field Engineer, Service Manager, and Continuous Improvement Director.
In my current role, my team provides event management coverage for all of the GE Gas Power customer site maintenance events in the Midwest and Northeast portions of the US. Event planning, execution, and closeout are our key competencies and deliverables.
Rodolfo Tellez-Schmill
Product Champion - Process Simulation
KBC Advanced Technologies, Inc.
Rodolfo Tellez-Schmill is Product Champion - Process Simulation with KBC (A Yokogawa Company). He has over 20 years of experience in chemical engineering activities including process engineering, quality control, project management, research and development, technical support and training, with a strong background in process simulation, control, optimization, and design. He is currently the simulation Product Champion with KBC Advanced Technologies, holds a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Calgary, and is a Professional Engineer registered in the Province of Alberta, Canada.
Dr. Ethan Simonoff
Technology Development Project Manager
SoCal Gas
Ethan Simonoff joined SoCalGas RD&D in 2021 from Caltech where he worked as a Staff Scientist. Ethan currently helps to manage the Low Carbon Resources program supporting technology development in renewable fuels production and carbon management. Prior to joining the RD&D team, Ethan gained over 10 years of research experience leading projects aimed at improving efficiency in energy-related systems. Ethan earned a B.A. in Chemistry from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Caltech.
Kirk Edelman
Chief Commercial Officer
Verdagy
A driven leader and proven energy executive with a 25+ year history of success managing multi-cultural teams focused on investing in power, oil gas, natural resources and infrastructure projects. Knows the energy business from many perspectives having been a developer, advisor, OEM, lender and investor in this space. Started his career as an engineer with Exxon and following business school, transitioned into more senior roles with companies like Catalyst Energy, Translink Transmission and Siemens. Has held senior positions in financial services firms like Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and TD Securities and has also led several energy investment organizations including those within Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, GMAC and Siemens Financial Services where he built a $15 billion investment portfolio. He was the Chief Commercial Officer of Safari Energy - a leading solar company, where he built a $300 million portfolio of operating assets. He eventually assisted its owner, PPL Corp, in selling the company to an affiliate of the Carlyle Group. Currently, the Chief Commercial Officer of Verdagy, Inc., a pre-revenue green hydrogen company which recently completed a successful series B fund raise.
A graduate of Bucknell University (BS Civil Engineering with honors) and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (MBA Finance). Board memberships have included: The German American Chamber of Commerce, NJIT's Martin Tuchman School of Management and Cornell University's Program in Infrastructure Policy (CPIP).
Elias Greenbaum
President
GTA, Inc.
Elias Greenbaum is President of GTA, Inc., a company whose mission is applying offshore wind and ocean energy to power subsea green hydrogen and oxygen production for large-scale decarbonization and oxygenation-enhanced mariculture health and productivity. GTA is a recipient of a 2020 TechConnect Innovation Award. Elias Greenbaum is a member of the Green Hydrogen Working Group, Business Network for Offshore Wind and a Director Emeritus, California Hydrogen Business Council. He has held research, academic, and industrial positions at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the Rockefeller University, and the Union Carbide Corporate Research Laboratory. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a former staff member and group leader in the Chemical Technology/Chemical Sciences Divisions at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and received the ORNL 2000 Scientist of the Year award. He is a UT-Battelle Corporate Fellow and a UT-Battelle Distinguished Inventor. He received a Ph.D. in physics from Columbia University.
Peter Kelley
Managing Partner
RenewComm
Peter L. Kelley is Managing Partner of RenewComm LLC, a leading PR and marketing consulting practice for cleantech companies and climate solutions, founded in 2004. RenewComm provides a wide variety of custom B2B marketing services and training to both startups and industry leaders to help them stay in the news, tell their story on social media, and generate marketing-qualified leads for their sales funnel. Peter went in-house with the American Wind Energy Association as their VP of Public Affairs from 2010-2018. He worked as the top communications staffer for three national environmental groups: the League of Conservation Voters, National Environmental Trust (now part of Pew Charitable Trusts), and American Rivers. He began his career as a newspaper reporter, covering the state capital of Pennsylvania and then the U.S. Congress for Newhouse Newspapers. He helped create the category of non-profit news services as the original Director of the National Security News Service and the Natural Resources News Service. He was communications coach for the University of Maryland's winning team in the International Solar Decathlon, and earned a B.A. in Government and Economics from Harvard University.
Martin Milani
CEO
Sunverge Energy, Inc.
Martin, in his role as Sunverge Chief Executive Officer, is responsible for strategy, development, delivery and operations of Sunverge's advanced energy platform. He is an industry-recognized thought-leader and expert on energy management systems, cloud and edge computing, Massive Parallel Systems, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, location-transparent distributed systems, event-based systems, Internetworking and SOA with more than 20 years of senior or executive level experience in product design, development, and systems architecture spanning the evolution of distributed systems.
He joined Sunverge from Nexant where he was General Manager and CTO, responsible for the company's advanced smart grid software platforms. Previous positions include CTO of Tidal Software (acquired by Cisco Systems), CEO, CTO of Intersperse (acquired by Tidal Software), CTO of iBuilding (a smart building intelligent control and orchestration platform acquired by the Carlyle Group) and Chief Internet Strategist and Technologist at Times Mirror Corporation. Before joining Times Mirror, he held senior-level technology, consulting, and distributed system architect positions at Wells Fargo, IBM, Retix, and Locus computing.
Drew Smith
Director of Utility Solutions, East Region
Smarter Grid Solutions
Drew Smith is the Director of Utility Solutions, East Region at Smarter Grid Solutions. Drew has worked in all aspects of the renewable energy industry including finance, product, and business development. He is passionate about helping utilities, developers, and independent power producers add renewable energy to the energy mix. He has a Master in Public Policy from Georgetown University and a Bachelor in Accounting & Finance from the University of Kentucky.
Hilary Lefko
Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright
Hilary Lefko is a Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright's Washington D.C. office. She focuses her practice on all areas of federal income tax law, with a particular emphasis on tax controversy and renewable energy tax issues. She represents developers and investors in various energy and renewable energy projects, including transactions involving section 45 production tax credits, section 48 investment tax credits, and other renewable energy incentives. Most recently, Hilary has been advising clients on the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. She also advises US and foreign Tax planning for non-US businesses of US companies, offshore funds, domestic and international project finance and a variety of US inbound international business transactions.
Hilary frequently represents purchasers and sellers of ownership interests in single renewables projects and portfolios of renewables projects. She also advises US and foreign Tax planning for non-US businesses of US companies, offshore funds, domestic and international project finance and a variety of US inbound international business transactions.
Earlier in her career, Hilary served as an aide to Senator Joseph I. Lieberman and to Congressman Cal Dooley.
Related services
• Tax
• Energy
• Infrastructure
• Renewables
Key industry sectors
• Energy, infrastructure and resources
Education
• LLM, Taxation, with distinction, Georgetown University Law Center, 2008
• JD, SMU Dedman School of Law, 2007
• BA, Government, with college honors, The University of Texas at Austin, 2001
Admissions
• District of Columbia Bar
Rankings and recognitions
• Lawdragon 500 Leading Energy Lawyers, Lawdragon, 2023
• Recognized as a Leader in Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy, USA-Nationwide, Chambers USA, 2020 - 2023
• Recognized as a Leader in Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy, US, Chambers Global, 2021
• Legal 500 US, recommended lawyer, Energy: Renewable/alternative power, The Legal 500, 2020- 2021, 2023
• Legal 500 US, recommended lawyer, Energy transactions: Electric power, The Legal 500, 2023
Eric Fins
Vice President
Grove Climate Group
Eric Fins is the Vice President of Grove Climate Group, LLC. Eric joined the team in February 2023 after nearly 15 years of service in the U.S. House of Representatives in a variety of capacities. Most recently, Eric was the Deputy Staff Director of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis (SCCC) during the 118th Congress. In this capacity, he helped manage a staff of 12 full-time professionals as well as interns. Known as the "climate think tank" for House Democrats, Eric was responsible for coordinating climate policy with House Democratic Leadership including the standing committees, in addition to the White House and Senate. During the 117th Congress, the Select Committee was charged with helping implement the policy proposals included in the Committee's June 2020 Solving the Climate Crisis report. By the end of 2022, over 300 of the report's 715 policy recommendations had been signed into law.
Over the course of his Congressional career, Eric has worked professionally for five members of Congress, spanning the Democratic party both geographically and across the political spectrum. Including his time on SCCC, Eric supported work on the following laws, including but not limited to: the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, in addition to annual appropriations and defense bills, laws to protect the ancestral lands of a Native American tribe, reverse antiquated federal policies that were inhibiting local economic development related to offshore wind, authorize the creation of a national network of advanced manufacturing institutes to support public-private partnerships focused on overcoming next-generation manufacturing challenges, and ensure constituents were given due process in proceedings at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Additionally, Eric worked to solve issues through other means. With SCCC, he co-led the effort to garner 192 bicameral Democratic signers on an amicus brief to the Supreme Court's West Virginia v. EPA case and co-managed the drafting and editing of the SCCC Majority Staff report Solving the Climate Crisis 2022: Key Accomplishments and Additional Opportunities. During his time serving on the Committee, Chair Kathy Castor and the Select Committee were recognized as having among the most diverse witnesses testifying at Congressional hearings in the 118th Congress. In prior roles, Eric fought to develop bipartisan support for access and funding to civil legal aid programs, legal support for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, and long overdue compensation for victims and families impacted by exposure to harmful material working in federal programs. Eric has participated in several international staff delegation visits to various countries covering wide-ranging topics of mutual interests with the United States.
Eric received his J.D. from American University Magna Cum Laude and served as a staff member on the American University Law Review for two years. He also received his bachelor's degree from American University in Interdisciplinary Studies: Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government with a Minor in Spanish. Eric lives in North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and their dog.
Bobby Noble
Program Manager Gas Turbine Research & Development
EPRI
Bobby Noble is the Program Manager for the gas turbine programs at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). He has more than 18 years of experience in the gas turbine and power industries. His primary gas turbine expertise is in experimental gas turbine combustion research, with focus on combustion dynamics, instrumentation and diagnostics, high-hydrogen and alternative fuels, and next-generation, low-NOx combustor architectures. He holds three patents and has authored/co-authored 14 journal publications and 47+ conference publications.
Bobby is an ASME Fellow and received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Clemson University in 2003. He received his master of science degree in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2006.
Katrina Fritz
Executive Director
California Hydrogen Business Council
Katrina Fritz is the Executive Director of the California Hydrogen Business Council, leading the organization as chief advocate and champion for advancement of the hydrogen sector in California. She has advised private firms and the public sector on business development, energy and environmental policy and regulation, and strategic planning in distributed generation and hydrogen markets. She has also led U.S. state level energy policy and market development outreach for the Stationary Fuel Cell Collaborative, with the guidance of state agencies. Katrina was appointed to the New Jersey Governor's Fuel Cell Task Force in 2021 and has also served and an expert to the European Commission on clean energy programs. Katrina has worked as an executive at UTC Power and Plug Power in business development and government relations and as an Independent Director on the Board of Advent Technologies. She has held leadership positions in numerous clean energy trade associations and advisory boards. Katrina holds a BA degree from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.
Carl Dunaway
Director, Business Development North Region
Wärtsilä
Starting with Caterpillar in Alberta, Canada, Carl has enjoyed an extensive career leading energy business development and sustainability endeavours. Prior to joining Wartsila, Carl's was Vice President of Nexterra, an innovative renewable energy technology company with strategic partnerships with Johnson Controls, General Electric and Stantec. In 2013, Carl joined Wartsila as our General Manager for Wartsila Canada. More recently, Carl was General Manager of our Lifecycle Projects and Agreements for the Americas, supporting customer successes from Alaska to Argentina. Today he is our Director, Business Development for the North Region, leading New Build sales in the USA, Canada and the Caribbean. Operating arm-in-arm with our Growth & Development, Agreements and Services groups, Carl directs his multi-national team helping customers stabilize utility grids with increasing renewables portfolios via flexible, dispatchable Engine Power Plants and Energy Storage.
Carl graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of British Columbia. He currently resides in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia with his wife Laurie and daughter Ava. In his spare time Carl is an avid pilot, boater, motorcyclist, hiker and fisherman, inspired by exploring the wild places of North America with family and friends.
Robert Schrecengost
Program Manager, Advanced Turbines, Materials
US DOE
Hari Gopalakrishnan, Ph.D.
Lead Consultant, Market Intel and Strategy
Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc.
Hari is a Lead Consultant in the Market Intelligence & Strategy group at Mitsubishi Power Americas. He provides analytics-driven insights on business opportunities for achieving decarbonization in power generation. He strategizes decarbonization pathways using Hydrogen-capable Gas Turbine and Combined Cycle plants, Onshore and Offshore Wind, Solar, Battery Storage, Nuclear, Power-to-X, CCUS and other technologies.
Previously, Hari was a Senior Modeler in the Commodity Analytics group at Wood Mackenzie. He developed their proprietary Global Coal Model for forecasting tradeflows of thermal and metallurgical coal in the international seaborne markets.
Hari has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and a Master's in Computational Finance from the University of Washington. His PhD dissertation advanced the state-of-art in optimal scheduling of Combined Heat and Power systems.
Ben Nowak
Mobile & AR Architect
CapTech Consulting
Ben is a subject matter expert in iOS and AR development at CapTech with 9+ years of experience architecting and implementing enterprise scale mobile applications. Leveraging his passion for new technologies and his experience across industries, Ben collaborates with clients to develop innovative solutions that drive business growth.
Mary Bartlett
Patrick Engineering
Mary Bartlett is a Professional Electrical Engineer with Patrick Engineering, Inc. She has 30 years of experience with American Electric Power and three years of experience in engineering consulting. While at AEP, Mary worked in Telecommunications Network Engineering followed by Distribution System Planning as Principal Engineer on AEP's Grid Modernization programs across all Operating Companies. At Patrick Engineering, she worked on AEP Ohio's Smart Grid programs including microgrids, BESS, and sensors. Currently, Mary is working with AEP Indiana Michigan's Distribution Grid Modernization team to scope projects for their Volt-VAR Optimization program.
Robert Schulte
Principal
Schulte Associates LLC
Bob Schulte is a Principal in Schulte Associates LLC, an executive management consulting firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has more than 40 years of experience in the energy industry, and has been an executive officer in both investor-owned and public utilities.
Bob's experience includes resource planning for large generation, transmission and renewables projects; large-scale utility customer distributed energy resource and energy efficiency program development and marketing; distribution planning, engineering, construction and operations; regulatory and legislative affairs; and corporate strategy. At SA, his client projects include project development, organizational improvement, and interim CEO and COO assignments.
He is also Managing Member of Power from the Prairie LLC, leading studies for the 4,000 MW Power from the Prairie interregional HVDC transmission line project (www.powerfromtheprairie.com).
In the past, Bob planned and permitted coal-fired and nuclear generating plants. Now, he is planning combinations of renewables, storage and transmission to replace them.
Stephanie Judge
Head of Energy SaaS
NextEra Analytics, Inc.
Stephanie Judge is Head of Energy SaaS at NextEra Analytics. In this role, she leads the commercial functions for NextEra 360, a comprehensive energy management software designed to track and report carbon, implement cost effective energy systems, and increase the operational efficiency of plants and buildings. Prior to joining NextEra, Stephanie spent 15 years in the OEM equipment space, leading global organizations in Oil & Gas, Hydropower and Industrial Power Generation (Resiliency, Microgrids). Her early career was with the U.S. Department of Defense.
Mrs. Wayshalee Patel
Manager
Sargent & Lundy
Wayshalee (way-shaw-lee) A. Patel works for Sargent & Lundy, a comprehensive consulting, engineering and design firm providing solutions for electric power generation. She holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Illinois-Chicago and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Illinois. Ms. Patel is an environmental technology specialist and has 10 years of experience in process design of various air quality control equipment in the power generation industry including flue gas desulphurization, selective catalytic reduction, fabric filters and activated carbon injection.
Mendy Lee
Asst. Director of NCCC
Southern Company Services
Mendy Lee is the assistant director of the National Carbon Capture Center, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-sponsored research facility managed and operated by Southern Company.
Located in Wilsonville, Alabama, the National Carbon Capture Center is an internationally known test facility working to accelerate the development and commercialization of advanced and next-generation technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-based power plants, and to promote carbon utilization and direct air capture solutions. The center evaluates carbon capture processes from third-party developers and hosts premier research organizations, universities, technology developers and engineering firms from around the world. As assistant director of the center, Lee provides leadership and oversight to implement the project's technical program, including safe operation of the facility, achievement of contractual objectives and environmental regulatory requirements, management of major subcontracts for technical labor and resources, and overall direction of day-to-day site activities.
Lee possesses industrial operations experience at multiple natural gas combined-cycle facilities and coal-based power plants. She previously worked with Southern Company's wholesale energy subsidiary, Southern Power, where she served as the operations and maintenance manager at Plant Franklin, near Columbus, Georgia.
Since beginning her career with the Southern Company system in 2000, Lee supported power generation operations at Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power and Savannah Electric, as well as Southern Power. She held a variety of positions, including plant engineer, Savannah Electric; maintenance team leader, Plant Bowen; operations team leader, Plant McDonough; engineering and compliance manager and maintenance manager, Plant Smith; and engineering manager, Plant Miller.
Lee holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Clemson University and an MBA from Georgia Southern University. Lee has been an active mentor to children in low-income schools and promoted engineering for females in the Future City Competition. She has served as a volunteer with hospice organizations across the Southeast.
Kathleen Nelson Romans
Business Development Manager
Carbon America
Kathleen is Business Development Manager for Carbon America, where she works with a multidisciplinary team to develop new CCS projects. She has a diverse background in techno-economic analysis, commercialization of early technology, and mechanical design. Before joining Carbon America, she worked in power management, focused on the fields of electrified transportation and electric grid optimization. She has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University and a Master of Philosophy in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge.
Andrew Erickson
Senior Associate
Sargent & Lundy
Andrew Erickson is a process engineer in Sargent & Lundy's environmental technologies group. He has worked in the energy and industrial sectors for over 10 years with his current, primary focus being carbon capture development.
Aaron Larson
Executive Editor
POWER magazine
Aaron Larson joined the POWER team in September 2013 as an associate editor and was named executive editor in 2017. Aaron has a bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering technology and a master's degree, specializing in finance. He spent 13 years in the U.S. Navy nuclear power program, advancing to Chief Petty Officer. He has worked at commercial nuclear, biomass, and coal-fired power plants, functioning in operations, maintenance, safety, financial, and management capacities. Aaron holds a Chief A Engineer boiler operator license in the state of Minnesota.
Hamed Hossain
Business Owner SeaFloat
Siemens Energy, Inc.
Jakob Tyroller
Project Manager
Siemens Energy, Inc.
Jonathan Warren
Business Development Manger
Dominion Energy, Inc.
Anbarasan Sellappan
Deputy COO
Edra Power Holdings
Marc Lemmons
Senior Technical Leader - Boiler/HRSG
EPRI
Mr. Marc Lemmons has been the Boiler/Combustion Specialist since 2007. Mr. Lemmons earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Akron. Mr. Lemmons has prior boiler OEM experience as a Field Service engineer and research and development engineer for utility and industrial steam generators. Mr. Lemmons spent 12-years at Sargent & Lundy has a Senior Boiler Specialist, specializing in fuel conversions and conditions assessments on large utility boilers. His duties at Sargent & Lundy also included project management for larger EPC projects. He spent 2-years at John Zink Hamworthy Combustion, acting as a Supervisor, Customer Advisor. His current duties include technical engineering support both in the office and out in the field. This includes fuel conversion projects, start-up and tuning and troubleshooting for refineries, industrial and utility applications. He is currently at EPRI as a Senior Technical Leader for Boiler/HRSG assisting the industry in decarbonization, reliability and component end of life.
He is member of the ASME Steam Generator Committee, subgroup member of General Requirements for ASME BPV Section I and ASME PTC 4 and a member of ASME Section I. He is also a NFPA 85 Principle Member for Chapters 4, 6 and 8. Marc Lemmons is a Professional Engineer (IL).
Mr. Marc Lemmons has been the Boiler/Combustion Specialist since 2007. Mr. Lemmons spent 12-years at Sargent & Lundy has a Senior Boiler Specialist, specializing in fuel conversions and conditions assessments on large utility boilers. He currently works for John Zink Hamworthy Combustion, acting as a Supervisor, Customer Advisor.
Bob Kimball
Sr. Vice President, Industrial Water Lead
WSP
Mr. Kimball is a registered professional engineer with 33 years of experience providing industrial water management and treatment solutions to a variety of clients throughout North America, especially in the mining, oil and gas and power generation sectors. He is a Vice President and currently serves as an Industrial Process Water Leader for WSP. Bob has expertise with the application of most physical-chemical treatment technologies and has designed and overseen the installation of numerous water treatment plants during his career, including high recovery reverse osmosis and zero liquid discharge (ZLD) facilities.
Jeffry Simmons
Senior Vice President and General Manager
Toshiba America Energy Systems Corp
Jeff Simmons brings more than 30 years of power and gas experience to Toshiba's business in the Americas. He leads Toshiba's corporate development activities, and its new power generation and heavy ion cancer treatment businesses in North America. Jeff is also chairman of Toshiba's Rogers, Minnesota-based TurbinePROs, LLC and its Canadian subsidiary company, TurbinePROs R. E. Services, Ltd., and is a director of EtaPRO LLC, Toshiba's global asset performance and monitoring business based in Amherst, New York.
A leader in the energy industry, Jeff and his teams have developed more than 10 GW of gas, coal, nuclear and renewable power projects. He has originated, directed and managed dozens of other capital-intensive projects. All together these include over $13 billion in realized equipment sales, power origination, trading and corporate development transactions, and more than $5 billion of M&A transactions.
Jeff joined Toshiba in March 2014 when he opened and co-managed TAES's offices in Houston. He currently reports to the president and chief executive officer at TAES. In addition to duties at TAES, TurbinePROs and EtaPRO, Jeff was an officer and general manager at Toshiba America Nuclear Energy Corp., which merged into TAES in December 2018, and he was CFO at Nuclear Innovation North America LLC, a joint venture created by TANE and NRG Energy that was also merged into TAES.
From 2001 to 2014 Jeff held senior management and executive positions including vice president of corporate development at Dallas-based TXU Corp. which merged with Energy Future Holdings Corp. in 2007 through a $45 billion leveraged buy-out with KKR, TPG, and Goldman Sachs (now Vistra). Jeff began his career in the energy business in 1991 at Commonwealth Edison Company (now Exelon and Constellation) in Chicago. At ComEd he held roles in engineering, construction and power trading. In 1998, he joined PG&E National Energy Group, where he led its power marketing and business development for the U.S. mid-Atlantic region.
Jeff holds a BS in civil engineering from Southern Illinois University and an MBA from Southern Methodist University. He is a graduate of the executive leadership program at the University of Texas at Dallas.
Michael Cates
Area Vice President, Corporate Accounts
Nalco Water
Michael Cates is AVP Digital for Nalco Water where he partners with customers in the chemical and power generation industries to drive business and sustainability outcomes by leveraging digital solutions. Prior to joining Nalco Water, Michael was Director of Advisory at Gartner where he worked with clients to accelerate their digital transformations. His work experience also includes multiple roles at IBM which he joined after completing his MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Jamie Rotbert
Manager of Sales Enablement
GridPoint
Jamie Rotbert is the Manager of Sales Enablement at GridPoint, a leader in building energy management and optimization tech that decarbonizes commercial buildings and accelerates a more sustainable energy future. With more than six years of experience, Rotbert delivers growth and profitability in energy management and renewable energy for start-ups and enterprises. His team contributes to GridPoint's energy management-as-a-service solutions, including advanced building controls, automated DR, energy efficiency rebates, and energy metering and analytics.
Lance Haman
Resiliency Project Manager
Georgia Power
Lance has served as Georgia Power's Resiliency Manager for the past year. His career with the Southern Company has spanned 23 years working under many of its business units including Mississippi Power, Southern Power, Southern Company Services, and Georgia Power. His previous roles include leading teams in many different functions including Power Generation, Generation Development, Business Development, Asset Management, Regulatory Affairs, and Customer Solutions. In his current role, he is responsible for implementing Georgia Power's recently approved Distributed Energy Resource Customer Program as well as providing leadership and direction in support of the company's evolving strategy to deliver resiliency solutions to customers. Most recently, he led the negotiation and execution of a battery supply agreement between Georgia Power and Form Energy which entails the utilization of Form's novel iron-air, long duration energy storage technology.
Lance holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from the Missouri University of Science & Technology and an MBA from William Carey University in Mississippi. He resides in Atlanta with his wife and three children.
Joe Bush
Operations Manager
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative
With over 40 years of experience in the power industry, I have worked with power plants from Connecticut to Florida, Maintenance to Operations, Nuclear to Combined Cycle. I have dealt with freeze conditions in all areas of the industry. I have been instrumental in providing insight to correcting and protecting equipment, instrumentation, and piping from freezing conditions.
Ross Sinclair
Manager, Pipeline Control
Williams
Responsibilities: Ross is the Manager of Pipeline Control Eastern Interstates, which operates the Transco, Cardinal, Pine Needle and Gulfstream pipeline systems.
Education: BS in Business Administration, Liberty University
Professional: Over 35 years of experience in the natural gas industry, he joined Williams Gas Pipeline in 1996. Prior to Williams he worked for MidCon Corporation and served in the United States Navy.
Paul McGlynn
Reliability Engineer
PJM Interconnection
Paul McGlynn is responsible for the management of
the System Operation Division to ensure the secure,
reliable, economic, and coordinated operation of the
PJM Interconnection system. In this role, McGlynn
directs and oversees all System Operation Division
activities for the efficient and reliable operation and
coordination of the PJM bulk power system including
load forecasting, scheduling and dispatch of
generating units, coordinating generating unit and
transmission outages, scheduling power interchange
transactions with neighboring systems and monitoring
and control of the loading and voltages of the system
within established reliability standards. Prior to assuming his position in System Operation, McGlynn
was the senior director - System Planning, PJM
Interconnection. In that role, he was responsible for the
development of the PJM Regional Transmission Expansion
Plan, including transmission planning, interregional planning
and the analytic activities in support of the interconnection
process. These responsibilities include assessing long-term
transmission system adequacy and reliability, and
recommending bulk transmission system expansions or
enhancement options.
Prior to joining PJM, McGlynn held various positions in
engineering and operations at Exelon.
McGlynn earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering
from The Pennsylvania State University and a Master of
Science in electrical engineering from Drexel University. He is a
registered professional engineer in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania and is a senior member of the IEEE
Mr. Keith Higginbotham
Manager Customer Service
Williams
Keith Higginbotham is Manager of Commercial Services for Williams Eastern Interstates. Keith graduated from the University of Louisiana and soon after started a career within the energy industry in Houston, Texas. Keith has over 29 years of natural gas pipeline commercial experience. Initially Keith joined Enron working for Northern Natural Gas Pipeline and later joined Williams in 1999. Keith has held several different roles which includes Business Systems Coordinator, Project Manager for the Gulfstream Project, Manager of Transportation Service, Business Development Project Manager. As Manager of Commercial Services Keith currently oversees contracting, scheduling, accounting, and other customer related activity within the Texas - North Carolina segment of Transco Pipeline. Keith resides in the Houston metropolitan area with his family.
Charlie Moon
Energy Professional. Collaborator. Strategic Thinker
Uplight, Inc
Hannah Bascom leads SPAN's regulated business, establishing partnerships and programs that enable electrification for all. Previously, Hannah led Energy Partnerships at Google Nest, where she helped grow the company's regulated energy business, developed partnerships with over 100 utilities and energy service providers, and launched Nest Renew, delivering carbon reduction, bill savings and grid support. Hannah also led Customer Strategy and Planning at PG&E and worked as a consultant at Ernst & Young, where she focused on innovation, product optimization and customer experience strategy in the Energy and Utilities Practice. She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and a BA with Honors from Brown University.
Joel Gamoran
VP and GM of Energy Services
Arcadia
Joel Gamoran is the Vice President and General Manager of Energy Services at Arcadia where he oversees the company's community solar business. Arcadia leads the nation with over 1.6 GW of community solar capacity under management across more than 50 asset owners in 14 states, providing utility bill savings to hundreds of thousands of consumers and businesses, including in historically underserved or disadvantaged communities. Joel also serves on the Executive Advisory Group for the Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA) trade association. Before joining Arcadia, Joel led operations and business development at Yeloha - the Solar Sharing Network, a 2016 Webby Award winner and FastCompany World Changing Idea of 2015. Before that, Joel led regulatory affairs for energy efficiency software company C3.ai. Joel previously worked as a Senior Analyst for NERA Economic Consulting where his clients primarily consisted of Oil & Gas companies. Joel holds a B.A. in Economics with honors from Washington University in St. Louis.
Nick Palumbo
Alderman
City of Savannah
Nick Palumbo was elected to the Savannah City Council in 2019 and serves as the 4th District Alderman for the City of Savannah which stretches from Victory Drive all the way to the Vernon River. In 2021, Palumbo led the City of Savannah in the creation of the first sustainable to-go cup program in the United States, diverting tens of thousands of single use plastics out of our environment and was subsequently granted the Georgia Water Coalition's prestigious 'Clean 13' award. In addition, Palumbo led the Savannah City Council to pass the landmark 100% Clean Energy Pledge, setting the City's trajectory toward 100% clean and renewable energy consumption citywide by 2035.
Jim Madej
COO
Viridi Parente
Jim Madej is the Chief Operating Officer at Viridi, leading the expansion of manufacturing operations for Viridi's fail-safe battery systems, commercial processes, and overall business cadence and structure. Before joining Viridi, Jim was CEO of Franklin Energy, one of the nation's top energy efficiency and sustainability companies. While there, Jim led over 1,200 employees, collaborated with utilities, and was responsible for the strategy and business development around new sustainable solution product rollouts. He also has had previous leadership roles with Vermont Energy Investment Company and National Grid, one of the nation's largest utilities.
Mike Harbison
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.
Chris Bone
Senior Program Manager Generation Projects
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Throughout his career Chris has held positions in Plant operations, systems engineering, project engineering and Project management. As a project manager he has managed projects in the coal, gas and hydro fleets. He is currently managing a suite of Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) projects for TVA.
Patrick Kiser
General Manager, Strategy & Engineering
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Patrick Kiser is the General Manager for Strategy & Engineering in the Civil Projects Organization under the Tennessee Valley Authority's Generation Projects and Fleet Services Division. In this role, he provides leadership, technical, management, and logistics support for evaluation, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and management of coal combustion residual storage facilities across TVA's fossil fleet, river system dams, and other civil infrastructure. Patrick is a licensed professional engineer with over 24 of experience.
Una Nowling
Technology Leader for Fuels, Combustion, and Efficiency
Black & Veatch
Una Nowling is the Section Leader for Fuels, Reliability, and Efficiency at Black & Veatch. She has 27 years experience assisting utilities and energy companies with fuel quality impact studies; heat rate and efficiency studies including EPA-ACE, fuel sourcing and mine planning studies; combustion and boiler operations analyses; emissions compliance; and technical and scientific training. Ms. Nowling has managed more than 100 projects in her career at Black & Veatch, and continues to manage several domestic and international projects dealing with fuels and power plant performance. She is an Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) campus, a radio hostess on Kansas City Public Radio.
Jeffery Pope PE
Program Manager, Facility Decommissioning & Demolition Services
Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co. Inc.
Mr. Pope is the Program Manager for Facility Decommissioning and Demolition Services at Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co., Inc. He earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a licensed professional engineer. His focus is providing utilities and power cooperatives with assistance for the decommissioning and demolition of fossil-fired power plants. He is currently managing or participating in the demolition and remediation of 15 fossil-fired power plants and has completed more than 35 additional demolition projects around the country.
Ed Davis
Senior Consultant and Team Lead
U.S. DOE, Loan Programs Office
Mike Kramer
Vice President of Growth and Finance
Constellation
Mike Kramer is Vice President of Finance - Growth and Projects at Constellation. In his current role, Mike is responsible for governance and oversight of all financial valuation work including modeling of clean hydrogen projects and business development, nuclear asset valuations and capital investment decisions, M&A activity support and other strategic initiatives. Mike has been with Constellation (and Exelon prior to the company's separation) in the energy industry for 20 years in a variety of finance roles including Investor Relations, Corporate Planning, Treasury, Controllers Group, Retail Energy Sales Support and Internal Audit.
Prior to joining Constellation, Mike worked in Public Accounting at both Deloitte & Touche and Arthur Andersen.
Mike is a Certified Public Accountant, has a Bachelor's of Science in Accountancy from University of Illinois and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance and Strategic Management from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Robb Homolka
Global Commercial Hybrid Microgrid Mgr - Caterpillar Electric Power
Caterpillar Inc
Ann Marie Augustus
Chief Operating Officer
Urban Electric
Co-founder and Vice President of Operations for Urban Electric Power (UEP). Ann Marie previously co-founded a solar investment startup, Park Place Renewable, and worked on technology transfer efforts for the CUNY Energy Institute, a research lab dedicated to energy innovation. Since 2017, Ann Marie has served as a member on the Board for Godrej Americas, a leading manufacturer of equipment for Oil and Gas, Power and Water sectors. Ann Marie has 10 years of startup energy experience and focuses on strategy and finance. Ann Marie holds a BA from William Paterson University and an MS from Brown University.
Keith Norman
Chief Sustainability Officer
Lyten
Keith Norman is the Chief Sustainability Officer of Lyten, a growth stage startup building a new industry for decarbonization supermaterials that are enabling the hardest to abate sectors on the planet achieve net zero without compromising performance and profitability. He spent more than 20 years in the Energy industry and was formerly the Global Head of Safety, Health, and Environment for ExxonMobil Upstream. Keith led energy technology partnerships at Amazon Web Services and he is an active early stage investor in energy and cleantech startups.
Joe Ferrari
VP of Sales
Energy Dome
Joe Ferrari is Energy Dome's VP of Sales, Americas, and has nearly two decades of experience in the energy space, helping utilities meet decarbonization and renewable intregration goals. Joe previously worked at MAN Energy Solutions, where he specialized in renewable fuels for seasonal / long-duration energy storage as well as CO2 based heat pump systems for decarbonization of heat/steam. Prior to MAN he spent 15 years at Wartsila North America, where he spearheaded market development efforts for the energy transition and helped bring over $1 billion of fast and flexible energy capacity to North and Central America. Joe is the author of numerous papers & articles, as well as the author of Electric Utility Resource Planning: Past, Present and Future, a book guiding utilities, policy makers, and academia on the planning approaches needed to deliver a clean energy future. He also worked for 5 years as a research scientist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science where he worked on a number of projects, including quantifying the impacts of coal mining on watersheds and network simulation approaches for control of invasive species and to understand the impact of habitat loss and fragmentation on biodiversity. Joe holds a master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a master's degree in Natural Resource Science from the University of Maryland.
Jeffrey Burkett
Clean Energy Associates
Tina Dornbusch
Director of Product Management
Merit Controls
Tina Dornbusch is currently serving as the Director of Product Engineering at Merit Controls where she leads the engineering team in design and implementation of Controls, SCADA, and networking solutions. Tina is also responsible for driving the development and implementation of the company's product roadmap while strategically prioritizing Merit's objectives.
Throughout her career at Merit Controls, Tina has excelled in various key roles. She previously served as the Director of Product Management for the SCADA and Controls product platform, where she showcased expertise in managing and enhancing the product line. Before that, serving as Manager of Design Engineering for Merit SI, her contributions were invaluable in the development and optimization of large behind-the-meter and utility-scale solar and energy storage resources for industrial energy consumers. Merit divested from this venture in 2020, focusing its efforts on the controls business.
Tina holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a MS in Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in energy and sustainability from Northwestern University. Additionally, she founded the DEI Committee at Merit Controls, and she actively contributes to the industry as a Mentor for IAC Women for Energy Efficiency (WE2), where she shares her expertise and supports aspiring professionals.
Overall, Tina Dornbusch is a results-driven leader with extensive experience in product engineering and a passion for advancing energy efficiency and sustainability in her field.
Ron Kessler
Vice President- Robotic Inspection Solutions
Team Industrial Services
Ron Kessler is Vice President, Robotic Inspection Solutions at Team, Inc. His career began in the United States Navy where he operated, maintained, and inspected critical shipboard cryogenic and power generation systems. He has more than 25 years of inspection planning and execution experience in the nuclear, fossil, chemical, and refining industries. Mr. Kessler is active in ASME and is currently the Vice Chair- Crawlers for Inspection, Advisory Committee Member- Robotics for Inspection and Maintenance (RFIM) and a Member- Mobile Unmanned Systems (MUS). Mr. Kessler holds a B.S. in Business Management from Indiana Wesleyan University and an MBA from the Rubel School of Business at Bellarmine University.
Steven Parente
Hydrogen Infrastructure & Integration Specialist Electric Power Division
Caterpillar (NI) Ltd
Mr. Steven Parente is the Hydrogen Infrastructure and Integration Specialist at Caterpillar with responsibility for product definition and technical sales support of hydrogen infrastructure products. Furthermore, he leverages years of experience in hydrogen technologies to provide technical leadership for a diverse portfolio of hydrogen projects across the enterprise.
Mr. Parente has spent more than 16 years in the hydrogen industry where he has gained subject matter expertise in hydrogen production, compression, storage, and dispensing. He began his career as a process engineer designing and commissioning steam methane reforming plants for hydrogen and syngas production. His accomplishments as process engineer include the development of a novel, compact hydrogen production system to provide a reliable, onsite production solution for small hydrogen consumers. Mr. Parente progressed through management roles, leading increasingly larger teams through engineering, procurement, and construction of hydrogen systems globally. As the hydrogen for mobility market rapidly evolved, he led a team in the development, testing, and deployment of hydrogen refueling systems designed to serve light and medium duty transportation sectors, primarily in California, China, and Europe.
Mr. Parente holds a B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and a Master's in Business Administration, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Jeff Chase
Clean Power Generation Lead, Research, Development, & Demonstration (RD&D)
SoCal Gas
Jeff Chase is part of the Research, Development, and Demonstration (RD&D) team at SoCalGas, where he manages the Clean Transportation Program. Jeff joined SoCalGas in 2011 and has held a variety of engineering, project management, and supervisor roles. Jeff has been on the RD&D team for the past three years, where he managed the Clean Power Generation Program until recently, when he transitioned to Clean Transportation. Jeff has his Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly Pomona and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of California.
Kenneth Koye
Chief Executive Officer
Gulf Coast Ammonia LLC
Ken Koye is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Gulf Coast Ammonia LLC, a newly constructed 1.3 million tpa blue ammonia project in Texas City, TX. Ken has held senior positions in independent power and related natural gas energy asset development with Enron, Calpine, BP Alternative Energy Golar LNG and EDF Trading. He earned an MBA with honors from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and bachelors and master's with honors in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Kevin Moore
PE, PLS
East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. [EKPC]
Currently responsible for air monitoring and testing programs, data qa, quarterly reporting, green house gas reporting, permitting, management of clean air markets program and compliance strategies for new and proposed regulations.
Patricia Scroggin-Wicker
Director
Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc.
Ms. Patricia Scroggin has been with Burns & McDonnell for 13 years, is currently the Process Section Manager within the Energy Global Practice and is a Sr. Water/Wastewater Treatment Consultant. Ms. Scroggin has B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Missouri-Rolla and is a registered Professional Engineer in Illinois, Missouri and New Hampshire. Ms. Scroggin's experience includes water and wastewater treatment system design, onsite construction support and equipment startup for coal and gas power generation facilities. Ms. Scroggin has been on the design, construction and startup of multiple complex wastewater treatments systems.
Todd Svoboda
East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. [EKPC]
Todd Svoboda is currently working as a Principal Engineer at East Kentucky Power Cooperative in Winchester KY. Todd went to school at Northern Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky, receiving his degree in Chemical Engineering. Todd currently manages EKPC's generating facilities KPDES Water Permits, BMP plans, water and wastewater projects, Effluent Limitation Guidelines, project management, and more. Todd leads and coordinates projects with engineering and construction, legal, Kentucky Division of Water, plant managers, and consultants. Prior to working at EKPC, Todd worked at Lexmark International almost 19 years in various roles. He served in management, operations, environmental, product engineering, research and development, consulting, and sales.
Dr. Rachana Vidhi
Director Technical Sales
NextEra Analytics, Inc.
Dr. Rachana Vidhi is the Director of Sales Engineering at NextEra Analytics. She is currently leading the Sales Engineering team for NextEra 360™, the software platform for end-to-end energy management and decarbonization needs. Prior to this, she led the development of large-scale energy storage projects coupled with renewable generation across North America. She has extensive experience in a variety of renewable energy technologies including energy storage, wind, photovoltaic, concentrated solar thermal and fuel cells. During her career with NextEra Energy, she led the engineering design and integration of some of the first solar + storage projects as well as developed innovative technologies for hybrid resource deployment and long-term operations that have been patented. Prior to joining NextEra Energy, she worked as Research Assistant at Clean Energy Research Center at the University of South Florida and developed optimization algorithms for different renewable energy systems. Dr. Vidhi holds a Doctorate Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of South Florida and a bachelor's degree in Energy Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
Nicholas Licht
Technical Sales Lead
NextEra Analytics, Inc.
Nicholas Licht joined NextEra with the goal of contributing to the realization of NextEra's Real Zero Initiative, both within the company and across the nation. Currently, he focuses on assisting customers in the implementation of NextEra's cutting-edge energy management software, NE360, as they embark on their decarbonization journey. Prior to his role at NextEra, Nicholas gained valuable experience in the field of combustible dust working with CV Technology. Initially serving as a Sales Engineer, he collaborated with customers to design and implement explosion mitigation protection solutions for their processes, ensuring the safety of their employees while meeting regulatory requirements. Subsequently, he transitioned into the role of R&D Engineer, where he played a key role in the development of new protective equipment, overseeing the entire process from conceptualization to full-scale testing and production. Notably, he holds a patent for the innovative explosion isolation quench valve, the first of its kind. Throughout his tenure at CV Technology, Nicholas pursued further academic achievements and obtained an MBA as well as a Master of Engineering in Industrial and Systems Engineering.
Peter Prakash
CIO
Swell Energy
Shawn Borden, CEM
Utility Program Development Manager
Caterpillar Electric Power
Shawn Borden is the Utility Program Development Manager for Tangent Energy Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar, Inc. In her current role she helps utilities and other partners develop and execute programs for the coming energy transition. Utilizing a proprietary technology platform, the Tangent team monitors, manages and automatically dispatches fleets of distributed energy resources, in order to provide grid stability and optimize economic returns.
Before joining Tangent in 2013, Shawn worked for Comverge, Enerwise Global Technologies, and American Electric Power.
Shawn has significant experience in and market knowledge of PJM, ISO-NE, IESO, NYISO, MISO, and ERCOT. She has a BS in Electrical Engineering from West Virginia University and is a Certified Energy Manager.
Suleman Khan
CEO
Swell Energy
As CEO of Swell Energy, a home energy and grid services company, Suleman directs Swell's customer acquisition, project development, project finance and grid services efforts. In the decade prior to launching Swell, Suleman worked at the nexus between renewable energy and structured finance, productizing solar and energy storage for the residential and commercial markets. In this capacity, Suleman helped establish new energy divisions within various companies including Tesla, NRG and FirstSolar, and also led the development of several renewable energy startups. Suleman previously worked on the structured credit products desk at Citigroup, as well as within Citigroup's investment banking M&A division and Prudential's alternative investments group. Suleman also served as Senior Advisor to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission under the Obama administration's initiative to safeguard against future financial crises. Prior to his capital markets work, Suleman worked within the microfinance sector with global and regional organizations including the UNDP and the Zimbabwe Association of Microfinance Institutions. Suleman has an academic background in financial engineering and political science and serves as advisor to various energy access and water reclamation initiatives.
Dr. Greg Ledva
Director of Emerging Technologies
Virtual Peaker
Dr. Greg Ledva serves as the Director of Emerging Technologies at Virtual Peaker where he coordinates and leads the research and development efforts for new products, features, and systems. He leverages customer and stakeholder feedback to inform product development decisions, and his research background spans algorithm development, data analytics, data science, and technology commercialization within electric power systems and distributed energy resources (DERs). This background was developed through research during a master's program at ETH Zurich, during his doctoral studies and research at the University of Michigan, and during his postdoctoral appointment at the University of Michigan where he pursued research commercialization and supported a DER field deployment project. Greg ultimately decided to enter industry and joined Virtual Peaker in 2021.
Travis Duckro
Director
AutoGrid Systems
Travis Duckro is an accomplished sales leader with a strong background in bringing technical solutions to his customers. Currently serving as the Director of Enterprise Sales at AutoGrid, he drives business growth and fosters strategic partnerships. With previous roles at Sapient Industries and GSE Solutions, Travis showcased his expertise in identifying new opportunities and expanding international territories. Travis is passionate about our clean energy transition and the role that VPPs could play in accelerating it.
Diane Fischer
Director, Generation Services
Kiewit Engineering Group, Inc.
Diane the Director of Generation Services for Kiewit Engineering Group. She has over 29 years of experience in the power industry, including project management and system engineering, consulting, client advocacy, business development, EPC contract development and oversight, equipment specification, equipment procurement contract development and negotiation, vendor management, conceptual design, front end engineering design studies, regulatory permitting and support, program management, and scenario planning.
As Director of Generation Services, Diane is responsible for overseeing all services provided for fossil generation and long-term energy storage. Diane works with her clients to help solve their design, operation and maintenance needs for studies, environmental issues, component and system engineering, facility evaluations, and feasibility analysis. Diane supports clients in developing and implementing solutions to meet the challenges and demands of a low carbon energy market.
Diane is a graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in Mechanical Engineer and is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Missouri.
Darrell Furlong
Director of Energy Storage Product Management and Hardware Engineering
Wärtsilä
Darrell Furlong is Wärtsilä's director of product management and hardware for the energy storage and optimisation business line. Prior to Wärtsilä, Darrell was the Director of Electrical Engineering at NECES, where he was responsible for the electrical engineering development on energy storage products. Darrell was also VP Engineering at Gridco Systems, where he was an active member of the IEEE 1547-2018 standardization effort to define the grid interconnecting technical requirements for distributed energy resources (DER).
Scott Childers
Vice President, Essential Power division
Stryten Energy
Scott Childers is Vice President, Essential Power division of Stryten Energy. In this role, he is responsible for growing the company's energy solutions and new technology offerings. He champions clean, renewable energy opportunities for Stryten and actively works with utilities and original equipment manufacturers to deploy long-duration, sustainable energy storage solutions.
Mr. Childers spent more than 15 years in the automotive industry, working for General Motors and its subsequent spin-off Delphi Automotive where he served in a variety of capacities between engineering and operations. Mr. Childers led key organic growth initiatives as Director of Operations and Engineering for CTS Corporation, and he also spent seven years as the General Manager for Schaffer Gear. Prior to joining Stryten, he led Hillphoenix's global technical community as Vice President, Technology. In this capacity, Mr. Childers led a team of more than 200 engineers and scientists in developing world class solutions for thermal and electrical energy management for refrigeration, glass door and merchandising systems.
Mr. Childers received his major and minor degrees in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, respectively, from the University of Dayton. He studied under a GM Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as part of their System Design and Management program, receiving a joint master's degree from the Sloan School of Management and the Engineering Systems Division.
Rick Moore
Vice President, Climate and Energy
Connected DMV
Rick Moore is Vice President - Climate and Energy with Connected DMV, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that creates and delivers initiatives to benefit the Greater Washington, DC area ("the DMV" - DC, Maryland, Virginia). He is leading the organization's first climate-based initiative, which is the establishment of the National Capital Hydrogen Center in the region, including the delivery of innovative regional hydrogen projects and leading the region's Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub application for U.S Department of Energy funding.
Rick previously led strategy, growth, and customer experience functions for WGL Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Washington Gas and held various other positions including COO for WGL Energy Services, Inc. Prior to that, he led large, complex projects for Accenture in their state and local government practice and was a country lead for Time Warner International in the former Czechoslovakia. His experience is in all phases of business transformation and new market entry: vision development, strategy creation and value-delivering execution.
Shawn Bennett
Battelle
Shawn Bennett is the Energy and Resilience Division Manager at Battelle, where he oversees all government-funded energy projects awarded to Battelle. In this role, he primarily focuses on opportunities in Carbon Capture and Storage, Hydrogen, Rare Earth Elements and Critical Minerals, and Direct Air Capture. Mr. Bennett is a former Managing Director at FTI Consulting in their Energy and Natural Resources sector. Mr. Bennett is also the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Oil and Natural Gas at the U.S. Department of Energy, where he oversaw the Department's research and development in the oil and gas sector, policy analysis, methane quantification and mitigation, and regulated LNG export authorizations for the United States.
Dr. Will James
Battelle
Will has over 20 years of experience in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, including
managing programs related to safety, codes & standards, storage, and delivery. He has
managed a vast number of research and development (R&D) programs, including those in the clean energy (hydrogen, batteries, & advanced manufacturing) and nuclear material disposition area. Besides his experience in program management, he also has knowledge with broader domestic and international efforts, outreach/training, and overall government processes. He has managed programs ranging from $7M to over $25M. Currently, Will is on assignment to Battelle as Project Manager supporting clean energy efforts. Before coming to Battelle, he was the Clean Energy Portfolio Manager at Savannah River National Laboratory where he was responsible for the development and execution of strategic initiatives covering energy storage and advanced manufacturing.
Samuel R. Barnes, P.E.
Executive Director of Operations EPPC
Charge Infrastructure
Sam has spent his 30-year career in the electric energy industry leading design, consulting, and project management across EPC and owners engineering models. The last decade being focused on energy transition: microgrids, DERs, BESS and EV Charging. At Charge Infrastructure, Sam is responsible for operations for EPC execution of EV charging infrastructure projects across the United States.
Michael Smith, PE
VP Business and Technology Strategy
The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Inc. [ECSC]
Michael C Smith
Mike Smith serves as vice president of business and technology strategy for The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, the state association of 18 independent, member-owned electric utilities in the state.
Mike works with state and national partners to develop understanding of how technology is changing the utility industry. A registered professional engineer in South Carolina, his work includes contributions to the development of the Distributed Energy Resource Program Act (Act 236), adopted by the General Assembly in 2014. The legislation was a compromise across multiple interests and organizations that opened the way for more distributed energy production in South Carolina. He contributed to another inclusive effort to develop the South Carolina State Energy plan. Currently his focus is on the electrification of the transportation sector and the economy along with the challenges of decarbonizing our generation resources.
Mike is the program manager for Help My House, a whole home weatherization program offered through the electric cooperatives. This program was granted a $15.5 million no interest loan from RUS to weatherize both site-built and manufactured homes, repayment which will be made through on bill financing.
Prior to coming to the co-ops' association, Mike worked 11 years at Central Electric Power Cooperative, the generation and transmission cooperative that acts as the power aggregator for South Carolina cooperatives.
He is a graduate of Clemson University with a BSEE and Georgia Institute of Technology MSEE. Mike served 4 years in the US Army as an officer in the Signal Corps.
Alex Urist
Vice President
XCharge North America
Alex Urist is the Vice President at XCharge North America, a leading OEM of DC Fast Charging solutions tailored for the North American grid. With a strong background in business development and a focus on the charging industry, Alex drives growth at XCharge through strategic partnerships and innovative sales strategies. He has extensive experience in business development, working with diverse customer segments, including both fleet and public charging networks.
Tyler Hughes, PE
Vice President National Business Line Lead - Electrification
WSP
Tyler Hughes is a professional engineer and Vice President at WSP, where he serves as the National Business Line Lead for Electrification projects. With a focus on fleet electrification, Tyler has international experience advancing the adoption of electric vehicles across various weight classes, from light to heavy duty. He possesses extensive knowledge in electric vehicle charging systems, industry standards, and power utility coordination requirements. Tyler has a passion for sustainable transportation and a focus on the infrastructure required to make it a reality.
Darrell Proctor
Senior Associate Editor
POWER magazine
Darrell Proctor joined POWER in 2017. He has years of experience in the energy and publishing industries, including as a writer, editor and energy data analyst for Ponderosa Advisors and Bentek Energy (S&P Global/Platts). He has written numerous reports and white papers on power demand, particularly from industrial facilities, as well as natural gas and crude oil exploration and trading. He also has written about transportation of commodities, particularly coal, crude oil and natural gas, and the operation of crude oil refineries. He was an assistant business editor and assistant news editor as well as Technology Editor for the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado, and also was a senior editor at the St. Petersburg Times in Florida. He is a graduate of Franklin College of Indiana.
Ken Munson
CEO
Rhythmos
As a recognized leader in grid-edge innovation, Ken is the Chief Executive Officer of Rhythmos. Rhythmos has developed a SaaS platform that optimizes the electric vehicle ecosystem, enabling the stakeholders to transition to a decarbonized power grid based on distributed energy resources as primary service providers. The Rhythmos platform uses deep machine learning and data analytics to optimize grid performance, considering EV fleet owner operational requirements, existing utility tariffs and rates, electric utility infrastructure capacity and grid constraints, wholesale energy market pricing, and more.
Prior to Rhythmos, Ken led the commercial scale and sale of Congruitive to Tantalus Systems (TSX: GRID), an advanced metering and smart grid technology company that transforms aging one-way grids into future-proofed multi-directional grids.
Prior, he was co-founder and CEO of Sunverge Energy where, under his leadership was awarded multiple patents, voted to the Global Cleantech 100 list for three consecutive years, and was named a Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Best Practice award winner; achieved top ranking in Navigant's Leaderboard Reports for Virtual Power Plant Software and as a Distributed Scale Energy Storage Systems Integrator, and named to Greentech Media's Grid Edge 20 as a disruptive leader to be watched in the field of technology and energy.
Ken serves on the Board of Directors for Box Power, providing clean, reliable, and affordable energy to rural customers. He is also a mentor for emerging technology companies focused on energy and renewables through Launch Alaska and Early Stage Montana. Ken has also served as Adjunct Lecturer in Entrepreneurial Finance and Managing Technology Innovation at St. Mary's College of California Graduate School of Economics and Business Administration.
Ken graduated from California State University at Sacramento with a bachelor's degree in Communications and earned his MBA from St. Mary's College of California Graduate School of Economics and Business Administration and current resides in Northwestern Montana.
Eran Rozenfeld
VP North America
Driivz Inc
Eran is an executive with over 20 years of experience in sales management for software (SaaS), information systems, and medical device companies. Prior to joining Driivz, Eran was the General Manager of Equashield US, the Managing Director of Priority Software US, and owned his own Consulting firm.
Eran holds a degree in Economics from Bar Ilan University as well as an MBA from the University of Derby.