2021 Speakers - Advanced Energy Conference

Abe Yokell

Congruent Ventures
Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Abe Yokell is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Congruent Ventures, a leading early-stage venture firm focused on partnering with entrepreneurs to build companies addressing climate and sustainability challenges.

Mr. Yokell oversees Congruent’s investments in AMP Robotics, Amply Power, Blueprint Power, Camus Energy, Leap Energy, Omnidian, For Days, Hippo Harvest, Milk Run, Modumate, OptimoRoute, Phase Genomics, Raptor Maps, SolidSpac3, Span.IO and Vector among others. He has over 17 years of investment experience, having invested across sectors and business models, and was responsible for opening RockPort Capital’s West Coast office in 2007.

Mr. Yokell graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Economics, with minors in Chemistry and Biology. When not serving as entertainment for his young children, he enjoys hiking, cycling, skiing, travel, and pointing out solar roofs to whomever happens to be nearby.

Ali Mohammed

New York Power Authority (NYPA)
Senior Director of Digital Innovation and Transformation Office

Ali Mohammed is the Senior Director of the Digital Innovation and Transformation Office at the New York Power Authority, overseeing the implementation of NYPA’s Digital Strategy along with the Digital Workforce program, Advanced Grid Innovation Lab for Energy (AGILe) and research and development.

Mr. Mohammed oversees a portfolio of projects estimated at approximately $3 billion. He is leading, and partners with, internal and external stakeholders to drive innovation and transformation to support NYPA’s end-to-end digital utility vision; one that leverages connectivity, analytics and cutting-edge digital infrastructure to optimize physical and data assets, enable our workforce and empower our customers.

Mr. Mohammed serves on industry advisory boards and is also the founding Chairman of the Utility Broadband Alliance.

Prior to joining the Digital Innovation and Transformation Office, he worked in the Utility Operations business unit where he was the project manager for major strategic and interconnection projects estimated at over $800 million.

He is an alumnus of Manhattan College, earning a master’s degree in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. Mr. Mohammed also holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Instrumentation Engineering from India and is a certified Project Management Professional.

Ann McCabe

Regulatory Assistance Project
Principal and U.S. Program Director

Ann McCabe joined the Regulatory Assistance Project as U.S. Program Director and Principal in January 2020. RAP assists state energy and environmental regulators in achieving their clean energy goals, including electrification of transportation and buildings, performance-based regulation, grid modernization, integrated planning and markets.

As a Commissioner at the Illinois Commerce Commission from March 2012 to January 2017, Ms. McCabe focused on grid modernization, power transformation, regional transmission and nuclear issues. She was president of the Organization of PJM States, Inc. and of the MidAmerica Regulatory Conference of 14 states. She chaired NARUC’s Nuclear Issues Subcommittee.

Her prior consulting clients include trade associations and nonprofits, including two years as the interim executive director of The Climate Registry of states and provinces. She also managed corporate environmental regulatory issues for 10 years.

Ms. McCabe is on the advisory board of Grid Forward and the Delta Institute. She has a master’s in Public Policy from the University of Chicago’s Harris School and a bachelor’s in Political Science from Williams College.

Anthony Oni

Elevate Future FundEnergy Impact Partners
CEO and Managing Partner

Anthony Oni is a Managing Partner and CEO of the Elevate Future Fund at Energy Impact Partners. The fund seeks to create a more diverse and inclusive energy future and empower diverse talent to create economic opportunity for distressed or disadvantaged communities. This focus will develop unique programing, partnerships with tech accelerators including historically Black colleges and universities to cultivate talent pipelines and grow more pathways for diverse founders to enter the clean energy transition.

A thought leader in the areas of innovation, digital strategy and entrepreneurship, Mr. Oni has more than 20 years of experience in leading strategic initiatives at Southern Company. Before joining EIP, he served as Vice President of Communications for Southern Company Gas. Mr. Oni is also a founder of a clean-tech company called Cloverly, a rapidly growing startup that helps corporations and brands go carbon neutral through its Sustainability-as-a-Service platform.

His focus extends beyond business and into philanthropic efforts that lift up historically marginalized communities. He is the founder and chairman of Ed Farm, an education initiative that aims to equip educators and communities with innovative tools and strategies that support active learning for all students and teachers. He also helped create Propel Center — a new digital innovation and learning hub, business incubator and global innovation headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, for students of historically black colleges and universities. The Propel Center is a partnership between Southern Company and Apple.

Mr. Oni earned a bachelor’s degree in Business and Computer Science from Auburn University. His professional accolades include being selected for the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Leadership UAB program and the prestigious fellowship at The Aspen Institute. He completed executive education programs for disruptive innovation and finance at Harvard University.

Beth Zeitler

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
Associate Board Director, Board on Energy and Environmental Systems

Elizabeth (Beth) Zeitler is Associate Board Director of the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Across the Academies, she leads consensus studies to inform government, private and public-sector decision-makers on key areas of domestic and global energy policy, such as technologies for vehicle energy efficiency, the future of the electric system, and technical and policy needs for deep decarbonization.

Dr. Zeitler has previously led and supported projects on vehicle technologies; carbon utilization; the future of electrochemistry; technology and policy needs for the electric grid; energy system decarbonization; data, modeling and simulation for urban sustainability; electric vehicle deployment; and energy resource potential on DOE lands.

Dr. Zeitler received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Princeton in 2014, and has previously served as a Christine Mirzayan Fellow at the Academies and as an AAAS STPF Fellow at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the U.S. foreign assistance agency.

Brian Leary

Pike Renewables
Executive Vice President

As Executive Vice President of Pike Renewables, Mr. Leary’s primary focus is the growth of Pike’s construction and engineering businesses. As the fourth generation in the construction industry, he began work in his early teens.

Having acquired extensive knowledge and experience across diverse aspects of the business, Mr. Leary has successfully completed a vast number of projects ranging from telecommunications, renewables, utility and commercial construction. His instinct and vision have enabled him to anticipate and meet new demands and advancements, and his unwavering standards continue to mark him as a forerunner in the highest standards of quality, safety and performance.

Brian holds a B.S. in Labor and Employment Relations from Rutgers University.

Carlos Lozano

Senior Director Supply Chain & Manufacturing
Frito-Lay/PepsiCo

Carlos Lozano is a Colombian Industrial Engineer who moved over 20 years ago to Canada, where he completed his MBA and started his career with PepsiCo in Cambridge, Ontario.

He had the opportunity to acquire experience in different areas in supply chain, including warehousing, traffic, maintenance, finance, engineering and manufacturing. He also had the opportunity of an international experience in Sydney, Australia, leading a continuous-improvement agenda to later relocate to Canada to lead the Western Canada Supply Chain Operations for PepsiCo Frito-Lay.

Most recently, Mr. Lozano relocated to Orlando, Florida, with his wife, daughter and furry son, where he leads the Frito-Lay Manufacturing support unit for the area.

Carrie Cullen Hitt

National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium
Executive Director

Carrie Cullen Hitt is the Executive Director of the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium, dedicated to the advancement of offshore wind in the U.S. With base funding of $41 million from DOE and NYSERDA, and additional contributions from four states and multiple industry stakeholders, the Consortium advances innovation and technology.

Prior to joining the Consortium, she was President of New Hampshire Transmission Company, a regulated subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources. She also held several positions in solar and battery storage market development at NextEra Energy Resources. From 2008-2014, she was Senior Vice President of the Solar Energy Industries Association and President of the Solar Alliance. She also served in several management positions in market strategy and external affairs at Constellation Energy (now Exelon) from 2000-2008. She also held positions at the Harvard Electricity Policy Group and Green Mountain Energy Resources.

She began her career as an analyst for the Joint Energy Committee at the Massachusetts Legislature. She is a graduate of Clark University (B.A.) and Johns Hopkins University (M.A.).

Cheryl LaFleur

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Former Chairman and Commissioner

Cheryl A. LaFleur is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy, focusing primarily on the adaptation of the electric and natural gas sectors to the challenges of climate change. She also serves on the Board of Directors of ISO New England, the organization that plans and operates the power system and administers wholesale electricity markets for New England.

Previously, Ms. LaFleur was one of the longest-serving commissioners on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), nominated by President Obama in 2010 and serving until 2019. She served as Chairman from 2014-15 and as Acting Chairman from 2013-14 and during 2017. During a decade of change in the nation’s energy industry, power supply and political leadership, she helped FERC respond to challenges and opportunities across the electric, natural gas and oil sectors.

Prior to joining FERC, LaFleur had more than 20 years’ experience as a leader in the electric and natural gas industry, including as executive vice president and acting CEO of National Grid USA. She began her career as an attorney at Ropes & Gray in Boston. She has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an A.B. from Princeton University.

Christopher A. Cavanagh

National Grid
Principal Program Manager, Customer Distributed Energy Resources - Future of Heat

Christopher A. Cavanagh is Principal Program Manager, Customer Distributed Energy Resources for the Future of Heat team at National Grid. He has been working to develop clean energy technologies and services on Long Island for more than 20 years.

He has developed, supported or managed several clean energy projects on Long Island, including projects at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Northport Veterans Administration Medical Center, Lido Beach, Island Park and East Hills, among others. Mr. Cavanagh is a member of the Advisory Board of the Clean Energy Business Incubator at Stony Brook University and the External Advisory Board for the Renewable Energy & Sustainability Center at Farmingdale State College, and is a judge in the NYSERDA Power Bridge Competition for New York-area universities.

Mr. Cavanagh is the liaison for the Board of the new Institute for Gas Innovation and Technology at Stony Brook University. He often speaks publicly on energy technology concepts. He is a Board Member of Utilization Technology Development, a customer-focused national gas R&D consortium and a member of the New York Chapter of ASHRAE. He is a former judge for the FIRST Robotics competition and a problem captain in the Odyssey of the Mind problem-solving competition for school-age children.

He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Cooper Union, an M.S. from NYU Tandon School of Engineering and an MBA from Dowling College, and is a Licensed Professional Engineer.

David Hamilton

Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center
Chief Operating Officer

David Hamilton is the Chief Operating Officer for the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC), a New York State Center of Excellence, and Executive Director for the Clean Energy Business Incubator Program (CEBIP), both located at Stony Brook University. He brings a focus in clean energy technologies with experience in business development, commercialization of engineering technologies, marketing and sales, as well as an ability to communicate well with early-stage entrepreneurs in the clean energy arena.

Mr. Hamilton started his professional career with the Long Island Lighting Company managing independent power producers. From there, he has been involved in the design, development and implementation of Sirius Satellite Radio’s terrestrial transmitters, developing sales and marketing plans for aerospace and IT companies; managing the sales and operation of hydrogen fuel cells for Plug Power; and most recently developing the commercial sales and marketing for EmPower Solar, a leading Long Island turnkey solar provider.

His education includes a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Clarkson University and a MBA in Marketing from Hofstra University.

David Pretyman

West Monroe
Senior Partner

David Pretyman is a Senior Partner for West Monroe’s Energy & Utilities Practice, working with leading North American electric, gas and water utilities to address their most pressing issues and shaping solutions that achieve the right outcomes for their business. A thought leader on the future of energy transition, he helps clients navigate the expansive, rapidly evolving transformation that is impacting all areas of the energy market. He has helped numerous clients pursue new investment opportunities and develop regulatory strategies and business models to support a clean energy future.

Mr. Pretyman has advised on multiple business strategy engagements and led projects focused on the impacts of disruptive change in the utilities industry — working with energy companies on design and deployment of game-changing ideas in areas such as renewable natural gas and hydrogen.

Previously, he was a partner with KPMG, and he spent 15 years in various leadership roles with Accenture and National Grid in the U.S. and U.K. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from MidKent College and an MBA from the University of Warwick in the U.K.

Doon Gibbs

Brookhaven National Laboratory
Director

Doon Gibbs leads Brookhaven National Laboratory, a multi-program DOE laboratory. Brookhaven operates major user facilities enabling fundamental science, innovation and commercialization in nuclear and particle physics, energy science, data science, biological and climate science, and national security.

Dr. Gibbs joined Brookhaven in 1983 and has had roles from Group Leader of X-ray Scattering to Deputy Director for S&T. He became Director in 2013. He has been recognized by the DOE Outstanding Scientific Accomplishment in Solid State Physics, the Advanced Photon Source Arthur H. Compton Award and Fellowship in the AAAS and APS.

He currently serves as a member of the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, the Long Island Association Board and the SUNY Research Council, among others.

Echo Cartwright

The Nature Conservancy
Director of Climate Mitigation

Echo Cartwright is the Director of Climate Mitigation at The Nature Conservancy in New York, where she leads a cross-cutting team of professionals identifying pathways to mitigate the impacts of climate change on our environment.

Ms. Cartwright has over 30 years’ experience in the public policy, environment, and energy and utilities sectors, serving as a Senior Energy Advisor for two New York governors. Ms. Cartwright has served on several peer-review panels for the National Academies of Sciences related to the energy industry, and has served on numerous boards and committees.

In addition, she is the Editor of the Wiley Climate and Energy Journal, an international journal that focuses on current trends and issues facing the energy industry.

Eric Dupont

PowerSecure
Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer

Eric Dupont, the Chief Commercial Officer for PowerSecure, is a 21-year veteran of the utility and energy services space with extensive experience in accounting, financial planning, mergers & acquisitions, structured finance and commercial contracting. He is responsible for development, structuring and/or funding over $1.5 billion in energy projects.

He previously led the Structured Finance group for Duke Energy’s energy service division (1998-2001) and Ameresco energy services (2001-2004). He was Chief Financial Officer for a design-build energy services company responsible for all aspects of financial reporting, treasury, planning and strategy (2004-2010). Later he became President of Lime Energy Asset Development, where he was responsible for engineering, designing, owning, operating and maintaining small power generation projects (2010-2013). Mr. Dupont joined PowerSecure in 2013 as the Vice President of Finance and was promoted in 2014 to Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary for the business until 2017. He successfully led the sale of PowerSecure to Southern Company in 2016.

Today, he leads PowerSecure’s new ventures, project investments, commercial contracting and deal structuring initiatives, holding responsibility for the performance of the investments made by PowerSecure. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster, of which PowerSecure is a founding member.

Mr. Dupont holds a BSBA in Accounting from Appalachian State University (1994) and a Masters of Tax from Denver University (1997).

Erik Steeb

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
Incubatenergy and Innovation Challenges Lead

Erik Steeb leads EPRI’s Incubatenergy innovation programs, connecting clean energy startups, incubators and accelerators with EPRI member utilities to accelerate our pathways to deep decarbonization of the electric power industry, modernize our electric grid and facilitate the electrification of transportation, buildings and commercial & industrial processes.

Prior to joining EPRI, Mr. Steeb was Chief Programs Officer at LACI, a non-profit cleantech incubator located in Los Angeles, where he led portfolio development, entrepreneurial programs and startup engagement with the investment and corporate communities.

He is a cleantech angel investor, serves on the board of Pick My Solar and is on advisory boards for the Cleantech Open business accelerator and the California Energy Commission’s CalSEED early-stage grant program. Mr. Steeb holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

Esther Takeuchi

Stony Brook University / Brookhaven National Laboratory
Director, Center for Mesoscale Transport Properties

Esther S. Takeuchi is a State University of New York Distinguished Professor and the William and Jane Knapp Chair of Energy and the Environment at Stony Brook University. Dr. Takeuchi holds a joint appointment at Brookhaven National Laboratory as Chief Scientist and Chair of the Interdisciplinary Science Department. Dr. Takeuchi is a prolific inventor with 150 patents.

Previously, she was employed at Greatbatch, Inc., where her achievements in lithium battery research led to several technological innovations. Her work was instrumental in the development of the lithium/silver vanadium oxide battery, the power source of life-saving implantable cardiac defibrillators.

Dr. Takeuchi’s accomplishments have been widely recognized. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a charter member of the National Academy of Innovation. She received the E. V. Murphree and Astellas Awards from the American Chemical Society and the Electrochemical Society (ECS) Battery Division Technology award. She is a Fellow of the ECS, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has received the European Inventor Award, the Sigma Xi Walston Chubb Innovation Award, an honorary Doctorate in Engineering from Notre Dame University, and the ECS Edward G. Acheson award.

Dr. Takeuchi received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania with a double major in Chemistry and History and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Ohio State University.

Fred Zalcman

Ørsted, U.S.
Head of Government Affairs and Policy

Fred Zalcman is Ørsted’s Head of Government Affairs for the U.S. His work focuses primarily on creating robust, self-sustaining markets for offshore wind energy.

Mr. Zalcman has over 30 years of experience in the energy field as an attorney and policy analyst. His career has centered on promoting market structures and regulatory policies that are supportive of energy efficiency, renewable resources and clean distributed generation. Prior to joining Ørsted, he was Managing Director of External Affairs for the Eastern U.S. for SunEdison, the world’s largest renewable energy developer, where he spearheaded legislative and regulatory efforts resulting in the exponential growth of distributed solar across multiple state markets. Previously, Mr. Zalcman was the Executive Director of the Pace Law School Energy and Climate Center, one of the nation’s preeminent sustainable energy research, education and advocacy groups.

Mr. Zalcman has served on a number of gubernatorial, legislative and agency advisory boards providing guidance and counsel on clean energy policy and program development. He has also taught energy and natural resources law, and has written and lectured extensively on energy and environmental matters. The Association of Energy Engineers named him the Northeast Region’s Renewable Energy Innovator of 2009.

He received a B.A. in History from Washington University in St. Louis, and a joint degree in Law and Public Administration from Indiana University.

Hanna Grene

Microsoft
Director of Energy Industry, Americas

Hanna Grene is the Director of Energy Industry, Americas at Microsoft. She specializes in strategic planning, partnerships and market development to enable an increasingly renewable, distributed and secure grid. Hanna has held positions as the Chief Commercial Officer at PXiSE Energy Solutions, a grid-controls technology company with investment from Sempra and Mitsui, as Director of Policy at the Center for Sustainable Energy, and as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency.

Ms. Grene has worked closely with regulators, federal agencies, governments, utilities and C&I clients worldwide to fund and execute renewable energy and grid resilience projects. She serves as the Chair of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Sustainability and Industry Committee and is a Truman National Security Project Political Partner.

She holds an MBA from Rady School of Management at the University of California San Diego and a B.A. in International Relations & Philosophy from American University in Washington, D.C.

Jahi Wise

White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy
Senior Advisor for Climate Policy and Finance

Jahi Wise is the Senior Advisor for Climate Policy and Finance in the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, where he focuses on domestic climate finance, clean energy deployment, economic development and equitable investment.

Prior to joining the Office of Domestic Climate Policy, Mr. Wise served as Policy Director for the Coalition for Green Capital, where he helped lead development of policy and strategy to establish a National Clean Energy Accelerator. Previously, he was General Counsel and Head of New Markets Strategy for BlocPower, a social enterprise focused on building electrification, and an attorney in the Energy and Infrastructure Projects practice at Skadden Arps.

Mr. Wise received his J.D. and MBA from Yale and his B.A. from Morehouse College.

Jason Leigh

University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
Director, Laboratory for Advanced Visualization & Applications

Jason Leigh is the Director of LAVA: the Laboratory for Advanced Visualization & Applications, Co-Director of the Hawaii Data Science Institute, Professor of Information & Computer Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa; and Director of Create(x) at the Academy for Creative Media at the University of Hawaiʻi at West Oʻahu. Dr. Leigh is also Director Emeritus of the Electronic Visualization Lab and the Software Technologies Research Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was previously Professor of Computer Science and Affiliated Professor of Communications.

His research in data visualization and virtual reality has received numerous press from news media including AP News, The New York Times, Popular Science’s Future Of, Nova ScienceNow, NSF Science Now, PBS and Forbes.

Dr. Leigh holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago, an M.S. in Computer Science from Wayne State University and a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Utah.

Jigar Shah

U.S. Department of Energy
Director of the Loan Programs Office

Jigar Shah was most recently co-founder and President at Generate Capital, where he focused on helping entrepreneurs accelerate decarbonization solutions through the use of low-cost infrastructure-as-a service financing. Prior to Generate Capital, he founded SunEdison, a company that pioneered “pay as you save” solar financing.

After SunEdison, Mr. Shah served as the founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, a global non-profit founded by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite to help entrepreneurs address climate change.

Originally from Illinois, Mr. Shah holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois-UC and an MBA from the University of Maryland-College Park.

Joanne Mello

Southern Company Gas
Director of Sustainability and Energy Policy

Joanne Mello is responsible for coordinating a portfolio of sustainability strategy initiatives for Southern Company Gas’ natural gas business, leading efforts to reduce methane and carbon emissions through policy, strategy and technology, and supporting federal, state and local climate policy, outreach and communications efforts on climate and sustainability matters. She also chairs the company’s Innovation Council and oversees its Sustainability Committee.

Ms. Mello previously served as chief of staff to the President and CEO of Southern Company Gas, supporting the CEO in executing strategic goals for the company. Before that, she served in several roles in the Legal Department of Southern Company Gas, most recently as Associate General Counsel, Marketing Services, managing the legal affairs of the Southern Company Gas Marketing Services business. Prior to joining Southern Company Gas in 2007, Ms. Mello was a corporate attorney in private practice.

She holds a B.A. in Psychology and Political Science and an M.A. in Political Science from Emory University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Joe Martens

New York Offshore Wind Alliance
Director

Joe Martens joined the Alliance for Clean Energy New York in 2017. Prior to that he was a Senior Fellow at the Open Space Institute, a regional land conservation organization that has protected thousands of acres of land from Maine to Georgia. He served as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation from March 2011 to July 2015.

Mr. Martens led the agency in implementing its core statutory mission to protect public health and the environment. He guided the administration’s efforts to protect and expand access to the state’s open spaces, boost environmental funding programs, and launch numerous initiatives to protect drinking water, improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gases. As Commissioner he chaired the state Environmental Facilities Corporation and sat on the board of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

From 1998 through 2010, Mr. Martens served as President of the Open Space Institute, directing and overseeing its land protection efforts and adding thousands of acres to New York’s parks and forest preserve. He served as OSI’s Executive Vice President from 1995 through 1998. Governor Eliot Spitzer appointed Mr. Martens chair of the Olympic Regional Development Authority in 2007, a post he held until 2011.

He served Governor Mario Cuomo as Deputy Secretary for Energy and the Environment from 1992-94 and as Assistant Secretary from 1990-92. From 1980-90, Mr. Martens held various positions in the New York State Assembly, including Team Leader on the Program and Council staff and Senior Legislative Budget Analyst for the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Martens studied Resource Economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and received an M.S. in Resource Management from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse University.

John Lochner

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
Vice President

John Lochner joined the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority as Vice President, Innovation in 2019.

Mr. Lochner founded Headland Advisors, which advises on and structures investments in sustainability-focused opportunities. As an investor in, and advisor to, businesses in water, energy and sustainable resource management, he formerly served in leadership and advisory positions at Natural Resources Defense Council and Locus Energy. His experience in renewable energy includes work as a consultant to the Department of Energy; as a board member, Treasurer and member of the Executive Committee of the Solar Energy Finance Association; and as an investment banker in the Global Energy Group at Credit Suisse, where Mr. Lochner executed transactions across the traditional and renewable power sectors.

Mr. Lochner is a graduate of Duke University and received an M.A. from Harvard University and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Jordan Shoesmith

Copenhagen Investment Partners and Vineyard Wind
Senior Manager

Jordan Shoesmith is the Senior Business Development Manager at Vineyard Wind. At Vineyard Wind, he leads bid development activities, business case management, local supply chain development, competitive intelligence, market analysis and policy development, and supports key activities within the project management office, including strategic planning, workstream coordination and interface management for Vineyard Wind projects.

Mr. Shoesmith also represents Vineyard Wind on the Board of Directors of the U.S. National Offshore Wind Research & Development Consortium, and is a guest instructor at the University of Delaware and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In addition, he leads business development activities in the U.S. for Copenhagen Offshore Partners.

He is an experienced analyst and management consultant in the renewable energy industry with subject-matter expertise in U.S. offshore wind, large-scale renewable energy procurement and contracting, and NYISO and ISO New England-administered wholesale markets. He previously held roles at Sustainable Energy Advantage, LLC and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration.

Mr. Shoesmith holds a B.A. in International Studies from Baylor University and completed his graduate work in Energy and Earth Resources at the University of Texas at Austin.

Kenneth D. Daly

St. Thomas Aquinas College
President

Kenneth D. Daly assumed his position as the ninth President at St. Thomas Aquinas College on July 1, 2020. His focus is to help students navigate current societal challenges and provide access to affordable education to prepare them for college, community service and careers.

He was selected for his mission-focused leadership over a 30-year career in clean energy with National Grid and its predecessor companies, KeySpan and Brooklyn Union, serving local New York communities, supporting students and leading emergency response plans. Throughout his career, Mr. Daly has fostered strategic relationships with academia, supporting research and workforce development programs at colleges and STEM education programs in New York schools.

To support his clean energy agenda at National Grid, Mr. Daly launched the Institute of Gas Innovation and Technology (IGIT) at Stony Brook University, empowering students to research and develop new clean gas technologies and alternatives to natural gas. He served on the Board of Directors of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC) at Stony Brook and as an advisor to the University’s Center for Integrated Electric Energy Systems (CIEES).

Mr. Daly is actively developing funding programs to ensure educational access and affordability for all students and carefully preparing for St. Thomas Aquinas College’s in-person Fall re-opening.

Kevin C. Fitzgerald

Energy Impact Partners
Partner and Chief Utility Officer

Kevin C. Fitzgerald has spent his entire career in the energy industry as a lawyer, senior business executive and now Partner and Investment Committee member for Energy Impact Partners. In his role as Chief Utility Officer, Mr. Fitzgerald provides leadership and insight on utility business needs, thereby driving fund strategy on investment. He also works closely with utility investors on commercialization and innovation strategies for new technology and portfolio investments. Furthermore, he helped lead EIP’s first investment in the transportation electrification sector, assuming an active role as Chairman of Greenlots, an EV charging company that was ultimately sold to Shell New Energies LLC, garnering a substantial exit to the fund.

Mr. Fitzgerald was instrumental in establishing the Alliance for Transportation Electrification, a national trade association of utilities, automakers, charging companies, industrial companies and environmental NGOs. As head of Troutman Sanders’ utility practice, Mr. Fitzgerald assisted C-suite executives in transformative new business growth plans, including TEP’s New Energy Ventures (exited to AES for 15 times invested capital) and the development/structuring of DTE Energy/International Transmission Company (exited to KKR for 3 times return).

More recently, as EVP and General Counsel at Pepco Holdings he assisted the CEO in the turnaround of the company and executed on a business strategy, Utility 2.0, for managing disruptive technology trends facing the company, which received an award from the Edison Electric Institute. Mr. Fitzgerald’s work ultimately led to the company’s sale to Exelon, resulting in a 40% premium to shareholders. Mr. Fitzgerald is the previous past Chairman of the EEI Technology & Innovation Committee; Advisory Board Member to the Electric Power Research Institute; and a founding Member of the U.S. Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance.

Mr. Fitzgerald is a graduate of The George Washington University Law School.

Kevin W. Harrison

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Program Manager

Kevin Harrison is Program Manager at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where he leads the Power-to-Gas capability development at NREL’s Energy Systems Integration Facility. Prior to NREL, he worked as an Engineering Manager at Xerox Corporation in high-volume high-precision manufacturing.

Dr. Harrison joined NREL as an intern in 2003 and started the R&D program focused on reducing the cost and improving the efficiency of low-temperature water electrolysis. In 2006, Dr. Harrison joined NREL full time and continued expanding the hydrogen program to include research in power conversion, compression, hydrogen gas mass flow, refueling of LD vehicles, automated robotic hydrogen hose testing and, most recently, recycling carbon dioxide from biogas sources using renewable hydrogen and biocatalysts to produce a drop-in direct replacement for fossil natural gas.

He has co-developed intellectual property in the power-to-X space that has been licensed to Southern California Gas Company and a strategic partner in the power-to-gas R&D program at NREL.

Dr. Harrison holds a B.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Rochester and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Energy Engineering from the University of North Dakota.

Larry Goldenhersh

Center for Sustainable Energy
President

Lawrence E. Goldenhersh is a lawyer turned entrepreneur turned nonprofit leader with 35 years of experience in the sustainability and environmental sectors. Since 2017, Mr. Goldenhersh has served as president of the Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with approximately $250 million in annual revenue.

CSE provides data-driven program design and administration services that public and private stakeholders rely upon to achieve the equitable decarbonization of transportation and the built environment. The organization operates on a fee-for-service business model, financing all its activities from revenues earned by delivering service for value under contract, which it competes for in public bidding processes. The absence of paying members and donors allows CSE a financial independence that has been important to its reputation in the market as a trusted, neutral resource. CSE manages programs with approximately $2 billion in total program value, equally split between transportation and the built environment, and operating in 23 states.

Previously, Mr. Goldenhersh founded an internet-based software company that he sold in 2015 and was a partner at a major Los Angeles-based law firm. He is an avid surfer and powder skier.

Mr. Goldenhersh received his J.D. from the University of Virginia and his B.A. from Duke University.

Laura Morton

American Clean Power
Senior Director, Policy & Regulatory Affairs Offshore

Laura Morton is Senior Director, Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Offshore Wind with the American Clean Power Association. Ms. Morton focuses on building the power of offshore wind in the U.S. by increasing the level of engagement among ACP’s member companies, the administration and members of Congress and by collaborating with environmental organizations, coastal communities and other users of ocean resources.

Her portfolio covers offshore wind leasing, regulatory processes and multiple-use compatibility, including commercial fishing, radar/airspace and vessel traffic, transmission and wildlife.

Prior to joining ACP in 2019, Ms. Morton had more than 15 years of experience in renewable energy, transmission and offshore wind policy and regulatory issues, both as an attorney and through senior roles at the U.S. Department of Energy, the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Maurie McInnis

Stony Brook University
President

Maurie McInnis became the sixth president of Stony Brook University, one of America’s leading public universities and an internationally recognized research institution, on July 1, 2020. As chief executive for Stony Brook, Dr. McInnis also oversees Stony Brook Medicine, Long Island’s premier academic medical center, which encompasses five health sciences schools, four hospitals and 200 community-based healthcare settings.

She is a key player in furthering economic development on Long Island and in Stony Brook’s role as part of the management team of nearby Brookhaven National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy facility.

Mei Shibata

Essense Partners
Chief Executive Officer

Mei Shibata is Chief Executive Officer of Essense Partners. Having worked in management roles at Fortune 500 companies, as well as having served as strategy consultant, marketer and technology entrepreneur over a 20+-year career, she brings a wide range of experience to Essense Partners.

An entrepreneurial strategist at heart, in 2008 Ms. Shibata co-founded ThinkEco, which combined consumer product development with cloud-based energy efficiency and demand response. Her leadership role at ThinkEco turned the ThinkEco modlet® into a very consumer-friendly product, and it led to the creation and success of the CoolNYC residential demand response program, which Mei successfully led with strategic partner Consolidated Edison of New York. She was recognized as one of New York’s Top 10 Energy Entrepreneurs in 2013 and was also selected as an NYC Venture Fellow by the New York Economic Development Corporation.

Prior to ThinkEco, Ms. Shibata was managing director of strategy and North American Executive Committee member at advertising and communications agency Havas Life and senior director of strategy with Interbrand, a premier brand consulting firm. She also served as engagement manager at Boston-based consultancy Vertex Partners and senior consultant with Oliver Wyman & Company, where she worked with multiple Fortune 500 clients on strategy consulting and market research engagements over a five-year period. Lastly, she honed her financial-analysis skills as equity analyst with Smith Barney Citigroup, where she initiated research coverage of a new technology sector.

Ms. Shibata holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Harvard, a master’s degree in Medical Engineering from the joint Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Michael Voltz

PSEG Long Island
Director of Energy Efficiency and Renewables

Michael Voltz is the Director of Energy Efficiency and Renewables for PSEG Long Island. He is responsible for planning, implementing and evaluating energy efficiency and renewable programs, and the preparation of a Utility 2.0 Plan including efficiency, advanced meters, battery storage, electric vehicles and renewable solutions.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Voltz was a director at the Long Island Power Authority and at Central Hudson Gas & Electric, where he had worked for 30 years in power generation, customer services, energy efficiency and regulatory affairs. In his current role, Mr. Voltz is an active participant in the Reforming Energy Vision proceeding. He serves on the board of directors for the Hauppauge Industrial Association and the board of the Boy Scouts Theodore Roosevelt Council.

Mr. Voltz graduated from Farmingdale State College and went on to obtain a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master’s in Business from Union College. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York State.

Pasi Miettinen

Sagewell
CEO

Pasi Miettinen is President and CEO of Sagewell, Inc. He founded Sagewell in 2008 to provide analytics software, energy efficiency programs and consulting services to utilities and cities. He has 25 years of experience operating innovative businesses, including software startups and energy companies.

Earlier in his career he was the head forecast analyst for a large electric utility that pioneered real-time pricing and metering of electricity, innovative demand-side energy efficiency programs and electric vehicle programs.

Mr. Miettinen has his MBA from Harvard Business School and is on the board of the HBS Alumni Association of Boston.

Peter Donnelly

Stony Brook University
Associate Vice President for Technology Partnerships

Peter Donnelly has focused his career on innovation and early-stage technology commercialization. As investor, entrepreneur, operator and consultant, he has an accomplished record in evaluating and building projects, companies and portfolios.

He is the Associate Vice President for Technology Partnerships at Stony Brook University, where he leads industry collaboration, incubation and acceleration, the SBU Research and Technology Park, three New York State Centers of Excellence and Advanced Technology, and commercialization of promising early-stage technologies.

Earlier, as Managing Director of the Accelerate NY Seed Fund, Mr. Donnelly led early-stage investments in science and engineering innovation coming primarily from research institutions. Before that, he led Accenture’s Greater China consulting practice in innovation and product development in Shanghai and managed a very large internal innovation pipeline. As an entrepreneur, he was CEO of a venture-backed early-stage biotech, which he successfully sold, and co-founder and COO of a venture-backed thin film startup. Prior to these posts, he worked with Intel and The Boston Consulting Group.

Mr. Donnelly has an M.S. in Biotechnology and MBA from The Johns Hopkins University.

Rafi Musher

Stax
CEO

Rafi Musher is the Founder and CEO of Stax Inc., a global management consulting firm. Since founding Stax in 1994, Musher has advised C-suite executives, private-equity investors and privately run companies on a broad range of issues including corporate strategy, profit improvement and growth, data and analytics, commercial due diligence, major investments and divestitures. Mr. Musher regularly counsels clients across key business sectors including agriculture, business services, consumer/retail, education, energy/environmental/water, financial services, healthcare, industrial and technology.

He has launched and helped launch several companies and nonprofits focused on effecting sustainable, positive social impact. He works with foundations and nonprofits on social-impact investing to help maximize ROI on capital deployed for desired outcomes. Mr. Musher is engaged in numerous philanthropic ventures, serving on the board of the Bronx Lab School, an innovative New York City public high school, and he helped found three social ventures. He is also the founder and Chairman of itrek, a nonprofit which introduces tomorrow’s leaders in business, law and policy to Israel, helping them experience Israel firsthand through peer-led, week-long treks.

Mr. Musher holds a B.S. in Communications and Advertising from Boston University.

Rajit Gadh

UCLA
Director of the Smart Grid Energy Research Center

Rajit Gadh is a professor at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at UCLA, Founder and Director of the Smart Grid Energy Research Center and UCLA WINMEC Consortium.

He has taught as a visiting researcher at UC Berkeley; has been an Assistant, Associate and Full Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison; and was a visiting researcher at Stanford University. Dr. Gadh’s current research interests include modeling and control of Smart Grids, Electric Vehicle to Grid Integration, Vehicle to Grid (V2G), Autonomous Electric Vehicles, Demand Response, Microgrids, Energy Storage in the Grid, Renewable Integration, Internet of Things and Wireless/RFID.

Dr. Gadh is author of over 200 articles in journals and conference proceedings and four patents. His team has developed the WINSmartEV™ and WINSmartGrid™ research platforms at UCLA.

Dr. Gadh has a doctorate degree from Carnegie Mellon University, a master’s from Cornell University and a bachelor’s degree from IIT Kanpur, all in Engineering.

Ram Narayanamurthy

Advanced Buildings, EPRI
Program Manager

Ram Narayanamurthy is the technical lead and program manager for Advanced Buildings at EPRI. With two decades of experience in energy efficiency and decarbonization, he directs research in the areas of building decarbonization, building flexibility and smart, sustainable and resilient communities.

He has been instrumental in advancing California’s goals for net zero energy and zero carbon buildings, developing the first zero net energy neighborhood and developing zero energy affordable housing communities. Mr. Narayanamurthy’s areas of interest include building energy management and control systems, building thermal mass, envelope technologies and advanced cooling systems.

Prior to EPRI, he was the VP, R&D for EchoFirst, Inc., where he led development of zero energy homes by integrating residential HVAC, home energy management and renewable generation. During this time, he also commercialized residential user interfaces for energy generation use as well as climate control. Prior to EchoFirst, he was the architect of the Ice Bear thermal energy storage product line as Director of Product Development at Ice Energy, Inc.

Mr. Narayanamurthy is a named inventor on 27 issued patents across a range of HVAC and whole buildings-related technologies.

Rebecca Craft

Sidewalk Labs
Director of Sustainability - Electrification

Rebecca Craft is the Director, Sustainability – Electrification for Sidewalk Labs, an urban innovation company.

Ms. Craft is a strategic business leader with diverse operational, planning, customer management, regulatory policy and legal expertise. Her combined business, regulatory and legal background brings broad perspective to the development of strategy and implementation of business plans. She is a frequent public speaker on energy efficiency, demand management, sustainability and energy regulatory topics.

She is also the founder of TurnCraft Advisors. Prior to joining Sidewalk Labs, Ms. Craft was Chief Customer Officer for Essess, Inc.; held several positions at Consolidated Edison, culminating as Director, Energy Efficiency and Demand Management; was a Managing Director at Prudential Financial; and was an attorney at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

Richard Glick

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Chairman

Commissioner Richard Glick was nominated to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by President Donald J. Trump in August 2017 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 2, 2017.

Before joining the Commission, he was general counsel for the Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, serving as a senior policy advisor on numerous issues including electricity and renewable energy. Prior to that, Commissioner Glick was vice president of government affairs for Iberdrola’s renewable energy, electric and gas utility, and natural gas storage businesses in the United States. He ran the company’s Washington, D.C., office and was responsible for developing and implementing the U.S. businesses’ federal legislative and regulatory policy advocacy strategies.

Commissioner Glick previously served as a director of government affairs for PPM Energy and before that was director of government affairs for PacifiCorp. He served as a senior policy advisor to U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, and before that was legislative director and chief counsel to U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers of Arkansas. From 1988-1992 Commissioner Glick was an associate with the law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand.

Commissioner Glick is a graduate of George Washington University and Georgetown Law. He and his wife Erin have a son.

Rich Fox

InTech Energy
Senior Vice President of Engineering

Rich Fox is a mechanical engineer with over 20 years of experience in energy efficiency, water efficiency, demand response, building automation and the renewable industry. He has worked extensively on distributed energy resource (DER) management projects with solar PV, battery energy storage and microgrid controls that increase grid and site energy resiliency.

Additionally, Mr. Fox has developed, deployed and overseen thousands of projects in the commercial sector involving energy-efficiency upgrades, energy and resource monitoring and management, and IoT-based building controls. Since 2014, he has led engineering at InTech Energy, where he develops advanced energy analytics, uses real-time and day-ahead energy pricing to optimize building operations, and pulls new hardware and data sources into InTech’s Energy360 cloud application.

Focusing on building and grid level impacts in the “last mile,” he standardized the measurement and verification (M&V) process in Energy360 for clear and transparent validation and recording of project impacts.

Prior to joining InTech, Mr. Fox was the VP of Engineering at Willdan Energy Solutions, where he oversaw all engineering activities across the U.S.

Rich Reeder

Stony Brook University
Vice President, Research

Dr. Richard Reeder is the vice president for research and the operations manager for the State University of New York Research Foundation. Dr. Reeder also serves as associate vice president for Brookhaven National Laboratory Affairs, acting as Stony Brook University’s liaison to the nearby laboratory co-managed by Stony Brook and Battelle Memorial Institute.

Prior to these roles, Dr. Reeder participated in the Stony Brook-Battelle team that successfully re-competed the management contract for Brookhaven National Laboratory. He is currently a member of the Brookhaven Science Associates Board of Directors.

He retains the position of professor of geochemistry in the Department of Geosciences, where he served as chair for 2008-2013. Dr. Reeder’s research interests span several areas in geochemistry, including the structure and properties of disordered and amorphous solids, chemical behavior of heavy metals in the environment, and bioavailability of contaminants in environmental and remediation settings. He has focused particularly on applications of X-ray scattering and spectroscopy to natural and engineered materials of environmental relevance, making extensive use of synchrotron X-ray facilities at Brookhaven and other national laboratories.

Dr. Reeder served as director of the Center for Environmental Molecular Sciences, supported by the National Science Foundation. Dr. Reeder is author of more than 120 peer-reviewed articles. He has been a member of the Stony Brook faculty since 1980.

Rob Anstey

Graphenix Development Inc.
CEO and Founder

Rob Anstey is an attorney and entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience as an entrepreneur and globally commercializing technology in energy storage and advanced materials.

He is co-inventor on over a dozen patent filings, leads fundraising, strategy and business development for GDI and founded the company. Prior to founding GDI, Mr. Anstey previously served as the Director of Thermoelectrics at TAM Ceramics. During his legal training he worked in the Enforcement Division of the New York Stock Exchange; in the Corporate Compliance Department at Calyon Investment Bank; and in the Corporate Governance Division of Fidelity Investments.

Mr. Anstey graduated from McGill University with a degree in Business, and a joint honors in Economics and Finance. He graduated from Northeastern University School of Law with a J.D. and is licensed in New York State.

Robert Catell

Advanced Energy Center (AERTC)
Chairman

Robert B. Catell was formerly Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of KeySpan Corporation and KeySpan Energy Delivery, the former Brooklyn Union. His career with Brooklyn Union started in 1958. He became Chairman, National Grid, U.S., following the acquisition of KeySpan Corporation by National Grid.

He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC) at Stony Brook University, the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium and the Cristo Rey Brooklyn High School.

Mr. Catell is a member of the board of numerous organizations, including Applied DNA Sciences, Inc., Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, Diocese of Rockville Centre Department of Education, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Futures in Education Endowment Fund, Long Island Angel Network, Long Island Association (LIA), National Petroleum Council, New York City Police Foundation and St. Francis Hospital Foundation.

Mr. Catell is a past Chairman of the American Gas Association, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Futures in Education Endowment Fund, Keyera Energy Management Ltd., Long Island Association, New York State Smart Grid Consortium, Partnership for New York City, U.S. Energy Association, and the Advisory Board of the City College of New York’s School of Engineering.

Mr. Catell received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the City College of New York and is a Registered Professional Engineer.

Sam McDermott

Enbridge Gas
Technical Manager – Renewable Hydrogen

Sam McDermott is a licensed professional engineer in the province of Ontario, with over 26 years of engineering project management, management and mechanical design experience in both the Manufacturing and Energy sectors. He is currently the Technical Manager–Hydrogen for the Renewable Hydrogen program in Enbridge Gas Inc.’s Business Development team.

He has worked as a mechanical designer and project manager to develop highly specialized equipment for various industries, a project manager in the automotive industry and a designer and project manager of mechanical and fluids systems in the water industry. Mr. McDermott then went on to work in the energy sector with Enbridge Gas Inc., where he has held leadership roles in engineering, project management, design, contract management, operational and customer service roles managing Enbridge’s large-volume customers.

He holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from Ryerson University as well as a Masters of Advanced Design and Manufacturing post-graduate degree from the University of Toronto.

Stephen Wemple

Consolidated Edison
General Manager, Utility of the Future

Stephen Wemple is the General Manager of Con Edison’s Utility of the Future Team, responsible for the energy policy issues associated with New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision and Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Prior to joining the Utility of Future Team, Mr. Wemple was Vice President of Regulatory Affairs representing Con Edison’s non-utility affiliates, Con Edison Development, Con Edison Energy and Con Edison Solutions, in state and federal regulatory proceedings.

Mr. Wemple has been an active participant in the New York, New England and PJM energy markets and is a prior Chair of NYISO’s Business Issues Committee. He has worked for the Con Edison family of companies for over 30 years with responsibilities ranging from planning for both fossil and renewable generation, implementation of energy efficiency programs, development of retail access programs as well as marketing and business development for the wholesale and retail commodity businesses.

Mr. Wemple received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering degrees from Cornell University and is a volunteer firefighter.

Sue Kristjansson

Berkshire Gas / Avangrid
President and Chief Operating Officer

A 20-year veteran of the natural gas industry, Sue Kristjansson has worked in diverse arenas over the course of her career ranging from emergency response to strategic and tactical planning and development. Her career has taken her from west to east in key leadership roles at Southern California Gas in Los Angeles to the municipal Oak Ridge Utility District in Tennessee, where she was President and CEO. Currently, she is the President and COO of the Berkshire Gas Company, a 168-year old natural gas utility serving 40,000 customers in western Massachusetts. Berkshire Gas is a member of the Avangrid family of companies.

Ms. Kristjansson has extensive public policy experience, both in the trenches as an elected municipal official and in her national service on the Boards of the American Gas Association, the American Public Gas Association and the Tennessee Gas Association. While in Tennessee, she was also appointed to the Tennessee State Energy Policy Council, the central energy policy planning body of the state.

Ms. Kristjansson is a graduate of National University in La Jolla, California, where she also earned her MBA.

Susan Stuver

Gas Technology Institute
Senior Manager, Hydrogen Technology Center

Susan Stuver is a Senior Manager in the Gas Technology Institute’s Hydrogen Technology Center, overseeing the execution of research that spans early-stage technology development through validation and through integrated hydrogen technology demonstrations at scale and across the value chain.

Dr. Stuver leads the Low Carbon Resources Initiative Safety and Environmental Subcommittee in partnership with the Electric Power Research Institute, which is a five-year gas/electric collaboration to accelerate the development and demonstration of innovative low-carbon energy technologies in order to meet ambitious decarbonization goals across all sectors of the economy.

Dr. Stuver is a board-certified Environmental Scientist. She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering and Science from the University of Texas at San Antonio, an M.S. in Environmental Science and Spatial Analysis and a B.S. in Biology, and is a proud veteran of the U.S. Army.

Tinia Pina

Re-Nuble
Founder and CEO

Tinia Pina began her career in sustainability as a former student pursuing a Master of Science degree at Columbia University prior to becoming the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Re-Nuble, Inc., an agricultural technology company headquartered in New York City.

A strong advocate for sustainable waste management, regenerative agriculture and urban resilience, she has been involved in management and business development roles within the sustainability industry for 10 years. Her professional interests focus on using unique and distributed technologies to extract the optimal value from organic waste streams for upcycling into value-added products.

Ms. Pina accepted her Bachelor of Science in Business Information Technology from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2006.

Tobias Whitney

Fortress Information Security
Vice President of Energy Solutions

At Fortress, Tobias Whitney leads sales and marketing as the Vice President of Energy Security Solutions. He is a recognized leader in control systems security solutions with over 20 years of critical infrastructure security experience. For six years, Mr. Whitney led the compliance and standards for NERC’s Critical Infrastructure Protection program.

Most recently, Mr. Whitney spent two years as Technical Executive at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), evaluating risks in supply chain cybersecurity for utilities, developing solutions to address security architecture for utility cloud-based solutions, and researching emerging technologies such as electric vehicle charging and supply chain security.

William Acker

NY-BEST
Executive Director

William Acker is a well-known and highly regarded scientist, business leader and entrepreneur in the field of energy. He currently serves as the first Executive Director of NY-BEST, the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium.

Under Dr. Acker’s leadership, NY-BEST has grown its membership to more than 180 companies; created the BEST Test and Commercialization Center and new battery prototyping capabilities; and has performed pioneering work in advancing markets, policy, technology and product development. He is an active and influential voice for the energy storage industry in New York State’s implementation of a zero-emission grid and clean transportation.

Dr. Acker’s more than 25-year career in energy includes management and leadership roles with Optiwind, MTI and MTI MicroFuel Cells, Plug Power and Texaco. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for Future Energy Systems at RPI, the RIT Battery Prototyping Center and the Southern Tier Clean Energy Incubator.

He received a Ph.D. in Applied Physics and Engineering from Yale University and a B.S. in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic University.

Will Toor

Colorado Energy Office
Executive Director

In January 2019, Will Toor joined the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) as its Executive Director, appointed by Governor Jared Polis. His background spans transportation electrification, sustainable transportation, smart growth, electric vehicle policy, clean energy finance, green building policy, local government policy and regional planning.

Prior to CEO, he was Transportation Program Director at the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP). Before SWEEP, Dr. Toor served as Boulder County Commissioner for eight years, where he led the effort to create and adopt a countywide Sustainable Energy Plan, the BuildSmart green building code, the EnergySmart program and the ClimateSmart Loan Program. Prior to being elected Boulder County Commissioner, he served as Mayor of Boulder for six years, where he developed Boulder’s community transit network, EcoPass unlimited access transit pass programs and policies for denser, mixed-use urban infill development as an alternative to sprawl.

Dr. Toor previously served on and chaired the Denver Regional Council of Governments. He was appointed by Governor Bill Ritter to the state Transportation Funding and Implementation blue ribbon panel, the Governor’s Climate Action Panel and the Regional Air Quality Council. He was appointed by Governor John Hickenlooper to the Air Quality Control Commission and the state oil and gas taskforce. Dr. Toor spent 12 years as Director of the University of Colorado Environmental Center, where he developed campus sustainability programs in the areas of solid waste, building energy use and transportation planning.

He holds a B.S. in Physics from Carnegie Mellon University and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago.

Yacov Shamash

Advanced Energy Center (AERTC)
Vice Chairman

Yacov A. Shamash is a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Stony Brook University, where he was the founder of the New York State Center for Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology and the New York State Center for Excellence in Advanced Energy Research and Technology (AERTC). He has previously served as the Vice President for Economic Development (2000-2019), the Dean of Engineering and Applied Sciences (1992-2015) and the Dean of the Harriman School for Management and Policy (1996-2004).

Prior to joining Stony Brook University, Dr. Shamash developed and directed the National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for the Design of Analog/Digital Integrated Circuits and also served as Director of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Washington State University. He serves on the Board of Directors of Comtech Telecommunications Corp., KeyTronic Corp. and Applied DNA Sciences, Inc.

Dr. Shamash holds the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, England.

Yann Kulp

eIQ Mobility, a NextEra Energy Resources Company
Co-Founder & Head of Business Development

Yann Kulp is the Head of Business Development & Co-Founder of eIQ Mobility, the leader in fleet electrification advisory services in North America. eIQ Mobility was acquired by NextEra Energy in 2020. eIQ Mobility clients include Fortune 500 utilities, OEMs, school districts, universities and major public fleets. To date, they’ve worked with over 120,000 light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles across the U.S.

Mr. Kulp is the former Head of North America e-Mobility strategy for Schneider Electric, and was a key architect of its global strategy. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Kulp led an internal startup at Schneider Electric to develop an IoT smart-thermostat business.

He received his MBA at the Syracuse University Graduate School of Management and lives in Chicago.

Zac Lowe

Southern Company Gas
Director

Zac Lowe is a Director at Southern Company Gas and has been with the company for over 6 1/2 years. He is responsible for the research and development (R&D) group that focuses on hydrogen, among other operational and environmental areas.

Mr. Lowe has experience in asset integrity management, risk management and compliance. He has previously held roles in the private and public sectors and has an educational background in engineering.