Fortnightly Under Forty

Entire companies shifting to remote work marked the mad scramble at the start of the pandemic. Yes, we worked from home prior, but not to such an extent. The pandemic didn't stop these luminaries from the energy and utilities space from innovating in all types of technologies. Ninety individuals sprang into action, creating new tools or strategies to better serve their colleagues and communities.

This year, PUF is celebrating these ninety Under Forties. These nominees represent thirty-eight industry organizations from three countries. From Milan, we have ENGIE Italia. In the north, we have Newfoundland Power and the Ontario Energy Board. In the United States, we've got coast to coast representation. From Sempra Energy in the west to Con Edison in the northeast. From Hawaiian Electric out in the Pacific to H-MV Engineers in the southeast.

These stars hail from eleven investor-owned utilities like Ameren, Southern Company, and Xcel Energy and from three public power utilities, American Municipal Power, CPS Energy, and the New York Power Authority. We have nominees representing three rural electric cooperatives, BARC Electric, GreyStone Power Corporation, and Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperatives, and seven associations or alliances like the American Public Power Association, the Edison Electric Institute, and the Electric Power Research Institute. They're from four Canadian utility regulators like the Alberta Utilities Commission and the British Columbia Utilities Commission. Yet others are from a variety of ten professional firms, vendors, and industry organizations. These include Burns & McDonnell, Dentons, and Energy Impact Partners. Next year, we're hoping to have more representatives from our regulatory community in the United States. We know there are plenty of stellar professionals at the Commissions and at the Consumer Advocates.

Of the ninety nominees, we selected fourteen to highlight. These fourteen individuals showcase the dedication to continuous improvement and impressive accomplishments that our industry can continue to expect in the next decade. The inspiring stories of Shivani Sidhar from Sempra Energy, Devin James from the Edison Electric Institute, Jace Carlock from Entergy, John Siefert from Electric Power Research Institute, Amanda Olson from Burns & McDonnell, Ali Mohammed from the New York Power Authority, Justin Segall from Uplight, Brandon Pixley from CPS Energy, Stephanie Crawford from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Kristjana Kellgren from the Alberta Utilities Commission, Flavia Lenzi from ENGIE Italia, Patrick Wruck from the British Columbia Utilities Commission, Müge Özerten from Hitachi ABB Power Grids, and Aki Marceau from Hawaiian Electric are shared in the conversations that follow. Many of these dynamic professionals already direct diverse and innovative groups within their organizations.

Kristjana Kellgren, Alberta Utilities Commission, Executive Director - Rates Division, helps lead AUC's largest functional group, providing expert advice to Commission members. In the past year, she has led the efficiency agenda to establish Alberta's regulatory system as one of the most efficient in North America. She has enabled junior contributors to partner with senior staff through her team approach to managing applications. She volunteers with a number of organizations, contributing her time to the Canadian provincial regulators association CAMPUT and teaching administrative law at the University of Alberta Law School.

Olex Vasetsky, Alberta Utilities Commission, Director - Electric and Gas Distribution, has led and contributed to the AUC's adoption and continuation of performance-based regulation for distribution facility owners in Alberta. He also led a recent distribution system inquiry, publishing a detailed report identifying opportunities to develop smarter, more flexible distribution systems. He currently leads an external facing assessment of the AUC's experience with performance-based regulation to determine if a further phase should be adopted and how it could be further improved upon.

Brianna Colstad, Alliant Energy, Manager of Customer Quality, started her company career as a business performance consultant in 2008. Since then, she has taken on a series of roles focused on improving customer interactions. In her current role, she works with her Customer Experience Team to provide an optimal online experience for customers using smart phones, tablets, or home computers to monitor their energy use and outage restoration times and more.

Connie Maluwelmeng, Alliant Energy, Team Lead of Delivery System Planning, was first hired full-time four years ago as a Planning Engineer. In her currently role, she is involved with creating long-term plans for distribution systems, integrating new technology to reduce customer costs and improve service quality.

Bekki Watkins, Alliant Energy, Lead Distribution Systems Operation Engineer, started her company career as a Senior Protection Engineer in 2016. Since then, she has progressed to her current role where she is at the forefront of Advanced Distribution Management System integration. She works to implement this new system and capture operational efficiencies, advanced control, and system visualization. 

Monet Maxwell, Alliant Energy, Maintenance Manager, started her career as a plant engineer at the Edgewater Generating Station in 2015. For the last six years, she has served as maintenance manager at a flagship combined-cycle natural gas generating station. She is responsible for planning, directing, and implementing all assigned maintenance activities safely with a focus on continuous improvement.

Kendall McFarland, Alliant Energy, Project Manager, started his career at his company as a Senior Engineer in 2010. For nearly three years, he has served as a project manager, helping lead teams taking on new initiatives and company firsts. He recently led his team, alongside subject matter experts, to execute Alliant Energy's microgrid project in Sauk City. Due to his efforts, the area is now powered entirely by renewable energy.

Marty Mensen, Alliant Energy, Director of Operations, started with his company as a Field Engineering Specialist in 2011. After a series of promotions, he assumed his current position in 2019. He directs all regional management of natural gas and electric distribution systems and solar, wind, and coal-fired generation operations.

Patrick Brown, Ameren, Manager - Community Development, and his team work to strengthen relationships between public utilities and local government or community leaders. Early in his career, he served two St. Louis City mayoral administrations, as Chief of Staff, Chief Resilience Officer, or Senior Policy Advisor. He joined Ameren Missouri in 2019 with the goal of building stronger bridges between local government and critical infrastructure. Currently, Patrick and his team work alongside municipal leaders to support expanding infrastructure, local upgrades, and division operations.

Craig Kleinhenz, American Municipal Power, Director of Power Supply Planning, has been committed to the power supply industry for over fifteen years. He began his career with AMP as a Power Dispatcher in the energy control center. He later joined the Power Supply Planning group as a Power Supply Engineer, advancing to the Manager of Power Supply Planning after just three years in this role. He has led the AMP Power Supply Planning Group since 2017. 

Brandon Poddany, American Municipal Power, AMI Program Manager, is responsible for deploying over fifteen million in equipment and nearly one hundred thousand meters in over eleven municipalities. He has led or participated in deploying advanced metering systems in Ephrata, PA, Milford, DE, Seaford, DE, Middletown, DE, Carey, OH, Hatfield, PA, Painesville, OH, and Richland, WA. He has also developed reporting and analytics for SCADA, Generation, and advanced metering data. He currently oversees system design and project management for the advanced metering infrastructure program.

Jared Price, American Municipal Power, Vice President and CTO, has played a key role in creating AMP's advanced metering and technology in the last decade. He led development of cybersecurity programs, both internal and across all public power through Hometown Connections, Inc. He also led the implementation of a new SCADA system, replacing a core system that was nearly twenty-five years old.

LeAnne Sinclair, American Public Power Association, Director of Customer Programs, has worked to provide services to over two thousand not-for-profit, community-owned public power utilities throughout her seventeen years with APPA. She develops strategic and policy materials to provide input and direction on policy initiatives as a subject matter expert. She is also author of two APPA publications on the value of public power. During the recent pandemic, she enabled her organization to provide valuable resources and engage members through implemention of virtual programs. She is currently involved in the transition to, and integration of, a new association management system.

Shay McMullen, BARC Electric, Line Crew Foreman, has advanced from a groundman to a foreman, leading a crew within five years of beginning his career with the cooperative. After just eight months in a groundman position, he became a lineman apprentice. While working daily, he completed his education and was later promoted to a journeyman lineman. After being in this role for only a year, he secured another promotion to line crew foreman.

Randall Roberts, BARC Electric, Staking Engineer II, has ensured business continuity for the electric system and expansion of broadband services in his community for the last seven years. He and his colleagues in operations and IT implemented an electronic outage management system that better manages operations and crew deployment for restoration efforts. He also walked and collected data for the first one-hundred miles during the first phase of the cooperative's broadband project. He currently leads outage tracking and restoration activities during widespread outages of BARC's electric system.

Rob Booth, Biren Patel Engineering, LLC, Director of Protection and Control Engineering, has built an elite protection and control team of detail-oriented subject matter experts. In the last two years, he has increased their engineering work from zero to three million dollars per year. He continues to grow his team of engineers and create scalable training programs for his project managers. He currently leads his team in engineering some of the largest utility projects in the Southeast, where 230 kV five-position ring-buses are common-place.

Jayson Mathis, Biren Patel Engineering, LLC, Director of Physical Engineering, has led his team virtually since before the pandemic. An early adopter of the work-from-home model, he has utilized his organizational and communication skills to enable his entire team to work from home since the team's founding. His ability to foster team relationships and trust remotely allows him to enable collaboration in different time zones with the same results as a traditional office. He and his team plan to continue growing an international work-from-home team at an accelerated pace.

CJ Berg, Black and Veatch Management Consulting, LLC, Consultant, focuses exclusively on the energy sector, executing projects in strategic advisory. He has developed solutions in grid modernization, integrated system planning, and transportation electrification. Berg has also helped to shape prospective U.S. Senate legislation by building an economic cost model for transitioning completely to electric or hydrogen power vehicles by 2040. He recently led analysis for regional stakeholders to identify obstacles to achieving vehicle electrification goals. He also performed the current state assessment to develop a regional baseline.

Felise Man, Black and Veatch Management Consulting, LLC, Project Manager, informs solutions and develops strategies for renewable generation, energy efficiency, and transportation electrification. Her past experience includes energy storage and demand-side management strategy, new utility business models, and much more. Man has contributed to the development and planning of over six hundred megawatts of solar generation and the reduction of seven hundred thousand metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency initiatives. She also develops strategies for fleet and property owners to evaluate and plan for low-carbon transportation options.

Ian Homer, British Columbia Utilities Commission, Manager of Compliance, Mandatory Reliability Standards, and Energy Supply, started with the BCUC as a Compliance Analyst in 2012 and was later promoted to acting Director of Compliance in 2013. He also served as Senior Compliance Analyst before assuming his current position in 2018. Homer led the redevelopment of the complaints-handling process and the integration of the Commission's Complaints and Customer Choice teams. He currently supervises adherence to Mandatory Reliability Standards and supports a team overseeing compliance functions.

Krissy Van Loon, British Columbia Utilities Commission, Communications Manager, joined the BCUC as a Communications Specialist in 2018 and was later promoted to Communications Manager in 2019. She spearheaded planning for the BCUC's first press conference and developed a website to share fuel data reports with the public. She also played a key role in the BCUC's engagement for the Indigenous Utilities Regulation Inquiry. Internally, Van Loon has initiated virtual town hall meetings and recently launched the BCUC Newsletter. She currently leads a team executing social media strategy, corporate branding guidelines, and policy, among other strategic communications.

Patrick Wruck, British Columbia Utilities Commission, Commission Secretary, started with the BCUC as a Customer Service Specialist in 2012. He was later promoted to Manager of Information Services in 2016, where he led a team supporting regulatory staff with administrative services. He also served on a management team that implemented the BCUC's transition to a matrixed structure, to better serve multi-functional teams. Later in 2016, he was appointed Commission Secretary and Manager of Regulatory Services. Wruck currently leads a team supporting regulatory proceedings, maintaining records, and assisting process engagement.

Sheena Zyp, British Columbia Utilities Commission, Manager - Human Resources and Procurement Administrator, started her career with the BCUC as a Financial and Contract Administrative Assistant in 2011. She was promoted to acting Manager of Human Resources in 2016 and to her current role shortly after. She led the BCUC's external Information Technology consultant's contract from creation to negotiation, also creating an internal framework for contracts. Internally, she also leads the employee engagement survey and compensation projects.

Adam Bernardi, Burns & McDonnell, Business Development Manager, comes from a previous role working at one of the largest Independent Power Producers in the U.S. He played an integral role in securing one of the largest energy storage projects in California, in which Burns & McDonnell is currently serving as the engineer-procure-construct (EPC) contractor. He also led commercial negotiations from beginning to end on one of the firm's first direct-hire EPC solar projects. He specializes in renewable projects and project development.

Amanda Olson, Burns & McDonnell, Engineering Director, is a member on the editorial board of CIGRÉ's ELECTRA magazine and a founding member of CIGRÉ's Next Generation Network, of which she is also executive chair. In 2020, she was one of five international recipients of the NGN Significant Contributor Award. She also serves as the U.S. Chair of CIGRÉ's Women in Engineering committee. As Transmission & Distribution Sustainability lead for Burns & McDonnell, she built a team for researching market direction and also developed and orchestrated the first Burns & McDonnell T&D Technical Symposium. She currently serves as engineering director for the Transmission & Distribution Group. 

Meagan Moeller, Burns & McDonnell, Quality Assurance Manager, joined the firm in 2008 as an engineer in the overhead transmission group, later becoming an assistant department manager. For the last several years, she has run the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System, leading client-focused process improvement and building structure aimed at understanding client needs and responding quickly to industry trends.

Sarah Darmitzel, Burns & McDonnell, Associate Structural Engineer, has worked on power generation and gas-processing facilities for nearly fifteen years. She is an accredited Envision Sustainability professional and a licensed engineer in three states and two Canadian provinces. She is also a current member of the Construction Industry Institute's Power, Utilities and Infrastructure Sector Committee. Darmitzel served as lead structural engineer for award-winning projects at the Denton Energy Center and the Upper Michigan Energy Resources' Kuester & Mihm Generating Stations.

Joey Mashek, Burns & McDonnell, Business Development Manager and the Gas Generation Business Unit Manager, is the creator of the biweekly Energy On-Demand Webinar series. Last year, he played a critical role in helping his firm achieve a record-setting year in sales and successfully negotiated their award of an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for three thousand five hundred megawatts of the five thousand four hundred megawatts bid in 2020. He can frequently be found on industry publication podcasts and bylined articles with key industry publications, including Public Utilities Fortnightly.

Travis Bouslog, 1898 & Co., Director, is the co-founder and co-creator of Burns & McDonnell's internal, multi-phased innovation program, Ignite. Since Ignite's launch in 2016, the program has amassed over one thousand participants, received over five hundred submissions, and completed over one hundred detailed business cases. Ignite has also invested in more than ten innovations, generating millions in new revenue and cost savings. Externally, he oversees Burns & McDonnell's investments in energy-focused venture capital funds. He and his team create and incubate new services or product offerings to enhance or extend 1898's service offerings across markets in energy, oil and gas, water, transportation, and aviation.

Lauren Faber O'Connor, City of Los Angeles, Chief Sustainability Officer, envisioned and managed a comprehensive study on the city's transition to one hundred percent clean energy. In this project, she led the nation's largest municipal utility, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, to ensure organized collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, stakeholders across Los Angeles, and energy regulators across the state. She has managed Los Angeles's Green New Deal and Mayor Eric Garcetti's efforts as Chair of C40.

Patricia Hong Tillman, Con Edison, Project Manager - Real Estate, has worked in several positions within Treasury Operations, Emergency Preparedness, Facilities Management, and Real Estate over the last sixteen years. She is currently responsible for Con Edison's work management and space management systems, ensuring they are maintained, upgraded, and provide expected user experiences. She also leads the corporate re-Entry team, responsible for creating and coordinating the company's re-entry plans internally at all levels and externally in the national electric sector.

Damei Jack, Con Edison, Non-Pipeline Solutions – Section Manager, Energy Efficiency & Demand Management, has held various roles at Con Edison, including Program Manager and Strategy Manager in Non-Wire Alternative, as well as a Product Owner - Digital Factory. She previously served on the team that launched the Brooklyn/Queens Demand Management program, the first Non-Wire Alternative program in the country and the largest to date. She was main author on Con Edison's initial competitive solicitations, as well as lead on Distributed Generation contracts. Currently, Jack leads a group focused on developing and implementing non-pipeline alternatives to reduce usage of fossil fuels.

Michael A. Salerno, Con Edison, Design Operations Lead - DCX, leads a cross-functional team to create the best possible digital platform for customers. Since Con Edison's new website launched in 2016, his contributions have brought about a significant increase in online payments and monthly mobile sessions. His team also received Webby Honors for Best User Interface in 2018 and Best Visual Design in 2019. Salerno was also part of a core group that developed a three-year digital strategy plan and roadmap to prioritize feature development and improve customer engagement. He currently oversees multiple ongoing efforts in the areas of user experience, content strategy, and digital strategy.

Brandon Pixley, CPS Energy, Director - Threat Intelligence & Security Awareness, formulated the first Cybersecurity Governance Committee to provide senior chiefs with a quarterly briefing on all cybersecurity measures. He also created the first Data Security Addendum to be used in their master services contracts. Pixley later became Director of Threat Intelligence and Security Awareness, where he managed gathering, understanding, and disseminating cyber threat intelligence. His program won the 2020 CSO50 award for best cybersecurity awareness program. During his three years as a director, he has led the Large Public Power Counsel's Cybersecurity Task Force to develop white papers on cybersecurity operations centers for utilities.

Justin J. Mirabal, Dentons, Senior Managing Associate, previously advised energy industry clients in the private sector and government service as a Trial Attorney at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. As an energy law practitioner, he advocated on behalf of the public interest in an array of cases touching on the Federal Power Act, the Natural Gas Act, and the Interstate Commerce Act. Over the last year, Mirabal has assisted in ratemaking matters involving stated and formula rates, interconnection disputes, exit charge methodology, tariff overhauls, and compliance filings. He provides counsel to public utilities, rural electric cooperatives, municipal entities, and renewable energy suppliers.

Kaitlin Brennan, Edison Electric Institute, Director - Cyber and Infrastructure Security, currently manages the Cyber Mutual Assistance program as a member of the Cyber and Infrastructure Security team. She has also worked on developing and deploying the Culture of Security initiative, supporting EEI member companies to protect their personnel, assets, and operations from security threats. She serves on the Global Information Assurance Certification Advisory Board.

Michael Buckley, Edison Electric Institute, Director - Financial Analysis, oversees EEI's industry financial data sets and related publications, including the annual Financial Review. He plays a lead role in EEI's Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) and Sustainability initiative and served as the primary collaborator in creating an industry-wide ESG reporting template for investor-owned electric companies. He currently leads efforts to expand the tracking of industry capital expenditures. During the past year, Buckley has led industry efforts to quantify the increased customer debt due to the pandemic. He also is a leader of the industry's effort to address energy storage safety issues.

Vanessa Ferrero, Edison Electric Institute, Manager - International Programs, creates opportunities for members to learn from one another and share best practices through technical webinars, regional briefing calls, and other events. Since the start of the pandemic, she has organized and supported more than thirty virtual events on various industry topics with over three thousand combined registrants. She prepared EEI's 5th Annual Global Electrification Forum and led the event's transition to a virtual format. She also serves as 2021 co-chair for EEI's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council.

Devin James, Edison Electric Institute, Director of Investor Relations - Finance & ESG, joined EEI more than four years ago with a background working in the capital markets. She leads several important initiatives at EEI, including EEI's Securities and Exchange Commission regulatory work and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) issues. She is currently leading the industry conversation on expanding EEI's ESG Reporting Template to include disclosure for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion issues. She recently moderated EEI's Annual State of the Industry Address to Wall Street.

Kellen Schefter, Edison Electric Institute, Director - Electric Transportation, leads cross-industry coordination to advance transportation electrification. In his current position, he advocates for policies and regulations that accelerate electric transportation at the federal and state levels. He also facilitates collaboration between electric companies and vehicle manufacturers, corporate customers, military customers, and charging infrastructure providers. He presently leads the CEO task force on electric transportation.

Alex Bond, Edison Electric Institute, Deputy General Counsel, Climate & Clean Energy, leads teams that engage with federal regulators and legislators on a range of issues. He also serves as the regulatory lead for EEI's transportation electrification efforts and directs EEI's engagement in litigation concerning zero-emissions vehicles and charging infrastructure. Last year, he built a multi-trade association coalition to support the retention of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and designed a strategy for creating a new, separate Nationwide Permit for transmission infrastructure.

Matt McCurdy, Entergy Mississippi, LLC, Manager - Power Plant, was hired as a chemistry and environmental specialist in 2012 and progressed to plant manager in under seven years. In 2016, he was involved in integrating the Union Power Station in Eldorado, AR, as the primary Entergy contact for all business-support functions. He was also instrumental in familiarizing employees of the previous owners into Entergy protocols. Under his leadership, the Attala Plant in Kosciusko, Mississippi improved its operational-excellence index performance by almost ninety-two percentage points within his first eleven months of assuming the role of manager in 2019.

Alissa Burger, Electrification Coalition, Policy Manager, has participated in state-level policy efforts for the last decade. She served with an on-bill financing working group run by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to help utilities work better with cities as a part of the Department Of Energy Better Buildings Data Accelerator. In Pennsylvania, she also led a working group on the electrification of the medium- and heavy-duty sectors and the transportation work of the environmental advocates collaborative. Burger has also worked on, and filed comments with, the California Energy Commission and California Public Utilities Commission to improve energy efficiency and integrated resource planning.

Maria Woodman, Energy Impact Partners, Vice President of Innovation & Commercialization, works with utility investors and innovative startups to help rapidly scale up new technologies and business models in the industry. Her focus areas include transport and industry electrification, enterprise data and analytics technologies, and more. She recently supported the launch of a new product to help utilities forecast demand for public electric vehicle charging and site infrastructure. She is also advancing diversity and inclusion in the industry by supporting the launch of the company's new investment initiative targeted toward underrepresented founders.

Flavia Lenzi, ENGIE Italia, Head of Marketing and Home Energy Solutions Marketing Manager, has been a part of the industry for ten years. In the initiative to lead the zero-carbon transition, Lenzi and her team launched a new tool, the personal carbon footprint calculator. Her team's tool helps to develop customer awareness and provide personalized actions and offers to help reduce individual carbon dioxide production.

Adam Effrein, Entergy Arkansas, LLC, Senior Manager - Operations & Safety, has more than fourteen years of utility experience. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he served as functional lead for the entire distribution operations organization, leading response efforts to ensure business continuity and developing dual threat plans for emergency response during major restoration events. He serves as deputy incident commander in Arkansas, executive chair of the Arkansas Energy Workforce Consortium, and president of the Arkansas 811 board of directors. He currently oversees the overhead and underground contract workforce, as well as a variety of support groups.

Taylor Edgens, Entergy Louisiana, Senior Grid Manager, has led the consolidation of the Louisiana Distribution Control Centers, reducing switching errors to almost zero and decreasing the number of outages greater than two hundred thousand customers minutes by forty-five percent. He oversaw the design and initial stages of an extensive renovation process to modernize the Entergy Louisiana control center. He also directed meter services resources through the advanced meter infrastructure deployment. Edgens is currently responsible for operation of nearly two hundred thirty substations, serving over four hundred ten thousand customers from Baton Rouge to the Texas state line.

Jesse Guy, Entergy Louisiana, LLC, Vegetation Operations Coordinator, has served as an operations coordinator in Distribution Vegetation Management since April 2018. He engages with and updates internal customers in Entergy Louisiana's South Region on all projects. He also works to maximize efficiency and performance through new technologies in the vegetation management industry. Guy recently served as a "GridMod Champion" to support grid modernization system implementation. Under his direction, crews in Lake Charles were able to productively contribute to restoration efforts after Hurricane Laura without any safety incidents.

Randy Vaughan, Entergy Mississippi, LLC, Senior Manager - Engineering, has led technology innovation for the re-design of the company's distribution operations center. Vaughan recently developed a data scrubbing program to improve reliability reporting and several employee programs, including an annual engineering conference, regular safety stand-downs, and organizational health initiatives. His leadership during Hurricane Harvey led to the development of the company's distribution operations center evacuation procedure. The procedure was later successfully activated during Hurricane Laura. Vaughan currently leads Entergy Mississippi's engineering teams.

Corey Wyble, Entergy, Operations Team Lead, plays a major role in operating the Entergy Texas, Inc.'s Sabine Plant. He has spearheaded key operational performance enhancements that have improved communication among shifts and departments. Wyble also leads the plant's training team. He is a current member of the Lamar State College Orange Industrial/Process Technology Advisory Committee. 

Kelly Bauman, Entergy Services, LLC, Manager - Distribution Protection & Controls, has been an employee at Entergy for six years, with a total of eight years experience in the utility industry. He was instrumental in building the business case to fund and execute Entergy's grid modernization distribution automation effort through the deployment of a communications system and smart field devices. He has also led the development of the company's recently completed distribution automation and renewable technologies lab in New Orleans. 

William Phillips, Entergy Services, LLC, Manager - AMI Implementation, has assumed a variety of posts including multiple engineering, planning, operations, supervision, and project management roles. For three years, he has led a project management team responsible for the overall implementation of the new advanced metering systems at Entergy. Due to his leadership, all of Entergy's advanced metering system development and implementation will be complete and in-service by mid-2021.

Jace Carlock, Entergy Texas, Manager - Distribution Reliability, started his engineering career in oil and gas in 2015, holding several roles before joining Entergy in 2019. Carlock also has military work experience in the Army National Guard and the Navy National Guard, where he has been in several roles over the past twelve years. He currently manages reliability for the distribution engineering organization. 

John Siefert, Electric Power Research Institute, Program Manager - Materials and Repair, is a subject matter expert in welding and material properties for many steel and alloy based materials. He has led projects and research around dissimilar metal welding, Grade 91 welding and repair, and weld repairs for creep strength enhanced ferritic steels. He is also a research leader on materials and welding for the power industry. He has received two industry awards: the AWS W. H. Hobart Memorial Award and the Professor Koichi Masubuchi Award.

Craig Stover, Electric Power Research Institute, Program Manager - Advanced Nuclear Technology, has set strategy for advanced nuclear technology programs and led executive-level industry discussions on the future of advanced reactors. His efforts led to the Department of Energy funded manufacture of a two-thirds scale reactor pressure vessel for a NuScale reactor. He was also part of a team working with Exelon to implement the EPRI's thermal performance troubleshooting software at three nuclear units, resulting in a fleetwide savings of ten million dollars per year.

Ben York, Electric Power Research Institute, Senior Project Manager - DER Integration, is one of the original authors of EPRI's Integrated Grid concept. He has led multiple demonstrations including distributed solar, storage, demand response, microgrids, electric transportation, and control systems. He also guides ongoing research and technical discussion around inverter behavior, power quality, and distribution system grounding. York led all aspects of Tucson Electric's "Project RAIN," which serves as a blueprint for utilizing open standards to simultaneously optimize the value of multiple distributed energy resources technologies. He currently leads EPRI's ongoing efforts demonstrating distributed energy resources technologies.

Michael Goldman, Eversource, Director - Energy Efficiency Regulatory, Planning, Support, and Evaluation, has supported and led the development of Eversource's energy efficiency and distributed energy resource programs over the last eight years. He also worked to develop Eversource's ConnectedSolutions demand response and storage program. Goldman currently leads a staff focused on evaluating new technologies and business models. Their focus emphasizes leveraging distributed energy resources for novel use cases beyond traditional demand response to maximize carbon reductions and grid benefits. He is a frequent contributor to conferences and articles on distributed energy resources and their impact on the evolving grid, with over fifty publications and conference proceedings to his name.

Adam Elrod, GreyStone Power Corporation, Brand Strategist, produces the GreyStone Minute video blog and GreyStone's monthly podcast, which he also hosts. As brand strategist, he works with interdepartmental teams on projects targeting improvements in member satisfaction. He is known nationally for managing GreyStone's customer satisfaction, with results measured through surveys like J.D. Power. Elrod has improved proactive communications for planned outages and special projects, such as a large-scale LED lighting change-out project. He currently works with a team developing strategies for improving reliability.

Alfredo Romero, H-MV Engineers, Orlando, FL, Managing Director, planted the first Florida-based operations for H-MV Engineers. In three years, he has helped it grow to a five million dollar a year business, serving engineering needs for large Southeastern utilities and their suppliers. He works directly with South American partners enabling an effective cross-continental partnership. Romero currently leads a team of over forty engineers and their projects.

Jeremy Kwock, Hawaiian Electric, Manager - Pricing, leads the development of rate design and administration of cost recovery for Hawaiian Electric. In 2020, he led the development of proposed new rate designs that sought to broadly introduce time-of-use rates to all customer classes. He currently develops new rates that respond to Hawaii's state requirement for one hundred percent renewable energy by 2045. His response considers Hawaii's abundance of solar energy, non-interconnected island grids, and legacy utility generation powered by imported oil.

Aki Marceau, Hawaiian Electric, Director - Electrification of Transportation, oversees strategy, design and deployment of electric vehicle infrastructure to support green transportation across the company's five-island service territory. She and her team recently led initiatives to apply for expansion of Hawaiian Electric's public charging pilot program, propose EV-specific rates that would mirror time-of-use rates, and seek regulatory approval of the eBus Make-Ready Infrastructure Pilot Project.

Zachary Anderson, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, Development Manager and Software Architect, R&D, Network Control, joined Hitachi ABB Power Grids in 2010, working as a solution architect and lead engineer for Advanced Distribution Management System implementations. He was responsible for system design and architecture as well as performance validation, ensuring that mission-critical systems served tens of millions of end customers. He currently drives development of next-generation distribution, transmission, and generation control systems.

Jason Hoellering, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, Health, Safety, Security and Environment Manager - North America Transformer Business, manages the Health, Safety, Security, & Environment functions within seven factories and numerous office locations. He has put processes in place to ensure consistency across multiple factories and locations throughout North America. One of these factories was even certified by the state of Tennessee as a healthy business.

Jon Jaeger, Hitachi ABB Power Grids – Grid Automation, Senior Systems Engineer, works to integrate renewable energy sources in a wide range of locations, from small indigenous communities in Alaska to islands in the Caribbean Sea. He has been instrumental in the refinement and adaptation of product offerings to meet the market's technical demands and financial requirements.

Leah Kaffine, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, Principal Technical Consultant, possesses a strong technical background rooted in quantitative analytics as well as software development. Her work optimizes everything from energy trading portfolios to natural gas co-optimization with electricity. She has recently worked to develop better grid models and forecasts that incorporate more renewable electricity generators.

Xuetao Meng, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, Senior Business Consultant - Network Manager, ADMS Business Applications Services Team, has been a leader in advanced distribution management systems (ADMS) implementations for the last seven years. He currently works in a variety of projects, including ADMS operator training, ADMS advanced application configuration and tuning, Order Management System application configuration, and more.

Xuetao Meng, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, Senior Business Consultant - Network Manager, ADMS Business Applications Services Team, has been a leader in advanced distribution management systems (ADMS) implementations for the last seven years. He currently works in a variety of projects, including ADMS operator training, ADMS advanced application configuration and tuning, Order Management System application configuration, and more.

Deepak Menon, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, Purchasing Manager - Transformers North America, is responsible for the procurement and inventory management of a high volume transformer manufacturing business. He manages over twenty thousand components from more than five hundred suppliers. Menon's collaboration and leadership have led to an eighteen percent reduction in raw inventory while stabilizing and improving material availability by sixteen percent. During the global COVID-19 pandemic, his leadership allowed the transformer manufacturing facility to run at one hundred percent capacity throughout the year, despite significant supplier disruptions.

Bharadwaj Vasudevan, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, North American Grid Automation Business, North Eastern US Regional Technical Sales Engineer, has been a key contributor in the enablement of Smart Digital Substations. His skills span several areas, including complex power system applications, substation primary asset and equipment protection, and more. His expertise provides a foundation for grid modernization, revitalizing the utility infrastructure and improving worker safety, system reliability, and lifecycle cost advantages.

Müge �-zerten, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, Global Product Manager, and her team work to support overall business strategy and differentiate Hitachi ABB Power Grids from other transformer manufacturers. She was instrumental in the development and commercialization of digital transformer products like the world's first digital distribution transformer.

Stefano Cervidi, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, Marketing & Sales Manager, has been with the company since 2011 and took on his current role in July of 2019. He currently leads a team within the company's High Voltage Products business unit, supporting more than one thousand utility customers across the United States and globally.

Cintia Nazima, Moody's Investors Service, Associate Lead Analyst, joined the Global Project and Infrastructure Finance team in 2019. Her portfolio of work includes toll roads, airports, and power projects in the U.S. and Latin America. She authors leading research projects such as cyber risk and disruptive technologies. Her cyber report on global electric utilities was the first report of a global survey from one hundred fifteen global utilities issuers. She later published similar reports on North American banks and global insurance companies.

Gustavo Bistaffa, Hitachi ABB Power Grids – Grid Automation, Senior Protection & Control Engineer, leads digital substation transformations across North America in utilities, data centers, industrial, and rail transit systems. He works to increase safety, improve grid reliability, and reduce overall cost of ownership. Bistaffa currently works upgrading aging power infrastructure to accelerate the transition to digital technologies.

Michael Hinde, Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative, Energy Specialist and Product/Program Development, focuses on residential energy sales, providing members with options for efficient electric water heating, heating, or cooling in their homes. He spearheaded the cooperative's electric vehicle program. He also worked with the cooperative's WiFi thermostat program to increase program participation twenty-three percent in 2020. Due to Hinde's efforts, the cooperative's Energy Wise programs also increased twenty-four percent in the same year.

Stephanie Crawford, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Senior Regulatory Manager, led the development of NRECA's position on the Department of Energy's implementation of the Executive Order on Securing the Bulk Power System. She has more recently led work on emerging environmental justice issues under the Biden Administration. She currently provides regulatory leadership and advocacy responsibility for Distributed Energy Resources issues.

Ali Mohammed, New York Power Authority, Senior Director - Digital Innovation & Transformation Office, oversees a portfolio with a total estimated value of approximately three billion dollars. He leads multiple digital initiatives, including the Communications Backbone Program and Wireless Backbone Program. He is also a founding member and chairman of the founding board for the Utility Broadband Alliance. Mohammed currently manages a group focused on implementing innovative technologies through Research & Development, Digital Workforce, NYPA's Digital Transformation Office, and the AGILe Lab.

Eric Pedersen, New York Power Authority, Director - Portfolio Management, has been involved in a number of projects focusing on both NYPA/customer relationships and process improvement. His team has led the project management group and the return to construction, re-forecasting all of NYPA's generation, transmission and other construction projects. His team also performs cost reforecasts and schedule re-baselining for the entire organization.

Vennela Yadhati, New York Power Authority, Manager - Distributed Energy Resources Advisory, Customer Business Development, recently launched an over six megawatt community solar portfolio installation in the City of White Plains, tripling solar energy production in Westchester County. She also helped build a first of its kind, aggregated renewable energy portfolio for thirty-four municipalities and school districts across Westchester County. Yadhati currently manages around three hundred megawatts of solar and energy storage projects for multiple NYPA customers in the downstate area.

Keith Barrett, Newfoundland Power, Manager of Energy Conservation, has been in the energy industry for fourteen years. He leads the takeCHARGE team, a joint initiative between Newfoundland Power and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro to transform one third of the province's vehicles to electric by 2034. His team has created standard practices for cost-effectiveness testing for electrification. His team also ensures electrification efforts are providing direct savings and quantifiable rate mitigating benefits to all customers.

Valerie Bennett, Ontario Energy Board, Manager - Application Policy and Conservation, leads the conservation team at the largest energy regulator in Canada. She supervises the review of applications from natural gas and electricity utilities related to conservation and demand management activities. She is also the lead on major studies and policy development. Bennett leads the development of Natural Gas Achievable Potential studies. She led the establishment of the OEB's annual demand-side management evaluation, measurement, and verification process and continues to oversee its operation. 

Alex Share, Ontario Energy Board, Manager - Incentive Rate-setting and Regulatory Accounting, leads the regulatory accounting team at the largest energy regulator in Canada. He supervises review of accounting and corporate tax functions of rate applications, capital project proposals, and mergers and acquisitions for natural gas and electricity utilities. He currently leads the OEB's review of scope and mechanics for a deferral account established to capture impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rate regulated utilities. Share also works to transition rate regulated utilities away from spreadsheet models to a more modern online application format for their more mechanistic applications.

Jardon Jaramillo, Portland General Electric, Senior Director of Treasury - Investor Relations & Risk Management, is a leader at the intersection of Portland General Electric's accounting, finance, investor relations and risk management teams. He was instrumental in reimagining Portland General Electric's competitive HR benefits package and pension fund. He currently oversees the company's IR and risk management portfolio in service to shareholders, investors, employees, and customers.

Hélène Barriault, Régie de l'énergie (CAMPUT Member), Regulatory Attorney, has been with the Board for nearly ten years as a Regulatory Attorney. The majority of her work is on the electric side of regulation, involved in rate applications as well as reliability standard cases.

Geneviève Rivard, Régie de l'énergie du Québec, Economic Regulation Specialist, has participated in numerous regulatory files relating to the transmission and distribution of electricity. She was responsible for the analysis of transmission tariffs, investment projects, and more. As a project manager of investment projects and annual reports, Rivard directed multidisciplinary teams while ensuring the progress of files in collaboration with designated panels and management. Her deliverables guide decision making among Commissioners and other internal stakeholders.

Christian Henderson, San Diego Gas & Electric, Manager - Electric Distribution Engineering, leads a team exploring new technologies and developing improvements to the distribution system. He participates in several internal organizations, such as the Safety Committee, Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and Environmental Committee. He is also on the board of research institutes for the National Electric Energy Testing Research Applications Center and Chair for the Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers task force.

Alex Konopka, Portland General Electric, Manager of Vegetation Management, oversees the company's expanded Advanced Wildfire Risk Reduction program. His team partners with local, state, and federal agencies to share best practices and make ongoing improvements to reduce the dangers during each year's wildfire season. He currently manages Portland General Electric's vegetation management portfolio, including the vegetation management and forestry and landscape services departments.

Shivani Sidhar, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Company, Director of Regulatory Affairs, has demonstrable knowledge over a wide range of regulatory matters, giving her a broad perspective as she confronts issues facing the electric and gas utilities in California. She works on policies and programs to help the state meet its energy and climate goals and create solutions to unique challenges.

Erika Schimmel-Guiles, San Diego Gas & Electric, Director - Design & Project Management, and her team are involved in several thousand projects per year, managing new business and municipal conversion work. She leads an organization executing customer-driven distribution work across San Diego County. Schimmel-Guiles also oversees the implementation of robust project controls, dashboards, digitization of tools and processes geared toward an improved customer experience. She recently worked with the City of San Diego on the pro-active undergrounding program to establish a centralized permitting organization and institute virtual training and deliver on capital budgets.

Richard Farinas, Smart Electric Power Alliance, Manager - Research and Industry Strategy, has been the leader behind the Utility Transformation Challenge. He has identified gaps in the utility carbon reduction space and created new analytical approaches to evaluating and benchmarking utility progress toward a carbon-free, modern grid by 2050. He also supports the development of SEPA's Carbon Reduction Tracker, which tracks and analyzes the commitments utilities are making to reduce carbon emissions. Farinas has authored and contributed to a number of research publications aimed at promoting regulatory innovation and new business models at utilities. 

Jared Leader, Smart Electric Power Alliance, Senior Manager - Research and Industry Strategy, has led planning to improve community resilience and deploy microgrids for nearly four years. He recently led the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the U.S. DOE Voices of Experience: Microgrids for Resiliency project. He convened ten virtual workshops with two hundred fifty individual participants representing over fifty utilities. Leader has also helped initiate partnerships with the Maryland Energy Administration, Baltimore Gas and Electric, and the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis to conduct microgrid feasibility studies. He has co-authored a number of publications on microgrids and related topics.

Farris Wallace, Southern Company, General Manager - Inventory and Risk Management, Supply Chain Management, is responsible for implementing strategy to create enterprise value for a one billion five hundred million dollar generation and power delivery inventory program. She leads the development and implementation of Supply Chain's risk management program to support Southern Company's operational excellence, with a focus on financial, regulatory, operational, geopolitical, cyber and reputational issues.

Justin Segall, Uplight, Chief Strategy Officer, served as Co-founder and President of Simple Energy prior to its 2019 merger with Tendril, which formed Uplight. He established the company's impact targets of supporting one hundred million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent abatement to save customers ten billion dollars on their energy bills. His efforts led to Uplight becoming the first privately held B Corporation in the cleantech industry to achieve a greater than one billion dollar valuation. He has also led the company's innovation team, Step Change Labs, overseeing product incubation and creating and executing entry strategy into adjacent markets. See his conversation with PUF on page 34.

Ryan Long, Xcel Energy, Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, has helped obtain approval for nearly two gigawatts of new wind projects, along with another one gigawatt of repowered wind projects in the Upper Midwest since 2017. He also secured the approval for several electric vehicle product offerings in Minnesota, along with Colorado's Transportation Electrification Plan. Long also helped to certify grid modernization investments in Minnesota and acquire approval for Colorado's Wildfire Mitigation Plan. He currently serves as lead regulatory attorney for Xcel Energy nationwide, responsible for all federal and state regulatory jurisdictions.