Stephen Hendrickson

Market Analysis Program Manager

Office of Technology Transitions, U.S. Department of Energy

Stephen Hendrickson is the Market Analysis Program Manager in the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) at the U.S. Department of Energy. OTT serves as the central hub for the technology transfer activities across the Department of Energy. Stephen leads OTT’s market analysis activities to identify opportunities to commercialize DOE-developed technologies. His background includes work at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He has a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Michigan, a Master’s in International Development and Global Political Economy from the University of Pittsburgh, and an MBA from the University of Colorado. His lives in Rockville, Maryland with his wife and three children.

Martin Milani

CEO

Sunverge Energy

As Sunverge’s Chief Executive Officer, Martin is responsible for corporate strategy, drives design and development of Sunverge’s advanced energy platform and leads delivery and operations. He is an industry-recognized thought-leader and expert on energy management systems, cloud and edge computing, Artificial Intelligence, Massive Parallel Systems, IoT, location-transparent distributed systems, Event based systems, Internetworking and SOA with over 20 years of executive and senior level experience in product design, architecture, development, and commercialization spanning the evolution of distributed systems. He joined Sunverge from Nexant where he was General Manager and CTO, responsible for the company's advanced smart grid software platforms. Previous positions include CTO of Tidal Software (acquired by Cisco Systems), CEO, CTO of Intersperse (acquired by Tidal Software), CTO of iBuilding (a smart building intelligent control and orchestration platform acquired by the Carlyle Group) and Chief Internet Strategist and Technologist at Times Mirror Corporation. Before joining Times Mirror, he held senior-level technology, consulting, and distributed system architect positions at Wells Fargo, IBM, Retix, and Locus computing.

Rick Umoff

Sr. Director and Counsel

Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)

Rick Umoff is Senior Director and Counsel at the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) where he leads SEIA’s advocacy and market development efforts in California. Rick also oversees SEIA’s policy work in the Central U.S. and Northeast. Rick has over a decade of experience developing solar and clean energy markets throughout the United States, advocating for effective policies at the state and federal level. Rick is based in San Francisco, CA.

Melissa Chan

Director of Grid Solutions and Strategic Partnerships

Fermata Energy

A renowned energy and utility expert, Melissa Chan brings more than 20 years of experience advising, planning, designing, and evaluating energy infrastructure deployments to her role at Fermata Energy. Her experience includes developing go-to-market strategy for growth-stage clean technology companies and electrification strategy for industrial operators. At Guidehouse (formerly Navigant) , Melissa served as a project manager for the $3.4 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Smart Grid Investment Grant program, overseeing a team of 13 analysts that collected and reported cost and benefit metrics of the 99 utility smart grid projects. Melissa holds a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon, and a dual degree in Chemical Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon.

Brien J. Sheahan

President, Regulatory Strategies, LLC

Former Chairman and CEO, Illinois Commerce Commission

Brien J. Sheahan is a former chairman and CEO of the Illinois Commerce Commission, and a leading voice among state utility regulators for the modernization of utility infrastructure, and the promotion of innovation and forward-looking regulatory policy. Described as “arguably the most respected voice among utility regulators on grid resilience,” by Public Utilities Fortnightly magazine he is recognized nationally and internationally for fostering investment in infrastructure and innovative new technologies, and reimagining century old regulatory paradigms. He led a nationally recognized effort to diversify the ICC’s staff and leadership, resulting in it becoming the most diverse PUC in the United States including at one time three of five Hispanic regulators in the nation, its first Latina commissioner, and youngest commissioner. Under Sheahan’s leadership the agency had its first African American Chief Administrative Law Judge (who became a commissioner), first female Bureau Chief, first African American Bureau Chief, first female African American Chief Administrative Law Judge, and first Latino Chief of Police in its more than 100-year history. Sheahan initiated the agency’s first modern strategic plan; established an Office of Diversity and Community Affairs; and a first-of-its-kind Office of Cybersecurity and Risk Management; vastly expanded utility supplier diversity efforts; approved two of the most advanced microgrids in the world; spearheaded Illinois’ exploration of the “utility of the future;” oversaw the buildout of six million smart meters; and supported legislation that made Illinois a leader in zero carbon emission electricity generation. With Sheahan’s leadership Illinois was ranked #2 in the nation for grid modernization by the Gridwise Alliance, and recognized by SEPA for “Visionary of the Year.” Active in the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, Sheahan was asked to chair the NARUC Presidential Task Force on Innovation, and served on its board of directors and Water Committee for five years. He organized, moderated, and participated in dozens of panels on regulatory and utility issues including three NARUC General Sessions. Sheahan led a successful effort to pass a NARUC Resolution encouraging state public utility commissions to consider the capitalization of non-traditional utility assets such as cloud computing.

Scott Peattie

Director Business Development / Head of Grid Services

Sunrun Inc.

Scott Peattie is focused on growing Sunrun’s grid services business and other strategic efforts. Prior to joining Sunrun, Scott spent over five years with Tesla Energy (formerly SolarCity), developing C&I and utility scale battery storage projects. His clients primarily included school districts, multifamily developers, large corporations, and electric utilities. Scott’s career over the last 12 years has focused on deployment and financing of renewable technologies. He received his MBA from USC Marshall School of Business, and his Bachelors from UC Berkeley.

Erick Karlen

Director of Policy and Market Development

Shell Recharge Solutions

Erick Karlen focuses on advanced mobility and utility regulatory policy as Director of Policy and Market Development at Shell Recharge Solutions, formerly Greenlots. His experience and engagement in transportation electrification policy spans a wide array of North American jurisdictions from coast to coast. Prior experience includes a decade in distributed energy resources and environmental policy at organizations including Sungevity the UN Environment Programme. Erick holds a Master’s degree in Energy Regulation & Law from Vermont Law School, and two Bachelor of Science degrees from UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources.

Ken Schisler

Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs

CPower Energy Management

Ken brings nearly three decades of policy leadership on innovation in clean and advanced energy technologies to CPower Energy Management. Ken leads CPower’s regulatory and government affairs team, having prior served in similar roles at both Vicinity Energy and EnerNOC/Enel. Ken collaborates with public officials, regulators, power exchange and system operators, academia, and industry peers to unleash the potential of demand side resources. In addition to work throughout North America’s wholesale and retail electricity markets, Ken has extensive international experience in market development and public policy promoting distributed energy resource policies in South America, Asia, and Europe. Ken served as Chairman of the Maryland Public Service Commission from 2003-2007, and as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1991-2003. Since 2012 he has lectured on retail markets and demand side management at the Florence School of Regulation, Summer School on Regulation of Electric Utilities. Ken graduated with honor from the University of Maryland School of Law, and earned a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from Salisbury University.

Christopher Seiple

Vice Chairman, Energy Transition and Power & Renewables

Wood Mackenzie

Aimee Bailey

Director of Innovation & Portfolio Management

National Grid Partners

Aimee Bailey is the Director of Innovation and Portfolio Management at National Grid Partners. She has over 12 years of energy sector experience with a focus on cleantech commercialization and the energy transition. Prior to NGP, she has held positions at Silicon Valley Clean Energy, EDF, PG&E and the US Department of Energy, cumulatively overseeing $30M+ in investments in innovative pilots and programs spanning clean power supply, building electrification, transportation electrification, and grid integration. Aimee has a BSE in materials science from the University of Pennsylvania, a PhD in physics from Imperial College in London, and an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.

Adam Langton

Energy Services Manager

BMW of North America, LLC

Adam Langton is the Energy Services Manager for BMW of North America, LLC. In this role, Adam develops digital energy products related to BMW’s electric vehicle models, including smart phone functionality, data tools, and fleet management services. Adam leads a BMW team developing and implementing the BMW ChargeForward smart charging program and leads BMW’s efforts to provide sustainable energy for BMW electric vehicle drivers. Prior to joining BMW, Adam worked at the California Public Utilities Commission, supporting the state’s electric vehicle programs and developing the state’s carbon cap-and-trade program. Adam is based at BMW’s Tech Office in Silicon Valley.

Ken Norris

Research Analyst, Grid Edge

Wood Mackenzie

Trudie Wang

VP of Product

Heila Technologies

Trudie is a mission driven engineer by training with two decades of experience in developing algorithms around optimization and control methodologies for distributed energy resources. Upon completion of her doctorate on the forefront of these technologies, she helped build out innovative products with Growing Energy Labs, SolarCity, SunPower and the Electric Power Research Institute. Across these experiences she gained domain expertise in product management and architecture, software development and energy markets. Her experience now translates and connects the domains of algorithm creation, product development and market design, helping reimagine a distributed energy system that is built up of microgrids and virtual power plants (VPPs) which empower edge resources to play more proactive roles at the distribution level of our networks. She has a keen bent towards design of optimal strategies and control policies that allow us to utilize our resources through a do more with less mindset.

Connor Usry

Senior Associate

RMI

Connor Usry is a Senior Associate of RMI’s Carbon-Free Buildings & Electricity Practices. He helps evaluate value propositions for grid and building stakeholders around Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings (GEBs) & virtual power plants (VPPs). Connor has authored papers on the carbon reduction potential and techno-economic implications of GEBs, VPPs, and embodied carbon in the built environment - performing analyses for DOE, DOD, NREL, NYSERDA, CEC, and large private real estate holders. Prior to joining RMI Connor was a founding controls engineer and product manager at Boon Energy, a systems integration company based out of New York City. He focused on energy optimization strategies, design engineering, and building automation solutions for large commercial estate and mission-critical data centers. Connor designed, commissioned, and serviced building management systems (BMS) for chiller plants, domestic water operations, and critical electrical load management.

Sarah Kist

GM, T&D Engineering & Construction

Arizona Public Service(APS)

Sarah Kist graduated Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering. She has worked in the Utility Industry for 18 years, starting her career at the Nation’s largest nuclear power plant, Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. Sarah has held various roles in engineering in both Fossil Generation, as well as Transmission and Distribution at Arizona Public Service Company. In her current role as General Manager, T&D Engineering & Construction, she is responsible for all engineering facets supporting T&D operations, capital project execution including system planning, engineering design and project management for both reliability and customer sited projects.

Sam Howe

Research Analyst, Building Decarbonisation

Wood Mackenzie

Nick Esch

Research Analyst

Wood Mackenzie

Hannah Bascom

Vice President, Regulated Business

SPAN

Hannah Bascom leads SPAN’s regulated business, establishing partnerships and programs that enable electrification for all. Previously, Hannah led Energy Partnerships at Google Nest, where she helped grow the company’s regulated energy business, developed partnerships with over 100 utilities and energy service providers, and launched Nest Renew, delivering carbon reduction, bill savings and grid support. Hannah also led Customer Strategy and Planning at PG&E and worked as a consultant at Ernst & Young, where she focused on innovation, product optimization and customer experience strategy in the Energy and Utilities Practice. She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and a BA with Honors from Brown University.

Fahimeh Kazempour

Head, Grid Modernization

Wood Mackenzie

John Romero

VP Electric Vehicle Solutions

Landis+Gyr

John Romero is the Vice President of Electric Vehicle Solutions for Landis+Gyr. In this role, Romero is responsible for leading the vision and strategy for electric vehicle solutions for the North American market. Previously, Romero was a 30-year utility executive and industry expert, with an extensive record of developing innovative, strategic business and engineering solutions addressing the changing future landscape of the utility industry. His broad experience and expertise in both the energy and water industry includes leadership roles in long-term strategic planning, smart grid and smart City planning, renewables and energy efficiency, system operations, construction and engineering. He holds an MBA with an emphasis in Finance and a Bachelor of Science in Electric Engineering, both from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Elham Akhavan

Senior Microgrid Research Analyst

Wood Mackenzie

Crystal Stiles

Executive Director, FPL Development, Distributed Technologies and Mobility

Florida Power & Light

Crystal Stiles is executive director, Development, Distributed Technologies and Mobility (DT&M) at Florida Power & Light Company. Under her leadership, DT&M is expanding FPL EVolution, a growing electric vehicle network including public charging, residential charging and fleet electrification. Crystal is also responsible for microgrids and emerging technologies. Previously, she led FPL’s Office of Economic Development, which received numerous recognitions and helped hundreds of companies locate or expand in Florida. Crystal serves on several boards, including EDTA, and graduated from Leadership Florida Cornerstone Class XXXVII. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Mary Baldwin College and an MBA from Florida Atlantic University.

Wade Bitaraf

Founder, Energy & Sustainability

Plug and Play Tech Center

Wade is the founder of Energy & Sustainability practice at Plug and Play. Plug and Play is the largest corporate innovation center and one of the most active early stage investors globally. Wade works closely with entrepreneurs, corporate innovation leaders, and investors with a focus on the energy industry value chain. Previously, Wade worked in solar, published scientific articles, and led business development efforts in startups. Wade holds a master degree in Chemical Engineering and a master degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas engineering. His passion is at the intersection of technology and business.

Amaiya Khardenavis

Research Analyst, EV Charging Infrastructure

Wood Mackenzie

Sterling Clifford

Manager, Government Affairs

Sunnova

Sterling Clifford is Government Affairs Manager for Sunnova Energy, one of the largest residential solar providers in the Country. Sterling is responsible for regulatory and legislative policy in multiple states in all regions of the U.S. Prior to joining Sunnova, Sterling spent 17 years working in politics and policy advocacy. He has directed communications strategy for candidates at all levels of government, including the governors of California and Washington. Sterling has also run ballot and legislative advocacy campaigns on a wide variety of issues for non-profits and corporate clients in nearly every state.

Brenden Russell

Principal Manager – Technology Strategy

Southern California Edison

Brenden Russell is the principal manager of technology strategy at Southern California Edison and has 20 years of utility industry experience. In his time at SCE, he has filled engineering and managerial roles in support of real time grid operations and has championed the implementation of new digital technologies and operational analytics into SCEs grid, in support of SCEs Clean Power and Electrification pathway vision. Prior to his relocation to the United States in 2011, he worked for Endeavour Energy in Australia where he gained extensive knowledge and experience in utility operations supporting various functions including; operations, engineering, system planning and construction. Brenden graduated with honors from the University of Wollongong, Australia with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineer with specialization in Power Systems. He is currently a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of California and graduated with an MBA from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).

Carter Li

CEO

SWTCH Energy Inc.

Carter Li is the Chief Executive Officer at SWTCH, an electric vehicle charging and energy management company focused on addressing the unique challenges of deploying EV charging infrastructure in high-density multifamily and commercial settings. Prior to SWTCH, Carter was a management consultant at Deloitte in their Digital Strategy practice where he led digital strategy and transformation projects across multiple countries for energy, financial services, and life science industries. Carter is a founding board member of the Ontario Clean Technology Industry Association and a committee member of Electric Mobility Canada. Carter attended McGill University for his BSc and PhD and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business for his MBA.

Vince Faherty

Head of Energy Marketplace & Implementation Partnerships

Google

Vince Faherty is the Head of Energy Marketplace & Implementation Partnerships at Google. As part of the Industry Partnerships team of Google’s Devices & Services Business Organization, Vince is responsible for developing and executing strategic partnerships with electric and gas utilities, e-commerce platforms, and energy implementation service providers that leverage Google hardware and services. Vince joined Google in 2017 via Nest, where he led utility partnerships in the Eastern US from Google’s office in Cambridge, MA. Prior to joining Google, Vince spent 15 years working at the intersection of clean energy, technology, and financial services. Vince spent 7 of those years with EnerNOC (now Enel X), in a mix of sales, marketing, and market development roles, during which he built new demand response and energy efficiency resources with utilities and grid operators in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Vince holds a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from London Business School.

Ben Hertz-Shargel

Global Head of Grid Edge

Wood Mackenzie

Justin Felt

Director, Policy Analysis and Development

Exelon

Justin Felt is Director of Policy Analysis and Development at Exelon. In this role, he supports Exelon in the leading the coordination and development of policy strategy for Exelon and its member utilities, including BGE. He manages an analyst team that focuses on state level regulation and legislation. Justin has 14 years of clean energy experience. Prior to his current role, Justin acted as Sr Manager of Strategic Planning at BGE’s Utility of the Future Team, where he supported the development and sustainment of programs that integrate distributed energy resources such as storage and solar PV. Before he joined BGE/Exelon in 2018, Justin advised the Department of Defense on the development of resilient and renewable on-site power systems, as part of the Army’s Office of Energy Initiatives and Air Force’s Office of Energy Assurance. At Thomson Reuters, he acted as Head of Renewable Market Strategy, and consulted with energy and financial companies regarding environmental markets. Justin serves as Chair on the Anne Arundel County Community Leadership Board of the YMCA of Central Maryland. Justin earned MBA and MS (Environmental Science) degrees from the University of Michigan, and a BA degree in Economics from the University of Virginia.

Tiya Gordon

Co-Founder

itselectric

Tiya holds 20 years experience in leadership and design across a range of disciplines for some of the country’s top firms and institutions. She is now venturing to spend the next 20 years on initatives that use design to wage war against the Climate Crisis. Tiya's work has received the industry’s top accolades, including The National Design Award from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; the Inaugural Cannes Gold Lion for Creative Data; and the designation of second most innovative design firm in the world by Fast Company.

Lidija Sekaric

Vice President, Fluence Next

Fluence

In her role as Vice President of Fluence Next, Lidija oversees Fluence’s incubation of new technologies, markets, and business models. She has nearly two decades of leadership experience in market and product development, R&D, business strategy, and account management. Prior to joining Fluence, Lidija managed home electrification and virtual power plant grid services product portfolios at Sunrun and commercial and industrial microgrid solution development and market strategies at Siemens. She also served in advisory and executive roles at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) across multiple energy programs including the near and long-term US government solar program strategy. She started her career doing research in advanced computing devices and holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics.

Giri Iyer

Vice President, Business Development

Sentient Energy, a KES Company

25+ years of executive leadership building strong innovative businesses in Global Healthcare & Informatics, Enterprise IT and Energy sectors • Over $2 billion in revenues created for companies like Compaq/Hewlett Packard, GE Healthcare, GE Energy and Koch Industries • Proven leadership in attracting talent to build world-class teams for product portfolio management and global commercial growth • Mergers & Acquisitions expertise evaluating over 1200+ companies • Winner of multiple innovation awards from HP/Compaq, and General Electric Imagination Breakthrough

Mark Danzenbaker

CEO

GridPoint

Mark Danzenbaker is the CEO of GridPoint, a leader in building energy management and optimization technology that decarbonizes commercial buildings and drives grid modernization. Danzenbaker joined GridPoint in 2009 and has served in several leadership positions, including Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Product Management, before being named CEO in 2016. Under his leadership, Danzenbaker was instrumental in revolutionizing GridPoint’s strategy and business model, shifting it to a service-based approach that successfully positioned GridPoint as a pioneer in subscription-based energy technology. The subscription model removed barriers among commercial businesses due to the high capital-intensive, up-front costs of energy infrastructure investments. GridPoint’s business model has made energy efficiency technology more accessible to businesses of all types, including the historically-underserved small- and mid-sized business market. In his role as CEO, Danzenbaker drives GridPoint’s efforts to accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable energy future by creating a network of smart, efficient, grid-interactive buildings. Working with commercial buildings, utilities and technology partners, Danzenbaker leads the GridPoint team to support grid modernization and focus on making buildings smarter through advanced controls, monitoring and reporting, intelligent automation and machine learning. To date, GridPoint has saved its customers many hundreds of millions of dollars in energy costs, reduced billions of kWh in electricity, and eliminated billions of lbs. of carbon emissions. Prior to GridPoint, Danzenbaker spent a decade with Accenture, serving in progressive leadership roles with the global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company.

Suzanna Mora

Director, Federal Policy and Agency Relations

Exelon

As Director Federal Policy and Agency Relations, Susan provides strategic national energy policy direction for Exelon’s six electric utilities serving over 10 million customers in some of the most progressive clean energy and climate policy jurisdictions in the nation. She works across Exelon’s business and technical teams to harmonize policy positions taken with business strategies and operational realities. Issues of particular focus in Susan’s portfolio include grid resilience and modernization; renewable resource, storage and microgrid integration; and new business model development. Prior to joining Exelon, Susan served as the primary interface with the U.S. Congress, White House, federal agencies and national industry associations for Pepco Holdings. Issues of particular emphasis in her lobbying portfolio included critical infrastructure cyber and physical security, event response and recovery, and smart grid functionality. Susan spent a number of years as a public affairs consultant and a dozen years lobbying across the country at the state and local levels. She holds an MBA and Economics degree, both from the University of Maryland.

Michelle Davis

Principal Analyst, Solar

Wood Mackenzie

Mark Martyak

Chief Sales Officer, Distributed Infrastructure

PowerSecure

Mark Martyak is a Registered Professional Electrical Engineer and has served utilities and large energy users for the past 41 years. Mark holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Electrical Engineering and Business Administration from University of Pittsburgh, Purdue University and Tennessee State University. Mark specializes in advanced microgrids and mission critical power. He has consulted with over 100 utilities and 500 mission critical facilities nationally and has served as Engineer of Record for over 1200MWs of Distributed Infrastructure Projects. Mark’s experience also includes an emphasis on integrating DI technology with code required standby power systems. Mark is a founding member of PowerSecure, Inc. and has served as Executive Vice President of Engineering & Operations, Distributed Generation Group President and is currently serving as Chief Sales Officer of Distributed Infrastructure. Mark serves on the Board of the Hope for Haiti Foundation, and volunteers with a number of charitable organizations.

Kathy Knoop

Manager, EV Stakeholder Solutions

General Motors

Kathy Knoop is the manager of EV Stakeholder Solutions at General Motors within the EV Charging Ecosystem team. The EV Charging Ecosystem team is focused on EV charging infrastructure, education, and engagement, charging products and solutions, the Ultium Charge 360 experience, and related go-to-market strategies comprising a rapidly expanding EV ecosystem. In this role Kathy is responsible for working with utility companies from across the US on partnerships with GM that will support EV customer charging programs from home L2 to public L2 and DCFC.