45th PLMA Conference

General Session 1

Gamifying the Peak Load Reduction Experience for Better Results and Happier Customers

Julie Cain
Product Manager
CPS Energy
Julie has been the Residential Program Manager for CPS Energy since 2017. She serves as a vital part of a collaborative team responsible for the achievement of CPS Energy’s aggressive DSM goals. Julie handles the day-to-day operations for residential Demand Response programs including multiple thermostat programs and Behavioral Demand Response totaling close to 500,000 customers. She also assists with the continuing expansion of new residential programs from ideation, launch, and ultimately program management.  

Oliver Daniels III
Systems Integration Architect
SMUD Systems
Oliver is an innovative and empowering IT leader with over 20 years of experience in the electric utility industry as a designer, builder, architect, manager and a key contributor to application development and organizational IT strategy. He has a proven record for leading large enterprise initiatives as well as a deep understanding of utilities based information systems. He is currently responsible for managing several technology development teams that support and administer world-class utility software solutions. His current focuses are in the areas of customer engagement platforms, field service management, cloud integration and emerging load-flex technologies that will support the utility grid of tomorrow.

Vanessa Richter
Global Vice President of Sales
Oracle Utilities
Vanessa Richter is a Global Vice President with Oracle Opower. She works with utility teams to drive customer engagement initiatives, including energy efficiency, rates engagement, peak management, and digital self-service. Focused on the utility customer space for over a decade, she is passionate about advancing the role of the customer in the clean energy future. She has been a PLMA Customer Engagement co-chair since 2019.

Exploring Demand Response Events Through a Smart Home Lens

Kevin Thompson
Principal Business Program Manager
Pepco Holdings - An Exelon Company
Kevin is a multifaceted energy and environmental leader with 13 years of progressive experience holding various positions in the private, public and non-profit sectors at the intersection of sustainability, utility DSM policy planning, decarbonization program strategy, design and implementation, utility customer service operations, and climate change resiliency.

Kevin has primarily spent his time focusing on energy efficiency and peak demand reduction throughout electric power markets across the country including the CAISO, PJM, and Southeast markets, advocating for energy policies that enable the deployment of smarter technology, improved design standards, and sustainable building practices.

Kevin has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, GA and a Master’s degree in Environmental Management focused in Environmental Leadership from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment.
When Kevin is not working, he enjoys spending time with his family, doing home renovations projects, and dreaming of doing a cross-country road trip in a camper van. 

Emma Burger
Residential Efficiency Programs Manager
ICF
Emma has managed numerous residential energy efficiency programs across Maryland, New York, and New Jersey during her 6 years at ICF. She currently leads the Pepco and Delmarva Residential Portfolios in Maryland while implementing the Smart Home Pilot program for Pepco. Prior to her time at ICF, Emma received a B.S. in Environmental Science from Marist College and an M.S. in Climate Science and Policy from Bard College. During her Masters program, Emma’s thesis focused on whether demographics impact energy efficient product purchases. In her free time, Emma enjoys working out, traveling, and hiking with her dog Juno.  

General Session 2

New Approaches to Achieve Greater Load Flexibility in Buildings for Low Carbon Energy Systems

Mary Ann Piette
Senior Scientist
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Mary Ann Piette is a Senior Scientist and the Director of the Building Technology and Urban Systems (BTUS) Division in the Energy Technologies Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 

She oversees Berkeley Lab's building technology research activities for the U.S. Department of Energy which covers appliance standards, technology analysis and tools to accelerate deployment, new building technologies, modeling and analysis, commercial and residential building systems integration, grid interactive communications, and integration with EVs, storage and PVs. Her most recent work is exploring how to accelerate decarbonization while ensuring equity and affordability. The BTUS Division also conducts research in data center energy efficiency, industrial energy efficiency, and federal energy management programs. BTUS partners with dozens of public and private sector partners around the US and internationally, including universities, control and HVAC companies, windows manufacturers, utilities, state agencies, aggregators, non-profits, and many others. 

Mary Ann also leads the new California Load Flexibility Research and Deployment Hub (CalFlexHub) which will pioneer new technologies, and advanced communication and controls to enable buildings to receive automated dynamic pricing and GHG signals. 

She has been a visiting researcher at both the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Newcastle, Australia and the Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Building Services Engineering in Gothenberg, Sweden. 

Mary Ann has authored over 95 peer reviewed publications related to energy efficiency and demand response and has worked at LBNL since 1983. She is a board member of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy where she chairs the Research Advisory Board. She is also on the Board of the OpenADR Alliance. Mary Ann has an MS in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley and a Licentiate in Building Services Engineering from the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. 

Mark Martinez
Senior Portfolio Manager of Emerging Markets and Technologies
Southern California Edison
Mark is a senior program manager for Southern California Edison, with over 25 years experience in demand side management, specifically energy efficiency, demand response, water energy, and GHG guidance. His current responsibilities are for the policy oversight and guidance for demand response emerging markets and technology, which develops and pilots demonstrations to examine the opportunities for technological advances for improving load modifying and supply-side demand response resources in all customer sectors, including storage and EVs.

Previously, he was the lead for demand response in retail program policy and compliance, the statewide lead and witness for the IDSM Task Force and DR IDSM innovative pilots, and the policy lead for the California Water-Energy Nexus. During his career at SCE, Mark has developed and managed programs in load management, demand subscription service, end use load research, innovative electric DSM technologies, and has managed third party DR forward contracts and DSM construction engineering. 

During his statewide work in dynamic pricing and advanced metering, he developed the SCE Energy OrbTM, deployed smart communicating thermostats, and continues to advance innovative concepts such as the integration of EE/DR/DG, automated DR and Cx, integrated demand-side resource planning and deployment, and customer-based storage and load shifting programs and technologies.

John Powers
CEO
Extensible Energy
An energy economist and serial entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in consulting and technology development in energy markets, John has worked in energy efficiency, demand response, and renewables for most of his career. As CEO of Extensible Energy, he leads a stellar team of cleantech experts developing software solutions for building controls, solar, storage, and load flexibility applications.

Prior to Extensible Energy, John founded Energy Interactive, a pioneering software company in online energy applications, including some of the first customer engagement and demand response software for nonresidential electricity customers. He served as Director of Retail Software at ABB after ABB acquired Energy Interactive.

He has a B.A. in economics from Reed College and an M.A. also in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Beth Reid
CEO
Olivine, Inc.
Beth Reid is Founder and CEO of Olivine. She is a proven leader with deep experience in the energy industry including senior management positions at national and multi-national corporations. Throughout her career she has championed efforts to diversify, develop and implement technology solutions for energy markets, utilities, and resource aggregators. At Olivine, she is focused on deploying technology solutions to power the grid with clean energy to impact climate change and promote energy equity. She is a results-oriented professional with a proven record of implementing complex projects, innovative programs and pricing models. Having worked in both the retail and wholesale energy sectors, the breadth of Beth’s experience enables her to bring a unique and valuable perspective to empower utilities and consumers to deploy clean energy and climate impact strategies.

General Session 3

Managed Charging in Electric Transportation: What's Happening Currently? What's Coming Next?

Smiriti Mishra
Director
WeaveGrid
Smriti leads WeaveGrid’s growth strategies and activities. She works directly with utilities to create and grow EV programs, as well as building WeaveGrid’s industry partnerships across the e-mobility landscape. She has expertise in energy innovation, aggregation, and building industry collaborations. She was most recently a Director at National Grid where she led joint ventures for distributed energy for the unregulated business, including investments of over $110M in residential solar and storage. Smriti has also operated in demand response at EnerNOC (now Enel X) in a general management function as a P&L owner whose team optimized portfolios of over $100M in annual, recurring revenue. She has a MBA from Harvard Business School and Bachelors in Physics, Honors from University of Chicago.

Carlos Hill
Senior Product Developer
Xcel Energy
Carlos Hill attended Cornell University, where he studied Environmental Engineering before working as a Civil Designer. He later attended graduate school to earn his MBA at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas in Austin. Carlos studied finance and operations before working in both the Oil & Gas industry and Consulting space for several years, but he ultimately returned to his home state of Colorado to thrive at Xcel Energy. He joined the utility as a Renewable Energy Portfolio Consultant managing Xcel Energy’s Renewable Energy Credits generated across Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. He now works as a Senior Product Developer focusing on Electric Vehicles and Renewable Products. He is currently focused on increasing EV adoption across Xcel Energy’s service territories with EV optimization programs that charge electric vehicles during off-peak hours when renewables are abundant.

Michelle Bogen
Senior Program Manager
Pacific Gas and Electric
Michelle is an engineering alum from UC San Diego with a passion for sustainability. She has spent the last 9+ years working at the intersection of transportation and energy, researching battery storage and electric vehicles at some of the industry’s leading organizations. Through her career spanning prior work in the non-profit space at the Center for Sustainable Energy and the global automotive industry at BMW of North America, she’s gained a unique and broad perspective. Michelle currently works as a Sr. Program Manager, Vehicle-Grid Integration at Pacific Gas & Electric where she’s helping develop cutting-edge pilot programs to test the benefits vehicle-grid integration technologies offer customers and the electricity grid.

Gary Smith
VP of Programs
Sagewell
Gary Smith is the Vice President of Programs for Sagewell, Inc. and is responsible for Sagewell’s electrification and EV load management programs. Gary works closely with utility clients to design and implement Bring Your Own Charger® (BYOC) and other programs, and he coordinates with Sagewell's customer service, marketing and data analytics teams. Gary has worked at Sagewell since 2015, where he first worked administering utility weatherization and rebate programs. 

Beth Reid
CEO
Olivine, Inc.
Beth Reid is Founder and CEO of Olivine. She is a proven leader with deep experience in the energy industry including senior management positions at national and multi-national corporations. Throughout her career she has championed efforts to diversify, develop and implement technology solutions for energy markets, utilities, and resource aggregators. At Olivine, she is focused on deploying technology solutions to power the grid with clean energy to impact climate change and promote energy equity. She is a results-oriented professional with a proven record of implementing complex projects, innovative programs and pricing models. Having worked in both the retail and wholesale energy sectors, the breadth of Beth’s experience enables her to bring a unique and valuable perspective to empower utilities and consumers to deploy clean energy and climate impact strategies. 

Brittany Fischer
CEO
Olivine, Inc.
Brittany Fischer has worked at Consumers Energy for 12 years. After starting in Customer Service and later Revenue Recovery, Brittany joined the Environmental Services Department where she led the technical support of Consumers Energy's Environmental Management System and Corporate Compliance software. In Spring 2021, she joined the Electric Transportation team and the exciting world of EVs, and currently oversees operations of the Bring Your Own Charger (BYOC) and other PowerMIDrive initiatives. 

Timothy Treadwell
Customer Technology Development Manager
Portland General Electric
Tim Treadwell is the Manager of Customer Technology Demonstration and Smart Grid Testbed Program Manager at Portland General Electric (PGE). The Smart Grid Testbed Program is a multi-year effort to expand customer acceptance and adoption of demand response and load management technologies. The program’s activities, focused within three discrete substations, are helping to inform program design and assess the technical potential of load management in the PGE service territory. Prior to joining to PGE, Tim served in a number of roles including Director of Engineering, Research and Analysis at the Center for Sustainable Energy and Director of Energy Technologies at Ecova/ENGIE Insights. Tim’s work has spanned more than 15 years in the design, launch, and implementation of market transformation programs, focused on energy efficiency, load management, distributed solar, electric vehicles, and energy storage. Tim holds a B.S. in Natural Resources from Humboldt State University and a M.S. in Environmental Policy from Bard College.

Kristy Fleischmann Groncki
Manager of Strategic Programs
Baltimore Gas and Electric
Kristy Fleischmann Groncki is Manager of Strategic Programs at BGE with a decade of experience with innovative programs including Energy Efficiency, Smart Grid data analytics and Utility of the Future programs. Most recently, Kristy has been leading BGE’s EVsmart program which provides rebates to residential and multi-unit dwellings for the purchase and installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure as well as providing innovative rate structure to promote electric vehicle adoption. Kristy is also leading the efforts to install a network of BGE-owned public charging infrastructure throughout their service territory.

Adam Langton
Energy Services Manager of Connected eMobility
BMW of North America
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. Prior to joining BMW, Adam worked at the California Public Utilities Commission, supporting California’s electric vehicle programs and developing the California carbon cap-and-trade program. Adam is based at BMW’s Mountain View Tech Office in Silicon Valley.

General Session 4

Optimized Control of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Through Dynamic Digital Rates

Robert Anderson
Chief Technology Officer
Olivine, Inc.
Robert Anderson is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Olivine.  He is an accomplished software architect and entrepreneur with over thirty years of experience delivering commercial applications, services, and consulting projects.  Over the years, Robert has led the design and delivery of systems performing visualization, rates computation, complex billing and settlement, metering, telemetry, and broad program delivery.  Robert leverages his unique talent in designing for vision and building teams that turn that design into reality.  

Albert Chiu
Product Manager, Integrated Grid Planning and Innovation
Pacific Gas and Electric
Albert Chiu is an Expert Product Manager in the Integrated Grid Planning and Innovation Department at Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). In his 20+ years working in Load Management (LM), Integrated Demand Side Management (IDSM) and Distributed Energy Resource (DER), he has developed Energy Efficiency (EE), Demand Response (DR) and Vehicle Grid Integration (VGI) policies and programs for utility customers. He is the lead of the DR Emerging Technology and IDSM Programs at PG&E. He leads all DR technology-related studies, policies development and strategies.

Working jointly with Lawrence Berkeley and National Lab and Southern California Edison, Albert started the OpenADR Alliance in 2010 and has held various positions on the OpenADR Alliance Board. He was involved in the NIST National Smart Grid activities, multiple Technical Advisor Groups with NRDC, CEC, EPRI, ACEEE, CA universities, national labs and other companies. He participated in Code and Standard works with NIST, NAESB, DOE, CEC, USGBC, IEC and other standards organizations.

Abigail Shelton
Lead Engineering Solutions
Olivine
Abigail Shelton is the Lead of Engineering Solutions at Olivine, Inc. where she manages innovative demand response and distributed energy resource projects, leveraging a combination of project management and technical expertise. Her work focuses on mitigating the current impacts of climate change and decarbonizing the electrical grid to avoid future impacts. Among other projects, Abby is currently managing the technical implementation of the Residential Digital Rates Study for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), which provides a standards-based approach for third-parties to receive accurate pricing for their residential customers.

It’s Not TOU, It’s Me! How Smart Speakers Can Help Utilities Keep the Right Customers on TOU

Randy Robinson
Senior Product Manager
Southern California Edison
Randy is a Senior Product Manager on SCE’s Energy Solutions team where he focuses on early and mid-stage product and program development. Randy’s work centers around utilizing emerging technologies to create impactful products, and programs that help customers better manage their energy usage, reduce their carbon footprint, and help to contribute to managing the energy grid. Currently, Randy is leading SCE’s ELRP, Smart Pilot and Virtual Power Plant pilots.

Randy has an MBA from USC’s Marshall School of Business and a B.S. from UC Berkeley.

Monica Thilges
DSM Program Director
APTIM
Monica is an Energy and Sustainability Director at APTIM, where she provides strategic leadership across a range of projects, including the design and continuous improvement of large demand side management programs. One of her favorite projects is supporting Southern California Edison’s Demand Response Emerging Markets and Technology Program, where she supports the transfer of emerging demand response solutions into programs.

As a former environmental Peace Corps volunteer and a reformed aquatic ecologist, Monica is passionate about leaving the world a better place.


Track A

DRMs and Its Role in Supporting DER Growth

Joseph Schlusselberg
Manager, Research & Industry Strategy
Consolidated Edison
Joseph is a Senior Specialist within the Energy Efficiency group at Con Edison. He is currently managing the implementation of the DRMS and overseeing the aggregator participation and operation of the Demand Response programs. He has been with Con Edison in various capacities for 11 years.

Gyan Mohapatra
Project Manager
Ernst and Young
Gyan is a Senior Manager with 21+ year of Utility consulting experience. He has led implementations of DRMS, smart metering solutions and other grid modernization solutions. Currently he is supporting the DRMS implementation  at Con Edison.   

Integrating Program Design, Forecasting, and Orchestration for Coincident Peak Management

Dylan Cutler
Product Manager, Markets and Forecasting
Camus Energy
Dylan leads the product team at Camus Energy. Prior to joining Camus, he spent 11 years at the National Renewable Energy Lab where he led a team of research engineers focused on techno-economic optimization. He is an expert in optimization of distributed energy resources and their integration into electricity markets.

David Stuebe
Senior Engineer, Forecast Leads
Camus Energy
David is a machine learning data engineer specializing in near real time analytics and forecasting. He has 20 years of production software engineering experience in a wide range of industries including power systems, hospitality and geophysical fluid dynamics.

David Manning
Resource Scheduling Analyst
Holy Cross Energy
David leads scheduling for Holy Cross Energy's growing fleet of DERs. He specializes in risk management of renewable energy and battery storage portfolios.

Wholesale Market Virtual Power Plants with EV Fast Charging Infrastructure (DCFC) + Energy Storage 

Shane Kridler
Manager of Program Operations
Olivine
Shane is the Manager of Program Ops at Olivine where he oversees operations for their portfolio of grid services programs. He has a background in behind-the-meter battery energy storage, and contributes to program management, program design, wholesale market bidding strategy, and collaborating with Olivine’s team of developers on feature enhancements in the Olivine DER Platform. 

Jigar Shah
Head of Energy Services
Electrify America
Jigar is the Head of Energy Services at Electrify America. Jigar is responsible for optimizing Electrify America’s energy portfolio, including managing rate structures, leveraging energy storage to manage exposure to demand charges, engaging with utilities and wholesale energy markets, as well as addressing vehicle-grid integration matters.  Jigar has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, with a minor in Business, from Cornell University, and a Master of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University.  Prior to his role at Electrify America, Jigar was a Principal Consultant within the Energy and Utilities Practice at West Monroe Partners, where he advised utility clients on smart grid modernization topics, including rate structures and the use of energy storage to defer utility distribution investments.  Previous to this, Jigar was a Senior Researcher at Envision Energy focused on wind farm (plant level) controls and analytics to lower the levelized cost of renewable energy, and an Edison Engineer at General Electric Global Research focused on wind turbine control systems and distributed energy resource (“DER”) controls, including for electric vehicle fleet charging to minimize demand charge costs.  Jigar has publications in prominent scientific journals including IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid and Wind Energy Science and has issued patents on topics spanning electric vehicle charging, electric grid congestion, and wind energy control systems. 

Track B

Smart for Smart: Leveraging Analytics to Maximize Smart Thermostat DR Program Engagement and Impacts

Kessie Avseikova
Vice President
Opinion Dynamics
Kessie Avseikova is a director at Opinion Dynamics, leading a team of data scientists and statisticians in developing cutting-edge research and evaluation solutions for utility clients across the country to deliver accurate, insightful, and timely impact results.​

Kessie routinely works with clients on the evaluations of energy efficiency, demand-response (DR), behavioral, and integrated programs and brings a comprehensive understanding of the program designs, implementation challenges, including challenges with participation persistence, attrition, and design fidelity.​

Her work extends beyond delivering rigorous and accurate impact results; she also advises clients on most effective program design components and strives to deliver actionable insights through data mining and customer research.​

Kessie is a co-chair of PLMA’s Electric Transportation Interest Group. She holds a Bachelor’s from Minsk State Linguistic University and a Master’s degree in Market Research from Boston University.

Kurt Sempf
Energy Efficiency Strategy Manager
Alliant Energy
Kurt Sempf is the Energy Efficiency Strategy Manager at Alliant Energy.  Kurt joined Alliant Energy in 2016 to manage the residential portfolio of energy efficiency programs. Kurt leads the development and implementation of strategy for Energy Efficiency and Demand Response programs in Iowa and Wisconsin. Kurt is focused on the customer experience and understanding how customers engage with energy efficiency and demand response programs. His vision for the future includes how demand response and energy efficiency programs can blend with interactive rates, distributed generation, and customer-owned generation to achieve a truly interactive grid.  Kurt serves as the treasurer for the for the Iowa Association for Energy Efficiency board of directors. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Northwest Missouri State University and also holds a MBA from the University of Dubuque.

EcoPort - Enabling the Electric Water Heater DR Market

Timothy Treadwell
Customer Technology Development Manager
Portland General Electric
Tim Treadwell is the Manager of Customer Technology Demonstration and Smart Grid Testbed Program Manager at Portland General Electric (PGE). The Smart Grid Testbed Program is a multi-year effort to expand customer acceptance and adoption of demand response and load management technologies. The program’s activities are helping to inform program design and assess the technical potential of load management in the PGE service territory. Prior to joining to PGE, Tim served in a number of roles including Director of Engineering, Research and Analysis at the Center for Sustainable Energy and Director of Energy Technologies at Ecova/ENGIE Insights. Tim’s work has spanned more than 17 years in the design, launch, and implementation of market transformation programs, focused on energy efficiency, load management, distributed solar, electric vehicles, and energy storage. Tim holds a B.S. in Natural Resources from Humboldt State University and a M.S. in Environmental Policy from Bard College.

Rolf Bienert
Technical Director
OpenADR Alliance

Rolf Bienert is Technical & Managing Director at the OpenADR Alliance, where he is responsible for crafting and managing the strategy, direction and activities of the Alliance. Prior to his current position, Rolf was the technical manager for telecom and the Global Competence Center for emerging communication protocols at a global testing firm. In this role, Rolf was involved in many international standardization efforts and guided the company's efforts in these areas. He has been an active member of the NIST SGTCC, OpenADR Alliance, USNAP Alliance, ZigBee Alliance, and other organizations driving the development of new technologies with a specific focus on certification and interoperability.

Scaling up to Decarbonize: Behavioral Techniques that Accelerate Program Participation

Tom Hines
Principal
Arizona Public Service
Tom Hines is a principal and founder of Tierra Resource Consultants where he works with a wide range of clients helping to advance clean energy programs.  He’s here today representing Arizona Public Service.  Tom has over 30 years of DSM industry experience in policy, program design, implementation and evaluation.  He has helped clients earn more than 20 industry awards for innovative program design and effective program delivery including awards from AESP, ACEEE, DOE, EPA, ESIG, PLMA, and SEPA.  Tom lives in Arizona where he enjoys singing, playing guitar and exploring the great outdoors with friends and family.

Vanessa Richter
Global VP of Sales
Oracle Utilities
Vanessa Richter is a Global Vice President with Oracle Opower. She works with utility teams to drive customer engagement initiatives, including energy efficiency, rates engagement, peak management, and digital self-service. Focused on the utility customer space for over a decade, she is passionate about advancing the role of the customer in the clean energy future. She has been a PLMA Customer Engagement co-chair since 2019.

Track C 

DERs in NE: Good for the Grid, Great for the Community

Peter Bergeron 
VP and General Manager, Utility Programs
CPower Energy Management
Peter Bergeron, Vice President & GM | Utility Programs Mr. Bergeron has worked in the energy industry for nearly fifteen years. He spent seven of those years with CPower’s precursor Constellation Energy, where he developed a strong knowledge of both wholesale and retail power markets, as well as a specific focus on demand response. He brings a wealth of energy experience to his current role, where he is the General Manager for Utility Programs. Prior to this role, Peter led the Product Management and Business Analytics teams at CPower. In 2008, Mr. Bergeron graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts.

Paul Wassink
Senior Engineer, DER Program Manager
National Grid

Paul manages the actively controlled DER programs for National Grid in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The DER portfolio includes both commercial and residential programs and devices such as thermostats, batteries, EVs, EVSEs, solar inverters, CHP, generators, HVAC setbacks, and lighting systems. 

Paul has been the DER program manager for National Grid since 2016. Before that Paul worked as an energy engineer helping commercial, industrial, military, and government customers to implement energy efficiency programs. 

How Demand Response Can Enable Flat Billing

Lon Huber
VP, Rate Design and Strategic Solutions
Duke Energy
Lon Huber is vice president of rate design and strategic solutions for all Duke Energy’s regulated electric utilities. In this role, Huber oversees the development and implementation of innovative structuring & pricing, customer load analytics, and strategic solutions in Duke’s Regulatory Center of Excellence. 

Previously, Huber led Navigant’s North American retail regulatory offering. In this capacity, he provided expert witness testimony, proceeding strategy, and strategic solutions on behalf of clients across the energy sector. Prior to that, Huber worked in various positions in the public and private sectors ranging from economic development and solar energy finance to consumer advocacy on electricity related matters for Arizona’s executive branch. 

Huber has received numerous awards for his creative solutions to the electricity industry’s most pressing issues, including two awards from Public Utilities Fortnightly, the top honor from the Energy Storage Association as well as Utility Dive’s Innovator of the Year award. Huber is frequent speaker at industry conferences like NARUC and is a regular instructor at FRI’s Advanced Rates Seminar at the University of Washington.

Emilie Tullis
General Manager, Demand Side Management
Uplight
Emilie Tullis is Head of Demand Management Solutions including Uplight’s Orchestrated Energy, a tailored end-to-end approach to demand response. She leads Uplight’s efforts to deliver solutions with focus on customer comfort while still fulfilling behind-the-meter grid management goals.  

Emilie is passionate about changing the way we value and consume energy with a balance of advanced technology and pragmatic customer experience. Before joining Tendril, Emilie ran lithium-ion and power electronics development for electric vehicles, data centers and the military. She offers a deep understanding of energy storage technology and the capabilities and shortcomings within this landscape. She has an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. 

Track D 

Revenue and Emissions Benefits of Managing Thermostats on a Sub-Hourly Basis

Jeff Shaw
VP, Distributed Energy and Sustainability
SMECO
Jeff Shaw is the Vice President of Distributed Energy Resources and Sustainability for the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO). He is a graduate of St. Mary’s College of Maryland and obtained his advanced certification in environmental science from LaSalle University in Philadelphia

He is also a current member of the Governor’s Strategic Energy Investment Fund Board and the Zero Emission Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Council.

Drew Durkee
Senior Manager Flexible Load Management
ICF
Drew Durkee is a Senior Manager on ICF’s Flexible Load Management team.  He has experience in creating, marketing, evaluating, and managing demand side management programs of multiple sizes and scope across North America, with a focus on Flexible Load Management associated with varying DERs. He holds a bachelor’s of science from James Madison University in Integrated Science and Technology with a concentration in Energy, a Masters Degree from the University of Texas at Austin in Energy and Earth Resources with a concentration in demand side management, and is a Certified Energy Manager.

PG&E's Emergency Program for Mitigating Climate-Change Induced Grid Emergencies

Vasudha Lathey
Director
Olivine, Inc.
Vasudha Lathey (Ph.D.) is a Vice President at Olivine with over 20 years of experience in the CleanTech industry. She an experienced business leader, currently focused on driving organization growth through rapid deployment of Olivine’s ClimateResponseTM programs and other grid connected technology solutions designed to lower costs, decarbonize and provide equitable clean energy access for utilities and end-use customers.

Over a diverse career, Ms. Lathey has spearheaded clean energy and sustainability solutions for high-profile clients including Fortune 500 companies, major utilities, federal, state, and local governments, international funding agencies, and clean energy startups. With a deep commitment to client success and comprehensive energy industry domain expertise she has become a trusted partner, forged lasting connections, and secured/expanded multi-million-dollar engagements. Her educational credentials include Ph.D. in Urban-Environmental Planning, M.S. Building Design and a Bachelors in Environmentally Conscious Architecture.

Beth Reid
CEO
Olivine, Inc.
Beth Reid is Founder and CEO of Olivine. She is a proven leader with deep experience in the energy industry including senior management positions at national and multi-national corporations. Throughout her career she has championed efforts to diversify, develop and implement technology solutions for energy markets, utilities, and resource aggregators. At Olivine, she is focused on deploying technology solutions to power the grid with clean energy to impact climate change and promote energy equity. She is a results-oriented professional with a proven record of implementing complex projects, innovative programs and pricing models. Having worked in both the retail and wholesale energy sectors, the breadth of Beth’s experience enables her to bring a unique and valuable perspective to empower utilities and consumers to deploy clean energy and climate impact strategies. 

Closing Session

Revenue and Emissions Benefits of Managing Thermostats on a Sub-Hourly Basis 

Kevin Knight
Senior Program Manager
Baltimore Gas and Electric
Kevin Knight is a Senior Energy Efficiency Program Manager for Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) where he specializes in BYOD demand response. Kevin has over a decade of experience working with utility-sponsored energy efficiency and demand response programs and has experience including design and implementation of utility programs that focus on residential building performance, smart home technologies, home automation, and demand response. Professionally, he enjoys focusing on opportunities at the intersection of energy efficiency, demand response, and customer satisfaction.

Tom Hines
Principal
Arizona Public Service
Tom Hines is a principal and founder of Tierra Resource Consultants where he works with a wide range of clients helping to advance clean energy programs.  He’s here today representing Arizona Public Service.  Tom has over 30 years of DSM industry experience in policy, program design, implementation and evaluation.  He has helped clients earn more than 20 industry awards for innovative program design and effective program delivery including awards from AESP, ACEEE, DOE, EPA, ESIG, PLMA, and SEPA.  Tom lives in Arizona where he enjoys singing, playing guitar and exploring the great outdoors with friends and family.

Tyson Brown
Energy Partner Manager
Google Nest
Tyson Brown works at Google within the Industry Partnerships team where he manages strategic partnerships with Google’s energy partners - with a focus on Google’s hardware and services business.

Prior to joining Google, Tyson spent over a decade touring the various aspects of the energy industry, with notable stops at Uplight as a Sales Director, Evergy as a DR Product Manager, and at Honeywell consulting with utilities throughout North America to drive clean energy and DSM initiatives.

When not playing a small role in assisting Google in changing the way people think about and use energy, you can find Tyson:

  • Playing “Dollhouse” with his two daughters (#GirlDad)
  • Listening to Jay-Z or The Lumineers
  • Enjoying a great bourbon

Lisa Scott
Customer Success Manager
ecobee
Lisa Scott is the Manager of the ecobee Energy Customer Success team. She has a passion for helping energy partners create and implement impactful energy programs that deliver exceptional customer experiences. Prior to her four years at ecobee, Lisa spent five years as a Program Manager at Enbridge Gas Distribution— Canada's largest natural gas utility—where she built upon her expertise in energy management and efficiency planning.

Fun fact about Lisa: She’s a Pisces who, ironically, began her career as a fisheries technician.

Kate Schatmeyer
Senior Client Success Manager
EnergyHub
Kate and her team at EnergyHub help utility clients design, develop and manage successful distributed energy resource programs using the Mercury DERMS platform. During her tenure at EnergyHub, she has managed a wide array of both thermostat and electric vehicle programs. Prior to EnergyHub, Kate worked in utility energy consulting with a focus on both strategy and software implementation. Kate received an MS in Energy and Environmental Policy from New York University and a BS in Business Marketing from the University of Delaware.