46^th PLMA Conference: Speaker Bios

Concurrent Interest Group Activities

Global Load Management Interest Group

Enrico Viale Special Guest Speaker Enel Group (Italy)

Enrico Viale was appointed Head of North America in July 2019. He previously served as the Enel Group's Head of Global Generation (from July 2014) and Head of Global Thermal Generation (from April 2016).

After nine years at Ansaldo Energia in Italy and eight years at ABB in Italy and Switzerland, Viale, an engineer, joined Enel in 2003 as Country Manager of Southeastern Europe and CEO of Enel Maritza East 3. There he led a number of development projects and operational activities in conventional and renewable energy generation, as well as in distribution in Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece.

He was Chief Operating Officer in Russia from 2008 to 2014, managing Enel's interests in OGK-5 and Rusenergosbyt, and supporting SeverEnergia's upstream gas operations. He was subsequently appointed Country Manager and CEO of Enel Russia.

Married with two daughters, Viale has a degree in Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Turin, which he followed up with post-graduate studies in the United States, earning his MBA at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University.

Michael Brown Manager of DSM Services Berkshire Hathaway, NV Energy

Michael has over twenty years of experience in the energy sector focused on demand response, energy efficiency, and renewable energy in both deregulated and regulated electricity markets. He has held a variety of positions at consulting and energy service firms. Since 2005, Michael has worked at NV Energy building out smart grid enabled demand response and energy efficiency solutions. He is a Co-Chair of the Global Load Management Interest Group and immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors of PLMA—an international non-profit representing the voice of load management professionals. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and International Relations from The College of William and Mary, and an MBA from The Cranfield School of Management.

Scott Coe Founder and President GridOptimize

Scott works with grid operators to help them make markets more efficient and the grid more stable, improving the ability of the grid function with more renewable resources and adapt to new control technologies. He has direct experience with all wholesale electricity market operators in North America as well as several established and emerging markets across the globe.  Scott focuses on integration solutions for distributed resources and has a personal interest in pushing the envelope for implementing pricing constructs that bridge wholesale and retail grid.  Scott holds a BA in Engineering Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a PhD in Physical from Yale University.

Ross Malme President and CEO Malme Energy Consulting

Ross is President and CEO of Malme Energy Consulting, providing services to utilities and the energy technology community, specializing consulting and raising growth capital for early to mid stage energy tech companies. Previously Ross was Senior Advisor at Bowen, Inc. a leading growth capital investment banking advisory firm where he co-managed the firm's Energy Technology practice and has led the Smart Grid practice for Skipping Stone, LLC, an energy consulting firm. He has served on the Advisory Board of DistribuTECH, the largest industry conference in the electric utility industry for over 15 years.

Ross was the inventor of the first utility wireless automatic meter reading system in the industry which became the industry standard for over 25 years and the founder of one of the first successful electricity demand response technology and service companies in North America.

Commercial & Industrial Load Flexibility Interest Group

Jingjing Liu Program Manager III Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Jingjing Liu, P.E., CDCP is a Program Manager in the Building Technology and Urban Systems (BTUS) Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She has more than 16 years of experience in commercial and industrial (C&I) demand-side management. She is currently leading and contributing to research activities on grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEB), demand flexibility (DF), integrating DERs for grid services, interoperability, and data center efficiency and resiliency. She currently serves as the lead Program Manager of the California Load Flexibility Research and Development Hub, or "CalFlexHub" (calflexhub.lbl.gov), a $16M research project funded by CEC EPIC envisioning a future where flexible electrical loads automatically respond to dynamic electricity prices and GHG signals. Her most recent research work also highlights a novel approach to benchmarking demand flexibility performance of large amount of real buildings.

Prior to her current position, Jingjing worked at DNV GL as a Senior Engineer leading quality assurance for C&I large project technical reviews for utility energy efficiency programs nation-wide. She has assured properly funded incentives of over 6.5 million dollars and verified energy savings of over 90 GWh. She also served as a lead in multiple energy assessments for Intel, PG&E and Apple. She also developed and managed multiple innovation projects.

At an earlier position at Nexant Inc., Jingjing performed measurement & verification (M&V) for PG&E customers’ complex projects, especially on many Bay-Area oil refinery projects. She performed site inspections and engineering reviews for more than 80 new constructions and retrofit projects. Some of her happy customers were Chevron, Phillips 66, Genentech, Applied Materials, eBay, Transamerica, etc. The impact measured 65 GWh and 1.2 million therms of total annual energy savings.

Jingjing has extensive experience with utility energy data analysis, including regression modeling. She had developed automated analysis tools to streamline analysis processes. She also developed a simulation tool which estimates building energy savings potential to guide retro-commissioning prioritization.

Jingjing possess a spectrum of expertise in commercial and industrial energy-consuming systems, such as compressed air, process heating and cooling, steam, pumping, HVAC and lighting. She received her MS in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University as well as her MS and BS in Architecture from Tsinghua University, China.

Customer Engagement Interest Group

Vanessa Richter Oracle Energy and Water

Bios coming soon.

Lenore Zeuthen Opinion Dynamics

Lenore Zeuthen's expertise is in qualitative research and communications strategy. Having previously worked as an independent consultant specializing in customer engagement, she is now an Associate Director at Opinion Dynamics. Lenore manages evaluations and studies that hinge on the customer experience, ranging from website usability to EV public charging.

Renee Guillory Energy Innovation Advisor Arizona Public Service

Renée Guillory, PMP - Energy Innovation Advisor, APS Customer to Grid Solutions, Product Development and Strategy. Renée entered the energy industry in 2006 as a contracts manager for a local solar installation company. Since joining APS in 2011, Renée has served as solar installer liaison; commercial solar project manager; program co-lead and curriculum developer for the Qualified Solar Sales & Installation program; project manager for the Solar Innovation Study, whose results informed APS’ DER (distributed energy resource) roadmaps, and for the fleets built out as part of the Rewards energy storage initiative. Renée supports APS’ strategic efforts to scale customer technologies that can be operated as fleets: as part of that body of work, Renée helps to build or improve tools that help residential customers manage their energy usage, save on their electric bill, and engage with innovative programs that advance clean energy.

Wendy Brummer Program Manager Pacific Gas & Electric

Wendy Brummer is a DR practitioner at Pacific Gas and Electric Company in San Francisco. Since 2008, she has managed AC cycling, technology incentive, a critical peak pricing programs along with a variety of pilots. With higher than ever smart technology adoption rates, she continues to keep a focus on the customer experience and the value proposition, while being mindful of the feasibility to implement. She is currently the chair of the board of directors for Literacy for Environmental Justice which empowers youth and young adults through workforce development in a native plant nursery, habitat restoration and urban park stewardship. She has previously been a café owner and has managed energy efficiency programs as a third party. As a resident of the gorgeous state of California, she enjoys exploring natural areas through kayaking, swimming and gardening.

Brad Mantz Demand Response Manager San Diego Gas and Electric Company

Bios coming soon.

Electric Transportation Interest Group

Karen J. Apple Electric Vehicle Program Manager City of Phoenix

Bio coming soon!

Eamonn Urey Product Manager Salt River Project

Bio coming soon!

Jessie Guest Strategic Client Success Manager EnergyHub

Bio coming soon!

Geoff Garinger Director of Utility Partnerships WeaveGrid

Bio coming soon!

Retail Pricing Interest Group

Jordan Folks Associate Director, Demand Flexibility Opinion Dynamics

Bio coming soon!

Maria Kretzing Director of Innovation & Product Management Bidgely

Bio coming soon!

Nathan Shannon President and CEO Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC)

Bio coming soon!

Brian Kurtz Manager Customer Satisfaction & Utility 2.0 PSEG LI

Bio coming soon!

Erika Wasmund Principal Marketing Strategist Pacific Gas & Electric

Bio coming soon!

Chris Gallo Sr. Pricing Analyst, Innovative Pricing Con Edison

Chris Gallo is a Sr. Planning Analyst in Con Edison’s Rate Engineering: Customer Implementation Group, which is responsible for conducting the Company’s Innovative Pricing Pilot (IPP) – a rate pilot designed to test seven time-variant demand rates for residential and small-commercial customers. His primary role is developing ongoing communications and educational campaigns for participating customers, including web-based tools and information. He also works with Con Edison’s Regional Corporate Affairs groups to engage local elected officials and key external stakeholders. Chris has been with Con Edison for over 16 years. Prior to joining the team implementing the IPP, he worked in Customer Outreach and Education, crafting customer communications, leading the development of online content – including the first versions of the conEd.com mobile website and the Con Edison mobile app – and spearheading educational campaigns related to energy efficiency, safety, and the programs and services offered by the Company.

Opening Session

Keynote Address

Jacob Tetlow Executive Vice President Arizona Public Service

Jacob Tetlow is executive vice president, operations for Arizona Public Service Company (APS). Based in Phoenix, APS is Arizona’s largest electric company and serves more than 1.3 million customers across the state.

Tetlow oversees safe, reliable and efficient operations of the company’s non-nuclear generation and power delivery systems. His team also includes resource management, supply chain, corporate safety, enterprise security, sustainability, customer to grid solutions, facilities, transportation and environmental services.

Tetlow has a wealth of experience in both transmission and distribution operations and fossil generation at APS. He previously served as senior vice president of Operations, vice president of Transmission and Distribution, and general manager of T&D Operations. Prior to that, he spent 11 years in Fossil Generation, working his way up the ranks from boiler inspector to roles such as director of Gas and Oil Generation, director of Coal Generation and in various frontline and leadership positions at the Four Corners and Cholla power plants.

He serves on various boards and committees for regional organizations and industry-related groups, including the Electric Power Research Institute’s Research Advisory Committee and the Board of Directors for the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees for The Nature Conservancy Arizona Chapter.

Tetlow earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from ASU.

General Session 2

The "C" Suite: Load Management and Decarbonization

Richard Barone President Get Smart, LLC

Rich Barone As President of GetSmart, Rich supports clients across today’s transitioning energy landscape to foster innovation and transformation through strategic, technical and market advisory services. Rich previously served as Chief Growth Officer for Renewables at TRC Companies, Inc., where he helped shape and implement strategic, client-based growth and revenue forecasting and tracking, translating growth strategies into measurable KPIs. Previously at TRC, he provided leadership and direction in DER strategy, business cases, technologies, program portfolio and market development. Rich helped advance Hawaii's clean energy goals by serving as Director of Customer Energy Resources Operations at Hawaiian Electric from 2015-2020, where he worked cross-functionally within the three Hawaiian Electric operating companies to optimize the procurement and operationalization of Distributed Energy Resources, including battery storage, to foster system reliability in a rapidly-changing electricity grid. In total, Rich has over 20 years of strategic planning, early-stage technology assessment, software development and system integration expertise. His prior experience was as Associate Director in Emerging Technologies at Navigant Consulting. In that role, his primary focus was in Smart Grid technologies and microgrid business models. Prior to his tenure with Navigant, Rich served as VP of Smart Grid Services with Pacific Controls, Inc. following its acquisition of Infotility, where Rich served as Chief Operating Officer. Outside of his day job, Rich has served as Board Chair of Peak Load Management Alliance (PLMA) since 2021 and serves on the Education Committee for DistribuTECH. He holds an MS in Energy Technology & Policy and an MBA. in Entrepreneurship from the University of Colorado. He earned a Professional Certificate in E-commerce Application Development from Columbia University and he holds a dual BA in English and Philosophy from Boston College.

Dave Alspector Director Tierra Resource Consulting

Dave Alspector is a Director with Tierra. Dave is a registered professional engineer with 15 years of experience supporting electric and gas utilities with strategic planning, research, and evaluation of their customer-facing distributed energy resource (DER) programs. He develops holistic approaches to impact, process, and market evaluation to provide program managers and regional stakeholders with actionable feedback to strengthen their programs. He applies his background in building science engineering to develop data driven analyses, sophisticated financial modeling tools, and in-depth market research that quantify utility and customer value of energy efficiency, demand response, load shifting, and energy storage programs. Dave currently supports Arizona Public Service, Tucson Electric Power, and Duke Energy with integrating DER program evaluation and research findings into their strategic planning processes and program designs. Dave believes and strives for a collaborative approach to problem solving that is based on a positive, inclusive, and fun work environment that encourages colleagues to be creative and innovative, while feeling supported and understood. 

Amy Schmidt Senior Analyst E Source

Amy Schmidt is a Senior Analyst in E Source’s Research and Advisory Division with 5 years of experience helping utilities maintain equitable, stable, and decarbonized energy sources. She leads our demand response and load management research efforts. Her recent research topics include dynamic pricing, HVAC load control, and demand response resources in energy markets. Before joining E Source in 2018, the Universities Council on Water Resources published her thesis on how utilities set water prices. Amy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Economics from Bates College (Maine).

Mark Dyson Managing Director, Carbon-Free Electricity RMI

Mark is a Managing Director with the Carbon-Free Electricity Program at RMI, where he has worked since 2008. Mark currently leads RMI research and collaboration efforts around electricity grid planning for a 1.5°C-aligned future. At RMI, Mark has led research projects on renewable energy, demand flexibility, and grid resilience, and has advised clients including large utilities, regulatory commissions, oil majors, and cleantech companies on carbon-free energy topics. Prior to joining RMI, Mark worked at Ascend Analytics, helping deploy grid simulation and financial modeling software for several large energy companies. Mark has also held research positions at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where he worked on improving regional electricity system planning models, and at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he worked on integrating demand-side resources into electricity markets.

Chiel Borenstein Senior Partnerships Manager WattTime

Chiel is a Senior Partnerships Manager at WattTime, responsible for establishing and maintaining key relationships with sustainability teams at Fortune 500 companies. Over the past eight years, Chiel has been involved in various roles and responsibilities associated with the growth of WattTime as an organization. His current position on the Partnerships team focuses on helping organizations increase the environmental impact of their strategic energy decisions through solutions such as Automated Emissions Reduction (AER) and Emissionality. Chiel is a graduate of UC Berkeley's Environmental Economics and Policy program.

General Session 3

Passive or Active Load Management? Insights From EV Charging Test Cases Using Both Technology Approaches at Southern Company

Kevin Boyd Senior Research Engineer Southern Company

Kevin Boyd serves as a Senior Engineer for Southern Company’s Research and Development organization. His work primarily centers around customer technologies and the end use applications of the energy Southern Company delivers, with heavy attention lent to data analytics and connectivity. Kevin holds a bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering from Auburn University and brings valuable experience to Southern Company from his previous role working in AMI at Alabama Power and his prior roles working in research and technology development at Disney and Mercedes-Benz.

Caitlin Hillard Marketing Programs Manager Alabama Power Company

Caitlin Hilliard is the Marketing Programs Manager at Alabama Power Company. Her team is responsible for the implementation and management of the company’s sales and billing programs for residential, commercial, and industrial customers. This includes Alabama Power’s electric transportation programs and research pilots. Caitlin has been with Alabama Power Marketing for five years and previously worked as a project manager for Southern Company. She has a bachelor’s degree in Management from Berry College and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Caitlin is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Brooke Williams Sustainability Research and Development Southern Company

Brooke Williams leads sustainability research efforts in the energy sector at Southern Company, with extensive experience on grid integration of customer energy use. During her 13 years in the energy utility industry, she has held various engineering, operations, and sales roles. Brooke has a deep understanding of charging behavior for passenger vehicles after managing a study with 300+ electric vehicles. This study collected charging and trip data from the vehicles over the course of 12 months. In addition to studying charging behavior, Brooke Williams has driven electric since 2020 and planned a 5600 mile all electric roadtrip to learn more about charging infrastructure for long distance trips. Williams is currently studying equity in transportation electrification and the utility's role in meeting all customer's needs in this energy transition.

Joseph Vellone Head of North America ev.energy

Joseph leads ev.energy’s North America business, working with major regulated utilities across the country on managed EV charging programs. Joseph has extensive experience designing, implementing and scaling EV charging programs that engage customers while delivering proven network and system benefits. Prior to ev.energy, Joseph worked as a management consultant for utilities and power grids with the Boston Consulting Group. He is a graduate of Princeton University (B.A. Economics & Public Policy) and the London School of Economics (MSc. Environmental Economics & Climate Change).

Joe Stilin U.S. Commercial Projects Manager ev.energy

Joe is a Senior Project Manager at ev.energy, where he builds EV managed charging and demand response programs alongside utility partners.

Taking Action on EVs: Best Practices From Existing Utility Programs

Eamonn Urey Product Manager Salt River Project

Eamonn Urey is a Senior Product Manager at Salt River Project (SRP). Eamonn’s background includes eight years in electric utility program and product management at SRP. Eamonn has spoken at various professional organizations as a guest speaker for AESP, SEPA, ESource, and PLMA. He currently manages Demand Response programs (totaling 150 MW of dispatchable load) for residential smart thermostats (BYOT), Business Demand Response programs, a Multifamily Demand Response program via smart thermostats (MF BYOT), the country’s first small business Demand Response via smart thermostats (SMB BYOT) and is expanding SRP’s EV managed charging programs. Previously, he worked for Apple, managing interconnection programs. Eamonn is currently enrolled in the Harvard Extension School’s Sustainability Master’s degree program. Eamonn is a disabled combat veteran with over 20-years of service in the United States Army Reserve, specializing in Counterintelligence operations and targeting operations with various combat deployments. He has recently been selected for promotion to Command Sergeant Major, the highest enlisted non-commissioned officer rank in the United States Army.

Paul Wassink DER Program Manager National Grid

Paul manages the actively controlled DER programs for National Grid in Massachusetts. The DER portfolio includes both commercial and residential programs and devices such as thermostats, batteries, EVs, EVSEs, solar inverters, 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.

Kevin Schwain Senior Director, Electric Vehicles EnergyHub

Kevin leads EV strategy at EnergyHub. He comes from Xcel Energy where he spent 12 years leading development of new customer programs and most recently led the company’s transportation electrification strategy, policy, and program efforts. Under his leadership Xcel Energy advanced more than 50 EV rates and programs across four states. Kevin has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University, a MS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, and a MBA from MIT Sloan School.

General Session 4

The New Hampshire Electric Cooperative Transactive Energy Business Model Pilot

Brian Callnan VP of Power Resources and Access New Hampshire Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Brian Callnan is Vice President of Power Resources and Access for New Hampshire Electric Cooperative. He joined NHEC in 2017 as its Director of Power Resources and Access. Brian assumed his current position at NHEC in 2019 and is responsible for managing the cooperative’s power resource portfolio strategy.

Brian began his utility career in 2003 as a Resource Planning Analyst at Burlington Electric Department with a focus on Energy Efficiency valuation and systems design. In 2007, he moved to Vermont Public Power Supply Authority, a joint action agency of 12 Vermont municipal electric systems. He became VPPSA’s Director of Power Supply and Transmission in 2010; in that position he was responsible for all aspects of power supply and transmission, including representation of public power in municipal government, the State of Vermont and the ISO-NE stakeholder process.

Brian is an alumnus of the University of Colorado Leeds Business School and Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, and he holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management with a focus in Resource Economics from the University of Vermont.

Maximizing the Value of Residential DER through Wholesale Market Participation

Brady Klein Senior Manager, Market Development EnergyHub

Brady manages EnergyHub’s market development activities, including ISO/RTO market participation, state and federal regulatory advocacy, and assisting EnergyHub’s BYOD clients in delivering against their wholesale market strategies. Brady was previously a Sales Executive at EnergyHub, selling EnergyHub’s Mercury DERMS platform to utility clients in the Eastern US. Prior to joining EnergyHub, Brady spent three years as a consultant in IBM’s Global Business Services, focusing on business process design and asset management strategies in the implementation of advanced metering infrastructure at several IOUs across the US. Brady specialized in smart metering and distribution system technology, testing, and deployment, supporting the delivery of large, complex, multi-year engagements. Brady holds a BS in Civil Engineering and Certificate in Energy and Environment from Duke University.

Elizabeth Goodman Manager, Market Strategy, Policy and Support Arizona Public Service

12 years of utility industry experience holding leadership positions in supporting and operational roles at Arizona Public Service. For the last three years, Elizabeth has been responsible for engaging with the California ISO in various Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) policies and initiatives. Advocating for WEIM initiatives specifically focused on expanding and further operationalizing demand response programs within the Western Energy Imbalance Market.

Jay Delaney Supervisor Customer Technology Product Development and Strategy Arizona Public Service

Jay Delaney is on the Product Development and Strategy team and manages the Demand Side Management portfolio of Energy Efficiency and Demand Response measures for APS. Jay joined APS in 2017 and worked as a consultant in Technology Assessment and Advanced Grid Technologies before taking on his new role. Jay previously owned an electrical contracting and solar installation business in Phoenix.

Track A - Water Heater Programs

Lessons Learned from Water Heater Demand Response Programs 

Rebecca Brisson Product Manager -  Demand Response - Water Heaters + Residential EVs Portland General Electric

Program Operations Manager for two Demand Response Pilots: Multifamily Water Heaters and Residential EV charging.

Christine Riker Senior Director, Distributed Energy Resources Energy Solutions

Ms. Riker is the Director managing Energy Solutions’ Distributed Energy Resources department. Her breadth of knowledge spans utility program design, development, marketing and implementation, for energy efficiency, demand response, renewable energy, energy storage, and zero net energy programs. She manages the Energy Solutions team that is implementing PG&E’s Automated Demand Response (ADR) technology incentive program.

In addition to ADR, she has worked on a variety of energy efficiency programs including rebates for new construction, retrofit, and emerging technologies. ​

Ms. Riker graduated from Albion College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and Physics and received her Master’s Degree in Engineering from Stanford University.

Brenda Chew Director of Product Management Virtual Peaker

Brenda Chew is the Director of Product Management at Virtual Peaker, where she focuses on advancing the company's product offerings and capabilities. Prior to Virtual Peaker, Brenda was the Director of Research & Industry Strategy at the Smart Electric Power Alliance, where she led multiple research efforts and executed projects focused on evolving utility programs, integrated distribution planning, and enabling flexible resources along the grid. Brenda has also worked as a consultant covering distributed energy resources, utility of the future and grid modernization efforts.

How APS, TEP and Shifted Energy are Using Grid-Interactive Water Heaters in Multi-family Buildings to Help Arizona Residents Take Advantage of Time-of-Use Rates

John Phillip Energy Efficiency Analyst II Tucson Electric Power

John Phillip has worked with DSM programs since 2007, with a focus on small business, residential, low income, and multi-family programs. He currently works for Tucson Electric Power, supporting all DSM programs in analytics and savings verification. Is his time in Tucson, he has worked with the existing low income programs, residential new construction, and residential load management to include, most recently, the TEP residential hot water pilot. In addition, John has been BPI certified in both residential and multi-family, and studied building science in both cold, and hot climates. Outside of energy efficiency, John enjoys hiking, and camping with his family.

Trevor Swanson Program Manager Arizona Public Service

Trevor Swanson is the Program Manager for the APS Solutions for Business program. Trevor was in the U.S. Navy for 20 years, working as an electrician and nuclear propulsion plant supervisor on submarines. He spent 14 years in healthcare facilities management before joining APS and holds a bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering Technology from Thomas Edison State College and a MBA from the University of Phoenix. Trevor has held the title of Certified Energy Manager from the Association of Energy Engineers since 2006.

Susan Regan Program Director DNV

Susan Regan, PMP, is a Program Director for DNV. She works hand-in-hand with clients, utilizing project management processes to plan and implement effective energy management programs that serve a range of customer segments. Collaborating with clients and project teams, Susan develops comprehensive strategies and campaigns that strengthen an organization’s profile, stimulate market interest, and support growth objectives. She also specializes in conducting market and trend analysis, budget and team management, and managing in-person and virtual events.

Olin Lagon Co-Founder and CTO Shifted Energy

Olin Lagon is a serial social entrepreneur, innovator, and community organizer. He founded multiple companies and nonprofits in Hawaii and abroad. He is currently the co-founder and CTO of Shifted Energy. He holds multiple patents and his designs have been adopted by Global 1000 companies across five different industries. As one example, he invented and launched the first commercial crowdfunding service which scaled to channel $100 million to fund causes worldwide. He has spoken at conferences worldwide including a keynote speaker at Microsoftʻs Annual Developerʻs Conference (machine learning based energy systems). His community service includes the U.S. Navy, the Peace Corps, and numerous nonprofits including an educational foundation he co-founded.

Track B - Smart Thermostats

How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Complexity 

Renee Guillory Energy Innovation Advisor Arizona Public Service

Renée Guillory, PMP - Energy Innovation Advisor, APS Customer to Grid Solutions, Product Development and Strategy. Renée entered the energy industry in 2006 as a contracts manager for a local solar installation company. Since joining APS in 2011, Renée has served as solar installer liaison; commercial solar project manager; program co-lead and curriculum developer for the Qualified Solar Sales & Installation program; project manager for the Solar Innovation Study, whose results informed APS’ DER (distributed energy resource) roadmaps, and for the fleets built out as part of the Rewards energy storage initiative. Renée supports APS’ strategic efforts to scale customer technologies that can be operated as fleets: as part of that body of work, Renée helps to build or improve tools that help residential customers manage their energy usage, save on their electric bill, and engage with innovative programs that advance clean energy.

Bruce Brazis Account Executive Arizona Public Service

Professional in the clean energy management field for 15+ years. Recently with Arizona Public Service managing demand response (DR) programs for both residential and commercial customers. Directed the growth of smart thermostat DR program from design to operationalization of 100+ MWs.

Lori Rogers Communications Consultant Arizona Public Service

Lori Rogers, Communications Consultant, Brand Services and Marketing Communications at Arizona Public Service supports Customer to Grid Solutions. Lori manages the Marketing for the demand-side management portfolio of energy efficiency programs, including Cool Rewards, APS Marketplace, ENERGY STAR® and Solutions for Business. Lori joined Arizona Public Service in 2020 and prior to that spent 11 years with a neighboring utility working in Marketing. Lori holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Arizona State University and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. 

Kate Merson Vice President of Utilities Enervee

Kate has been working with utilities for over 15 years, helping them find innovative program designs to scale their energy efficiency, demand response, and distributed energy resource impacts. As VP of Utilities at Enervee, Kate is responsible for aligning with utility partner needs to drive greater impact and success via the Enervee online marketplace. Prior to this, she led Resource Innovations' market transformation portfolio and spent ten years at E Source where she led the Customer Energy Solutions suite of research products. With deep roots in residential energy efficiency and energy equity, Kate started her career in demand-side management running a low-income weatherization program at the State of Colorado.

Jessie Guest Strategic Client Success Manager EnergyHub

Jessie Guest manages DR programs across all of EnergyHub’s business lines for clients in the Southwest including thermostats, batteries, and EVSEs. Prior to joining EnergyHub she managed a utility energy efficiency program across 10 regions in Washington state as a Program Manager at CLEAResult and worked in various customer success roles in the financial services industry. She holds a BA in Economics from Simmons College.

Iain Shovelin Program Manager CLEAResult

For the last 10 years, Iain Shovelin has worked exclusively as a contractor with Arizona Public Service (APS) helping to promote energy efficiency. He currently works for CLEAResult as a Program Manager, supervising a field team that focuses on APS customer engagement via virtual tools and in-person outreach. In a previous life he was an elementary school teacher, receiving superintendent recognition, and worked for an online university. He enjoys not just educating but motivating customers to make behavioral changes to help save energy while aligning with the peak reduction goals of APS.

Brian Hickey Vice President of Operations Threshold

After working in production management in the Film & TV industry, Brian started with Threshold in 2011 as a project manager. Working closely with public utilities, retail energy providers, and implementers, Brian helped to build Threshold by hitting client goals and ensuring a superior customer experience. Brian oversees national operations; he is based out of New Jersey.

Tyson Brown Strategic Partnerships Manager Google/Nest

Tyson's career has been dedicated to breaking things in the energy industry and helping to rebuild them better than before. His 15+ years at Honeywell, Evergy, Uplight, and now Google have given him a wide range of experiences in the energy space. He uses that experience to help Google's energy partners connect the dots for a clean energy future that is accessible to all.

Kari Binley Senior Manager, Energy Partnerships ecobee

Kari Binley is the Senior Manager of Energy Partnerships at ecobee managing their Marketplace business and New Business Development.  Kari is passionate about residential demand side management and the problems it can solve for the utility, as well as the customer.  Prior to ecobee, Kari was on the energy-efficiency team at PG&E leading the smart home strategy.

David Holland Senior Manager, Business Development Resideo

Dave Holland is a Senior Manager – Business Development of Partnerships for Resideo’s Energy Management organization. This business focuses on developing software applications and partner ecosystems across Resideo’s residentially focused product offerings. Dave manages the relationships with software companies who call on the utility industry to foster their energy efficiency and demand response initiatives through Honeywell Home technology. Dave also looks for ways to add value to Resideo’s consumer base and its partners. The partner development team is responsible for creating consumer value by enabling developers to consume Honeywell Home API’s for its’ portfolio of cloud connected products. These partnerships and the associated connected products, including thermostats, water leak detectors, indoor air quality, security systems and building management systems, create ongoing and unexpected value to consumers and new revenue streams for partners and Resideo. Resideo is delivering on the goal to create connected products utilizing software and cloud services, to create effortless consumer experiences that delight our customers. Over the past 40 years, Dave has held various roles in operations, sales and business development across Resideo and Honeywell’s suite of utility focused, demand side management business.

Using Thermostats for Daily Automated TOU Response and Event Based Response

Josh Bode Partner & Principal Demand Side Analytics

Josh Bode specializes in advanced applications of data analytics using large volumes of hourly and sub-hourly data for evaluation, planning, forecasting, and valuation. He has led over 50 large-scale studies for utilities across the U.S.

Wendy Brummer Program Manager Pacific Gas & Electric

Wendy Brummer is a DR practitioner at Pacific Gas and Electric Company in San Francisco. Since 2008, she has managed AC cycling, technology incentive, a critical peak pricing programs along with a variety of pilots. With higher than ever smart technology adoption rates, she continues to keep a focus on the customer experience and the value proposition, while being mindful of the feasibility to implement. She is currently the chair of the board of directors for Literacy for Environmental Justice which empowers youth and young adults through workforce development in a native plant nursery, habitat restoration and urban park stewardship. She has previously been a café owner and has managed energy efficiency programs as a third party. As a resident of the gorgeous state of California, she enjoys exploring natural areas through kayaking, swimming and gardening.

Track C - Emergency Programs

Standing Up California’s Largest Residential DR Program in 4 Months 

Kathryn Smith Senior Program Advisor San Diego Gas & Electric

Kathryn has worked for San Diego Gas and Electric for over 17 years. She spent her first 11 years at SDG&E in the electric load analysis department where she specialized in calculating and forecasting the load impacts of SDG&E's demand response programs. Kathryn later became a Program Advisor within the SDG&E demand response department and ran the SDG&E thermostat program. She is currently the Program Advisor for SDGE's new Power Saver Rewards program that launched in May of 2022.

Randy Robinson Jr. 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.

Wendy Brummer Program Manager Pacific Gas & Electric

Wendy Brummer is a DR practitioner at Pacific Gas and Electric Company in San Francisco. Since 2008, she has managed AC cycling, technology incentive, a critical peak pricing programs along with a variety of pilots. With higher than ever smart technology adoption rates, she continues to keep a focus on the customer experience and the value proposition, while being mindful of the feasibility to implement. She is currently the chair of the board of directors for Literacy for Environmental Justice which empowers youth and young adults through workforce development in a native plant nursery, habitat restoration and urban park stewardship. She has previously been a café owner and has managed energy efficiency programs as a third party. As a resident of the gorgeous state of California, she enjoys exploring natural areas through kayaking, swimming and gardening.

Beth Reid CEO Olivine, Inc.

Beth Reid is the Founder and CEO at Olivine, Inc., and has previously held senior management positions at multinational corporations focusing on the development of emerging technologies and capabilities to support grid resiliency. Beth has most recently been focusing on the adaptation to climate change and the development and execution of flexible resources and emergency programs such as the Power Saver Rewards Program and the Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP) which Olivine is the implementer and administrator on behalf of the California IOUs. Furthermore, she has overseen the evolution of Olivine’s own proprietary solution known as ClimateResponse®, which engages end-users by delivering real-time information when energy prices and local GHG emissions are high, or when the energy grid is stressed, and educates them on what actions to take to save energy while offering incentives for program participation. Olivine is proud of collaborations with utilities to tackle complex problems and under Beth’s leadership was awarded the Program Pacesetter Award by PLMA in 2022 for such collaborations with PG&E.

Beat the Heat 

Kelly Kuhle Director of Marketing CPS Energy

Kelly Kuhle is Director of Marketing and is responsible for planning, execution, reporting and management of Marketing and Branding for CPS Energy. Kelly’s team manages communications channels that include website, social media, paid advertising, & other channels. Her team of content creators are graphic designers, videographers, photographers, copy writers, and advertising agency partners. Prior to joining CPS Energy in January 2018, Kelly was an executive director for AT&T and its predecessor companies. 

Justin Chamberlain Manager of Demand Response and Energy Efficiency CPS Energy

Justin has enjoyed 18 years of service at CPS Energy working in Finance, Operations, Corporate Communication, Marketing, Retail Energy and Customer Service. Today, he works in Technology and Products Innovation leading a team focused on helping customers reduce their energy, demand and energy burden through Energy Efficiency, Weatherization and Demand Response, along with portfolio planning, ancillary market services, renewable energy rates and EV strategy.

Track D - Local Load Management

Managing Load Locationally: A Case Study of 'Managing Load to Support Constrained Substations'

Kevin Stewart Principal Marketing Specialist DTE Energy

Kevin Stewart is a Principal Marketing Specialist for the Residential Pilots team at DTE. Primary responsibilities include identifying and implementing emerging pilots and program enhancements that deliver cost-effective energy savings and high customer satisfaction. Recent projects include Non-Wire Alternatives, New Homes Construction, Cold Climate Heat Pumps and Midstream initiatives. Kevin earned his B.A. in Business from Michigan State University and his M.B.A. at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

Haider Khan Senior Director ICF

Haider Khan has 20 years of experience in econometric & energy modeling, simulation, and optimization for utility & policy analytics including demand side management, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. Mr. Khan leads ICF’s Energy Analytics team which conducts residential, commercial, and industrial energy modeling; data analytics; econometric modeling; software development for energy savings estimation; application of AI & mathematical optimization; and DSM program planning and implementation support.

Track D - New Construction

Can Passive House Construction Shape Demand and Increase Grid Reliability?

Jordan Wilkerson VP of Technical Strategy Opinion Dynamics

Dr. Wilkerson has more than 25 years of diverse energy and climate industry experience including utility, implementer, policy, transportation, and academic roles. He has worked on both the supply and demand side of utility planning, mostly leading forecasting and related modeling developments. His PhD in Management Science and Engineering was focused on distributional impacts of federal energy and climate policies, and his Civil and Environmental Engineering M.S and Mechanical Engineering B.S. degrees focused on alternative transportation fuels for both automotive and aviation industries. He has published dozens of peer reviewed research journal papers and has presented research findings from across the energy and climate spectrum at national and international industry conferences.

Track E - Retail Pricing

Pricing as a Tool for Residential Load Management

Erin Day Associate Director Guidehouse

Erin is an Associate Director in Guidehouse’s Energy, Sustainability & Infrastructure practice who has been helping organizations achieve climate impact for a decade. She has diverse experience in this space including conducting customer experience, process improvement, and program design research for utility programs, implementing supplier engagement and climate education programs for large corporations, and developing and implementing greenhouse gas reduction and sustainability strategies. Her work with utilities focuses on customer research including surveys, in-depth interviews, and customer journey mapping methods to evaluate energy efficiency, demand response, and time of use rate plan programs. She holds an M.S. in Sustainability Management from Columbia University and a B.B.A. in Finance from Loyola University Maryland.

Neal Foley Director of Regulatory Affairs DTE Energy

Neal has worked at DTE for five years, starting first on DTE's Corporate Strategy team before accepting his current role in its Regulatory Affairs organization. Prior to coming to DTE, Neal spent his early year in consulting at Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, and McKinsey. In his current role, Neal is responsible for rate design, load research, and bringing the "Regulatory lens" to a variety of other emerging strategic topics.

Reaching and Engaging Diverse Customers With Innovative Rates

Chris Gallo Senior Planning Analyst Con Edison

Chris Gallo is a Sr. Planning Analyst in Con Edison’s Rate Engineering: Customer Implementation Group, which is responsible for conducting the Company’s Innovative Pricing Pilot (IPP) – a rate pilot designed to test seven time-variant demand rates for residential and small-commercial customers. His primary role is developing ongoing communications and educational campaigns for participating customers, including web-based tools and information. He also works with Con Edison’s Regional Corporate Affairs groups to engage local elected officials and key external stakeholders.Chris has been with Con Edison for over 16 years. Prior to joining the team implementing the IPP, he worked in Customer Outreach and Education, crafting customer communications, leading the development of online content – including the first versions of the conEd.com mobile website and the Con Edison mobile app – and spearheading educational campaigns related to energy efficiency, safety, and the programs and services offered by the Company.

Leigh Winterbottom Dir, Marketing + Comms ICF

Leigh Winterbottom is an ICF Director of Strategic Marketing & Communications and since July 2018, has been the ICF Project Manager for the Con Edison Innovative Pricing Pilot. Through her career at ICF as well as VEIC, C3 Energy and JACO Environmental, she has worked with some of the largest utilities in the Northeast, including NYSEG/RGE, New Jersey Clean Energy Program, National Grid, and Eversource, as well as Baltimore Gas & Electric.

Track F - Electric Transportation

Increasing Vehicle Electrification through Partnerships, Research, and Innovation

Andre Gouin Business Technology Consultant Xcel Energy

André is a Mechanical Engineer and Certified Energy Manager with over 25 years’ experience in the energy industry. His work has encompassed product development, project management, technical consulting, and strategy development. Over his career he has been responsible for developing various energy efficiency, renewable energy, electric vehicle, and demand response programs for Xcel Energy’s customers. Currently he works within the Strategic Partnerships organization, focusing on electric vehicle programs and solutions, including vehicle-to-grid applications to meet specific needs of Xcel Energy’s customers

First Glance A Lesson in Telematics:–Summer 2022 EV DR Events in Connecticut

Amy Findlay Manager, Demand Response & Managed EV Charging Eversource

Amy Findlay, P.E., oversees demand response and managed EV charging programs at Eversource. Amy leads a team focused on creating and executing programs that incentivize customers to reduce demand on the grid during peak times while providing a great customer experience. Prior to joining Eversource, Amy worked as a professional engineer in the real estate development and construction industry, designing and monitoring construction of building foundations. Amy holds a BS in civil engineering from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Katie Parkinson Vice President of Utility Services Rolling Energy Services

Katie Parkinson, VP Utility Services, brings 15 years of utility evaluations, project management, and a master’s degree in behavioral science. In this new EV landscape, Katie applies behavioral science to create compelling program designs and incentive structures that both encourage EV adoption and educate customers on their new impact on the grid. Her MyCharge reports design utilizes best practices in the field of behavioral science to turn intangible data into actionable insights for EV owners and utilities. Because of her evaluation background, Katie ensures her program designs create justifiable savings to support evaluation and policy needs. Katie holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and environmental studies from the University of California Santa Cruz, and a MSc in behavioral sciences from the London School of Economics.

Closing Session

FERC 2222 Series — Bringing It Back Home: What Does FERC 2222 Mean for PLMA Members?

Richard Barone President Get Smart, LLC

Rich Barone as President of GetSmart, Rich supports clients across today’s transitioning energy landscape to foster innovation and transformation through strategic, technical and market advisory services. Rich previously served as Chief Growth Officer for Renewables at TRC Companies, Inc., where he helped shape and implement strategic, client-based growth and revenue forecasting and tracking, translating growth strategies into measurable KPIs. Previously at TRC, he provided leadership and direction in DER strategy, business cases, technologies, program portfolio and market development. Rich helped advance Hawaii's clean energy goals by serving as Director of Customer Energy Resources Operations at Hawaiian Electric from 2015-2020, where he worked cross-functionally within the three Hawaiian Electric operating companies to optimize the procurement and operationalization of Distributed Energy Resources, including battery storage, to foster system reliability in a rapidly-changing electricity grid. In total, Rich has over 20 years of strategic planning, early-stage technology assessment, software development and system integration expertise. His prior experience was as Associate Director in Emerging Technologies at Navigant Consulting. In that role, his primary focus was in Smart Grid technologies and microgrid business models. Prior to his tenure with Navigant, Rich served as VP of Smart Grid Services with Pacific Controls, Inc. following its acquisition of Infotility, where Rich served as Chief Operating Officer. Outside of his day job, Rich has served as Board Chair of Peak Load Management Alliance (PLMA) since 2021 and serves on the Education Committee for DistribuTECH. He holds an MS in Energy Technology & Policy and an MBA. in Entrepreneurship from the University of Colorado. He earned a Professional Certificate in E-commerce Application Development from Columbia University and he holds a dual BA in English and Philosophy from Boston College.

Michael Brown Manager of DSM Services Berkshire Hathaway, NV Energy

Michael has over twenty years of experience in the energy sector focused on demand response, energy efficiency, and renewable energy in both deregulated and regulated electricity markets. He has held a variety of positions at consulting and energy service firms. Since 2005, Michael has worked at NV Energy building out smart grid enabled demand response and energy efficiency solutions. He is a Co-Chair of the Global Load Management Interest Group and immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors of PLMA—an international non-profit representing the voice of load management professionals. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and International Relations from The College of William and Mary, and an MBA from The Cranfield School of Management.

Patty Cook Senior Vice President, Clean Energy Solutions ICF

As a strategic leader with over 25 years of experience in energy, environmental policy, and management consulting, Patty leads our distributed energy resources (DER) flexibility services product and market development activities in North America. Working at the intersection of customer preferences, emerging technology, and evolving regulatory policy, she is redefining integrated demand-management programs to help clients navigate the transformation to a decarbonized, affordable customer-centric grid. Patty is also a strategic advisor to clients on the valuation, design, and sourcing of DERs for performance-based flexible customer demand-management program portfolios to provide customer benefits, grid services, and carbon reduction. She is currently providing regulatory strategy and oversight for DER pilots across the country where behind-the-meter assets, devices, and price-responsive control technology are deployed to evaluate measured outcomes, technology performance, and customer acceptance. Patty’s previous leadership roles include Vice President for Market Development and Strategy for our U.S. Commercial Accounts and Vice President for Jones & Stokes, where she was responsible for western regional operations, including oversight of energy and environmental infrastructure projects and programs in six states. She was a Principal with Ecology and Environment, Inc., where she led commercial and international environmental development projects and an Environmental Scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

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.

Andy Taylor Manager, Products and Services Duke Energy

Andy is a Manager of Products and Services with eight years of experience managing DSM programs at Duke Energy. He manages the team responsible all non-residential Demand Response programs, including those available in Indiana, Kentucky, the Carolinas, and Florida. Andy received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and is a licensed professional engineer in Indiana. Prior to joining Duke, Andy performed numerous energy assessments for commercial and industrial customers across the state. Andy lives near the Plainfield office with his wife and three children and enjoys spending his free time with family.

Jill Powers Demand Response & Distributed Energy Sector Manager CAISO

Jill Powers has multiple years of experience at the California ISO during which she has held a variety of leadership positions supporting grid and market operations including early design of energy markets facilitated by the organization. As a Demand Response and Distributed Energy Resource Sector Manager, her current focus is on policy and modeling development advancing these resources in the CAISO wholesale markets further enabling diverse technology participation.Most recently she was a leader in the successful completion of Distributed Energy Resource Provider (DERP), pre-cursor to FERC Order 2222, and Energy Storage/Distributed Energy Resource (ESDER) policy initiatives which advance the development of CAISO tariff and infrastructure to support and expand their ability to provide services in the wholesale market. Jill holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science Degree in Computer Information Systems.