![]() 48th PLMA Conference: Speaker Bios
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Adam Light Adam Light is Senior Solution Manager for Grid Products. He leads development of the technology platform for PGE's Virtual Power Plant (VPP). Since joining PGE in 2020, Adam's focus has been grid modernization. This includes technology solutions for EV charging, commercial, industrial, and residential flexible load programs, grid edge storage, and rooftop solar, as well as operational technology to supply capacity, energy, and other grid services through the VPP. He is a member of PGE's Smart Grid Testbed team, and a key contributor to PGE's SALMON/Flexible Feeder project, which is supported by $11.7 M in from the U.S. Department of Energy and the state of Oregon. Adam brings more than 20 years of experience in software development to his role. Prior to joining PGE, he founded and operated SoTech, a consultancy specializing in Agile transformation. As Principal Consultant, Adam worked with a mixture of enterprise clients, including Starbucks Coffee Company, as well as SaaS companies like Cirium, Vertafore, and NWEA. Before his time with SoTech, Adam served as Director of Planning and Program Management at TransUnion. Adam graduated from Dartmouth College and studied climate science at the University of Colorado and the University of Oregon. He holds a Ph.D. in geography. |
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Jay Oliver Jay Oliver is Managing Director, Grid Systems Integration at Duke Energy. In this role he leads battery storage development, transportation electrification, demand side management, and clean energy customer programs. Mr. Oliver has over 25 years of experience in electric Distribution, Transmission, and related technology applications. Mr. Oliver received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and earned his master’s degree in business administration from the University of South Florida. He is a licensed Professional Engineer. |
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Kevin Brehm Bio coming soon! |
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Kirsten Millar Bio coming soon! |
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Joe Bourg Bio coming soon! |
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Mary Tobin Bio coming soon! |
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Jennifer Downing Bio coming soon! |
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Stacy Phillips Stacy Phillips leads Demand Response at Duke Energy. She has also held roles in Energy Efficiency strategy and leading renewable customer programs in her 12 years at Duke. Prior to joining the utility, Stacy worked in marketing and operations in banking, frozen food and advertising agencies. Stacy resides in Charlotte. |
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Harry Sideris Harry Sideris serves as executive vice president of customer experience, solutions and services for Duke Energy. In addition to focusing on transmission, customer delivery and enhancing the customer experience, he is responsible for the development of mass-market products and services and the company’s electrification efforts, including continued development of long-term grid strategies and solutions. Sideris also has responsibility for the supply chain organization, including sourcing and supply chain functions for the company’s regulated and commercial operations. Sideris has more than 25 years of experience in the energy industry. Previously, he served as Duke Energy’s chief distribution officer. In this role he oversaw the safe, reliable and efficient operation of Duke Energy’s electric distribution systems for the company’s six-state service area, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. He has served as state president of Duke Energy’s utility operations in Florida, which serves approximately 1.8 million electric retail customers in central Florida, including metropolitan St. Petersburg, Clearwater and the Greater Orlando area. He was responsible for the financial performance of Duke Energy’s regulated utilities in Florida and managing state and local regulatory and government relations, and community affairs. Prior to that, Sideris served as the company’s senior vice president of environmental health and safety. In that role, he led the groups responsible for developing and advancing corporate policies, programs and strategies to ensure the company’s compliance with environmental health and safety laws and regulations. He was named to this role in August 2014. Sideris began his career at Progress Energy (formerly Carolina Power & Light) in 1996 and served in numerous operations, maintenance, technical and leadership roles across Progress Energy’s generation fleet in the Carolinas and Florida at both the plant and corporate levels. Following the merger between Duke Energy and Progress Energy in July 2012, Sideris served as vice president of power generation for Duke Energy’s fossil/hydro operations in the western portions of North Carolina and South Carolina. Sideris earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from North Carolina State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Campbell University. He also completed the Advance Management Program at the University of Chicago. He currently serves as a trustee of the Duke Energy Foundation and as a board member of the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies, the N.C. State Natural Resources Foundation Inc. and co-chairs the National Utilities Diversity Council. Sideris grew up in Asheville, N.C. He and his wife, Catinna, have two daughters. |
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Jenny Roehm Jenny Roehm is part of Schneider Electric’s Digital Grid Team delivering digital energy management solutions. Their goal is to enable businesses and homeowners to truly manage their energy consumption, and work on the principle that local utilities are, and should remain, trusted advisors for their customers. Jenny works with her team to develop solutions centered around strengthening the relationship between utility and consumer to save energy and deliver resources for grid management. Her current work leverages her nearly 30 years of experience to focus on the integration of demand side management resources; working with utilities and customers to integrate demand response, storage, on-site generation and energy efficiency into a single approach. Jenny Roehm spent the first part of her career working for a utility and has managed load control programs, as a consultant she worked with utilities across the country as they implement programs and has experience conducting measurement and verification studies on energy efficiency and demand response projects. |
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Rich Barone 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. |
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Robin Maslowski Bio coming soon! |
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Michael Brown 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. |
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Erica Keating Erica Keating is the Principal Manager of Demand Response Programs at Southern California Edison. In her current role, she leads a dynamic team to deliver more than 1000 MW of carbon free demand response to the California electric grid. Erica and team are lead for all matters involving grid emergency response as it relates to emergency demand response operations, and they are the owners of all matters pertaining to behind-the-meter energy and capacity. More recently, Erica and her team have turned their focus to next-gen DR program development via pilots through a dynamic pricing pilot and a mass market demand response pilot effort. Prior to her time in Demand Response, Erica worked within SCE’s Energy Procurement & Management group where she was responsible for running wholesale power procurement solicitations, negotiating power purchase agreements and managing SCE’s Resource Adequacy procurement activities. Erica also spent the first 10 years of her career working in local government. For her full bio you can look her up on LinkedIn. |
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Ross Malme Ross is President and CEO of Malme Energy Consulting, providing services to utilities and the energy technology community, specializing in 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. |
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Tiffany Wu Bio coming soon! |
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Jason Ryan Jason M. Ryan was named Executive Vice President, Regulatory Services & Government Affairs at CenterPoint Energy following service as the company's general counsel and in other legal leadership positions. In his current role, Jason reports to the company’s President and leads over 100 colleagues on the rates and regulatory portfolio management team; the regulatory policy team; the regulatory accounting team; the regulatory legal team; and the local, state, and federal government affairs team. Jason was commissioned by President Bush as an intelligence officer in the Navy after the September 2001 terror attacks and served with a reserve unit for 10 years. He was appointed by Texas Governor Perry to the Texas Diabetes Council in 2013 for a term ending in 2019; in 2019, he was reappointed by Texas Governor Abbott for a term ending in 2025.Jason currently serves on the boards of the Lone Star Flight Museum and the Association of Electric Companies of Texas (AECT), and chairs the Legal Committee of the American Gas Association (AGA). Jason previously served on the boards of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (including chair from 2014-2017), the Houston Bar Association, the Houston Bar Foundation, the Houston Young Lawyers Association (including president), the Houston Young Lawyers Foundation, the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program, Leadership Houston, the Houston Urban Debate League, and the Houston Club (including president). Jason’s contributions to his community were acknowledged when the Houston Jaycees and Texas Jaycees named him one of 2007’s five Outstanding Young Houstonians and one of five Outstanding Young Texans, respectively. Jason was named the 2013 Man of the Year by the Gulf Coast Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Also in 2013, he was named one of the Houston Business Journal's 40 Under 40. In 2021, Jason and his team were recognized at the Houston Corporate Counsel awards for Achievement in Pro Bono and Public Service. Jason’s wife of more than 20 years, Megan, served as the US Energy Utilities and Mining Sector Practice Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Houston. Also committed to service, Megan has chaired the Houston Junior League’s volunteer activities at Texas Children’s Hospital, Bo's Place and Undies for Everyone. Jason and Megan are members of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. |
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J.T. Thompson As Senior Vice President of Sales, Jonathan ‘J.T.’ Thompson leads a global team of sales and commercial operations leaders who help utilities and cooperatives solve their grid problems. Over the course of his career, he has held myriad roles in the energy business across companies including ICAP, Constellation NewEnergy, GE, Noble Americas Energy Solutions and others. He’s been an energy broker, sales leader, and, most recently at Generac Grid Services, the VP of enterprise accounts. |
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Iain Shovelin Iain Shovelin is the Program Manager for the APS Residential Battery Pilot Program. Prior to this role, he was a contractor at CLEAResult for 10 years and worked exclusively with APS, implementing residential programs, and focusing on customer engagement via virtual tools and in-person outreach. In a previous life he was a schoolteacher and has a master's degree in adult education. In his current role he enjoys not just educating but motivating customers to make behavioral changes to align with the peak reduction goals of APS. Originally from the UK, Iain now enjoys the sunnier climes of Phoenix and can be found mountain biking in the desert in his free time. |
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Ari Kornelis Bio coming soon! |
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Mark Jensen Bio coming soon! |
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Steve Wheat Bio coming soon! |
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Brian Lusher Bio coming soon! |
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Greg Sidorov Bio coming soon! |
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Jeremy Stewart Jeremy Stewart has spent over 15 years building utility programs by quantifying the value of customer actions and using benefits to build programs that benefit customers. Work has included planning, analyzing, and implementing energy conservation, demand response, rates, and electric transportation programs. Current projects include a grid integrated water heater pilot, school bus micro grid project, and port electrification. |
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Christina Carlson Bio coming soon! |
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Wendy Brummer 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. |
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Abby Shelton Bio coming soon! |
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Beth Reid 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. |
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Eamonn Urey 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. |
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Shane O’Quinn Bio coming soon! |
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Kessie Avseikova Bio coming soon! |
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Beth Strasburger Bio coming soon! |
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Adam Gardels Bio coming soon! |
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Gary Smith Bio coming soon! |
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Kelsey Lawhead Bio coming soon! |
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Ethan Poppe Bio coming soon! |
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Lars-Olaf Hoeger Lars is a Senior Specialist within the Demand Response group at Con Edison. He is currently a member of the operations team that manages the implementation of the DRMS and the operation of Con Edison’s Demand Response programs. He has been with Con Edison for 3 years. |
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Kohil Vyas Bio coming soon! |
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Ali Ipakchi Bio coming soon! |
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Eric Hall Bio coming soon! |
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Owen Tyrrell Bio coming soon! |
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Dan Cooper Bio coming soon! |
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Crystal Enoch Bio coming soon! |
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Kristin Baker Bio coming soon! |
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Brian Lusher Brian Lusher serves as the Manager of Duke Energy’s Residential Demand Response team in the Integrated Grid Strategy and Solutions organization. His team is responsible for developing, marketing and operating products that serve both our customers and the grid by providing load reductions when we they are most needed. The current portfolio of products includes smart thermostats, controllable water heaters, pool pumps and HVAC systems. Additionally, this team works closely with the Energy Control Center on when to call for Critical Peak days and Behavioral Demand Response events that encourage customers to conserve energy and reduce usage during peak times. Brian joined Duke Energy in 2017 and has held a series of engineering and project management roles. A native of Virginia, Brian earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech and later went on to complete a Masters in Business Administration at the University of South Carolina. Brian is a registered professional engineer in North Carolina. |
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Eric Bell, PhD. Dr. Eric Bell is an economist with expertise in Measurement & Evaluation (M&E). He has over 14 years of experience and specializes in load and bill impact evaluations of DSM programs including pricing pilots, DR, and energy conservation. He has extensive experience with experimental and quasi-experiment design, econometric modeling of customer characteristics, billing, and AMI usage data for both residential and non-residential customers. Dr. Bell has led impact evaluations for the California Statewide Opt-in Residential TOU Pilot, SCE and SDG&E Default TOU Pilot Evaluations, Con Ed’s Innovative Pricing Pilot and Smart Home Rate Evaluations, Duke Energy’s TOU and CPP Pilot, ComEd’s Residential TOU Pricing Pilot, and dozens of other program evaluations. He also led California DR load impact evaluations including Statewide CPP, Statewide Permanent Load Shifting (PLS), the Statewide PEV Submetering Pilot, PG&E’s BYOT Smart Thermostat Evaluation, SCE’s DR programs (SDP, PTR, API, RTP), and the SCE TOU-Prime EV Focused Rate. In total, projects led by Dr. Bell have required applying data analytics to approximately 550,000 businesses and over 4 million residential customers. Dr. Bell completed his PhD in Economics—with an emphasis on industrial organization—and MBA at the Claremont Graduate University. |
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Candice Potter Bio coming soon! |
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John Powers 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. |
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Randy Robinson Bio coming soon! |
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Kevin Schwain 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. |
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Paul Wassink 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. |
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Sean Leach Bio coming soon! |
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Melissa Chan Bio coming soon! |
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Mark Braby Bio coming soon! |
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Peter Steele-Mosey Bio coming soon! |
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Maral Kassabian Bio coming soon! |
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Daniel Carr Bio coming soon! |
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Justin Malecki Bio coming soon! |
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Wendy Brummer 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. |
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Brad Mantz Brad has been the Manager of SDG&E's Demand Response team since 2017 and is seasoned veteran of the Utility and Energy Industry. Previously he has worked for Sempra Energy's nonregulated businesses, British Petroleum and Sumitomo. Brad has spoken at many industry events and testified in proceedings in Texas, Oklahoma, California and Washington DC. Brad Attended USC and graduated from the university of Texas at Austin. He makes his home in San Diego, California. |
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Randy Robinson Bio coming soon! |
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Beth Reid 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. |
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Maddie Emerson Maddie conducts market and regulatory research and supports customer energy program design for utilities and governmental agencies across the country. She specializes in utility demand-side management program regulation, wholesale electric market operations and regulation, and the advanced energy-related provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act. She synthesizes and easily communicates research findings to a variety of audiences, as well as solicits and coordinates collaboration among program stakeholders to develop innovative and workable program designs. |
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Jessica King Bio coming soon! |
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Shane King Bio coming soon! |
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Hilary Polis Hilary Polis is an Associate Director of Transportation Electrification at Opinion Dynamics where she leads Opinion Dynamics’ work in the transportation electrification space. Hilary leverages her expertise in vehicle grid integration to help clients understand the intersection of the EV owner and the grid. She provides advisory services to utilities and automakers across the country that are looking to build or scale EV load management offerings including PG&E, ComEd, and Puget Sound Energy. She also serves as a subject matter expert for large-scale evaluations of TE portfolios such as the SCE Charge Ready Light Duty Programs and Xcel Transportation Electrification Plan Programs among others. |
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Sunil Goyal Bio coming soon! |
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Jay Oliver Jay Oliver is Managing Director, Grid Systems Integration at Duke Energy. In this role he leads battery storage development, transportation electrification, demand side management, and clean energy customer programs. Mr. Oliver has over 25 years of experience in electric Distribution, Transmission, and related technology applications. Mr. Oliver received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and earned his master’s degree in business administration from the University of South Florida. He is a licensed Professional Engineer. |