Speakers

Registration for Energy Evolution Summit 2025 is now open.

Thank you to our 2024 speakers and contributors

Alice Jackson

Senior Vice President, System Strategy and Chief Planning Officer, Xcel Energy

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Alice Jackson Ms. Jackson leads the System Strategy and Planning organization for Xcel Energy. This is a new organization that focuses on integrated system planning, including strategically planning generation, transmission and distribution of Xcel’s electric and natural gas systems. Since joining Xcel Energy in 2011, Alice has held various positions of increasing responsibility. Directly prior to her role as Senior Vice President, Ms. Jackson led the Operating Company team for Public Service Company of Colorado as President. In this role she was responsible for the community, legislative, regulatory activities and held responsibility for delivering on corporate financial outcomes and objectives for Xcel Energy – Colorado. Prior to her executive leadership roles within Xcel Energy, Alice held various regulatory positions with Southwestern Public Service Company in Texas and with Public Service Company of Colorado. Before her time with Xcel Energy, Alice spent nearly 10 years with Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy) managing the nationwide energy needs of this large industrial consumer. In Alice’s early roles with Oxy, she utilized her information technology background and technical acumen to provide software development and systems support to various trading activities as well as electric market deregulation. Through her involvement in the federal and state electric markets, multiple rate cases, and interaction with customers, large and small, Alice developed a unique perspective for utilities and their contributions to society. As if having a full-time career, being married to her high school sweetheart and having four sons is not enough of an adventure in life, in 2017 Alice completed the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard University. Alice earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management Information Systems from Texas A&M University.

James Conrad

Director, Grid & Pipeline Innovation, PPL Electric Utilities Company

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James Conrad Jim Conrad is the Director of Grid & Pipeline Innovation for PPL Corporation. He is responsible for overseeing enterprise-facing Product teams in the areas of Electric Operations, Gas Operations, and Asset Management. His decade of experience at PPL includes leadership roles in Distribution Control Center Operations, Relay Test, and Distribution Standards groups, as well as projects focused on DER Management, UAVs, and downed conductor detection. Prior to his work in the utility industry, Jim supported the intelligence community as a Systems Engineer. Jim received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Systems Engineering degree, both from Penn State University, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Museum of Industrial History located in Bethlehem, PA.

Gisela Glandt

VP of Virtual Power Plants, Uplight

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Gisela Glandt Gisela leads our Virtual Power Plant business and oversees the growth and health of Uplight’s Distributed Energy Partner ecosystem. With a career spanning over 15 years in the energy industry, she brings a wealth of expertise and a proven track record of excellence. Prior to joining, Gisela led Nest’s Smart Home and Energy Partnerships at Google, with a focus on formulating and executing growth strategies for cutting-edge products and cultivating strategic partnerships. Prior to Google, Gisela held various positions in business development and marketing leadership at Bloom Energy and Constellation Energy. She holds a BA from The University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Wharton School of Finance.

Lora Anguay

Chief Zero Carbon Officer, SMUD

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Lora Anguay With over 20 years of experience in the electric utility industry, Lora is currently serving as SMUD’s first Chief Zero Carbon Officer. In this role, she’s responsible for the transition of SMUD’s power supply to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2030. Lora provides leadership for SMUD’s energy supply, which includes resource, settlements and market planning; design, construction, maintenance and transition of SMUD’s power generation assets; and customer program strategy, design and development pertaining to distributed energy resources. She’s also responsible for research and development activities, grant application and administration, and establishing new business partnerships that align with SMUD’s 2030 zero carbon goal. Lora’s previous leadership experience at SMUD includes overseeing the day-to-day operations of the distribution grid, transmission and distribution maintenance engineering, the development of electrical design and construction standards and the work management activities for line design and construction. Lora led the deployment of SMUD’s smart meter project and managed SMUD’s distribution automation project. Lora earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the California State University, Sacramento and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Western Energy Institute and the CSUS, Foundation Board and is a member of the American Leadership Forum Greater Sacramento class of 2024.

Salam Baniahmed

Director, Energy Storage, SEPA

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Salam Baniahmed Salam Baniahmed joined SEPA in January 2024, leading the growth of the Energy Storage adoption in grid applications, and helping utilities transition to an affordable, reliable, and resilient carbon-free electric energy system. Salam collaborates across SEPA's focus area teams, ensuring balanced technology advancement within the taxonomy of Smart Grids. Before commencing his journey with SEPA, Salam led and co-led multidisciplinary technology development on clean energy systems and cloud-connected energy applications. His career path features persistent efforts to harmonize the cyber and physical layers of the critical energy infrastructure. Salam has over 15 years of experience in his field, split between academic research and industrial innovation at Eaton Research Labs and Veloce Energy. Salam is a senior member of the Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), he serves on various committees for IEEE standards development and is a technical committee member for UL Standards. He has authored and co-authored numerous journal and conference papers, white papers, book chapters, and technical documents. Salam holds a B.S. degree in Engineering Technology, an M.S. in Computer Engineering, and received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He enjoys hiking, soccer, and DIY projects.

Elaina Ball

Chief Strategy Officer, CPS Energy

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Elaina Ball Elaina Ball leads strategic planning for CPS Energy. In this role, she is responsible for the oversight and execution of CPS Energy's Vision 2027. Elaina has over 17 years of experience working with both investor-owned and public power utility companies. She has provided effective leadership in power generation, transmission & distribution, market operations, technology, and business development functions. She has previously served as CEO for Fayetteville PWC in Fayetteville, NC, as Chief Operating Officer for El Paso Electric and Austin Energy, as Senior Vice President of Power Delivery at Entergy, and is a CPS Energy alumnus serving as Vice President of Technical Services & Energy Solutions in 2012. She also has extensive leadership experience with the South Texas Project (STP), having served on their Board of Directors, Owners Committee, and Benefits Committee. Elaina has been actively engaged with multiple utility organizations, including the Rocky Mountain Electrical League and the Association of Women in Energy, in addition to community non-profits such as the Austin Science Education Foundation, El Pasoans Fighting Hunger, and Fayetteville Tech Community College. Elaina holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. She is also a graduate of the University of Idaho Utility Energy Executive program and a certified Six Sigma Black Belt.

Caroline Choi

Sr. Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Public Policy, Southern California Edison

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Caroline Choi

Caroline Choi is senior vice president of Corporate Affairs and Public

Policy at Southern California Edison and its parent company, Edison

International. Choi oversees Corporate Communications, Corporate

Philanthropy, Government Relations and Public Affairs at the national,

state and local levels.

Previously, Choi served as senior vice president of Regulatory Affairs at

SCE and was responsible for the company’s regulatory engagement,

policy and strategy.

Choi also served as SCE vice president of Energy and Environmental

Policy and oversaw the analysis and development of energy and

environmental policies and strategies, as well as engagement at energy

and environmental regulatory agencies.

Before joining SCE in 2012, Choi was executive director of

Environmental Services & Strategy at Progress Energy (now Duke

Energy), where she led environmental permitting, compliance and

policy.

Choi is active in national policy and community engagement. She

serves on the board of Smart Electric Power Alliance, a nationwide

organization that supports the implementation and deployment of clean

energy and distributed resources. She also chairs the board of Veloz, a

nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the shift to electric transportation

through public-private collaboration and public engagement. In addition,

she is a member of the Electric Transportation Community

Development Corporation, National Forest Foundation and Public Policy

Institute of California’s Statewide Leadership Council.

Choi holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Dartmouth College.

Cristin Lyons

Partner, ScottMadden, Inc.

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Cristin Lyons Cristin Lyons is a partner and head of ScottMadden’s energy practice. With almost 25 years of experience helping clients optimize their businesses, she leads client engagements to transform utility operations and enable the clean energy transition. Cristin was the lead for the firm’s grid transformation practice before becoming the energy practice lead. She is a frequent speaker and panelist at conferences across the country. Cristin earned a B.A. in political science and Spanish from Gettysburg College and an M.B.A. from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University.

Yok Potts

Director, Research & Industry Strategy, Policy, SEPA

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Yok Potts Yok Potts joined SEPA in September 2022 as the Director of Regulatory & Business Innovation focusing on the transformation of utility business models and state regulatory processes to achieve a carbon-free energy future. With over 18 years of industry experience at MISO, Yok has held various leadership and engineering roles in both the Reliability and Market sides of Operations. Her former roles include the management of MISO’s $1.5B Financial Transmission Rights Market as well as the Operational Forecasting department where she developed international collaborative partnerships across the energy industry. Yok holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Indianapolis and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) from Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis.

Sheri Givens

President & CEO, SEPA

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Sheri Givens Sheri Givens joined Smart Electric Power Alliance as president and CEO in November 2022, leading SEPA’s work to address the most pressing issues encountered in the transformation to a carbon-free electricity sector. Her professional experience includes nearly twenty years in legal, regulatory, legislative, and external affairs in both the public and private sectors.

Seth Frader-Thompson

President & Co-founder, EnergyHub

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Seth Frader-Thompson Seth Frader-Thompson co-founded EnergyHub in 2007 and continues to serve as its President. Under his leadership, the company has become a leading provider of both utility-installed and Bring Your Own Thermostat demand response services. EnergyHub offers utilities end-to-end demand response program management, including program design, installation, marketing and customer support services, as well as EnergyHub’s Mercury software platform for device control, with the goal of enabling both utilities and consumers to benefit from participation in DR and DER programs. Simultaneously, EnergyHub works with the leading device manufacturers and home services companies to bring their customers into utility programs. Seth is a frequent speaker on demand response and connected home issues and is a board member of the Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid. Prior to founding EnergyHub, Seth served in several managerial and technical roles at Honeybee Robotics. During his tenure at Honeybee Robotics, he worked on robotics projects for NASA and developed bomb-disposal robots for the military. He was the principal investigator for a DARPA research effort to build a miniature laser vision system for search and rescue robots. Seth has a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado, where his research focused on Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) for Ultracold Atom Optics.

Scott Harden

Chief Technology Officer, Global Innovation, Schneider Electric

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Scott Harden As Schneider Electric’s CTO for global innovation, Scott Harden is responsible for software strategy and research & development for major growth initiatives across the company. Leading the vision, technology roadmap and integration plans for investments and incubations, Harden is responsible for the digital capabilities supporting the global development of electrification and sustainability businesses. Harden also serves as the CTO for SE Ventures, Schneider Electric’s $1 billion corporate venture fund focused on future growth investments and initiatives with a focus on digitization, electrification, and sustainability. Harden joined Schneider Electric from Microsoft in March 2022 where he was the Chief Technology Officer, worldwide Energy & Sustainability. The global role was responsible for Microsoft's technology vision for Energy & Sustainability by providing thought leadership on trends, competition, alliances, solutions, as well as long-term growth plans for Microsoft in top industry accounts. In addition to his work at Schneider Electric, Harden serves on the board of directors for the Smart Electric Power Alliance and Grid Forward. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts and is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma where he received a degree in Architecture and Engineering.

Peter Muhoro

SEPA Board Member | Chief Strategy, Technology & Innovation Officer, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative

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Peter Muhoro Dr. Peter Muhoro is the Chief Strategy, Technology & Innovation Officer for REC and the Vice President and General Manager of RE Communications, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Cooperative. Peter is responsible for developing and monitoring long-term strategies related to the Cooperative’s technology systems, new service offerings to the membership and business planning. Strategies developed under his leadership will include a technology strategy that addresses not only the Cooperative’s needs of today, but more importantly, the information, distributed generation, clean energy, emerging technologies and advanced electrification needs of tomorrow. Peter is an accomplished electric utility executive with over 15 years of experience in the energy industry. In his most recent role as Vice President of Strategic Industry Research and Analysis at National Rural Utilities Finance Corporation (CFC), Peter led research activities, provided strategic leadership, and consulted with electric cooperative leadership and board members on trends, technologies and the future of electric cooperatives. Over the course of his career, Peter held several positions working for, and with electric cooperatives. He served as the Chief Strategy Officer at Pedernales Electric Cooperative, the largest distribution electric cooperative in the U.S. Prior to that he was an Advisor at the Cooperative Research Network, the technology research arm of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. He has previously launched several small businesses focused on energy analysis, bottom of the pyramid issues and poverty reduction through efficient electrification. He serves on the board of the Smart Electric Power Alliance, as well as other advisory committees. He is a sought-after speaker both nationally and internationally. Peter holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics from Hampton University, a Master of Science and Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the University of Michigan. REC provides electric service to over 170,000 connections in parts of 22 Virginia counties. With its general office in Fredericksburg, Va., the Cooperative operates and maintains more than 17,000 miles of power lines through its service area, which ranges from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay. For more information about REC, please visit www.myrec.coop. Follow REC on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Paul Lau

SEPA Board Member | CEO & General Manager, SMUD

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Paul Lau Paul Lau, who previously served as SMUD’s Chief Grid Strategy & Operations Officer, was named Chief Executive Officer & General Manager in October 2020. He reports to the SMUD Board of Directors. As CEO, he leads the sixth largest community-owned electric utility in the nation, serving a population of 1.5 million residents and managing a $1.7 billion budget. As Chief Grid Strategy & Operations Officer, Lau was responsible for the operations of SMUD’s power markets, transmission, and distribution grids, including the Balancing Authority of Northern California, the development of a holistic smart grid strategy, and SMUD’s research and development programs. In this role, he served as executive sponsor for SMUD’s deployment of advanced metering infrastructure and smart grid initiatives. A 38-year SMUD veteran, Lau has held several other executive leadership positions, including Assistant General Manager of Power Supply & Grid Operations and as the Assistant General Manager of Customer, Distribution & Technology. Lau serves on the boards of the Large Public Power Council, the California Municipal Utilities Association, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, the Smart Electric Power Alliance, and the Electric Transportation Community Development Corporation and as a Commissioner of the Balancing Authority of Northern California. He serves on the boards of a number of Sacramento-area community organizations, including the University Foundation at Sacramento State, where he also serves as Treasurer and Los Rios Colleges Foundation. He serves as Director-at-Large and is Past Chair of the Sacramento Asian Chamber of Commerce. Active in international energy issues, Lau serves as a delegate with the United States Energy Association, where he has helped with electrification, operations, and demand-side management in countries such as Bangladesh, India, and Jordan. A registered professional electrical engineer in the state of California, Lau received his bachelor’s degree in electrical power engineering from California State University, Sacramento. He also is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum.

Melissa Washington

SVP Customer Operations and Chief Customer Officer, ComEd

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Melissa Washington Washington joined Exelon in 2003 and has held several roles of increasing responsibility for Exelon and ComEd throughout her tenure with the company. She most recently served as Senior Vice President of Governmental and External Affairs at ComEd, where she led legislative affairs, external affairs, large customer services and economic and workforce development and managed ComEd’s relationships with civic and charitable organizations. Prior to that role, Washington served in various leadership posts, including as Vice President of Regulatory Policy and Strategy for ComEd, where she managed the company’s engagement with regulatory bodies, including the Illinois Commerce Commission. From 2014 to 2016, she played a leading role in the successful merger between Exelon and Pepco Holdings while serving as the Vice President of Corporate Affairs in Washington, D.C. Before joining ComEd’s regulatory team, she was the Director of Investor Relations for Exelon. In that role, she was responsible for communicating Exelon’s value proposition, financial results and performance drivers to the financial community Washington is a board member of the Metropolitan Planning Council, the Civic Consulting Alliance, and the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center. She is a board member and fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago and board member and secretary of the Smart Electric Power Alliance. She is an active member of various industry and professional groups, including the American Association of Blacks in Energy, the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies, and the Northern Illinois University Presidential Advisory Council, and The Chicago Network. In addition, she is the executive sponsor of Developing Young Professionals Chicagoland, an Exelon employee resource group. Washington earned her MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts degree in finance from Lewis University.

Mary Palmer

Director, Energy Equity & Inclusion, SEPA

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Mary Palmer Mary Palmer is the Director of Energy Equity & Inclusion at the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA). She is responsible for guiding SEPA’s efforts to help its members embed equity into their organizations in a way that creates enduring change, aligning SEPA’s mission to accelerate the achievement of a carbon-free energy system with its vision of a new, more equitable legacy of systems and processes. She has more than six years of experience in public policy, grassroots community engagement, and coalition building at organizations such as the League of Women Voters, Women Creating Change, and Global Vision International. At Austin Energy, she led initiatives that advanced the goals of the Resource, Generation, and Climate Protection Plan for five years. Mary was recognized as a “Rising Star” at the 2023 Women’s Energy Summit’s Rising Star Forum, and has served on the boards of the Texas Solar Energy Society and the Austin Community College Engineering Technology Advisory Committee. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences in business and public relations from Texas State University and is currently completing a Master of Business Administration from St. Edwards University. Her proudest achievement is working with local communities and volunteers from all over the world to install rainwater harvesting systems totaling 82,900 liters of potable, accessible water to residents of Fiji.

Lakin Garth

Senior Director, Research & Industry Strategy, Emerging Technology, SEPA

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Lakin Garth Lakin joined SEPA in August 2021 to manage the Utility Transformation Challenge and to provide utility sector decarbonization advisory services for SEPA’s member organizations. Prior to joining SEPA, Lakin spent almost 9 years with The Cadmus Group, most recently as Principal of the Planning and Assessment team where he specialized in demand side management analyses for integrated resource planning for a wide range of utility clients. Before Cadmus, Lakin served as a Senior Planning Project Manager at the Energy Trust of Oregon. Lakin has a Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business from the University of Georgia and a Master of Science in Economics from Portland State University. Lakin lives in Athens, Georgia with his wife and two sons and spends his remaining free time participating in mountain bike endurance racing.

Jenna Weatherred

Vice President - Member & Community Relations, Holy Cross Energy

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Jenna Weatherred Jenna Weatherred is the Vice President of Member and Community Relations at Holy Cross Energy, located in Colorado’s intermountain region. Since 2017, she has spearheaded the cooperative’s member services, communications, community outreach, and community energy systems departments, all external-facing individuals who assist HCE’s more than 45,000 members with their energy needs. Over the past several years, that need has become increasingly more significant as the region's clean energy goals have increased. As a result, HCE announced its 100x30 goal of providing 100% clean energy to its members by 2030. Due to the ambitious nature of that goal, many members have expressed their interest in joining HCE’s Board of Directors, and upwards of ten individuals have applied in an election cycle. Ms. Weatherred works to educate members on the co-op story and sits on several regional boards, including Garfield Clean Energy and Energy Smart Colorado. Prior to joining Holy Cross Energy, Ms. Weatherred was the President of the Children’s Health Foundation and the publisher of local newspapers, including the Aspen Times and the Glenwood Springs Post Independent.

Jeff Ressler

CEO, Clean Power Research

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Jeff Ressler Jeff Ressler is Chief Executive Officer of Clean Power Research. In his nearly 15 years at the company, he has overseen the inception of the SolarAnywhere® and WattPlan® software families, and grown PowerClerk® from a nascent, online incentive processing tool into a powerful, general purpose energy program automation solution. A software industry veteran, he has a track record of delivering highly available cloud-based solutions to customers as well as deep experience building effective functional teams across engineering, product management, sales, marketing, business development, support and operations. Jeff’s career includes stints at both Oracle and Disney in addition to more than 10 years at Microsoft. During his tenure at Microsoft, Jeff served as Director of Product Management for Exchange Server and Lead Product Manager for SQL Server, among other roles. For more than two years, he was the speech manager for Bill Gates, who was Microsoft’s Chairman and Chief Software Architect at the time. Jeff holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University. Learn more about Jeff in his own words in this Suncast interview with Nico Johnson, “From Redmond to the Sun: Why Jeff Ressler Left Microsoft to Focus on Clean Energy.

Jared Leader

Senior Director, Research & Industry Strategy, Resilience, SEPA

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Jared Leader Jared joined SEPA in 2017. In his role, he develops strategic plans for programs, products, and service offerings for utility and industry stakeholder members and clients that facilitate the integration of distributed energy resources, non-wires alternatives and microgrids onto the modern grid. Jared leads SEPA’s Microgrids Working Group and co-led D.C. Public Service Commission’s grid modernization working groups. Prior to joining SEPA, he spent several years working as an environmental engineer and consultant for utility, municipal and commercial clients in the energy and water sectors. He has a MS, Energy Policy and Climate from Johns Hopkins University, and a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Virginia. Outside of business hours, Jared enjoys skiing, hiking and spending time in the great outdoors.

Garrett Fitzgerald

Senior Director, Research & Industry Strategy, Transportation Electrification, SEPA

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Garrett Fitzgerald Garrett joined SEPA in 2021 as Principal, Electrification. He leads SEPAs work focused on the beneficial electrification of transportation and buildings. Garrett collaborates with the other SEPA focus area teams to help utilities and other stakeholders navigate a smooth transition to a highly electrified and low-carbon future. Prior to joining SEPA, Garrett spent 8 years working at Rocky Mountain Institute. While at RMI, he built and led the electricity program in India that works to accelerate the integration of electric vehicles and clean energy portfolios. During his tenure at RMI, Garrett managed the Fleet Electrification program, co-led the EV-Grid initiative, and was deeply engaged in work related to energy storage, distributed solar, and load flexibility. He has extensive expertise in technical and business model aspects of EV charging infrastructure, EV-specific tariff design, energy storage, and demand side flexibility. Garrett holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Santa Clara University and a MS and Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Engineering from Columbia University. Garrett is passionate about the environment and is an enthusiastic snowboarder, mountain biker, and general lover of the outdoors. He resides in the small town of Carbondale, Colorado with his wife Amy and his toddler son Noah.

Ann Collier

Senior Manager, Emerging Technology, SEPA

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Ann Collier Ann joined SEPA in December 2021. She leads research and education on a range of emerging technologies for carbon reduction. She collaborates across SEPA’s team and member network to build awareness, encourage partnerships, and support business and policy action to accelerate the power system’s transition toward a net zero carbon future. Previously, Ann contributed to SEPA’s Utility Transformation Challenge and member advisory services. She led energy efficiency and electrification market research and program evaluation projects at Opinion Dynamics and performed economic analysis of federal environmental policy at Abt Associates. She holds an M.S. in Resource Economics & Policy from the University of Maine and a B.S. in Biology from Bates College. Based in Massachusetts, Ann spends her free time exploring the great outdoors with her family.

Amber Mahone

Managing Partner, E3

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Amber Mahone Amber Mahone is the Managing Partner of Energy and Environmnetal Economics (E3), a leading clean energy consulting firm in North America. She leads E3’s Climate Pathways and Electrification practice areas, which specializes in analyzing and modeling long-term greenhouse gas reduction strategies, including a focus on building electrification and future of natural gas. Amber brings an inter-disciplinary approach to energy analysis, weaving together E3’s strengths in electricity planning and markets with a broader, economy-wide perspective on how the transportation, buildings, and industrial sectors may evolve over time. Bringing over 16 years of experience working on clean energy topics, she also holds an M.P.A. from Princeton University and a B.A. from Wellesley College.

Alejandro Moreno

Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, US Department of Energy

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Alejandro Moreno Alejandro Moreno is the Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). He provides strategic advice leadership in the strategic planning, execution, and oversight of the EERE portfolio. Previously, he served as the Office's Renewable Energy Deputy Assistant Secretary and as the Director of the Water Power Technologies Office. In addition to his roles at DOE, he has served in the energy groups of the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, where he designed and led regulatory reform programs to spur investment in clean energy and rural electrification. Mr. Moreno holds a Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Aaron Smallwood

Vice President, Research & Industry Strategy, SEPA

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Aaron Smallwood Aaron has been in Information Technology for 20 years and in the utility industry for the last 15 years. As Director of IT Operations at the Electric Reliability of Council of Texas (ERCOT), Aaron was responsible for the multi-data center IT operations of ERCOT’s real-time grid and market systems, deregulated retail market systems, Enterprise Data Warehouse, systems integration, and market settlement systems. In other roles at ERCOT he led business/technology alignment, IT strategy development, program financial management for the Texas Nodal Market Implementation, IT stakeholder relationship management, and the IT divisional project office. Prior to ERCOT, Aaron was responsible for managing the relationship between IT and utility business units at Aquila, Inc., working with utility and IT leaders to ensure that IT services were aligned with business objectives and that IT was positioned to support their needs.