Research Advisory Council

Ahmed is the Utility of the Future manager at PSE&G, working towards a 100% renewable system in a reliable, innovative and cost effective manner. Ahmed is the technical leader for PSE&G’s Clean Energy Future, NJ Energy Masterplan 600/2,000 MW energy storage mandates, 3,500/7,500 MW wind mandates, climate change, intelligent touchless substation, microgrids, non-wire alternatives, electric vehicles, smart home, voltage VAR optimization, net zero/near-net zero buildings. Ahmed developed the DER interconnection guide. Ahmed is responsible for preparing the Integrated Distribution Plan. Ahmed has over 16 years utility experience @ PSE&G, Con Edison, First Energy & PEPCO.

Active board member: NJIT electrical and engineering Industry Advisory Board, Rutgers University cyber security board & New Jersey Association of Energy Engineers.
Ahmed is an adjunct Professor at NJIT. Author of 4 books & several electrical engineering PE courses. CEO/Founder: Electric Bridge Consulting and 100% Energy Club. Ahmed received his B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from Stony Brook University and Manhattan College.

Alex joined GM in 2007 and has worked across various teams to create frameworks around new innovative eco-friendly products – Chevy Bolt and GM’s Hydrogen Fuel Cell Equinox – so that consumers will have the best experience, including while charging.  His unique skill in balancing energy policy, environmental engineering and business strategy has given him an innovative toolbox to tap into to electrify mobility. He also has been appointed and served as the Commissioner in Massachusetts’ Zero Emission Vehicle Commission and for the Maryland Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Council.  He currently serves on the Boards of the Alliance for Transportation Electrification and the Electric Drive Transportation Association.

Alex began his career in environmental consulting where he managed the assessment and remediation of hazardous waste sites for Fortune 500 companies. He has extensive experience in environmental policy design and implementation.  He is passionate about electric vehicles in his personal life as well and drives a Chevy Bolt. On the weekends, he lists his car on General Motors’ car-sharing platform, Maven, so others can experience what a great car EVs are to drive. One of the things he loves about driving an EV is how simple it is to charge and gives him back the time to spend with his family that otherwise be spent at the gas station.

Alex earned a B.S. in Natural Resource Management and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.

Avi leads the Smart Grid research program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The program is focused on enabling modernization of how energy is produced, managed, and consumed, and includes research on topics that address issues from device interoperability and cybersecurity to economic modeling of transactional energy resources.

Prior to joining NIST Avi served as a diplomat in the State Department’s Energy Resources Bureau, where he focused on sustainable expansion and transformation of energy systems worldwide, especially through private sector investment. During that time Avi led the State Department’s contributions to the U.S. Government’s Power Africa initiative, and also served as the U.S. delegate to the International Energy Agency’s Committee on Energy Research and Technology. Prior to joining the State Department Avi was senior energy advisor to the Under Secretary for Science at the Department of Energy, where he co-authored the Department’s Report on the First Quadrennial Technology Review and the attendant technology assessments.

Prior to joining government, Avi worked as an engineer in fields ranging from aerospace to biotech and has earned engineering degrees from Maryland and Case Western Reserve Universities.

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.

Bryan Hannegan (he/him) is President and CEO of Holy Cross Energy, a not-for-profit, member-owned electric cooperative utility providing electricity and energy products and services to more than 46,000 customers in Western Colorado. Headquartered in Glenwood Springs, Holy Cross Energy is leading the responsible transition to a clean energy future with its “Journey to 100%” plan aimed at obtaining 100% renewable and clean energy for its members by 2030. For its efforts, Holy Cross Energy was named 2020 Electric Cooperative of the Year by the Smart Electric Power Alliance.

Prior to joining Holy Cross in July 2017, Bryan was an Associate Laboratory Director at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where he co-founded the US Department of Energy’s Grid Modernization Initiative and started up the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF), a unique “distribution grid in a box” enabling utilities, entrepreneurs and consumers to work together on cleaner, more affordable and more reliable energy systems. Earlier in his career, Bryan held senior leadership roles at the Electric Power Research Institute, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Bryan holds a Ph.D. in Earth Systems Science and a M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, both from the University of California at Irvine, and a B.S. in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma. He is a former member of the California Council on Science and Technology, and serves as an advisor to GridLab, GridFWD, the Energy Systems Integration Group, and NRECA’s Science and Technology Advisory Council.

Carine Dumit is Director of Market Development and Public Policy for the Eastern US at EVgo where she leads public policy and market strategy to advance transportation electrification and the deployment of charging infrastructure.

Carine has a more than a decade’s experience working at the cross-section of policy, markets, business and programs in the EV and power sectors, advising public and private sector entities on emerging matters. Her career has focused on analyzing market developments, formulating and leading regulatory and policy strategies to promote frameworks and programs that enable growth and innovation in the clean energy economy.

Prior to EVgo, she was Senior Policy Advisor at Tesla and Director of Policy and Electricity Markets at SolarCity in the northeast. She has also advised federal agencies on renewable energy programs and served as a consultant at the World Bank examining institutional frameworks promoting energy efficiency.

Carine holds a M.S. in Engineering Management and a B.S. in System Engineering from the George Washington University. She was a recipient of the GWU Presidential Administrative Fellowship.

Chris Monacelli is the Electric Utility Manager for the City of Westerville’s public power utility.   The Utility employs 44 full-time staff members and serves more than 17,000 customers.  Chris has nearly 15 years of experience in working in local government including seven years working for the Electric Utility.  Chris graduated from the University of Akron with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting.  In Chris’s time at the Utility, he has led Westerville’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) deployment, oversaw BusinessWISE – Westerville’s Energy Efficiency Rebate Program and developed a rate structure redesign that continues to ensure that the Utility will thrive in a changing industry.  Chris implemented several new customer-focused initiatives:  a four percent rate reduction, outage texting capabilities and outage map, a residential thermostat demand response program, a commercial and residential electric vehicle charging station rebate program and a commercial solar power rebate program.  Chris represents Westerville on the Board of Trustees of American Municipal Power, Inc.   Chris also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Energy Project, a nonprofit organization that provides energy education to students.  Chris and his wife, Lyndsay have two active sons, Wyatt and Sawyer.

Christopher Irwin has spent over 22 years in a diverse spectrum of high technology fields from HVAC to semiconductor manufacturing, satellite communications, communication networks for advanced metering, and Smart Grid infrastructure.

At the US Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, he has managed over $1.5B in grid modernization projects. He has seen some of the top utilities in the country, from very large to very small, tackle technology, integration and business challenges necessary to bring about the Smart Grid.  He also interacts with DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy on Building-to-Grid research and development and is a strong advocate for coordinated interoperability at the B2G, I2G and DER interfaces.

Chris leads DOE’s Smart Grid standards and interoperability efforts, working alongside NIST, FERC and others in the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel and other forums. He founded DOE’s participation in the Green Button Data Access Initiative to empower customers with improved access to their own energy data and works with the GridWise Architecture Council on Transactive Energy concept development.

Danielle Sass Byrnett has been Director of NARUC’s Center for Partnerships & Innovation (CPI) since December 2017. She leads this grant-funded team focused on identifying emerging challenges and connecting state public utility commissions with expertise and strategies to navigate complex decision-making. CPI builds relationships, develops resources, and delivers training in areas ranging from energy efficiency and distributed energy resources to natural gas infrastructure to cybersecurity and more. Danielle launched and leads the NARUC-NASEO Task Force on Comprehensive Electricity Planning.

Prior to joining NARUC, Danielle served in the federal government and consulting roles at the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In this work, she supported state environmental and energy agencies in expanding their clean energy policies and programs through facilitated workshops, direct technical assistance, national and state-level analyses, resource development, and numerous publications.

Danielle holds a BS in biology and environmental studies from Swarthmore College and an MPP with an energy and environment concentration from Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy.

David is a Senior Consultant with Utilicast who works across the Generation, Transmission and Distribution, Central markets and Regional Reliability and Enterprise solution areas.  He leads the Grid Architecture and ITSM solution offerings. He has more than 25 years of experience in the industry and began his career at Austin Energy where he ultimately served in the CIO role.

David is a member of the Gridwise Architecture Council since 2013 and has served at the Chair since 2015.   He is a frequent conference presenter on the Council’s behalf.

David and his co-authors were 2021 Cleanie Gold Award winners for their publications on Energy Central.

Prior to joining Utilicast, David held multiple positions at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, including Senior Director IT, and Director of Enterprise Architecture and IT Transformation and Infrastructure Program Manager on the Texas Nodal implementation.

David has served as member and Chair of SGIP, was a member of the SEPA Board of Directors and Chair of SEPA’s Technical Advisory Council.

He has a BBA University of Texas and MBA from St. Edward’s University, both in Austin.

Erick focuses on advanced mobility and regulatory policy and growing the market for transportation electrification across North America. Erick’s experience and engagement in related policy and advocacy spans a wide array of jurisdictions from coast to coast.

Prior to joining Greenlots, Erick served as Manager of Policy and Regulatory Programs at Sungevity, holding related positions there and at other distributed energy resources and distributed generation companies over the prior decade. He began his career in environmental policy and advocacy, including at the UN Environment Programme in Geneva.

Erick holds a master’s degree in Energy Regulation & Law from Vermont Law School, and two Bachelor of Science degrees from UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources.

Gary is a senior advisor to the VP of Innovation & Research at TVA, working on special projects advancing the transformation of the energy network in the TVA region. Prior to taking this role, he was Director of Enterprise Research & Technology Innovation, leading the team responsible for all R&D work at TVA and the coordination of research and pilot projects with the 154 local power companies (distribution utilities) that operate in the region. Gary has also been engaged in the development of innovation strategy at TVA and the engagement of the company with startups, accelerators, and incubators.

Prior to his role in R&D, Gary managed the 2015 Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) project and led teams responsible for long-range capacity planning, portfolio optimization and resource selection & evaluation in TVA’s Enterprise Planning group.

Before joining TVA, Gary spent 20 years in the Electric Department at the City of Tallahassee, FL where he managed a team responsible for generation and transmission planning studies, forecasting, energy efficiency program design, and marginal cost studies. He held various other positions at the City including managing the central business function support group for electric, gas and water utilities and supervising the electric system dispatch center. Gary also participated in several NERC committees during his tenure at Tallahassee.

Gary began his utility career at Southern Company in Birmingham, AL where he spent 6 years in the generation and transmission planning departments. He holds a BS and MS in electrical engineering from Auburn University and is a registered professional engineer in 4 states.

Jason Handley, P.E. is the General Manager of the Distributed Energy Group at Duke Energy. He is a respected utility industry professional based in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Jason has over 25 years of utility experience specializing in the smart grid, distributed intelligence, and operations management.   Jason excels at understanding the increasingly complex utility environment, managing the new digital utility workforce, and delivering on the execution and financials of technology projects.

In his current role, Jason leads a team that engineers, deploys, operates, and maintains regulated distribution distributed energy resources.  Solar, energy storage, and microgrids projects are his teams’ deliverables for all six jurisdictions covered by Duke Energy. In his previous role as Director of the Emerging Technology Office, he managed a team that identifies and develops new technologies impacting the electrical grid and oversees all the ongoing operational aspects on new technology pilot projects.

Jason is a past Chairman of EPRI’s IntelligGrid Program Advisory Committee P161, served on the Board of Directors for the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, and served on the National Institute of Standards and Technology Smart Grid Advisory Committee.  Currently, Jason serves on the SAS Utility Advisory Board, and the DistribuTECH Advisory Committee. Jason received his electrical engineering degree from Auburn University and his MBA at Wake Forest University. He has been a registered professional engineer since 2002 and received his electrical contractor’s unlimited license in 2009.

Jeff Ressler is Chief Executive Officer of Clean Power Research. Before taking the CEO role in 2017, Ressler led the company’s software team for ten years, building it into a trusted software-as-a-service provider that informs, streamlines and values energy-related decisions and processes for utilities, energy professionals and consumers.

Ressler has overseen the inception of several of the company’s cloud software solutions, including SolarAnywhere and WattPlan, while growing PowerClerk from a nascent, online incentive processing tool into a powerful, general purpose energy program automation platform. Under his leadership, the company’s products serve ten of the top ten utilities on the Fortune 500 as well as countless project engineers, renewables developers and independent power producers around the world.

Prior to his time at Clean Power Research, Jeff spent more than ten years at Microsoft. During his tenure there, Jeff led business, product management and planning teams for a range of products, including multibillion-dollar enterprise systems like Exchange and SQL Server. For a nearly three-year assignment, Jeff was speech assistant to Bill Gates, crafting visionary technology messaging and demos for a diverse range of global audiences. He started his career at Microsoft as a technical product manager in the tools group, working on Visual Studio, C++, C# and MASM.

His early career included stints at both Oracle and Disney. Jeff holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.

Kayla Messamore is the Senior Director of Long Term Planning and Grid Modernization for Evergy and is responsible for generation resource planning, transmission and distribution planning, operations compliance, and operations technology for Evergy’s operations across Missouri and Kansas. Through these responsibilities, Kayla leads the creation of Evergy’s Integrated Resource Plans (which include the company’s long-term plans for its generating fleet), transmission and distribution investment plans, operations compliance processes, grid automation deployments (including both software and hardware), distribution standards, and unmanned aircraft system (UAS) programs.

Prior to this position, Kayla was responsible for Operations Strategy at Evergy and has worked as a strategy consultant in the power and utilities sector. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in business administration and a concentration in mechanical engineering.

Mariko McDonagh Meier is Convergent Energy and Power’s as Chief Strategy Officer.  In her role, she manages the regulatory affairs, market development, product, and marketing functions for the company. Prior to joining Convergent, Mariko served as Chief Operating Officer for Mirah, a mental health software company. She previously held several senior management positions across marketing, regulatory affairs and operations at Enel X (formerly EnerNOC). She began her career as a Business Analyst at McKinsey and Company, focusing on Cleantech clients.

Mariko holds a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She lives in Boston with her husband, two daughters, and three-legged cat.

Rodney Sobin leads NASEO’s building-grid integration initiative and works across NASEO’s buildings, electricity, energy finance and other programs. He leads and provides research, analysis, and resource development across a range of energy topics, including building energy efficiency and demand flexibility, distributed energy resources, energy-environmental integration, finance, evaluation, measurement and verification (EM&V), innovation and commercialization, industrial energy, and energy productivity.

Prior to NASEO, he served as Director of Research and Regulatory Affairs at the Alliance to Save Energy, leading work on energy efficiency policies. Previously he worked at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality on energy, air quality, waste, and innovative technology issues and enhanced interagency and interstate exchange and collaboration. He led environmental technology analytic, technical assistance, and innovation tasks with Concurrent Technologies Corporation for the U.S. Department of Defense and other clients. He was a science and technology policy analyst for the U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment and at the World Resources Institute.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology and society from Cornell University and two master’s degrees – Master of Arts in technology and human affairs and Master of Science in biological sciences from Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Stuart Laval currently serves as the co-chairman of the Open Field Message Bus (OpenFMB) task forces at the UCA International Users Group (UCAIug) and North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB). Dr. Laval has over 15 years of experience in the development of over 30 technology solutions in electric utility power systems, telecommunications, and power electronics. He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from MIT, a MBA from Rollins College, and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Central Florida.