SEPA Welcomes New Board Members

The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) announced today the selection of five new members to its Board of Directors and the reappointment of four members to serve an additional term.

SEPA welcomes newly elected Board members Holly Gordon of Sunrun, Jurgen Krehnke of SMA Solar Technology AG, Lori Singleton of Salt River Project, and newly appointed Board members Cris Eugster of CPS Energy and Matt Ferguson of Reznick Group.

SEPA is also pleased to welcome back four returning members to the Board of Directors. The SEPA membership re-elected Jon Bertolino of Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Matt Cheney of Clean Path Ventures LLC, Alex Kim of San Diego Gas & Electric and Jennifer Szaro of Orlando Utilities Commission.

“We look forward to the individual contributions the new Board members will provide through their unique insight into the electric utility and solar industries,” said SEPA President and CEO Julia Hamm.

The selections were announced today at the 2012 SEPA Annual Membership Meeting, which takes place in conjunction with Solar Power International 2012, an industry trade show and exposition occurring in Orlando.

The Board of Directors is made up of 20 individuals, allowing for representation from a broad spectrum of the utility and solar industries. Seats on the Board are apportioned across six membership categories. Board members are selected by vote by SEPA members and serve three-year terms.

More about the newly elected members of SEPA’s Board of Directors:

Holly Gordon, VP, Legislative & Regulatory Affairs, Sunrun Holly Gordon serves as Sunrun’s lead on all federal and state legislative and regulatory work to ensure Sunrun’s affordable solar power service is available to as many homeowners as possible. She also sits on the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) Executive Committee as the SEIA State Policy Committee Chair and previously served on the Executive Committee of the Solar Alliance as the Membership Chair. In addition, Holly is Sunrun’s representative at U.S. Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance.

Holly came to Sunrun from Ausra, a utility-scale solar thermal company, where she served as the lead on all federal and state legislative and regulatory work. While at Ausra, Holly helped form and was president of the Large-scale Solar Association. Prior to Ausra, Holly worked and taught at the Stanford Law School Environmental Law Clinic, where she focused on environmental and energy related legal issues. Prior to joining Stanford, she was an environmental justice attorney at Communities for a Better Environment and at the Chicago Environmental Law Clinic. During her tenure there, she served as the assistant director of the program in Environmental and Energy Law. She also served as an adjunct environmental law professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law and Northwestern University School of Law. Previously, she was an associate in Jones Day’s Chicago office.

Holly received a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law and a B.A. in economics from Washington University in St. Louis.

Jurgen Krehnke, Advisor to the Board of Management, SMA Solar Technology AG In his current role, Jurgen Krehnke provides guidance to the SMA board and management team on key strategic objectives. As president and general manager of SMA America and SMA Canada, Krehnke led all sales, marketing, service and administrative activities for the North American-based division of global solar technology giant SMA Solar Technology AG. Upon joining SMA in 2008, he directed SMA through the most explosive growth period in its North American history, establishing the company not only as the as the largest photovoltaic (PV) inverter manufacturer in the residential space, but also the utility market. Under his leadership, the company established two North American manufacturing sites, significantly expanded its U.S. headquarters, unveiled a dedicated service center and created hundreds of direct jobs.

With a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, Krehnke spent the first part of his career with the semiconductors division of electronics giant Philips, where he held increasingly senior- and management-level positions with the company. He then acted as chief marketing officer of Silicon Valley-based IntellaSys, where he was responsible for the commercial debut of its revolutionary high-performance, low-power parallel computing platform.

Krehnke’s initial interest in renewable energy solutions turned into a passion after he joined Keiretsu Forum, the world’s largest organization of angel investors. As a member of the San Francisco chapter, he helped screen pre-IPO companies and advised entrepreneurs in the clean technology and renewable energy space.

Lori Singleton, Director, Emerging Customer Programs for Solar, Sustainability and Telecom at Salt River Project Salt River Project (SRP) is the third largest public power utility in the nation, serving 950,000 customers in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Lori Singleton has held various positions throughout SRP during her 34 years with the utility. Her primary focus and passion for the past 15 years is environmental and renewable energy issues. Lori has been at the forefront of the utility’s emerging technology demonstration projects beginning with two small-scale solar plants; the first landfill gas- to-energy facility in a desert environment; a unique public art/hydro electricity facility on an SRP canal; and two demonstration projects for solar dish technologies. In addition, Lori has been responsible for the development and implementation of a wide array of internal and external sustainability initiatives. These include the EarthWise Energy program which through customer donations has funded solar energy systems for 37 non-profit organizations; and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Distributed Energy Program, which funded solar projects for schools and low-income residents.

She is responsible for developing and implementing the utility’s solar incentive programs for residential and commercial customers. Today, the company has committed $120 Million dollars to assist more than 10,000 customers install 55-megawatts of rooftop solar generation. Lori’s recent focus has been on the development and implementation of a new Community Solar program which allows more than 2,000 residential customers and 18 school districts to benefit from solar energy produced by a 20-megawatt solar plant in Florence, Ariz.

Lori is an active volunteer and effective advocate in the community appointed to former Governor Napolitano’s Solar Energy Advisory Task Force and the City of Phoenix Environmental Quality Commission. She has also served as Board Chair and is a current Board member for Audubon of Arizona and Valley Forward Association.

Board Members appointed in July include:

Cris Eugster, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, CPS Energy Cris Eugster is the executive vice president and chief sustainability officer for CPS Energy, one of the nation’s largest municipally-owned utilities with over 730,000 electric customers and 325,000 gas customers. CPS Energy is vertically integrated and includes generation, transmission and distribution, and retail services with annual revenues of $2 billion and total assets of $10 billion.

Cris leads overall corporate strategy, integrated resource planning, new products and services, and environmental oversight at CPS Energy driving the transformation of San Antonio into a New Energy Economy. The strategy includes significant investments in low-emission generation such as combined cycle natural gas, wind, and solar, in addition to large scale energy efficiency and demand response programs and innovative smart grid solutions. Achievements to date include the largest solar deployment in Texas, the number one wind off-taker in Texas, and a leading demand response program to significantly reduce peak load requirements. Cris sits on a number of Boards including SEPA, the Mission Verde Alliance, Build SA Green, and Solar San Antonio. Past Boards have included Texas Renewable Energy Industry Association, the U.S. Department of Energy State Energy Advisory Board and the Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Prior to coming to San Antonio, Cris was the first Chief Officer for Sustainable Growth for the City of Houston, reporting to Mayor Bill White. Previously, Cris was a Partner with McKinsey & Company, an international management consulting firm. He received his Ph.D. and an M.S. in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his B.S. in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University.

Matt Ferguson, Principal, Reznick Group Matt Ferguson is a principal based in the firm’s Tysons Corner, Va. office. A seasoned professional, Matt has more than 16 years of experience promoting renewable energy through business transactions and policy development. As a member of Reznick Group’s national renewable energy practice, Matt advises clients on energy-related transactions such as matching renewable projects with tax equity investors, raising capital, mergers and acquisitions within the renewable energy sector, maximizing public policy to promote and reward low-carbon solutions, and helping current clients with energy tax credit financing.

Prior to joining Reznick Group, Matt served as director and general tax counsel for UPS and was responsible for initiating UPS’s energy strategy, which included executing investment transactions in renewable energy, coordinating energy efficiency facility upgrades and green building development, creating energy-related products and mitigating business risk related. He closed more than $1 billion of alternative investments, including interests in affordable housing limited partnerships. His project finance and transaction experience includes the issuance or redemption of financial instruments such as facility industrial revenue bonds, cross-border aircraft leases, initial public offering advisory, tax planning and business development structuring, merger and acquisition counsel, and real estate investment trust formation.

Matt serves on the American Council on Renewable Energy Board of Directors.

Re-elected Board members include:

Jon Bertolino, Superintendent, Renewable Generation Assets, Sacramento Municipal Utility District In his role at Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), Jon Bertolino has operational responsibility for SMUD’s 230-megawatt Solano Wind Project and their five megawatts of solar plants. SMUD continues to be an industry leader in the renewables field, with 24 percent of its 2011 energy needs met by qualifying renewables. Jon was instrumental in the development of SMUD’s Feed-In Tariff, first generation SolarSmart Homes program, Solar Shares program and the Energize Minds for Solar Design grant program for local schools.

He serves on the boards of the SEPA and PowerMark Corporation, and is a founding member of the American Council on Renewable Energy Utility Committee. Jon received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of California and an M.B.A. from California State University, Sacramento.

Matt Cheney, CEO, CleanPath Ventures In his role at CleanPath Ventures, Matt Cheney oversees the strategic direction of the firm that provides capital resources coupled with proven project finance development, engineering, asset construction, and management capabilities to the clean energy industry.

A solar industry champion who was a pioneer in financing solar technologies, Matt previously held CEO positions with Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, MMA Renewable Ventures and NUON. MMA RV focused on the development, ownership and operation of a multi-million dollar portfolio of large and distributed scale solar, wind, biomass and energy efficiency project investments. The firm was one of the first independent syndicators of Solar Tax Equity funds in the U.S., syndicating 50 renewable energy projects in five separate funds during Matt’s tenure. In 2000, Matt helped introduce the Power Purchase Agreement to the U.S. solar retail market to provide clean energy services to Green Mountain Energy. Since then, Matt has financed more than $500 million in solar energy assets.

Matt has more than 25 years in the fields of civil engineering, energy, and environment. He has a B.A. from American University and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University‘s School of Advanced International Studies.

Alex Kim, Director, Customer Innovations, San Diego Gas & Electric Alex Kim is responsible for managing San Diego Gas & Electric’s clean transportation, customer distributed generation, and electric technology development programs. His experience includes strategic planning for new utility services and implementing and managing award-winning sustainability programs for customers.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors for SEPA and the Electric Drive Transportation Association, and is a member of the California Electric Transportation Coalition and the California Plug-In Electric Vehicle Collaborative.

He holds a B.S. from California Polytechnic State University Pomona in mechanical engineering and is a Certified Energy Manager and LEED Accredited Professional.

Jennifer Szaro, Renewable Energy Manager, Orlando Utilities Commission Jennifer Szaro has been actively engaged regionally and nationally in the solar industry for nearly 15 years. She holds degrees in environmental science and chemistry from Florida International University and an M.B.A. from the University of Central Florida.

After spending nine years as a researcher at the Florida Solar Energy Center focused primarily on grid-connected photovoltaic market development, she was recruited by the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) to help them cultivate their renewable energy strategy. As manager of renewables, Jennifer currently guides OUC’s renewable energy, corporate sustainability and electric vehicle programs. Since joining OUC, Jennifer has expanded OUC’s solar capacity from four kilowatts in 2007 to more than 8.7 megawatts. She also championed Orlando’s efforts to become one of 25 Solar America Cities.

She has served as treasurer and a board member of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council since 2002, and is a founding board member of the Florida Renewable Energy Association, Florida’s chapter of the American Solar Energy Association. Jennifer is a current board member of SEPA and resides in Merritt Island, Fla. with her husband and three sons.

ABOUT SEPA
The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) is an educational non-profit dedicated to helping utilities integrate solar power into their energy portfolios for the benefit of the utility, its customers and the public good. With more than 1,000 utility and solar industry members, SEPA provides unbiased utility solar market intelligence, up-to-date information about technologies and business models, and peer-to-peer interaction. From hosting national events to providing utility strategies, SEPA helps utilities make smart solar decisions. For more information, visit www.solarelectricpower.org.