Speakers

(As of 03-06-07)

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Opening Remarks

The Honorable James Y. Kerr, II, Commissioner, North Carolina Utilities Commission and President, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC)

Commissioner Kerr was appointed to the North Carolina Utilities Commission by Governor Mike Easley for an eight-year term that commenced on July 1, 2001 and expires on June 30, 2009. He is the President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and a member of its Executive Committee, Board of Directors, and Electricity Committee. Mr. Kerr is a Past President of the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (SEARUC). Prior to the Utilities Commission, Mr. Kerr was a Partner in the law firm of Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell, & Jernigan, L.L.P. His practice concentrated in civil and administrative litigation, with significant experience in the Trial Division of both the State and Federal Court systems, the Appellate Division of the State Court system, and the Utilities Commission. Mr. Kerr, a Democrat, graduated cum laude from Washington and Lee University in 1986. Following completion of his undergraduate degree, Kerr spent three years working for First Union Corporation, now Wachovia, in Charlotte and Atlanta. He received his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, where he graduated with honors in 1992.)

Keynote Speech

The Honorable Clay Sell, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy

Clay Sell was sworn in March 21, 2005, as Deputy Secretary of Energy. As Deputy Secretary, he plays a vital role in maintaining and strengthening the economic and national security of the Nation while supporting the important scientific and research missions conducted by the Department of Energy. The Deputy Secretary also serves as the Department's Chief Operating Officer. Since February 2004, Mr. Sell served as a Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, specializing in coordinating and promoting the President's legislative agenda in the United States Senate with a primary focus in the policy areas of energy, natural resources, budget, and appropriations. Mr. Sell previously served as a member of the President’s National Economic Council and as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy. He also was previously the Staff Director and Majority Clerk of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee. He led the Republican staff of the Energy and Water Subcommittee from January 2000-July 2003. Previously, Mr. Sell served on the Bush-Cheney Transition as part of the energy policy team. From 1995-1999, he served on the staff of Congressman Mac Thornberry of Texas. Before moving to Washington, Mr. Sell practiced law in Texas. He received his bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.

Keynote Panel

Session Moderator:

The Honorable Phil Sharp, President, Resources for the Future

Phil Sharp became President of Resources for the Future on September 1, 2005. His career in public service includes 10 terms as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. During his 20-year congressional tenure from 1975-1995, Sharp took key leadership roles in the development of landmark energy legislation. He helped to develop a critical part of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, was a driving force behind the Energy Policy Act of 1992, and served on several House committees. Following his decision not to seek an eleventh consecutive term in the House, Sharp joined Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where he was a Lecturer in Public Policy from 1995-2001. He served as Director of Harvard’s Institute of Politics from 1995-1998 and again from 2004 until August 2005. He also was a Senior Research Fellow in the Environmental and Natural Resources Program from 2001-2003. Sharp served on the Board of Directors of the Cinergy Corporation from 1995-2006 and on the Board of EPRI from 2002–2006. He is co-chair of the Energy Board of the Keystone Center, a member of the National Research Council's Board of Energy and Environmental Systems, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Energy Foundation. Sharp received his Ph.D. in government from Georgetown University.

Panelists:

Kevin Kolevar, Director, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability

In February 2005, Kevin Kolevar was named Director of the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability at the U.S. Department of Energy. As Director, he leads the development and implementation of national policy pertaining to electric grid reliability; management of research, development, and demonstration activities for “next generation” electric grid infrastructure technologies; and federal efforts to ensure a robust, secure, and reliable energy infrastructure. Before assuming his current position, Kolevar served as chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of Energy Kyle McSlarrow from January 2003 to January 2005. In addition to serving as chief of staff to the Deputy Secretary, Kolevar worked as a senior policy advisor to the Secretary of Energy. Before joining the Department of Energy, he spent more than 10 years serving as U.S. Senate staff in the offices of Senators Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.) and Connie Mack (R-Fla.). He is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

The Honorable Marsha Smith, Commissioner, Idaho Public Utilities Commission and NARUC First Vice President

Marsha Smith is serving her third six-year term on the Idaho Public Utilities Commission. Her current term expires January 2009. She served as commission president from November 1991 to April 1995. Ms. Smith is the First Vice President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), a member of the NARUC Executive Committee and a member and past chair of the NARUC Electricity Committee. She serves on the boards of directors of both NARUC and the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI). She is an elected member of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council Board of Directors. She chaired the Committee for Regional Electric Power Cooperation of the Western Interstate Energy Board from October 1999 to October 2005. She is a member of the Electric Power Research Institute's Advisory Council, the National Council on Electricity Policy Steering Committee, the Harvard Electricity Policy Group, the Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions, the Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners, and the Idaho State Bar. Ms. Smith received a B.S. in Biology/Education from Idaho State University, a Master of Library Science from Brigham Young University, and her J.D. from the University of Washington.

Rick Sergel, President, North American Electric Reliability Corporation

Rick Sergel is President and Chief Executive Officer of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Until 2004, Mr. Sergel served as President and Chief Executive Officer for National Grid USA, and was National Grid Group plc Executive Director for North America upon the completion of the National Grid and New England Electric System (NEES) merger in March 2000. From 1998 through the date of the merger, Mr. Sergel was President and CEO of NEES, where he held positions of increasing responsibility since 1979. Mr. Sergel is presently a director of State Street Corporation. He also served on the boards of the Edison Electric Institute, the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, and the United Way of the Merrimac Valley. He holds a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Florida State University, a Master of Science in applied mathematics from North Carolina State University, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Miami.

James E. Rogers, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Duke Energy and Chairman of the Board, Edison Electric Institute

Jim Rogers is chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of Duke Energy. He was named to his current position in January 2007, following the separation of Duke Energy’s natural gas businesses into Spectra Energy. Rogers has more than 18 years of experience as a chief executive officer in the electric utility industry, including serving as Cinergy chairman and chief executive officer for more than 11 years. He joined PSI Energy in 1988 as the company’s chairman, president, and chief executive officer. He previously served as executive vice president of interstate pipelines for the Enron Gas Pipeline Group. Rogers was also a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. He was previously deputy general counsel for litigation and enforcement for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). In the course of his career, Rogers has served more than 40 cumulative years on the boards of Fortune 500 companies and has testified before congressional committees 14 times. He is chairman and serves on the Executive Committee of Edison Electric Institute. Rogers serves on numerous boards, including the Alliance to Save Energy and the American Gas Association. Rogers earned a bachelor of business administration and a juris doctorate degree from the University of Kentucky.

The Honorable Glenn English, Chief Executive Officer, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

In March 1994, Glenn English became the fourth chief executive officer of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). As chief spokesman for the nation's consumer-owned, cooperative electric utilities, he represents the national interests of electric cooperatives and their consumers before the U.S. Congress and Executive Branch federal agencies. Foremost among the issues facing electric cooperatives today is the priority to promote and protect the electric cooperative business model in the political and business arenas. English is a strong advocate for small-business and residential electric consumers as lawmakers, regulators, and other influentials attempt to make their mark on electric utility change at the state, regional, and national levels. He is a frequent speaker from the co-op and consumer perspective at meetings of business, industry, and consumer groups, as well as electric co-op and allied groups around the country. Prior to assuming the NRECA post, English was elected by the people of Oklahoma's 6th District to 10 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives; he was first elected in 1974. His leadership positions included chairmanship of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Environment, Credit, and Rural Development; and the House Government Operations Subcommittee on Government Information, Justice, and Agriculture.

GENERAL SESSION SPEAKERS

Panel #1

Session Moderator:

The Honorable Laura Chappelle, Commissioner, Michigan Public Service Commission

Laura Chappelle was appointed by Governor John Engler to the Michigan Public Service Commission in 2001 and served as Chairman until August of 2003. She has taken an active role in issues relating to the development and implementation of the first FERC-approved "multi-state entity," state retail electric choice markets, and regional wholesale markets. She was also a key advisor in the drafting and implementation of Michigan’s nationally-recognized "Broadband" law. Ms. Chappelle is currently the President of Organization of MISO States, Vice-Chair of NARUC's Committee on Electricity, former Vice-President of the Organization of PJM States, Inc., and former Chair of NARUC's Broadband Over Power Lines Task Force. Prior to her appointment to the commission, Ms. Chappelle served as deputy legal counsel for Governor John Engler and was his regulatory affairs coordinator. She also served as the regulatory affairs advisor to the House of Representatives, legislative aide for Senator William Van Regenmorter, attorney for House Speaker Paul Hillegonds, and was an assistant prosecuting attorney with the Saginaw County Prosecutor’s Office. Ms. Chappelle has served as an adjunct faculty member at several colleges and universities. She holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Thomas Cooley Law School. She is admitted to practice law in Michigan and Illinois.

Panelists:

Yakout Mansour, President and Chief Executive Officer, California Independent System Operator

Yakout Mansour brings 30 years of power system experience to his position managing California's open-access high-voltage power grid. Previously, he served as the Senior Vice President of System Operations and Asset Management for British Columbia Transmission Corporation (BCTC) since its inception in 2003. Mansour helped chart the course of BCTC as an independent entity and was a major contributor to the development of the transmission business in British Columbia and the North West. Previously, at BC Hydro, Mansour served as Vice President Grid Operations and Inter-Utility Affairs. The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) named Mansour to the panel that steered the investigation of the August 14, 2003, blackout. Mansour has been active in numerous national and international industry associations and institutions over the past 20 years, including GridWest Northwestern U.S. Regional Transmission Organization (RTO), the Steering Group of the Seams Steering Group-Western Interconnection (SSG-WI), and the Transmission Council of the Canadian Electric Association. A registered Professional Engineer, Mansour is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), has authored and co-authored more than 100 papers and special publications for IEEE and other international professional institutions, and has provided training and consulting services around the world.

Vickie VanZandt, Senior Vice President of Transmission Services, Bonneville Power Administration

Vickie VanZandt, Senior Vice President of Transmission Services for the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), has executive responsibility for planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, sales, marketing, and management of BPA's 15,000 circuit-mile transmission system assets. She has been with BPA her entire career. She served as Vice President for Engineering Services from 1994-1996 and Vice President of Operations and Planning from 1996-2004 – the first female Chief Engineer in the history of BPA. As the Chief Engineer, she became the agency's principal engineering officer and policy advisor for all technical engineering functions associated with BPA's mission. VanZandt has chaired the planning committee of EPRI's Research Advisory Council. She is on the Board of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), where she chairs the Operating Transfer Capability Policy Committee and is a member of the Reliability Policy Issues Committee. She co-chaired the Operations Team of the Electric System Investigation of the August 14, 2003, power outage. She was recognized by President Bush for Meritorious Service in 2001. She graduated magna cum laude with an electrical engineering degree from the University of Washington and is a registered professional engineer. She has been a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers since 1976.

Clay Norris, Senior Vice President – Planning, Marketing, and Member Services, ElectriCities of North Carolina

Clay Norris is Senior Vice President – Planning, Marketing, and Member Services, ElectriCities of North Carolina and is the current Chairman of the North Carolina Transmission Planning Collaborative. His current responsibilities at ElectriCities include strategic planning, power supply portfolio development, power marketing, transmission planning, regulatory affairs, member retail marketing programs, economic development, member services, and federal legislative policy. ElectriCities provides management services to North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency (NCEMPA) and to North Carolina Municipal Power Agency Number 1 (NCMPA1), which are full requirements generation providers to 51 cities in North Carolina, and collectively have a peak demand of approximately 2500 MW. Norris has been with ElectriCities for eight years. Previously, Norris spent nearly 18 years with Illinois Power, where he worked in planning, fossil generation, and the CFO's organization. Norris is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Illinois College, where he majored in mathematics and physics, and is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Rolla, where he majored in electrical engineering. He also has an MBA from the University of Illinois-Springfield.

Laura McCarten, Director of Transmission Development, Xcel Energy

Laura McCarten is Director of Transmission Development at Xcel Energy. She is currently is serving as co-Executive Director for the CapX 2020 Initiative with Terry Grove of Great River Energy. The CapX 2020 consortium includes investor-owned utilities, cooperatives, and municipal utilities committed to building more than $3.5 billion of new transmission infrastructure in Minnesota and neighboring states to support reliability, expansion of wind power and other renewables, and regional economic vitality. McCarten has worked at Xcel Energy—and previously at Northern States Power (NSP)—for 27 years. While working in NSP's nuclear business, she was project manager for the Monticello spent fuel shipping campaign and the Prairie Island on-site dry spent fuel storage project. She was the lead company spokesperson on the controversial Prairie Island dry spent fuel storage issue; NSP gained the final approval for used nuclear fuel storage at Prairie Island in 1994. After 1994, McCarten worked in NSP’s regulatory department coordinating resource plan filings and working with external parties interested in resource planning issues. From 1997-2005, she was Director of Community Services for Xcel, working with a dispersed team to manage relationships with local governments and communities across Minnesota. She obtained her B.S in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dean LaForest, Director of Planning, Vermont Electric Power Company

Dean LaForest has been Process Owner of Planning at Vermont Electric Power Company (VELCO) since 2005. In this role, he manages all system planning activities associated with the development of VELCO’s bulk transmission system, acts as lead system architect/designer/analyst, and represents VELCO in all appropriate technical and regulatory forums. He coordinates system planning activities within Vermont and with ISO-New England, represents VELCO in system planning/reliability forums in Vermont, within New England and at the Northeast Power Coordinating Council (NPCC). He also manages much of the analytical activities in support of the design, operation and maintenance of the VELCO system. Prior to 2005, LaForest worked as a planning engineer at VELCO and two other consulting firms for 15 years. He conducted planning and operational power system analyses on VELCO's transmission network, including power flow, dynamic simulation and probabilistic analyses. He conducted power system analyses for commercial, industrial, and utility customers throughout the world. LaForest received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with high honors, with a concentration in power engineering, from Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY.

Panel #2

Session Moderator:

David Meyer, Senior Policy Advisor, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability

David Meyer has worked on electricity policy issues at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for more than twenty years. He is the Senior Advisor for Strategic Issues in the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, where he works on problems related to the modernization, expansion, reliability, and security of transmission grids. He was a principal author of the Department’s 2006 National Electric Transmission Congestion Study, and his current responsibilities include advising senior DOE officials on the designation of national interest electric transmission corridors. When the governments of the U.S. and Canada established a bi-national Power System Outage Task Force to investigate the electricity blackout of August 14, 2003, Meyer was named co-chair of the Task Force's bi-national Electric System Working Group. Meyer was one of the principal authors of the Task Force’s Interim and Final Reports on the blackout. In earlier projects, he was a major contributor to the Department's National Transmission Grid Study (May 2002), and the principal author of the Department's report to Congress on Impacts of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Proposal for Standard Market Design (April 2003). Meyer has a B.Sc. from Ohio State University and a Ph. D. from Johns Hopkins University.

Panelists:

The Honorable Mark Sidran, Chairman, Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission

Mark Sidran was appointed chairman of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission in March 2005 by Governor Christine Gregoire. He serves on the NARUC Board of Directors and the NARUC Committee on Electricity. He is also on the Advisory Council of the New Mexico State University Center for Public Utilities. Prior to the commission, Mr. Sidran practiced law for almost 30 years, including 10 years as a deputy prosecutor and several years in private practice with an emphasis on civil litigation. From 1990-2001, he was elected to three terms as Seattle City Attorney. He is a graduate of the University of Washington Law School and Harvard University with a B.A. in Government, magna cum laude.

Audrey Zibelman, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, PJM Interconnection

Audrey Zibelman is the executive vice president and chief operating officer of PJM Interconnection. She brings more than 19 years of utility experience in both the public and private sectors to PJM, where she is responsible for strategic direction and management of day-to-day system operations, planning, and markets. Zibelman came to PJM from TRANSLink LLC, where she was chief executive officer and board chair. Previous to TRANSLink, she held several senior management positions at Xcel Energy Corporation including as the vice president of integration management. She began at Xcel as a senior attorney before being named president of NSP Energy Marketing and Fuel Resources. Zibelman has served as the board chair of the Minnesota Urban Coalition, as well as a member of the Minnesota Crisis Nursery, the Midwest Area Power pool and the EEI Transmission Committee. Appointed general counsel for the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission, she also was a special assistant attorney general in the Minnesota Attorney General's office. Before earning her law degree from Hamline University Law School, Zibelman received her BA from The Pennsylvania State University. She then became a volunteer with the Peace Corps in Chad, Africa, where she taught English as a second language.

Rob Minter, Vice President, Government and Regulatory Affairs, SUEZ Energy Development North America, Inc.

Rob Minter is Vice President of Government & Regulatory Affairs for SUEZ Energy North America, Inc. He is responsible for managing federal and state legislative and regulatory issues for the company. In North America, SUEZ currently owns and/or operates a total of 44 power plants that produce approximately 4,000 MW of electricity. The company also has two power plants under construction that are designed to produce an additional 1,500 MW. SUEZ, through its wholly-owned subsidiary SUEZ Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) North America, also owns and operates an LNG receiving terminal in Everett, Mass., which commenced operations in 1971 and currently provides about 20 percent of New England's natural gas. In addition, SUEZ is pursuing the development of two other LNG projects that would help meet the United States' growing demand for natural gas. Prior to joining SUEZ Energy North America in September 2002, Minter worked for Mirant, where he established and headed the company's Washington D.C. office. Mirant was formed in April 2000 as a spin-off from Southern Company, one of the nation’s largest electricity suppliers. While at Southern, Minter served in a variety of positions in governmental, regulatory, and environmental affairs.

Ricky Bittle, Vice President, Planning, Rates and Dispatching, Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation

Ricky Bittle has been employed by the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation (AECC) since 1974. At AECC, Bittle has held the positions of Electrical Engineer, Planning Engineer, Senior Planning Engineer, Director – Planning, Rates & Dispatching and his current position of Vice President – Planning, Rates and Dispatching. Bittle also serves on, or has served on, several industry-related committees. He was a cooperative representative on the Planning Committee and Standards Authorization Committee of the North American Electric Reliability Council. He serves on the Regional Tariff Working Group and Strategic Planning Committee of the Southwest Power Pool. Bittle attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Arkansas, earning a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1971. Bittle is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Arkansas.

Robert Smith, Manager, Transmission Planning and Engineering, Arizona Public Service Company

Robert Smith is presently the Manager of the Transmission Planning and Engineering Department at Arizona Public Service Company (APS) in Phoenix. He has worked in the electric industry and at APS for 21 years in the areas of Transmission Planning, Construction and Maintenance, and Transmission and Control Area Operations. He represents APS in several regional planning forums and has been extensively involved in WECC activities including two years chairing the WECC Compliance Monitoring and Operating Practices Subcommittee. In October 2005, he was designated Project Manager of APS' TransWest Express Project. Smith has a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from New Mexico State University and is a registered professional engineer in the State of Arizona.

Panel #3

Session Moderator:

The Honorable Susan Wefald, Commissioner, North Dakota Public Service Commission

Susan Wefald, Commissioner, North Dakota Public Service Commission, was appointed by Governor Ed Schafer in 1993, becoming the first woman to serve on the PSC. In 2002, she was reelected to serve a full six-year term with the Commission. Ms. Wefald is a member of NARUC's Electricity Committee and the Committee on Consumer Affairs. She is past President of the Organization of MISO States (2003-2004) and she served as President of the Mid America Regulatory Commissioners (MARC) in 2002-03. Presently she is a member of the EPRI Advisory Committee. Her Commission portfolio includes electric utilities and transmission, weights and measures, abandoned mine land reclamation, and consumer affairs. Ms. Wefald brings a varied background to the work of the Commission. She is a licensed social worker and has worked as a certified consumer credit counselor. Prior to her appointment to the PSC, Ms. Wefald served for four years as an elected member of the Bismarck Public School Board, including one year as President. Ms. Wefald received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of North Dakota.

Panelists:

The Honorable Suedeen G. Kelly, Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Suedeen G. Kelly is a Commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, confirmed to a term that expires June 30, 2009. Previously she was a Professor of Law at the University of New Mexico School of Law, where she taught energy law, public utility regulation, administrative law and legislative process. She also worked with the law firm of Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk in Albuquerque from 2000-2003. In 2000, Ms. Kelly served as counsel to the California Independent System Operator. In 1999, she worked as a Legislative Aide to U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman. Prior to joining the faculty of the Law School, Ms. Kelly served as Chair of the New Mexico Public Service Commission. She had been a lawyer in the Office of the New Mexico Attorney General and with the New Mexico firm of Leubben, Hughes & Kelly. She also worked for two years in Washington, D.C., upon her graduation from law school. Ms. Kelly's education includes: University of Rochester, B.A. with Distinction in Chemistry and a J.D. cum laude from Cornell Law School. She is admitted to the bars of New Mexico and the District of Columbia.

The Honorable Sandra Hochstetter, Chairman, Arkansas Public Service Commission

Sandra Hochstetter was appointed Chairman of the Arkansas Public Service Commission by the Governor of Arkansas effective July 2000. Reappointed to a second term, she will serve until January 2011. She had previously served as Executive Director of the Commission and as Governor Huckabee's Regulatory Policy Advisor. Ms. Hochstetter is a Past President of the Mid America Regulatory Conference. She is also a founding member and officer of the Southwest Power Pool Regional State Committee. She is serving in her second year as Chairman of the Advisory Council of the New Mexico State University Center for Public Utilities. She is on the National Council on Electricity Policy Steering Committee and has served on the EPRI Advisory Council. She is Chairman of the Critical Infrastructure Committee of NARUC, a member of the Washington Action and Electricity Committees, and a member of NARUC's Board of Directors. She is also a member of the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Ms. Hochstetter has worked in the field of utility regulation for the past 22 years. She worked for 12 years as assistant general counsel for Centerpoint Energy. She has practiced before several state public service commissions. She received her law degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her bachelor's degree in social work from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

Janet Gail Besser, Vice President, U.S. Transmission Regulation and Commercial, National Grid USA

Janet Gail Besser is Vice President, Transmission Regulation and Commercial, for National Grid USA, where she oversees all federal and state regulatory and commercial policy issues for the U.S. Besser joined National Grid in October 2004, after holding positions as Vice President at Analysis Group, Inc., and Senior Vice President at Lexecon Inc. Besser was previously the Chair and Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy. As a commissioner, she served as a member of the Board of Directors of NARUC and as member and Vice-Chair of its Energy Resources and Environment Committee; member and past President of the New England Conference of Public Utilities Commissioners; and a member of EPRI's Advisory Council, the Energy Foundation's Utility Futures Group, and the Harvard Electricity Policy Group. Besser has also served as the Policy Director of the National Independent Energy Producers (NIEP). She was Assistant to the Director of Development at Essex Hydro Associates and began her energy career with the Low-Income Energy Advocate's office with the Community Action Programs of Belknap-Merrimack Counties, Inc. Besser earned a Master in Public Policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Williams College.

David Gates, Vice President, Wholesale Operations, NorthWestern Energy

David Gates is Vice President, Wholesale Operations, at NorthWestern Energy. During his 28-year career in the utility industry, Gates has held various engineering, operations and management positions. He is currently responsible for wholesale operations for Northwestern Energy, with responsibility for natural gas and electric transmission operations, energy procurement, and energy production for Northwestern Energy's three-state operating territory. Gates has held senior management and engineering positions in both natural gas and electric power operations, overseeing gas and electric transmission and distribution utility operations, energy supply, labor relations, engineering, and a variety of administrative functions and services. Gates received his undergraduate degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technology from Montana State University, a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Montana, and has also completed executive course work at the University of Idaho and University of Michigan. He is a licensed professional engineer and is a past board member of the Montana Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors.

Nina Plaushin, Assistant Vice President, Regulatory and Legislative Affairs, Wisconsin Public Power, Inc.

Nina Plaushin is the Assistant Vice President of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs for Wisconsin Public Power Inc. (WPPI). WPPI is a regional nonprofit power company serving 48 customer-owned electric utilities in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan. Plaushin’s responsibilities include policy development and advocacy, promoting the interests of WPPI and its members before state and federal legislatures and regulators, and overseeing WPPI’s environmental permitting efforts. Prior to joining WPPI, Plaushin most recently served as the Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs for American Transmission Company, where she oversaw the company’s regulatory, legislative, and environmental efforts. Prior to joining ATC, she worked for PPL Corporation as Manager for Regulatory Affairs representing the company on various utility issues. Plaushin previously served as a vice president at Hill & Knowlton Public Affairs Worldwide, legislative professional for Van Ness Feldman & Curtis, legislative director for Congressman C. Thomas McMillen (D-Md.) and as a staffer for Senator Spark Matsunaga (D-HI) and Senator Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. (R-CT).

Panel #4

Session Moderator:

The Honorable Frederick F. Butler, Commissioner, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities

Commissioner Butler is a member of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities currently serving in his second term. He represents New Jersey on the board of the Organization of PJM States (OPSI). He is a former president of the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (MACRUC) and is an active member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). He has served as chairman of NARUC's International Relations Committee, Committee on Water, and Ad Hoc Committee on Climate Change. He currently serves as NARUC's second vice president and is a member of its Executive Committee. In addition, he serves as a member of the board of directors of the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI). He currently serves on the advisory board of the Michigan State University Institute of Public Utilities, the New Mexico State University Center for Public Utilities' Advisory Council, and the advisory council to the University of Florida's Public Utilities Research Center. He received a bachelor’s degree in modern languages and political science from Villanova University in 1968 and earned a master's degree in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in 1973. He participated in the Ph.D. program at Rutgers, the State University from 1973-1979.

Panelists:

Mark Whitenton, Deputy Director for Permitting, Siting and Analysis, DOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability

Since September 2006, Mark Whitenton has served DOE in the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability as Deputy Director for Permitting, Siting and Analysis. He is responsible for implementing several authorities given DOE in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, including the possible designation of National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (Section 1221(a)), coordination of Federal authorizations for transmission facilities (new Federal Power Act Section 216(h)), the interagency effort to identify Energy Rights-of-Way on Federal Lands (Section 368), and the study of Indian Lands Rights of Way. The division also issues Presidential permits and export authorizations and provides financial and technical assistance to develop effective solutions and assess alternatives increasing the reliability and efficiency of electric market operations. Whitenton previously served the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for 18 months as Deputy Director, Office of External Affairs, and Director for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. For the previous seven years, he served as vice president for the National Association of Manufacturers. From 1991-1997, he was the Energy and Environmental Policy Analyst for the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee. Whitenton's background also includes working for the Standard Oil Company (Ohio); associate minority counsel to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; and staff attorney at DOE. He served as an officer in U.S. Army Intelligence, including one tour in Vietnam. He received his JD from Georgetown University Law Center and his AB from Princeton University.

Derek Phelps, Executive Director, Connecticut Siting Council

Derek Phelps is Executive Director of the Connecticut Siting Council, an executive branch agency in Connecticut State Government. The Siting Council's charge, by statute, is to objectively balance the statewide public need for adequate and reliable services at the lowest reasonable cost to consumers with the need to protect the environment and ecology of the state. Among other types of infrastructure, such as electric utility facilities, all cellular telephone facilities in Connecticut are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Siting Council. Before coming to the Council in December 2001, Phelps was a technical writer at General Dynamics and a program administrator of state and municipal buildings programs at Northeast Utilities. He has also held a variety of elected and appointed positions at both the local and state level. Phelps serves on the Connecticut Geospatial Information Systems Council, a task force that is charged with coordinating a uniform geospatial information system capacity and promoting a forum in which geospatial information is to be centralized and distributed. Phelps, who is a U.S. Navy veteran, earned a bachelor's degree with a focus in Public Administration from the University of Connecticut. He also holds a Master of Science degree in e-media communications from Quinnipiac University.

Dale Landgren, Vice President and Chief Strategic Officer, American Transmission Company

Dale Landgren joined American Transmission Co. in June 2000, as Vice President and Chief Strategic Officer. He is responsible for strategic planning, regulatory and government affairs, regional relations and policy, corporate communications, customer relations, and system planning. Landgren was a significant player in the establishment of the Midwest ISO. He served on the Management Council of the Midwest ISO from 1996 to 1998 and from 1998 to 2002 on the Transmission Owners Group where he also served as chair of that group from 2001 to 2002. He was Vice Chair of the MISO Advisory Committee from 2001 to 2002. He is a member of the Midwest Reliability Organization (MRO) Board of Directors. Landgren served as an industry representative on the first NERC Stakeholder Committee from 2001 to 2003. He was a member of EPRI’s RAC from 2003 to 2005. Landgren received his bachelor of science – electrical engineering degree (magna cum laude) from Marquette University. He received a master’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago where he attended on a National Science Foundation Fellowship. Landgren joined Wisconsin Electric in 1973. He was named director of the Business Planning Department in 1999 and became an officer of the company in 1997.

Professor Marc Mihaly, Associate Professor of Law, Vermont Law School, representing Valley Rainbow Project Citizens Group

Professor Marc Mihaly joined the Vermont Law School faculty in 2005. He served as acting associate dean of environmental programs and acting director of the Environmental Law Center in 2005-06, and he now teaches Advanced Energy Law, Advanced Land Use, and Land Transactions, Finance and Development. He co-founded Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger (San Francisco), one of the nation's most prominent environmental law firms serving governments and environmental groups. He led a team representing a coalition of governments and community organizations in successful opposition to SDG&E's proposed Valley Rainbow 500Kv line in Southwestern Riverside County, Calif. He received his B.A. degree from Harvard College and, after service in the Peace Corps, received his J.D. degree from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, where he was editor in chief of the Ecology Law Quarterly. Prior to founding Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger in 1980, he served with the environmental unit of the California Attorney General's Office and with the San Mateo County Legal Aid Society.

Breakout Session #A

Session Moderator:

Phil Overholt, Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability

Phil Overholt is the Program Manager for Transmission Reliability, managing electric power systems research and development in the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The program conducts R&D activities in real-time grid reliability management, demand response, and reliability and markets under restructuring. His experience includes nine years as an Electrical Engineer at the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, and 20 years as a program manager at DOE. He holds an ME in Electric Power Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is a Senior Member in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a registered Professional Engineer in Ohio. He was honored as the Department of Energy 2006 Federal Engineer of the Year.

Panelists:

Erich Gunther, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, EnerNex Corporation

Erich Gunther is the Chairman, Chief Technology Officer, and co-founder of EnerNex Corporation in Knoxville. He has more than 20 years of experience in power systems engineering, research, and consulting. He is presently working with the California Energy Commission (CEC) on the development of a widely-deployed advanced metering and demand response infrastructure in California. Gunther is the author of the CEC's reference design for advanced metering and demand responsive architecture and the CEC report providing a step-by-step process for regulators and others to evaluate AMI system proposals. These reports recommended the creation of the OpenAMI and UtilityAMI organizations and Gunther serves as the facilitator for the latter. He is the principal consultant leading a team of EnerNex engineers working on requirements capture, analysis, technology evaluation, architecture, and security assessment for Southern California Edison's AMI project. In 2004, Gunther was appointed to the U.S. Department of Energy GridWise Architecture Council, he is on the board of directors for the Utility Communications Architecture International Users Group, and he works closely with the EPRI IntelliGrid program. Gunther received his BSEE from Gannon University and his Master of Engineering degree in Electric Power Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Tennessee.

Philip J. Pellegrino, President, SuperPower, Inc.

Philip Pellegrino is President of SuperPower, Inc., a subsidiary of Royal Philips Electronics (formerly Intermagnetics General Corporation). SuperPower is at the forefront in the development of second generation high-temperature superconductors (2G HTS). Before joining SuperPower in 2001, Pellegrino was President, CEO, and a Director of ISO New England. He served on the Research Advisory Committee of EPRI and chaired its Retail Energy and Power Markets Council. He also served as a member of the NEPOOL Participants Committee, Co-Chair of the NEPOOL Liaison Committee, and as a member of the Northeast Power Coordinating Council Executive Committee. He is a former Chair of CCAS, the superconductivity trade association, and presently serves on its Board. He also sits on the Boards of the Albany Colonie Chamber of Commerce and the Center for Future Energy Systems at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Prior to ISO New England, Pellegrino was Senior Vice President of the Transmission Business Unit for the New York Power Authority. He began his career as an electrical engineer with the American Electric Power Service Corporation. Pellegrino received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the City College of New York and an M.S. in industrial management from Columbia University. He is a graduate of the GE Power Systems Engineering Program and the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.

Terry Boston, Executive Vice President, Power Systems Operations, Tennessee Valley Authority

Terry Boston is Executive Vice President of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Power System Operations. Boston is the Senior Officer responsible for planning, building, operating, and maintaining TVA's transmission and Power Resource Planning and Bulk Power Trading. Boston joined TVA as a power supply engineer in 1972, and, in 1980, was named head of the Power Supply Group. He directed three TVA divisions in succession: Transmission, Regional Operations, and Electric System Reliability. He was named Senior Manager of Pricing in 1996 and he assumed his current duties in 1999. Boston serves on the Executive Committee for EPRI's Power Delivery Group. He was one of six from the U.S. to direct the investigation into the August 14, 2003, blackout. He has served six years on NERC's Engineering Committee and Transmission Task Forces, and serves on the NERC Board/Stakeholders Committee. He is Vice President of CIGRE, the International Council on Large Electric Systems, and is Vice President of the Consortium of Electric Reliability Technology Solutions. Boston serves on the Board for the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies. Boston just completed service as Chairman of the Southeastern Electric Reliability Council Board of Directors and Executive Committee. Boston holds a B.S. in Engineering from Tennessee Technological University and an M.S. in Engineering Administration from the University of Tennessee, both magna cum laude.

Brad Gammons, Vice President, Global Energy and Utilities Industry, IBM

Brad Gammons is currently serving as Vice President of IBM's Global Energy and Utilities Industry. He is responsible for the development and execution of the industry's strategy for sales, solution development, and marketing. He is also responsible for the sales and execution of IBM's Intelligent Utility Network growth initiative. Prior to taking his current position, Gammons served as the Industry Business Leader for Energy and Utilities in the Americas and as a Segment Executive for ERP and Supply Chain Solutions for IBM's Communications Sector in the Americas. Gammons has also acted as a Principle and Project Executive in IBM's Rapid Application Development Practices, where he focused on selling and delivering custom applications and systems integration projects to the Utility, Public Sector, and Telecommunication Industries. Before joining IBM, Gammons served as a Captain in the United States Air Force, where he held positions in Strategy and Planning and as Flight Crew member on the B-52. Gammons' formal education includes a BA in Political Science and a MBA in Finance, as well as extensive professional training while serving in the military.

Clark Gellings, Vice President, Innovation, Electric Power Research Institute

Clark Gellings is Vice President, Innovation, of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in Palo Alto, California. He has been at EPRI since 1982; prior to EPRI, he was with Public Service Electric & Gas Company in New Jersey. He is both an electrical and mechanical engineer with a strong back¬ground in the development of new products and services for the energy industry, especially applied to the power industry. He has many accomplishments in developing systems for demand-side management, optimal and cost-effective utility management, applying digital technology in the power sector in order to gain efficiencies in generation, dispatching, and end use. He is a member of numerous professional associations and has received many prizes for his work over the years. Gellings has degrees in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Management Science, and is a graduate of the Wesley J. Howe School of Technology at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Breakout Session #B

Session Moderator:

The Honorable Richard E. Morgan, Commissioner, District of Columbia Public Service Commission

Commissioner Rick Morgan began a four-year term on the District of Columbia Public Service Commission in July 2003. He is chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Global Climate Change of NARUC. He is also a member of NARUC’s Energy Resources and Environment Committee. He served as staff co-chair of the committee’s predecessor, the NARUC Energy Conservation Committee, from 1989-1991. He currently serves as chair of the steering committee of the Mid-Atlantic Distributed Resources Initiative (MADRI). Before joining the PSC as a commissioner, Mr. Morgan spent 12 years with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he served as a senior energy analyst. From 1994-1995, Mr. Morgan served on a detail with the U.S. Department of Energy, where he represented the federal government in electricity restructuring proceedings in California, New York, and Maryland. Prior to joining EPA in 1991, Mr. Morgan spent five years on the staff of the D.C. Public Service Commission, where he served as technical assistant and helped to develop Commission policies on energy conservation and resource planning. Mr. Morgan holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Maryland and a B.A. in economics from Antioch College.

Panelists:

The Honorable Jon Wellinghoff, Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Jon Wellinghoff was nominated by President Bush and sworn into office on July 31, 2006, for a term expiring June 30, 2008. Prior to FERC, Mr. Wellinghoff was a shareholder with a Nevada law firm. He has concentrated his practice in the fields of energy law and utility regulation for the past 30 years. He represented clients before the regulatory commissions of California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona (Corporation Commission), Washington (UTC), and FERC. He has testified as an expert witness in Nevada, Texas, and the District of Columbia, and was a consultant to the staff of the Oregon Commission. He has advised the staffs of the Missouri, Minnesota, New York, and Georgia Commissions. Before joining the law firm of Beckley Singleton, Mr. Wellinghoff held several public sector positions, including Administrative Assistant to the Commissioner of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada. He was Nevada’s first Consumer Advocate for Customers of Public Utilities, a position he served for two terms. He was also Staff Counsel to the Nevada Public Utilities Commission. Mr. Wellinghoff also served as a Staff Attorney for the Federal Trade Commission, Energy and Product Information Division. He was a Staff Counsel for the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, Consumer Subcommittee. He was a Deputy District Attorney for Washoe County in Reno, Nevada. Mr. Wellinghoff’s education includes the Antioch School of Law, JD; Howard University, M.A.T., Mathematics; and University of Nevada, BS, Mathematics.

The Honorable Robert Lieberman, Commissioner, Illinois Commerce Commission

Robert Lieberman is one of five Commissioners on the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). Commissioners are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Illinois State Senate for a five-year term. Mr. Lieberman assumed Commissionership in February 2005 and his term will end in January 2010. He previously served as the manager of the Division of Energy and Environment Assessment at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. He was the director of the Office of Research and Planning, Manager of the Energy Planning Section and Policy Analyst for the Office of Coal Development (1979­1997). From 1998­2005, he was the CEO for the Center for Neighborhood Technology. Mr. Lieberman earned a B.A. from Oakland University and M.P.P in Public Policy Studies at the University of Michigan.

Peter Smith, President, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority

Peter Smith was appointed President of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority by the NYSERDA Board of Directors in January 2004. He is responsible for the overall management of NYSERDA, which is a public benefit corporation of the State of New York with assets of more than $330 million. NYSERDA is the third party administrator of New York's five-year $750 million public benefits program, as well as Central Procurement Agent for New York’s Renewable Portfolio Standard. Smith is very active on the national energy scene as Chairman of the National Association of State Energy Officials and President of Board of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy; as well as serving on the Board of Directors of the Alliance to Save Energy. Smith has more than 26 years of experience in analyzing energy and environmental issues and problems while crafting workable solutions. He holds a master's degree in Public Administration from the Nelson A. Rockefeller School of Public Affairs and Policy, State University of New York at Albany, and a Bachelor of Arts from LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York.

Walter Brockway, Manager, Regulatory Affairs–Energy, Alcoa

Walt Brockway is the Regulatory Affairs Manager for Energy at Alcoa, Inc., Knoxville, Tenn., where he is responsible for oversight of energy affairs at the federal, regional, and state levels for one of the largest electricity consumers in the world. He has held various energy and power roles at Alcoa for the past 22 years including power engineer, power supervisor, and power and engineering manager at the Alcoa Massena Operations. He was also the corporate energy manager responsible for facility electricity supply arrangements. In this role, he started the Alcoa energy efficiency network which is today one the premier industrial programs. Brockway was also previously manager of hydroelectric operations for Alcoa where he managed operating assets, modernization of the assets, and relicensing of two FERC hydroelectric projects. Prior to joining Alcoa, he was employed by General Electric's Nuclear Energy Business Operations and Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. Brockway attended Clarkson University where he received both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in electrical engineering. He holds a Professional Engineering registration in New York.

Roberta S. Brown, Board of Directors, Independent Electricity System Operator (Ontario)

Roberta Brown is President of Sassafras River Associates. She has been involved in power generation and delivery in a variety of assignments in planning, design, engineering, construction, operations, and maintenance throughout her career. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Independent Electricity System Operator of Ontario, Canada, and Power Transmission Solutions, of Berkley, Calif. In 2005, she led the startup of ReliabilityFirst, a new regional electric reliability council. As Vice President of Pepco and Delmarva Power, she was responsible for the company's electric transmission business. She previously was vice president of business development for Conectiv Energy and vice president of New Castle region for Conectiv Power Delivery. Brown has testified before regulatory agencies in several states, led the PJM stakeholders' process to deregulate the Mid-Atlantic energy markets, served as company spokesperson on electric system issues, and is a frequent speaker on electric system reliability and markets. Brown earned a bachelor's degree in physics and math from Immaculata College. She is a registered professional engineer. She is a member of the Harvard Electricity Policy Group, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Society of Women Engineers.

Breakout Session #C

Session Moderator:

Kenneth Friedman, Senior Advisor, DOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration Division

Kenneth Friedman is senior advisor in the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration Division, U.S. Department of Energy. He currently acts as the lead DOE point of contact in critical infrastructure protection for international activities and in the development of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security. He chairs a group of five DOE national laboratories working to improve DOE modeling, visualization and analysis in response to energy emergencies. He also supports DOE response to energy emergencies through visualization and modeling and DOE situation reports. Friedman has almost 30 years of experience in analysis of U.S. energy policy, including efficiency and renewable energy, climate change, and activities impacting the industrial sector. He has directed work for DOE’s Office of Industrial Technologies on policy and metrics. For five years, he was the Director of the Energy Technology Policy Division at the International Energy Agency in Paris, France. He is a winner of the Eric Peterson Award from DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for analytical contributions to DOE. He also won the 2006 Outstanding Performance Award in the Office of Electricity Reliability and Energy Delivery.

Panelists:

The Honorable Denise Bode, Commissioner, Oklahoma Corporation Commission

In nine years on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, Denise Bode has been involved in the restructuring of the telecommunications, natural gas, and electricity industry markets. She is considered to be one of the leading experts on national energy policy and infrastructure matters. She was appointed to President George W. Bush's Energy Transition Advisory Team and has testified before Congress on numerous occasions, as well as lectured at the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. She was elected to serve as President of Southwest Power Pool’s (SPP’s) Regional State Committee. Bode is Vice President of the Mid-America Regulatory Conference, the first Oklahoman to hold the position. She is a member of the Committee on Critical Infrastructure, Consumer Affairs and Telecommunications for NARUC. Before joining the commission, Bode served for seven years as president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) in Washington, D.C. Bode earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma. After earning a Juris Doctorate from George Mason University and a Master's of Law in taxation from Georgetown University, Bode worked for nine years on the staff of U.S. Senator David Boren as his legal counsel, focusing on the areas of energy and taxation.

Louis Rana, President and Chief Operating Officer, Consolidated Edison Company of New York

Louis Rana is president and chief operating officer of Con Edison. Previously, Rana was senior vice president of Electric Operations, where he served since February 2003. In that position, he had overall responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the company's electric system in New York City and Westchester County. Rana joined Con Edison in 1969, and has held positions of increasing responsibility in electric operations, system operations, and engineering. Rana is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a member of the Research Advisory Committee for EPRI. He is a member of the National Academies' Committee on Enhancing the Robustness and Resilience of Future Electric Transmission and Distribution in the U.S. to Terrorist Attack, and a member of the advisory committee of New York-Presbyterian Hospital's Allen Pavilion. He is also a board member of the Avenue of Americas Association, Inc., the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies, and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering. Rana holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, a master's degree in electrical engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a master's in business administration from Columbia University. He is a licensed professional engineer.

Andy Dearman, Executive Vice President and Chief Transmission Officer, Southern Company Transmission

Andy Dearman has been Chief Transmission Officer for Southern Company since January 2, 2001. Dearman is responsible for the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of Southern Company’s transmission system. Prior to his current appointment, Dearman was senior vice president and chief technical officer for Southern Energy, a position he assumed in 1999. He directed the company's engineering, construction, environmental, operations and maintenance, and safety departments. From 1997 to 1999, Dearman was vice president of power generation and delivery for Southern Company Generation and Mississippi Power. He provided general management of power generation, transmission, system operations and control, system planning, fuels, environmental, and real estate functions. From 1995 to 1997, Dearman was a division vice president for Alabama Power in Montgomery, Ala., where he was responsible for managing all customer functions and local external affairs. From 1975 to 1995, Dearman held a number of positions in the construction departments at various facilities with Alabama Power including Miller Steam Plant, Mitchell Dam, Harris Hydro and Farley Nuclear Plant. Dearman earned his B.S. degree in Civil Engineering at the Virginia Military Institute and has an M.B.A., Business Administration, from Samford University.

Stuart Brindley, Manager of Training & Emergency Preparedness, Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) and Chairman of the Partnership for Critical Infrastructure Security, Inc. (PCIS)

Stuart Brindley is manager of Training & Emergency Preparedness with the Independent Electricity System Operator, known as the IESO, in Ontario, Canada. He is responsible for training power system operators and coordinating the Ontario electricity industry’s emergency preparedness program, involving governments and all electricity companies in Ontario. Brindley is also Chairman of the North American Electric Reliability Council's (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection Committee (CIPC) which works with industry and governments to help protect the electricity infrastructure from cyber and physical attacks and respond to emergencies. He also serves as Chairman of the Partnership for Critical Infrastructure Security (PCIS), which is recognized as the Private Sector Cross-Sector Council in the Department of Homeland Security's National Infrastructure Protection Plan.

Martin Wilhelm, Senior Energy Advisor, Council of Competitiveness Resiliency Project

Martin Wilhelm is Senior Advisor to the Council on Competitiveness. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Council's Enterprise Resilience Initiative, leading the Initiative's case studies in the electric, oil and gas industries. Wilhelm is Managing Partner of M.C. Wilhelm Associates in Chicago, advising senior management at electric utility, banking, and energy exchange clients in North American and European energy markets, focusing on strategy, organization design, risk policy and risk management, financial engineering, energy trading, and electric transmission management. Before co-founding the firm, he worked as an assistant to the Chairman of the German Council of Economic Advisors, a research fellow at the MIT Energy Laboratory and Cologne Institute of Energy Economics in Germany. Wilhelm has completed an MS in economics at Cologne University in Germany, Ph.D. studies in management science and electrical engineering at Cologne University and MIT, as well as an international management degree at Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales, Paris. He is author of two books on regulatory economics and power generation and numerous articles and working papers on energy industry issues. Wilhelm is a member of IEEE, the International Association of Energy Economists, the Chicago Committee of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and the German Society on Foreign Relations.

Breakout Session #D

Session Moderator:

The Honorable Sharon Reishus, Commissioner, Maine Public Utility Commission

Sharon Reishus was sworn in as Maine Public Utilities Commissioner by Governor Baldacci in July 2003. She has served as President, New England Conference of Public Utilities Commissioners. Previously, she was Director of North American Power at Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), a staff analyst with the Maine PUC, a planner with Central Maine Power Company, and an intelligence analyst for the CIA, during which time she served as senior duty officer in The White House Situation Room. Ms. Reishus received a B.S. degree from Stanford University and holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Panelists:

Merrill Smith, CHP/Distributed Energy Technologies Program Manager, DOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability

Merrill Smith is one of the founding members of the Distributed Energy Office at the U.S. Department of Energy. Her primary responsibility is managing the National Combined Heat and Power program. In addition, she manages several other programs including work in materials development and development of low emissions technologies for Advanced Turbines and Microturbines. She is formally from DOE's Office of Industrial Technologies where she worked on a number of DOE initiatives targeting the promotion of advanced power systems, bioenergy, and Industries of the Future. Smith joined DOE in 1991 after working as a design engineer and construction manager with several engineering firms. She earned a Civil Engineering degree from Virginia Tech and received a Masters in Engineering Management from the George Washington University.

Gary Fechter, President and Chief Operating Officer, Princeton Energy Systems

Gary Fechter has more than twenty-five years experience in engineering, project management, operations, and technology integration. He is currently President and Chief Operating Officer of Princeton Energy Systems and is responsible for managing a team of energy professionals that combine clean on-site generation systems, renewable energy, and district heating and cooling with advanced efficiency technologies to help customers achieve their energy, economic, and environmental goals. These include solar (photovoltaic) electric generation, cogeneration and combined cycle systems, lighting retrofits, HVAC efficiency retrofits, controls, and energy management systems. Princeton Energy Systems currently supports customers across the United States, Mexico and Korea. Prior to joining Princeton Energy, Fechter spent fifteen years with Trigen Energy Corporation holding various positions including President of Trigen Development Corporation, Executive Vice President of Business Development, and other positions relating to development, plant operations, engineering and project management. Prior to joining Trigen, he served with the United States Army as a commissioned officer in the Corps of Engineers. Fechter has a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Science and Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a Master of Science degree in Nuclear Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Reigh Walling, Director of Energy Consulting, GE Energy

Reigh Walling is a Director of Energy Consulting at GE Energy. His consulting practice is in the areas of power distribution, transmission, and alternative generation. A major focus has been technical issues related to integration of distributed and renewable generation in power systems. He played a major role in the development of the IEEE 1547 distributed generation standard, and is past-chair of the IEEE’s distributed generation working group.
Walling has authored several dozen technical papers and articles, and holds several patents related to distributed and alternative generation. Walling received his baccalaureate and graduate education in Electric Power Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is a registered Professional Engineer. In 2005, he was elected as a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers for his career accomplishments in technical leadership.

Joe Barra, Director of Customer Energy Resources, Portland General Electric

Joe Barra joined Portland General Electric (PGE) in 1994 as Manager of New Products & Services. He is currently Director of Customer Energy Resources. He has managed the development of new business opportunities for PGE in the areas of Distributed Resources, Demand Response and Renewables. Prior to joining PGE, Barra held the position of Director of Energy Services at Pacificorp where he directed the development the Energy FinAnswer, a nationally recognized energy efficiency program for demand side resource acquisition. He spent twelve years prior to joining Pacificorp as a marketing manager with two premiere packaged goods companies - Del Monte Corporation and General Foods. Barra holds a B.A. degree from William Paterson University and has completed post-graduate courses in management, strategic planning, finance and statistics. He has been a guest lecturer at UC-Berkeley and has conducted seminars in new product development and marketing research.

Bruce Hedman, Vice President of Energy Systems, Energy and Environmental Analysis, an ICF International Company

Bruce Hedman is Vice President of Energy Systems at Energy and Environmental Analysis (EEA), an energy and management consulting firm based in Arlington, Va. He leads EEA services in the area of distributed generation and combined heat and power (CHP) and has more than 25 years experience in energy and environmental technologies and market development. Hedman has worked with a variety of public and private clients evaluating CHP markets, technologies, and commercialization strategies. Before joining EEA, Hedman was a Vice President at Onsite Energy. Prior to this, he was Executive Director of the Industrial Center, Inc. (now the Energy Solutions Center), a natural gas industry technology-transfer and market-development organization. Hedman started his career at the Gas Research Institute in Chicago, holding a variety of research management positions in power generation, alternative fueled vehicles, and industrial end-use. When he left GRI in 1994, he was Group Manager, Industrial and Power Generation Products and directed GRI's cooperative research and development programs in the key industrial and power generation markets. Hedman is immediate past Chairman of the United States Combined Heat and Power Association and is an inductee into the American Gas Association’s Commercial and Industrial Marketing Hall of Flame. Hedman has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University.

Luncheon Speaker

The Honorable Joseph T. Kelliher,Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Joseph T. Kelliher was nominated by President Bush to a Republican seat on the Commission and was sworn in on November 20, 2003. He was designated Chairman by President Bush effective July 9, 2005. Prior to FERC, Mr. Kelliher was Senior Policy Advisor to Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham. In that capacity, he advised the Secretary on a wide range of energy policy matters. He helped develop the National Energy Policy. Before joining the Department of Energy, Mr. Kelliher served on the Bush/Cheney Presidential Transition Team. Previously, he was of Counsel with the law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. He served as Majority Counsel to the House Committee on Commerce from 1995-2000, where he was responsible for electricity, hydropower, conservation, nuclear waste, and other energy legislation. From 1991-1995, Mr. Kelliher represented Public Service Electric and Gas Company before the Congress on a wide range of energy legislation. In the late 1980s, he worked for the American Nuclear Energy Council. In the mid-1980s, he served on the staff of Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX). In the early 1980s, he worked at the law firm of Preston, Thorgrimson, Ellis & Holman. Mr. Kelliher has worked on energy issues for more than 20 years. His education includes: Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, B.S.F.S.; American University Washington College of Law, J.D., Magna Cum Laude.

Panel #5

Session Moderator:

The Honorable Phyllis Reha, Vice Chair, Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and Chair, NARUC Energy Resources and the Environment Committee

Phyllis Reha was appointed to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission by Governor Jesse Ventura on May 16, 2001, and serves as its Vice Chair. Commissioner Reha is Chair of NARUC's Energy Resources and Environment Committee. Currently she serves as President of the Mid-America Regulatory Conference (MARC). Commissioner Reha also currently serves on the Advisory Councils of EPRI, the New Mexico State University Center for Public Utilities, and the National Council on Electricity Policy. Before joining the PUC as a Commissioner, she spent 20 years as an Administrative Law Judge for the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings specializing in public utility, telecommunications and environmental regulation. She was also a mediator and arbitrator specializing in employment contract and discrimination disputes. For 13 years she was an Adjunct Professor at the Hamline University Graduate School of Public Administration and Management. Commissioner Reha has a B.A. degree from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Panelists:

John Young, Executive Vice President, Finance & Markets and Chief Financial Officer, Exelon Corporation

Appointed to his current position in March 2005, John Young is responsible for Exelon's entire financial organization including the controller, treasury, planning, investor relations, corporate development, risk management, tax, and audit and controls functions. In addition, he is responsible for Exelon Power Team, the company's power trading and marketing operations. Power Team has responsibility for portfolio optimization, fuels management, wholesale marketing, as well as Exelon Energy, the corporation's unregulated retail energy marketing entity in the Midwest. Young joined Exelon Power in March 2003 as chief operating officer and was subsequently named president of the operating unit in May 2003. He was named president of Exelon Generation in 2004. Prior to Exelon, Young was senior vice president at Sierra Pacific Resources Corporation. From 1983-2000, Young held various positions at Southern Company. He began his career as a commercial sales representative and subsequently worked in wholesale and retail marketing, fuel planning and procurement, and headed the company's finance and investor relations office in New York. He concluded his service at Southern Company as executive vice president of Southern Generation. Young served five years in the Navy. He received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.

Don Furman, Senior Vice President, PPM Energy

Don Furman is responsible for power origination, transmission, and regulation and policy at PPM Energy. He also has overall responsibility for the strategic direction of PPM's power businesses. Furman was previously with PacifiCorp, most recently as Senior Vice President of Regulation and External Affairs. He also held the roles of Vice President of Domestic Mergers and Acquisitions and Vice President of Transmission. He led PacifiCorp's efforts to form an RTO in the Pacific Northwest. He was also responsible for the startup of PPM in the mid-1990s, and served briefly as its president. Furman was previously Senior Vice President/Operations of Citizens Lehman Power LP. In addition to his responsibilities in starting up the trading and origination business, he was responsible for a number of asset management and financing transactions, including several off-shore projects in Latin America. Furman was a shareholder in the firm of Babst Calland Clements & Zomnir in Pittsburgh, where he represented project developers and industrial consumers before FERC and various state commissions. He also held positions at Stoel Rives in Portland, Ore., and as Assistant General Counsel of Portland General Electric. Furman received a BA in economics from Northwestern University and a J.D. from Lewis and Clark Law School.

Steve Corneli, Vice President of Regulatory and Government Affairs, NRG Energy, Inc.

Steve Corneli is the Vice President of Regulatory and Government Affairs for NRG Energy, Inc. He is responsible for facilitating and coordinating market and regulatory policy development and advocacy in NRG's key markets across the United States and for managing NRG's government affairs efforts. Corneli has also been a utility policy analyst in the Minnesota Office of Attorney General, and served as the head of that office's utility consumer advocate division. He worked for the law firm of Leonard, Street and Dienard for utility and independent power producer clients, and has also been an adjunct faculty member of the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Corneli has a master's degree in public policy from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from St. John's College, and has studied applied economics in the doctoral program at the University of Minnesota.

Devra Wang, Director, California Energy Program, Natural Resources Defense Council

Devra Wang is the Director of the California Energy Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Wang promotes energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other global warming solutions through research and advocacy in local, state, and regional forums. Wang was instrumental in the enactment of California's landmark law to limit the state's global warming pollution, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Assembly Bill 32). Prior to joining NRDC, Wang worked on renewable energy and energy policy issues at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the California Energy Commission. She holds a Master’s degree in Energy and Resources and a Bachelor's degree in Bioengineering, both from the University of California at Berkeley.

Dan Zaweski, Assistant Vice President for Energy Efficiency & Distributed Generation Programs, Long Island Power Authority

Dan Zaweski is currently the Assistant Vice President of Energy Efficiency and Distributed Generation for the Long Island Power Authority. In this role, he maintains primary responsibility for LIPA's Clean Energy Initiative, a 10-year-, $355-million-initiative consisting of a mix of energy efficiency programs and the promotion of clean and renewable generation technologies. Zaweski is currently leading LIPA’s efforts on both the Long Island Offshore Wind RFP and 75 MW Demand Side Management RFP, and is also coordinating LIPA's efforts on the New York State Renewable Portfolio Standard. In addition to his duties at LIPA, Zaweski also serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation in Raybrook, N.Y., is a member of the Board and serves as Treasurer of the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, Inc., is a member of the Board of the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, and is a member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s State Energy Advisory Board. Prior to joining LIPA in 1999, Zaweski spent the previous decade with the Empire State Electric Energy Research Corporation, the former R&D arm of the New York State electric utilities. Zaweski holds a BA and MBA with concentrations in management.

Panel #6

Session Moderator:

Charles D. Gray, Executive Director, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners

Charles Gray was named Executive Director of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in mid-1999. In this role, Gray is responsible for the overall management and day-to-day operation of NARUC's Washington office. This includes managing a staff of more than 20 employees who are involved in congressional representation, Federal agency relations, meeting planning and implementation, international programs, and grant-funded domestic research programs. Gray works with NARUC leadership, including the Executive Committee and Board of Directors, to develop and implement the Association's policy and business plan. He has represented the Association in various proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Federal Courts of Law. Gray started at the Association in 1979 as Deputy Assistant General Counsel. In 1981, he was promoted to Assistant General Counsel and in 1996, before being named Executive Director, he was tapped as the Association's General Counsel. Gray received his Bachelor’s Degree from Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., in 1973. From there he received his J.D. from Cornell University School of Law, Ithaca, NY, in 1977. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar as well as the bars of numerous U.S. Courts of Appeals.

Panelists:

The Honorable Sam J. Ervin, IV, Commissioner, North Carolina Utilities Commission and Chair, NARUC Electricity Committee

Commissioner Ervin attended Davidson College, where he received an A. B., magna cum laude, in 1978, and Harvard Law School, from which he received a J.D., cum laude, in 1981. After becoming licensed to practice law in North Carolina in 1981, he entered private practice in Morganton, N.C., with the firm of Byrd, Byrd, Ervin, Whisnant, McMahon & Ervin, P. A., and its predecessors. While in private practice from 1981 to 1999, Mr. Ervin represented clients in a variety of administrative, civil, and criminal cases before various governmental agencies, the North Carolina trial and appellate courts, and the United States trial and appellate courts for North Carolina. Mr. Ervin left the practice of law to take office as a member of the Commission on July 2, 1999. He served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Nuclear Issues and Waste Disposal of the National Association of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners (NARUC) from 2002 through 2005, and currently serves as Chairman of the NARUC Committee on Electricity. His term ends June 30, 2007.

Kevin Kolevar, Director, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability

In February 2005, Kevin Kolevar was named Director of the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability at the U.S. Department of Energy. As Director, he leads the development and implementation of national policy pertaining to electric grid reliability; management of research, development, and demonstration activities for “next generation” electric grid infrastructure technologies; and federal efforts to ensure a robust, secure, and reliable energy infrastructure. Before assuming his current position, Kolevar served as chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of Energy Kyle McSlarrow from January 2003 to January 2005. In addition to serving as chief of staff to the Deputy Secretary, Kolevar worked as a senior policy advisor to the Secretary of Energy. Before joining the Department of Energy, he spent more than 10 years serving as U.S. Senate staff in the offices of Senators Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.) and Connie Mack (R-Fla.). He is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

John S. Moot, General Counsel, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

John Moot is General Counsel of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and is responsible for providing legal and policy advice concerning all areas of the Commission's regulation, including transmission and sales for resale of electric energy, natural gas and oil pipeline transportation, and hydroelectric licensing. Prior to joining the FERC, Mr. Moot was a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP from 1992-2005. Prior to that, he was the associate attorney at Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson, & Hand. He has represented publicly-owned utilities, rural electric cooperatives, investor-owned utilities, wholesale power customers, state regulatory commissions, and merchant generators. Mr. Moot received his J.D. as a 1988 cum laude graduate of American University Washington College of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Administrative Law Journal. Mr. Moot received a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Lawrence University in 1983. He is admitted to practice before the District of Columbia and Maryland bars.

CLOSING REMARKS

The Honorable Sam J. Ervin, IV, Commissioner, North Carolina Utilities Commission and Chair, NARUC Electricity Committee

Commissioner Ervin attended Davidson College, where he received an A. B., magna cum laude, in 1978, and Harvard Law School, from which he received a J.D., cum laude, in 1981. After becoming licensed to practice law in North Carolina in 1981, he entered private practice in Morganton, N.C., with the firm of Byrd, Byrd, Ervin, Whisnant, McMahon & Ervin, P. A., and its predecessors. While in private practice from 1981 to 1999, Mr. Ervin represented clients in a variety of administrative, civil, and criminal cases before various governmental agencies, the North Carolina trial and appellate courts, and the United States trial and appellate courts for North Carolina. Mr. Ervin left the practice of law to take office as a member of the Commission on July 2, 1999. He served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Nuclear Issues and Waste Disposal of the National Association of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners (NARUC) from 2002 through 2005, and currently serves as Chairman of the NARUC Committee on Electricity. His term ends June 30, 2007.

Speaker information from the 2006 Forum is available at the 2006 Forum website.