2010 Mid-America Regulatory Conference
2010 Mid-America Regulatory ConferenceSpeakers H - Z (tentative)
Scott H. Heidtbrink
Senior Vice President for Supply
Kansas City Power & Light
Mr. Heidtbrink is a 20-year energy-industry veteran who previously served as Vice President, Power Generation and Energy Resources of Aquila's regulated gas and electric operations. He was responsible for Aquila's power generation plants in Missouri and Colorado and for the company's energy resources, including integrated resource planning, generation dispatch, off-system sales, coal procurement, and asset management for the company's minority ownership positions in other coal-fired plants. He joined Aquila in 1987 as a field engineer at the company's Lee's Summit, Mo., service center and has held gas and electric utility operations engineering and field and customer operations management positions, including state president and general manager - Kansas from 1994 to 1997; vice president, network management / engineering, 1998 to 2000; vice president, Aquila Gas Operations, 2001; and Vice President, Kansas/Colorado Gas, 2002 to 2004. He also led the deployment of Six Sigma into Aquila's utility operations.
Scott Hempling
Executive Director
National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI)
Scott Hempling, Esq. is the Executive Director of NRRI. He provides legal and policy advice to public- and private-sector clients involved in regulated industries. His research emphases include mergers and acquisitions, the introduction of competition into formerly monopolistic markets, corporate restructuring, ratemaking, utility investments in nonutility businesses, and state-federal jurisdictional issues.
Jim Hempstead
Senior Vice President, Global Infrastructure Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service
Jim Hempstead is currently a Senior Vice President in the Global Infrastructure Finance Group. Jim joined Moody's in December 2002. He covers a portfolio of U.S.-based electric and natural gas utility companies and not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperatives. Prior to joining Moody's, Jim spent approximately four years with Merrill Lynch & Co., working in the Global Energy & Power Group, and provided financial and advisory services to electric, natural gas distribution, interstate pipeline, energy merchant, water and energy technology companies. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Jim spent approximately four years with Salomon Smith Barney Corporate Finance, working in their Global Energy & Power Group.
Eric Herschmann
Vice Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer
Southern Union Company
Mr. Herschmann is Vice Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer of Southern Union Company. He has been vice chairman since August of 2009 and president and chief operating officer since May 2008. Prior to his current role, Herschmann had been senior executive vice president of the company since November 2005 and served as interim general counsel from January 2005 until October 2007. He has served as counsel for the company since 1996 and was named national litigation counsel in 1999.
Thomas M. Hoenig
President
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Thomas M. Hoenig is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He directs Federal Reserve activities in the Tenth Federal Reserve District - an area that includes Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, the northern half of New Mexico, and the western third of Missouri. Mr. Hoenig assumed the role of president on October 1, 1991. He is the longest serving of the 12 current regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents and he is also the longest-tenured member of the System's Federal Open Market Committee which has authority over U.S. monetary policy.
Michael J. Hoffman
Senior Manager, Financial Evaluation $amp; Analysis
American Water
Mike Hoffman is a Senior Manager of Financial Evaluation $amp; Analysis at American Water. He has performed a variety of finance-related functions since joining American Water in 2004. Currently, his primary focus is evaluating new business opportunities and working with potential partners to achieve mutually beneficial solutions. Mike previously worked for Goldman Sachs in investment banking, Charterhouse Group in private equity, and Interliant, an internet infrastructure provider. While Mike was completing his accounting degree at the University of Illinois, he was selected as a Curry intern with the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Hank Hultquist
Vice President, Federal Regulatory
AT&T
Hank joined AT&T (then SBC) in 2004. He represents AT&T at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on a number of issues including broadband and Internet policy, video and media policy, intercarrier compensation, and universal service. He is a member of the Board of Directors and of the Wireless Communications Association International (WCAI) and serves on the North American Numbering Council (NANC). Prior to joining AT&T, he was with MCI for eight years.
Mary J. Hutzler
Distinguished Senior Fellow
Institute for Energy Research
Mary J. Hutzler is a Senior Fellow at IER. Until she left Government in 2006, she was a top energy analyst for the U.S. Government, having spent more than 25 years at the Energy Information Administration (EIA), where she specialized in data collection, analysis, and forecasting.
Beginning in 2004, Hutzler worked as the Associate Director of Statistical Programs at the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), serving 14 months as the Associate Director and 6 months as the Acting Director of BTS. In the latter job, Hutzler ran the bureau's daily operations, briefed Administration officials and Congressional staff, and managed BTS's data and analysis programs. As Associate Director, Hutzler managed large-scale freight and travel surveys and all analytical research, including new statistical methods and estimation of transportation data.
In 2001, Hutzler was named by President Bush to lead the EIA as Acting Administrator. In this role, she testified before Congressional committees, briefed policymakers on energy issues, held press conferences on EIA products, and interacted with energy organizations on controversial issues dealing with EIA data collections. In recognition of her achievements, Hutzler received a 2004 Presidential Rank Award, an honor by which the president “recognizes and celebrates a small group of career senior executives.”
Before and after her stint as the acting administrator and deputy administrator of EIA, which lasted from June 2001 to March 2003, Hutzler was director of the EIA's Office of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting. As such, she planned, directed, and managed all mid- and long-term analysis and forecasting at EIA, as well as the production of EIA's annual forecasting publications. Hutzler oversaw development of the National Energy Modeling System, for which she received a Presidential Rank Award in 1999. She also produced numerous studies for both Congress and the Administration on various key topics, such as the Kyoto Protocol, low-sulfur diesel rules, the depletion of oil and gas reserves, and Renewable Portfolio Standards.
Orjiakor N. Isiogu
Chairman, Michigan Public Service Commission
Michigan Public Service Commission
Chairman Isiogu has two decades of experience in public service and the regulation of public utilities and telecommunications services. Prior to his appointment, he served as the Director of the Telecommunications Division of the Michigan Public Service Commission. The Telecommunications Division is responsible for providing the Commission with technical assistance and policy recommendations on telecommunications issues impacting the State of Michigan and its citizens. In this role, Mr. Isiogu oversaw the implementation of transformational state legislation as well as state and federal regulatory orders designed to facilitate increased competition in the telecommunications market. As Director of the Telecommunications Division, Mr. Isiogu advised the Commissioners in all activities relating to the regulation of basic local telephone services, emergency 9-1-1 service, telephone service for the speech and hearing impaired and all other state and federal regulatory requirements. In addition, Mr. Isiogu was responsible for the administration of the historic Michigan Children's Protection Registry Act and the Uniform Video Services Local Franchise Act.
Kimberly Joyce
Manager of Regulatory Affairs
Aqua America
Kimberly Joyce leads a core regulatory team at Aqua America's headquarters that oversees regulatory policy and provides key support functions to regulatory filings and rate operations throughout the Aqua 14 state footprint. Joyce, an attorney, spent five years with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, most recently as counsel to Commissioner Kim Pizzingrilli. During her tenure at the Commission, she advised the Commission on key regulatory matters and defended Commission orders before state and federal courts. She previously clerked for Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court President Judge James Gardner Colins and worked for Baker & Botts, LLP in Washington, DC.
Frank Kartmann
President
Missouri American Water
Texas American Water
As president of Missouri American Water and Texas American Water, Frank Kartmann leads a team of almost 800 employees in providing quality reliable water and wastewater service to populations of more than 1.5 million people in Missouri and more than 10,000 people in Texas. Kartmann joined Missouri American Water in 1989 as a system engineer based in St. Louis County. He has served the organization in a number of leadership roles over 20 years, most notably as vice president of Operations and vice president of Engineering. He also served as director of Network Operations for American Water's former central region, where he led field operations for six Midwest states.
Robert S. Kenney
Commissioner
Missouri Public Service Commission
Commissioner Robert S. Kenney was appointed to the Missouri Public Service Commission on July 29, 2009 by Governor Jay Nixon. He was unanimously confirmed by the Missouri State Senate on January 13, 2010.
Prior to his appointment to the PSC, Commissioner Kenney served as Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster's first Chief of Staff.
As Chief of Staff, Commissioner Kenney was instrumental in leading the office through the transition process. He was responsible for overall management of the Attorney General's attorney and non-attorney employees in five offices throughout the state. Commissioner Kenney was also responsible for managing and litigating cases involving, among other things, election law, petition initiatives, and representation of statewide elected officials. Commissioner Kenney was also tasked with monitoring and advocating on behalf of legislation affecting the Attorney General's Office.
Before working for the Attorney General, Commissioner Kenney was a shareholder at the St. Louis law firm Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus PC (now Polsinelli Shughart), where he practiced in the commercial and business litigation practice group and the product liability practice group. He litigated cases in state and federal courts in Missouri, Illinois, and other courts throughout the country. Commissioner Kenney chaired Polsinelli's diversity committee and served on the firm's recruiting committee.
Steve Kidwell
Vice President, Regulatory & Legislative Affairs
AmerenUE
Steve is responsible for executive leadership of all AmerenUE matters before the Missouri Public Service Commission and Legislature. Steve has been with Ameren for almost 23 years. Previous areas of responsibility include energy efficiency & demand response programs, corporate strategic planning, electric transmission & distribution, energy marketing, key account management, business development, market research, load research & forecasting, and generation planning.
Steve Kolbeck
Commissioner
South Dakota Public Utilities Commission
Steve Kolbeck was elected to the Public Utilities Commission in November 2006 and was sworn in to office in December 2006. He is serving his third year as the commission's vice chairman.
He is a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, serving on the association's Committee on Telecommunications. He holds appointed positions through NARUC to the FCC's Interstate Telecommunications Relay Services Fund Advisory Council and the Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations where he is the state chairman. Steve is also a leader in industry organizations. He has held the offices of secretary and treasurer and is currently the vice president of the Mid-America Regulatory Conference and chairman of the Regional Oversight Committee.
Steve has extensive experience in the telecommunications industry, having held positions with Northern Telecom, AT&T, SDN Communications and Alliance Communications.
Prior to joining the commission, Steve served as a Brandon, S.D., city councilman for three years. He is a native of Salem, S.D.
Alex Laskey
Commissioner
OPOWER
Alex Laskey is the President and Founder of OPOWER, a 90 person Smart Grid and Energy Efficiency software company that partners with utilities to engage their customers to drive large-scale measurable and verifiable reductions in energy usage. Alex is OPOWER's public face, responsible for engaging utility and government partners in OPOWER's vision and products. He is highly sought-after as a speaker at energy-related conferences throughout the country and abroad. In his role as OPOWER's President, Alex was invited to the White House to meet with President Obama and discuss innovation and job creation in the green economy. Prior to OPOWER, Alex enjoyed a career in politics and policy serving as a campaign manager, strategist and public opinion analyst for several candidates nationwide. Alex provided strategic consulting on several statewide ballot measures for The Nature Conservancy, The Trust for Public Land, and The League of Conservation Voters. Alex has worked for the White House and on a presidential campaign. Before turning to politics and policy, Alex produced the award-winning feature film, Assisted Living, and worked as the director of new business and strategy for The Romann Group, a New York-based advertising agency.
Valerie A. Lemmie
Commissioner, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio
Ohio Public Utilities Commission
Commissioner Valerie A. Lemmie was appointed to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) by Governor Bob Taft in 2006 and reappointed by Governor Ted Strickland in 2007. Ms. Lemmie is active in state regulatory organizations, including serving as president-elect of the Organization of MISO States (OMS), a Board Director of the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI) and a member of the Financial Research Institute Advisory Board at the University of Missouri, her alma mater. She is also immediate past president of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) where she is a NAPA Fellow. Prior to her appointment as Commissioner, Ms. Lemmie had a distinguished career in local government serving as city manager for the cities of Petersburg, Virginia, Dayton and Cincinnati Ohio. Early in her public service career, Ms. Lemmie was the deputy director of the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs where she was responsible for the oversight of state regulatory functions, including land use and zoning, facility citing and permitting, and environmental standards and protection. She was later appointed Arlington County, Virginia's first Director of Environmental Services. Over the course of her local government career, Ms. Lemmie has directed and provided oversight of municipal utilities, including water and sewer services, a major waste-to-energy facility and landfills with methane gas recovery sold to the energy grid. She also served as the local government representative on President Clinton's Greenhouse Gas Advisory Committee and more recently as the local government member of House Speaker Dennis Hastert's Committee on Urban Redevelopment.
Steve Lippman
Director, Environmental Sustainability
Microsoft Corporation
Steve Lippman has 15 years experience addressing environmental and corporate social responsibility issues for a broad set of companies and non-governmental organizations. Since 2008, Steve is Director of Environmental Sustainability at Microsoft, serving on the company's corporate Environmental Sustainability strategy team and leading Microsoft's engagements with environmental NGOs and policymakers. Prior to joining Microsoft, Steve spent five years as Vice President of Social Research and Advocacy at Trillium Asset Management, a twenty-five-year old socially responsible investment firm. Previously, Steve spent four years in the Environment Program at Business for Social Responsibility, a global business membership organization that helps companies implement socially responsible business practices. He has also consulted and done volunteer work for a range of nonprofit organizations, including the Ford Foundation, Environmental Defense, and Friends of the Earth.
Joel E. Lubin
Vice President, Public Policy
AT&T
Mr. Lubin is Vice President-Public Policy at AT&T Services, Inc. He is responsible for development and economic support of state and federal intercarrier compensation and universal service policy and planning initiatives.
Mr. Lubin has over forty years experience with AT&T. He started with Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1969 developing computer models to solve business problems. In 1972 he transferred to Long Lines, a department of AT&T, where he held various positions conducting economic analysis on telecommunications issues, and developing computer systems to support AT&T's national sales force.
From 1984 to the present, Mr. Lubin has taken on major telecommunications industry issues that required directing the development of economic analysis, formulating public policy positions and advocating those positions to federal and state regulators. In addition, Mr. Lubin managed, directed and led large interdepartmental teams addressing these complex problems. Finally, he has represented AT&T in various external coalitions, and negotiated solutions to complex industry problems.
Mr. Lubin has testified before the FCC, Federal-State Joint Boards, and Congressional Committees on numerous occasions addressing both access and universal service issues. He was also appointed by the Federal-State Joint Board to participate in a multi-year Rural Task Force to address universal service issues associated with rural telephone companies. Mr. Lubin is serving a third term on the Universal Service Administration Company (USAC) Board and is the Chairman of the High Cost and Low Income Committee of USAC.
Richard Mark
Senior Vice President, AmerenUE Energy Delivery
AmerenUE
Richard Mark started at Ameren Corporation in January 2002 as Vice President of Customer Service. In October 2003 he became Vice President of Governmental Policy and Consumer Affairs. In this capacity he was responsible for government affairs, economic development and community relations, in addition to the four customer contact centers that handle over 5 million Ameren customer inquiries. During this period he implemented the Missouri Clean Slate Program, which is a unique energy assistance pilot program directed at helping AmerenUE's Missouri electric and natural gas low-income and elderly residential customers eliminate past due bills and get a fresh start in handling their utility payments by paying their entire account balance and beginning anew. Over 5,700 families (16,700 individuals) have benefited from this program. In January 2005, Richard was promoted to Senior Vice President AmerenUE Energy Delivery. In that role, Richard is responsible for the electric and natural gas distribution and customer service operations for AmerenUE in Missouri. In August 2009, in addition to his responsibilities for the delivery and maintenance of electric and gas service, Richard's role was expanded to include all key strategic initiatives that are directly affecting UE customer's future. Those initiatives include energy efficiency, demand response and smart grid. As a result, Richard's organization doubled in number of employees and operating budgets and now includes tree trimming, transmission and substation operations. Richard's title was changed to Senior Vice President, Customer Operations to reflect his new responsibilities. He continues to work tirelessly to educate customers about UE's commitment to reliable power, dedicated customer service and a vision for the future.
Monica Martinez
Commissioner
Michigan Public Service Commission
Monica Martinez was appointed by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm to the Michigan Public Service Commission on July 3, 2005. Since joining the Commission, Commissioner Martinez has led new Commission consumer education and awareness efforts promoting low-income and senior programs, energy affordability via efficiency, and the value of generation resource diversity. Commissioner Martinez has taken an active role in promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy development in the state, playing a key role in the state RPS and energy efficiency laws as well as their implementation. Governor Granholm appointed her to the Climate Action Council, where she oversaw policy direction related to carbon reduction solutions across all industries. As a result of her dedicated and passionate role in shaping Michigan's future energy policy, she was name Leader of the Year for 2009 by the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association. Recognized for her national leadership, Commissioner Martinez is the immediate past President of the Mid America Regulatory Conference and serves on various panels and tasks forces focusing on economic development, regional markets, at-risk customers, and services for the hearing impaired. She is the Vice President of the Organization of MISO State (OMS) and serves as the lead state representative on the Midwest ISO Advisory Committee.
Lewis Mills
Director, Office of Public Counsel
Missouri Office of Public Counsel (MO OPC)
Lewis Mills has been active in utility regulation in Missouri for over twenty years. He began as an entry-level attorney with the Office of the Public Counsel in 1988, and was soon promoted to Deputy Public Counsel. Mr. Mills served as Deputy Public Counsel until 1998, when he took a position with the Missouri Public Service Commission as an administrative law judge. After seven years, he was appointed Public Counsel and returned to the Office of the Public Counsel. Mr. Mills' experience as both a consumer advocate and a regulator offers him a unique perspective to analyze and understand public utility issues. Although Mr. Mills has been most interested in issues having to do with the electricity industry, he has also been deeply involved in water and sewer, natural gas, and telecommunications issues.
Catherine Moyer
Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs
Pioneer Communications
Catherine Moyer is the Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs for Pioneer Communications in Ulysses, Kansas. Pioneer Communications provides a full range of telecommunications services to business and residential customers, including wireline phone, wireless phone, internet service and cable television service. Catherine is currently the Chairman of OPASTCO, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies. She is also active with other rural associations, serving on the Public Policy Committee of the Western Telecommunications Alliance and serving as vice-chairman of the Legal Committee of the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. Additionally, Catherine was recently appointed to the board of director's for CoBank, a cooperative bank serving rural America.
John R. Norris
Commissioner
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
John R. Norris was nominated by President Barack Obama to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a term expiring in June 2012. Commissioner Norris, an attorney, has years of experience in energy policy and regulatory affairs.
Erin M. O'Connell-Diaz
Commissioner
Illinois Commerce Commission
Commissioner Erin M. O'Connell-Diaz, upon completion of law school, was appointed by the Illinois Attorney General to serve as an Assistant Attorney General in the General Law Division. In that capacity she represented over 150 state agencies in matters ranging from complex construction contract litigation to prisoner civil rights cases.
In 1991, she was appointed as an Administrative Law Judge for the Illinois Commerce Commission. In that role, Commissioner O'Connell-Diaz handled a full spectrum of dockets involving all aspects of utility regulation including electric, gas and water utility rate cases, consumer complaint cases, telecommunication arbitration and certification cases. In 2001, she was appointed Assistant Director of the Administrative Law Division. Additionally, she has served as Chair of the Chicago Bar Association's Public Utility Law Division.
In April 2003, she was appointed to the Illinois Commerce Commission and reappointed to a second term in 2008. She currently serves as Chair of the ICC's Water and Transportation Committees. Commissioner O'Connell-Diaz serves as Co Vice-Chair of the Committee on Electricity for the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC), as well as a member of its Committees on Critical Infrastructure, Water and International Relations. In 2010, NARUC appointed Comm. O'Connell-Diaz to its Board of Directors. Presently, she is also a member of the Harvard Electric Policy Group.
Ellen Petrill
Director of State & Regional Relationships
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
Ellen Petrill is Director of State & Regional Relationships at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). She leads EPRI outreach with state and regional stakeholders to inform them on EPRI research results and technologies to enable win-win outcomes for the electricity industry and society. Her current activities focus on strategies and technologies to reduce climate change impacts, such as advanced coal, energy efficiency, and smart grid. Petrill also leads the Energy Efficiency/Smart Grid Public Advisory Group which advises EPRI's research in these areas. Petrill joined EPRI in 1984 as a Project Manager to conduct research on fluidized-bed combustion systems. Later, she developed tools for fossil power plant heat rate improvement, and performance and NOx optimization. Petrill became a Regional Manager in 1995. In 1998, she became Executive Director of the West Region, directing the team responsible for membership and member satisfaction throughout the western United States and Canada. Before joining EPRI, Petrill worked at Acurex Corporation and TRW developing and testing advanced combustion systems.
John C. Procario
Chairman, President and CEO
American Transmission Company (ATC)
John C. Procario assumed the position of president and chief executive officer of American Transmission Co. in April 2009 after a long and distinguished career with Duke Energy and its predecessor, Cinergy. In his 32 years with Cinergy/Duke Energy, he held leadership roles in electric system operations, bulk power resource management, planning and customer service, finishing his career there as senior vice president and chief operating officer of regulated businesses. After leaving Duke in 2006, Procario formed his own consulting firm. His clients included investor owned utilities, public power utilities, and utility regulators. An active industry participant, Procario currently serves on the Edison Electric Institute board of directors, North American Electric Reliability Corporation Electric Sector Steering Group, and the Keystone Energy Board. He has also served on various industry organizations including NERC's Engineering Committee, EPRI's Electric Systems Division Committee, NAESB, and the Executive Committee of the former reliability organization, ECAR. He also played a leadership role in the formation of the Midwest ISO in the late 1990s.
Bob Schallenberg
Division Director
Missouri Public Service Commission
Bob is an experienced utility regulatory auditor. Over the past 33 years he has filed and given testimony at the Kansas Corporation Commission and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in addition to the Missouri Public Service Commission. Bob has a CPA license to practice in Missouri. Bob has been a participant in prudence reviews and the related legal proceedings. Bob has been involved with many of the incentive or alternative regulatory plans that have been implemented here in Missouri as well as multiple cost of services issues. These endeavors span the electric, natural gas and telephone industries.
Richard Sedano
Director and Principal
Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP)
Richard Sedano is a Director of The Regulatory Assistance Project. Mr. Sedano is the facilitator of the Mid-Atlantic Distributed Resource Initiative, the Midwest Demand Resources Initiative, and the Pacific Northwest Demand Response Project. Recently, he has worked with a collaborative in Arkansas and Oklahoma to launch energy efficiency programs, with members and stakeholders of the Ozone Transport Commission to develop utility policies to address regional ozone policy, and the stakeholders developing the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency. In November 2009, he was awarded the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' Mary Kilmarx Award. Prior to joining RAP in 2001, Mr. Sedano served as Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service (VDPS) for nine years, and in staff positions for seven more. The VDPS represents utility consumers in all regulatory matters, and is the state's energy office and consumer advocate. Mr. Sedano served as chair of the National Association of State Energy Officials from 1998-2000. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, the ISO-New England Environmental Advisory Group, the investment committee of the Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund, EVermont (an alternative transportation vehicle consortium), and the Energy Team for the City of Montpelier. He was a member of the Task Force on Reliability to the U.S. Secretary of Energy's Advisory Committee from 1997-1998, and a member of the Advisory Committee to the ISO-New England Board of Directors from 1999-2003.
Melissa A. Seymour
Manager of Midwest Market Structure
Iberdrola Renovables
Melissa A. Seymour is the Manager of Midwest Market Structure for Iberdrola Renewables, Inc., one of North America's leading developers and marketers of renewable energy and other energy products and services. In her current role Melissa is the primary Midwest ISO interface for the company, and is responsible for advancing changes in transmission and operations rules to better accommodate renewable energy into the power system. Melissa joined Iberdrola Renewables, Inc. in September, 2008 at its Portland, Oregon headquarters after a brief career in Strategic Planning at the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). Prior to working at BPA, Melissa had a 6-year career at PacifiCorp, where she held various positions including Regulatory Manager over the Washington service territory, Transmission Compliance Manager, and Manager of Integrated Resource Planning. Melissa has also held various strategic planning and project management positions at Georgia Natural Gas Company and Southern Company Energy Marketing.
Pamela Sherwood
Vice President of Regulatory Affairs
tw telecom
Pamela Sherwood is Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for tw telecom. She is responsible for legislative and regulatory matters for seven states in the central/Midwest region. Ms. Sherwood advocates before various governmental bodies to create a regulatory environment that fosters competition and is conducive to achieving the company's business objectives. Ms. Sherwood also serves as the President of the Midwest Association of Competitive Communications, Inc. (MACC), a coalition of 15 competitive local exchange carriers and interested businesses dedicated to supporting a regulatory environment that fosters competition in the communications marketplace. Ms. Sherwood has extensive legal and regulatory experience in the telecommunications industry. Before joining tw telecom, Ms. Sherwood was an attorney in private practice for seven years focusing initially on general litigation and then developing a specialty, once TA96 was passed, in telecom issues, developing and managing a telecommunications practice group. She has been with tw telecom nine years. In recent years, she has served as a witness in regulatory proceedings, given speeches on various telecommunications topics, including pole attachments, and serves in leadership roles in universal service industry task forces and committees.
Evgenia Shumilkina
Research Analyst
National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI)
Evgenia Shumilkina is a research analyst at the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI), where she conducts research related to the electric industry. She is finishing her PhD in economics at Northeastern University. Most of the work that she has done over the course of her PhD studies is related to regulation, antitrust, and electricity. The first part of her PhD dissertation--the paper on the effects of the mergers eliminating potential competition--was accepted for publication in the Journal of Industrial Economics. During her PhD studies, apart from her dissertation work, she has been involved in various other projects related to the changes in the electric industry--including projects with the American Public Power Association and the American Antitrust Institute.
Jay Surina
CFO
NuScale Power Inc.
Jay Surina is Chief Financial Officer of NuScale Power, Inc., a nuclear startup and technology firm working to certify and build a new generation of affordable modular scalable light water reactors. Prior to leading NuScale's finance function, Jay worked as a finance executive for Boart Longyear where he was instrumental in the 2007 initial public offering of Boart Longyear shares on the Australian exchange. Jay previously held executive positions in energy industry finance, as well as mergers and acquisitions, with Texas Genco, Centrica North America, and Sithe Energies, including large equity and debt financing capital raising, both at the corporate and project levels. He was co-founder and a managing partner of Cornerstone Energy Advisors, an advisory firm focused on the sale and financing of electric generating stations. Prior to his work in the private sector Jay was a nuclear trained submarine officer within the US Navy.
Bary K. Warren
Director of Transmission Policy and Reliability Compliance
The Empire District Electric Company
Bary Warren, Director of Transmission Policy and Reliability Compliance for The Empire District Electric Company (EDE), an investor-owned electric utility headquartered in Joplin, Missouri, has been with EDE for more than seven years and is responsible for the development, implementation, and advocacy of corporate transmission policy and strategy as well as transmission system operations, reliability compliance and NERC reporting. Mr. Warren's current responsibilities include, but are not limited to, FERC and multiple state commission regulatory proceedings, NERC and SPP regional compliance, and participation in SPP stakeholder committees as well as business forums regarding transmission related issues. Mr. Warren has over 25 years of experience in the power industry having held various customer service, wholesale strategy, and regional market development positions in the retail and wholesale markets with Arkansas Power and Light, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, Central and South West Services, Williams Energy Services Company and EDE.
Joseph L. Welch
Chairman, President and CEO
ITC Holdings Corp.
As Chairman, President and CEO, Mr. Welch is responsible for the strategic vision and overall business operation of ITC Holdings and its subsidiaries. Under Mr. Welch's leadership, ITC and its subsidiaries have been singularly focused on investing in the highvoltage transmission system in order to provide best-in-class service to customers. ITC is pursuing transmission infrastructure improvements that will increase reliability, reduce constraints and lower the total cost of delivered energy. Since the beginning of his career in the utility business in 1971, Mr. Welch has held positions of increasing responsibility in the electricity transmission, distribution, rates, load research, marketing and pricing areas, and regulatory affairs that included the development and implementation of regulatory strategies. He established ITC Transmission as a stand-alone entity from its parent corporation in 2003 and as the country's first, and to date, only publicly-traded, independent transmission company in 2005.
Warren Wood
President
Missouri Energy Development Association (MEDA)
Warren Wood is the President of the Missouri Energy Development Association (MEDA). The purpose of MEDA is to develop, organize and promote measures that will advance the ability of investor-owned utilities to build, maintain, protect and provide the utility infrastructure and services that are critical to the economic well being of Missouri business and the health and safety of Missouri citizens. Mr. Wood joined MEDA in 2007 after nearly twenty years of experience in utility industry infrastructure design and construction, utility policy analysis, and state regulation.
Thomas E. Wright
Chairman
Kansas Corporation Commission
Thomas E. Wright was appointed to the Kansas Corporation Commission by Governor Kathleen Sebelius on May 23, 2007 and he was elected Chair of the three-member Commission on June 20, 2007. Wright was appointed for a second term by Governor Mark Parkinson on January 8, 2010.
Wright served as Chair of the Governor's Gaming Committee and of the Consolidation
Commission of Topeka-Shawnee County in 2005. He was Chair of the Washburn Board of Regents from 1986 to 1988, beginning as a Board Member in 1982. Throughout his career, he has taught classes at Washburn University Law School and in the NITA program at Loyola Law School in Chicago. He has recently been named to the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Committee on International
Relations and Committee on Electricity.
Wright was elected President of the Kansas Bar Association (KBA) beginning June of 2008. He was a member of the Board of Governors for the KBA from 1998 to 2005. He served on the KBA Committee on Prevention of Legal Malpractice and chaired the Legislative Committee. He was on the Civil Justice Reform Advisory Group of the Federal Court from 1992 to 1998 and the Federal Bench/Bar Committee
from 1990 to 1998. Wright also served on the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Committee from 1995 to 2003.
Mark S. Wrighton
Chancellor
Washington University
Dr. Mark S. Wrighton is Chancellor and Professor of Chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis. Chancellor Wrighton served as a presidential appointee to the National Science Board, (2000-06), which is the science policy advisor to the President and Congress and is the primary advisory board of the National Science Foundation. Chancellor Wrighton currently serves as Vice Chair of the National Academies' Committee on America's Energy Future.