grid edge innovation summit 2019

Jacob Tetlow is vice president of transmission and distribution operations for Arizona Public Service Company (APS). Based in Phoenix, APS is Arizona’s largest electric utility provider serving over 2.7 million residents across the state.  He is responsible for the company’s energy delivery function, which includes system operations, maintenance, engineering, project management and construction of the electrical transmission and distribution system. 

Jacob recently served as the chair of the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies distributed energy resources sub-committee and is a member of the association’s power delivery committee. He also speaks regularly across the U.S. regarding distributed energy describing how the utility sector can enable and complement the rapidly changing energy landscape.  Closer to home Jacob serves on the Board of Trustees for The Nature Conservancy of Arizona and the Arizona State University’s Industrial Advisory Board in search of partnerships between industry and education. 

He grew up in Mesa Arizona and graduated Arizona State University in 1995 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.  Jacob worked and lived in both Show Low and Flagstaff Arizona for over 15 years while working at multiple power plants in rural Arizona.

Anne Hoskins spearheads Sunrun’s federal and state public policy and regulatory advocacy. She joined Sunrun after serving nearly three years as a commissioner on the Maryland Public Service Commission, where she also served as a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) board of directors and as Chair of the NARUC International Relations Committee. Previously, she led federal and state advocacy for Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated and served as a visiting research scholar at Princeton University’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Prior to that, Anne represented Verizon Wireless as a senior regulatory counsel and served as a policy advisor to the Governor of New Jersey.

Joshua is the President and CEO of Opus One Solutions, a software engineering and solutions company empowering the electricity grid to transform into a platform model for the decentralized energy economy. ​Prior to Opus One, Joshua was the Director of Engineering at eCAMION Inc., a grid-scale energy storage provider. Joshua was also head of smart grid at Toronto Hydro Electric System Limited, where he led the policy, strategy, regulatory, business, and engineering development of Toronto’s smart grid infrastructure, including Toronto’s 25-year smart grid roadmap.​

Systems architect by nature, mechatronic engineer by education, design leader and facilitator by passion, Matthew provides a conduit of understanding between complex interdependent dynamic systems and the world.

In fulfilling Faraday’s ambition to unlock sustainable prosperity through electricity, Matthew manages strategic direction, technology development and is the author of Faraday Grid’s ever-growing list of technology patents.

Before Faraday, Matthew led a systems-engineering company and was responsible for technical-, client- and project management of multi-million dollar projects globally, where he delivered mission-critical logistics, automation, business and safety systems across the power and process sectors.
Using the company’s proprietary Design by Rationalised Constraints methodology, Matthew and Faraday Grid are designing the energy ecosystem of the future.

Ramsay Huntley is Wells Fargo’s Vice President, Clean Technology and Innovation Philanthropy Program Officer.  A member of the Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility team, Ramsay oversees Wells Fargo’s clean tech philanthropy programs, including the Innovation Incubator (IN2) in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, as well as tribal sustainability programs. In this role, he is responsible for Wells Fargo’s support for the clean tech ecosystem, with a particular focus on bringing early stage technologies and companies rapidly to scale to drive the transition to a low carbon economy. He engages with a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders to find new ways to enhance this dynamic sector and has a particular focus on clean technology, agriculture, and water solutions. He also is engaged in the bank’s efforts to utilize innovation in support of housing affordability and is working to identify promising financial mechanisms that align with Wells Fargo’s $200 billion sustainable finance commitment.

Before joining the Wells Fargo team in April 2018, Ramsay led the commercial development of Simple Energy’s rebates-as-a-service (RaaS) offering to allow utility customers to easily and quickly qualify for instant rebates on energy efficient products such as smart thermostats at the point of sale at their favorite retailers. Prior to taking on the RaaS role, he managed client relationships with some of the nation’s largest electric utilities.  Previously, Ramsay served as a senior sustainability manager at DIRECTV, launching the sustainability program there and leading DIRECTV’s efforts to report on its sustainability progress, procure renewable energy, and produce efficient products.

Ramsay is based in Denver, CO, and he and his wife are parents to two elementary school age boys and he can often be found trail running or skiing in Colorado’s high country. His personal favorite clean tech gadgets are his 2.5 kW solar system and Nest thermostat.

Southern California Edison (SCE), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California, USA. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of approximately 50,000 square miles. As the Director of Grid Technology and Modernization at SCE, Vibhu leads SCE’s strategic roadmap for grid modernization, and serves as SCE’s leader in applied research and grid modernization, leading industry groups and external stakeholders on industry initiatives, research activities, standards and cooperative projects. He also leads SCE’s technical efforts in deployment of emerging technologies including key integrated pilot demonstration projects. Previously, Vibhu held several roles within SCE including Principal Manager

of Asset Management and Generation Strategy group where he was responsible for driving the major maintenance and capital investment decisions and maximize the returns for company’s hydroelectric, natural gas, energy storage, and solar power plants; Vibhu originated and led SCE’s award-winning Hybrid Enhance Gas Turbines projects and Energy Storage initiatives.

Vibhu received the 2017 “Top Forty Innovators” award from Public Utilities Fortnightly magazine.

Vibhu earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India, and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from University of Manitoba, Canada, and a master’s degree in Business Administration from University of California, Los Angeles. He is also a registered professional engineer.

Kristin Swenson leads the DER Program at MISO; this strategic cross-functional team investigates the jurisdictional and technical issues surrounding DER’s as MISO prepares for the future Bulk Electric System. Kristin has spent 15 years in energy working in development, construction, and asset management of generating facilities for domestic and international utilities and OEM’s. Kristin has an MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

Manish Rukadikar is the Manager of Business Planning and Development at DTE Energy Company (NYSE:DTE), a Detroit, Michigan based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide.  DTE Energy’s largest operating subsidiaries are DTE Electric and DTE Gas. Together, these regulated utility companies provide electric and/or gas services to more than three million residential, business and industrial customers throughout Michigan.

In this role, Manish leads long-term planning and implementation of DTE Energy’s portfolio of electric and natural gas Energy Efficiency (EE) programs as well as the portfolio of Demand Response (DR) programs. Manish is also responsible for leading the long-term business planning efforts for DTE Electric to keep electric rates affordable for customers. Manish joined DTE Energy in 2009. Prior to his current position, Manish was Manager of Strategic Marketing responsible for strategy development and implementation of DTE Energy’s business customer marketing program. Prior to that, Manish was Manager of Energy Efficiency Education team. In this capacity, Manish led the marketing outreach effort for DTE Energy’s energy efficiency education and awareness program. Prior to joining DTE Energy, Manish was a Program Manager for Chrysler Corporation’s Minivan program in Auburn Hills, Michigan and has held positions of increasing responsibility in Product Development and Program Management.

Manish has a BE in Mechanical Engineering from Walchand College of Engineering in India, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio and an MBA from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Willa is a 20+ year veteran of the utility industry.  She is experienced leader with a track record of success in achieving ambitious objectives – combining strategy, business acumen and financial knowledge with a commitment to growth and development.

Willa is responsible for partnering and engaging with the Utilities leadership team to build an integrated multi-year strategic investment plan, inclusive of both customer and grid requirements. She works closely across the utilities on budgeting and monitoring the status of the plan’s execution.
Prior to her current role, Willa was Director Customer Financial Operations, PECO Energy Company where she was responsible for the billing, payment processing, and revenue collection of over $4 billion in annual revenues.  She and her team were able to slash bad debt in half in just under 3 years; while helping to ensure more affordable bills for the most vulnerable among us. Willa joined Exelon’s trading organization in 2002 as a Senior Financial Analyst before joining PECO as the Manager of Revenue and Load Forecasting and Regulatory Support where she was instrumental in helping PECO prepare for its transition to market-based energy rates and filing its first gas and electric rate cases in over 20 years. Prior to joining Exelon, Willa gained her experience in energy on the regulated and non-regulated businesses at Georgia Power and Mirant Corporation (now part of NRG).

Willa has a bachelor degree in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.  She is also a graduate of Georgia State University with and MBA with a concentration in Finance.

Willa serves as a Board member for various professional and non-profit organizations including Marian Anderson Award as Board Chair. She is a strong advocate for women and minorities as seen in her commitment to the AABE (American Associate of Blacks in Energy) as well as mentoring aspiring young women and men who are preparing for their next opportunity … opening doors for others to follow. Willa is also the mother of 2 wonderful children Josephine (11) and William (8).

Mr. Adam Todorski is a Senior Technical Solutions Architect at AutoGrid and has founded several technology startups, led technology teams in business software and scientific computing, as well as designed hardware control and communication systems for industrial automation. He started his career designing controls for distributed power generation and automated DR, including starting an ISO New England IBCS provider in 2006, PowerComm LLC.  He has run wholesale market operations desks in multiple US markets, developed and operated grid-scale energy storage, and put large industrials into ancillary services markets. Mr. Todorski holds a BS in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is both a PJM and ISO New England certified supply resource operator.

Based at S&C Electric Company’s headquarters in Chicago IL, Michael Edmonds is the Chief Commercial Officer of the company. Responsibilities include all aspects of the business go-to-market strategy that solve customer problems - ranging from traditional switching & protection, grid reliability, consulting services,  microgrids, & the management of the electrical power grid. Previous roles at S&C include President US business, VP Strategic Solutions covering strategy, product management, and marketing.

Before joining S&C Electric Company in 2010, his previous roles included VP & GM of Siemens Energy Automation and Power Technologies Inc (PTI). With these positions, he was responsible for the business of real-time energy management (EMS/DMS) and transmission network planning businesses.

Rebekah has responsibility for IBM Global Market’s Transformation Initiatives for Energy, Environment, & Utilities and is a trusted utility industry professional based in Los Angeles with a 20 year track record of strong solution leadership. She mobilizes the IBM global capabilities to create business value leveraging experiences managing complex initiative design while operating in intense, results focused environments. Rebekah is known for creating sustainable go-to-market and portfolio leadership for solutions that leverage data and analytics, improve operational efficiencies, and deliver customer satisfaction, ultimately enabling high performance teams. She is sought out as a strategic advisor, keynote speaker, and for engaging dialogue at industry events across the globe.

Adam Langton is the Energy Services Manager for BMW of North America, LLC. In this role, Adam leads the development of energy service products related to BMW’s electric vehicle program. Prior to joining BMW, Adam worked at the California Public Utilities Commission, supporting the state’s development of electric vehicle programs and developing the state’s carbon cap-and-trade program. Adam graduated from UC-Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, where his studies focused on energy and environmental policy issues.

Dr. Shuli Goodman is the founder and Executive Director of LF Energy, a Linux Foundation project that supports open source innovation in the energy and electricity sectors. LF Energy accelerates the energy transition and the decarbonization of the world’s economies through shared technology collaboration. Having spent the early part of her career enabling some of the world's largest companies in the world to become Internet ready, she has brought her digital-first, cross-industry background to the electricity sector. With a doctorate in Organizational Systems focused on innovation and the energy transition, Shuli has a uniquely multi-disciplinary approach to solving complex, interdependent problems. She has nearly three decades experience in the startup and ongoing support of governance and multi-stakeholder engagement bodies that have been convened to enable decision-making and provide steering capacity for high-visibility and/or high-risk initiatives. Her goal is to inspire, train, and enable 10,000 developers, in the next 10 years, to digitally transform the world’s power systems.

As the Principal Manger for Emerging Technology & Valuation at Southern California Edison, Jenifer leads the team that identifies and evaluates emerging technologies that will enable SCE to modernize the grid, integrate distributed energy resources, enable customer choice, and accomplish SCE’s strategic vision to decarbonize the electric sector and electrify transportation and buildings. She is a senior leader with more than thirty years of experience in the energy, electric utility, and independent power industries. She has an entrepreneurial work history focused on technical leadership in emerging businesses from cogeneration to renewable energy and large-scale infrastructure development. She has led teams that have commercially implemented new technologies and deployed databases with a focus on project management and execution.

Ms. Lee has a multi‐disciplinary background including business start‐up, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence, financial analytics, contract negotiation, project construction, change management, and organizational leadership.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering & Management Systems and a Bachelor of Arts degree in General Arts & Science, both from Pennsylvania State University.

As a successful entrepreneur, technologist and visionary for breakthrough innovation and business transformation, Mr. Rojas has developed and later transferred technology to electrical utilities and large industries for over 20 years. Within the capital expenditure and regulatory constraints of his customers, he has lead and contributed in the fields of Smart Grid monitoring and control systems, renewable integration, energy storage integration, and predictive maintenance technologies. Mr. Rojas was granted a number of U.S. patents in all of these fields.
In his role within Ameren's Innovation and Corporate Strategy  function, Alex is developing the organizational vision for technologies, systems, and capabilities for a successful and sustainable business. 

Mr. Rojas has held leadership roles in challenging engineering positions at global technology groups, including Siemens, General Electric, and ABB. Mr. Rojas holds degrees in Electrical Engineering from Ohio State University and Michigan Technological University and an MBA degree from Southern Methodist University.

As the business director of State Grid Corporation China US Rep Office, Zheng Yu provides strategic and technology guidance for SGCC’s business development, merger and acquisition opportunities in North America.
Before came to the U.S. Zheng Yu has been working in SGCC for 20 years, from substation leader to director of utility department, to headquarter of SGCC. He is leading expert in China power section regulation policy and transmission/distribution technology. He is in charge of dozens of 110kV-330kV-750kV-1000kV, high voltage AC/DC power grid projects’ planning, construction, installation, operation, maintenance and overhaul. He is the board member of China national standard commission of Circuit Breaker and capacitor.
During his 3 years in the U.S., Zheng Yu Contacts with investment banks, utilities, public service commissions, ISOs/RTOs, commercial HVDC transmission project developers, pursues green field HVDC transmission project development cooperation and mature transmission/distribution asset merge/acquisition. He also Attends IEEE-PES, Electrification/Transmission/Energy Storage/Microgrid summit, and other important policy conferences, such as EEI, CERAWeek, Bloomberg New Energy Financial, ESA annual meeting, share power section design/manufacture/construction/installation/operation experience with peers, spread grid edge innovation ideas against climate change. He Investigates North America electricity market mechanism and operation, compile analysis reports. He participates in Stanford University (Bits and Watts Action Plan) new technology research program.

Fouad Dagher is the Director of Innovation at National Grid in Waltham, MA. He leads a team of professionals whose responsibilities are to identify and develop innovative energy solutions for National Grid customers. His areas of focus include smart cities, renewables and storage, electrification of transportation, and energy efficiency. Throughout his tenure, Fouad assumed different engineering and managerial positions within National Grid and led the development of National Grid’s REV demonstration in NY, renewable and storage in MA and the early deployment of National Grid’s network of EV charging stations in MA, NY, and RI.

Fouad holds a Master’s degree in engineering and earned an advanced certificate in Strategy, Innovation and Management. He is a registered Professional Engineer in MA and VT.

Ben is the Director of Grid Research for Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables (Formerly GTM Research), specializing in Distribution Automation, Network Management and Renewables Integration markets. He previously worked as a research analyst for Knwldg Houston, formerly a green energy and healthcare consulting firm, where his research focused on AMI deployment and smart grid regulatory policy. Prior to Knwldg Houston, Ben was a policy intern with Wexler and Walker Public Policy Associates where he performed research for energy, transportation, and defense clients.

He has authored multiple studies on the smart grid market, concentrating on policy evolution, technology innovation, the market's competitive landscape and project economics. Ben has delivered keynote presentations for multiple industry conferences, moderated and participated in panels covering a variety of topics, and regularly hosts industry webinars with GTM Research / Greentech Media. Ben has been a smart grid contributor on CNN Money, NPR, and the Texas Tribune. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science.

Rishi Bhakar has 25 years of experience in power, energy and technology industries. He has been investing in power and energy companies and projects for over 10 years at Tenaska. In his current role, Rishi leads new investments in energy-related businesses especially focused on advanced energy, distributed resources, micro-grid, storage, data analytics and grid’s edge. He also pursues acquisitions of generation assets, assists in equity and debt financings, and monitors existing portfolio.
Prior to joining Tenaska in 2008, Rishi worked at Wedbush Securities advising middle-market companies in technology and environmental sectors on capital raising, mergers and acquisitions. He has over a decade of software development and management experience at companies like Intel, ADP, Ingram Micro and Fujitsu.
Rishi is on the board of two non-profits promoting neighborhood transformation and entrepreneurship, namely Spark, a community development intermediary and ACG Nebraska. He earned his MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from University of Pune, India.

Jonathan T. Woldemariam is currently the Director of Wildfire Mitigation and Vegetation Management. Before starting his current position, he was Director of Transmission & Substation Operations which oversees the Construction and Maintenance of all Transmission and Substation facilities. Prior to that, he was Director of Electric Transmission & Distribution Engineering (ET&DE) Department which included Transmission Engineering, Distribution Engineering, Distributed Energy Resource, Substation Engineering, Protection Engineering, Civil Engineering, and the Customer Generation Group. Previously, he was Director of Construction Services which besides the Construction Services Group included responsibility over the Vegetation Management Group, the Fire Coordination Group, Compliance Management Group, and the Major Project Group.  Before that he was the Manager of the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Services of the Sunrise Powerlink Project.  Prior to that he worked as a Technical Project Manager for the Sunrise Powerlink Project preceded by SDG&E’s Manager of Generation Interconnection Projects within SDG&E’s Transmission Planning group. Prior to that, he was SDG&E’s Manager of Electric Distribution Engineering group in charge of developing utility distribution standards, distribution construction methods, and overseeing the utility’s distribution corrective maintenance program. Prior to that, he was Operations and Engineering Manager responsible for SDG&E’s Northeast District engineering, operations, and maintenance tasks. In total, he has twenty-four years of experience in the electric utility industry. He has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Electrical Engineering with a major field of study in Electric Power from San Diego State University and he is a licensed Professional Engineer in California.

Wade is the Global Head of Energy & Sustainability practice at Plug and Play - the most active early stage investor in U.s and a global corporate innovation center. He has built a collaborative platform with Siemens, PG&E, Dominion Energy, Tokyo Gas, Enerjisa and several other innovative utilities and energy corporates in oil and gas, to accelerate digital transformation. His mission at Plug and Play is to bring innovation into energy industry by bridging the startup ecosystem and corporate world. Wade holds master degrees in Chemical Engineering and Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering.

Jeff St. John comes to Greentech Media from The Fresno Bee, where he covered solar-power, biofuel and biomass developments in California's Central Valley, and the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Wash., where his beat included nuclear power and nuclear-waste remediation, as well as the research and development of biofuels, fuel cells, energy-management systems and other energy technologies. He also has written for the Anchorage Daily News, UpsideToday.com, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and he won a National Headliner Award in 2005. Jeff has a master's degree from the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and believes green technology will save the planet.

Emma is a staff writer at Greentech Media. She previously covered environmental policy, politics, and climate change at Grist and the New Republic. Emma studied Environmental Analysis at Pomona College.

Bob is Senior Vice President of Market Development at Innowatts, a Houston based energy technology platform that delivers smart meter analytics, predictive energy intelligence, and AI enabled applications to energy providers worldwide- helping them to digitally transform their business and reinvent the customer energy experience. Bob has spent over 30 years in the energy sector and has worked with several dozen leading utilities and retail energy providers to improve customer analytics capabilities and extend its ROI more broadly across the energy value chain.  A graduate of Louisiana State University, Bob began his career with Entergy in New Orleans before relocating to Northern New Jersey where he currently resides.

Brett Simon is a senior energy storage analyst at Wood Mackenzie - formerly GTM Research, focusing on the U.S. behind-the-meter energy storage market. He leads GTM Research’s quarterly U.S. storage market report, The U.S. Energy Storage Monitor, published in collaboration with the Energy Storage Association. Prior to joining GTM, Brett earned a Master of Science degree in sustainable systems at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment. He first became interested in energy storage systems and their potential to revolutionize the energy sector through his coursework and master's project. Brett also holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and environmental studies from New York University.

Francesco Menonna is part of Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables’ Grid Edge team, where he’s responsible for covering distribution grid modernization – starting with Advanced Metering Infrastructure – and Non-Wires Alternatives.

Before joining Wood Mackenzie, Francesco was Senior Power & Renewables Analyst at Fitch Solutions, providing qualitative and quantitative research on industry, policy and technology trends in electricity markets in the Americas and Europe. Previously, he was a research intern for the International Energy Forum in Washington, D.C. and an intern consultant for Acumen Public Affairs in Brussels.

Francesco holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C., where he concentrated on Energy, Resources and Environment. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Politics and International Relations from LUISS Guido Carli in Rome, Italy.

Venkat Bahl joined Sentient Energy in 2016 as Vice President of Sales.   Prior to joining Sentient, Venkat was the sales leader for wireless technologies at Emerson Process Management, a Fortune 100 company, where he helped scale the fledgling wireless business to over $300 million in 5 years.  He was also previously a founding member of the ZigBee Alliance, and was the Alliance’s first Vice Chair and Marketing Chair. At the Zigbee Alliance, he helped guide the strategy and execution of the business plan that resulted in establishing the Alliance as one of the key industry protocols enabling the edge of the smart grid and IoT businesses in the industrial and commercial segments.  He also held senior level positions at Philips, Ember, and most recently Apprion.

Venkat has a Bachelor of Science and a Masters in Economics degree from Loyola College, Chennai.