solar summit 2018

Samuel Adeyemo is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Aurora Solar, a solar sales and engineering design software platform. Immediately prior to Aurora, Samuel was with Vituo Technologies, a company that designed and installed small commercial PV systems in developing countries. Previously, Samuel was a Vice President in JPMorgan's Chief Investment Office, where he was responsible for investing the bank's assets in various public debt markets. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Chicago where he was a Marshall Scholar, and holds an MBA and MSc from Stanford University.

Laura Beane is the President and CEO of Avangrid Renewables, one of North America’s leading developers and marketers of renewable energy. Laura has spent more than 20 years with the company, including its original parent, holding a wide variety of roles and responsibilities across the business.  Her previous executive role as Vice President of Operations and Management Services followed her tenure as Director of Market Structure and Policy. In addition, she has led numerous special projects including the company’s innovative Self-Supply program, which involves Avangrid Renewables taking responsibility for the balancing obligation of its 1400 MWs of wind in the Pacific Northwest. Laura holds a Master of Global Energy Management with the University of Comillas in Spain and an MBA with the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. Outside of the office, Laura serves as Chair of The Climate Trust, a national leader in carbon offset projects and innovative climate change solutions, and lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and teenage son.

John is President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunnova Energy Corporation, the leading privately-held U.S. residential solar and storage service provider whose technology-enabled service platform is centered on providing a better service at a better price through its unique 25-year service commitment with every homeowner’s customized solar or solar + storage system. With more than two decades of experience across various sectors of the energy industry, John is an energy entrepreneur who has always supported free market competition, consumer choice and the advancement of energy technology to power energy independence. Before Sunnova, John served as Founder and Chief Executive Officer at SunCap Financial, a residential solar system lease provider. He also founded Standard Renewable Energy (SRE), a top-10 provider of renewable energy and energy-efficient products and services. John received his MBA from Harvard Business School and graduated cum laude from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering.

Carolyn is a manager in 3Degrees' Energy & Climate Practice. In this role, she is responsible for sourcing renewable energy and carbon mitigation solutions to help 3Degrees' clients meet their GHG reduction and climate change goals. While at 3Degrees she has supported clients in contracting 400 MW of wind and solar VPPAs, including an aggregated transaction for four buyers in the PJM. Prior to joining 3Degrees, Carolyn led utility-scale power marketing activities for Recurrent Energy’s CAISO solar PV pipeline including energy market diligence, counterparty outreach, competitive pricing analysis, and contract negotiation. She started her career as a Solar Analyst for GTM Research in Boston.

Carolyn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environment, Economics, & Politics from Claremont McKenna College.

Since joining Soltec in 2015, Colin has developed business and relationships with a rapidly expanding list of esteemed contacts and 255 MW of solar tracking projects underway. Colin is driven by his passion for renewable energy and people, and is finding success with the Soltec offer and the positive state of the utility-scale PV tracking market in USA with the ITC extension in place. Colin is a true believer, he drives an electric car! As a New Englander hailing from Collinsville, Connecticut, Colin graduated from the University of Vermont with a double major in Spanish and Political Science. His extra-curricular activity included solar installation vocational training, and his post-graduate opportunities led him to live abroad in Spain, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Ecuador. Colin is professionally dedicated to Sales and Business Development, with previous success. growing an SF Bay Area company to premier status in Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering of high-technology three-dimensional printing equipment and services.

David Chang is the Director of U.S. Sales for LG Electronics’ Solar Business. Since joining LG in 2011, he has been an integral part of LG Solar’s growth in the U.S.  A 10-year veteran of the solar industry, David has experience in crystalline silicon, thin film, and multi-junction cells used in CPV. Before solar, he held sales and business development roles in the telecom and semiconductor industry.  David holds a BS in managerial economics from the University of California, Davis.

Scott Clavenna has been leading high-tech market research firms for over 15 years. In his capacity as a trusted analyst and consultant, Scott has helped dozens of companies enter and succeed in complex and intensely competitive markets worldwide. He also has authored more than 30 reports that helped define important emerging market segments in optical and broadband communications.

Prior to founding Greentech Media, Scott was chief analyst at Heavy Reading, the market research arm of Light Reading, the dominant online media company in the telecommunications market. CMP bought Light Reading in 2005. Before creating Heavy Reading, Scott founded PointEast Research, providing strategic consulting and market intelligence to a broad mix of startups, venture capitalists and major suppliers in the communications/IT industry, and worked as director of research for Light Reading. In 1997, Scott co-founded Pioneer Consulting, which quickly grew into the leading market research firm covering the optical and broadband communications industry.

Joel Cohn, CPA, is a partner in CohnReznick’s Transaction Consulting Group.  Since 1995, he has provided transaction structuring advice and technical services to sponsors of various tax credit projects including, among others, renewable energy projects.  His broad experience in raising tax equity brings to bear solutions where business goals and tax rules would appear to conflict.  He believes the key is having an understanding of the goals of the various stakeholders, and the alternative ways those goals can be achieved.

His advice has included maximization of credits through re-categorization of costs, contract restructuring and tax planning, all while working within the framework of tax law; creation of transaction structures designed to satisfy the key agendas of various stakeholders; exit strategy development for investors/ developers, including the creation of various option strategies; development of strategies which maximize sponsor return on investment; and creation of transaction structures that permit economic participation by nonprofits.

Joel’s tax credit transaction experience includes several hundred projects throughout the country.  He has also contributed policy advice to working groups across the country, advising on both federal and state tax credit law, consequently generating substantial improvements to the programs and to the public’s understanding of the law.

Craig is responsible for leading NRG’s renewables division, including origination, development, operations, and asset management across the Company’s businesses in utility wind and solar, commercial & industrial renewable energy, and community solar. In this capacity, he also serves as President of NRG Renewables LLC. Craig joined NRG in 2013, and until assuming his current role, led new business development for renewables, including the establishment of development platforms in new market segments, acquisition of projects, formation of strategic partnerships, and direction of business process improvement initiatives. Prior to joining NRG, he served as a Principal and then a Managing Director at Hudson Clean Energy Partners, leading investment activities in the firm’s solar investing practice, where the firm advanced investments in leading-edge supply chain platforms and built substantial development pipelines in Recurrent Energy and Element Power Solar prior to successful exits from those investments. Previously, he was the Program Manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Program, where he led the creation of the $1.5 Billion Solar America Initiative. He has also served terms at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Geoinformatics and Space Technology Development Agency of Thailand, and the U.S. National Academies of Science. Craig holds an A.B. from Princeton University in History of Science with a concentration in aerospace engineering, and an M.A. in Science, Technology and Public Policy from the George Washington University. He was a Henry Luce Foundation Scholar and received the DOE’s Special Service Award for his work in creating the Solar America Initiative.

Michelle Davis is a senior solar analyst at Wood Mackenzie with a focus on the downstream U.S. distributed solar market. She tracks the competitive landscape of installers, financiers and technology providers in the residential and commercial market segments. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie P&R, Michelle held various research positions focused on renewable energy, covering topics as varied as the energy-water nexus to utility investments in electric-vehicle charging stations. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Arizona State University and an MBA from Antioch University with a focus on sustainability.

Rich is Principal of Blue Mountain Power, LLC an energy consulting firm focused on various products and platforms within Distributed Generation (DG) Solar. As a consultant to Edison Energy, Rich leverages new and existing partnerships to build and deploy product offerings in the shared renewables space. Focused primarily on Community Shared Solar (CSS), Rich works in concert with the Edison Energy policy and Business Development teams to bring new CSS participation opportunities to Fortune 1000 companies.

Prior to Blue Mountain Power, Rich financed an actively managed $120MM DG solar fund for Citi, Barclays, and Terraform Power as a key member of the SunEdison Project Finance team. He also structured, led and closed financing for a variety of Solar projects and marketed the sale of 85 MW of individual DG Solar assets to PE backed development firms.

Rich spent the first few years of his career in several key finance roles at GE. As a graduate of the Financial Management Program with Business Honors, he held diverse roles at different GE businesses in the areas of financial planning, supply chain finance, commercial finance, and corporate risk management.

Rich graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with a degree in Economics and Environmental Studies.

Hongbin Fang is Director of Product and Technology at LONGi Solar, a leading dedicated monocrystalline solar cell and module manufacturer.  At LONGi, his team is in charge of product marketing and technical support for North America and LATAM.  Before joining LONGi in 2016, Hongbin was working at SunEdison for 5 years, where he has led the effort on solar wafer, cell and module integration, new technology and new supplier introduction into HVM manufacturing.

Dr. Charlie Gay is the Solar Energy Technologies Office Director for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). In this position he is leading the SunShot Initiative, a team that is dedicated to research, manufacturing and market solutions to make solar energy cost competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade.

Dr. Gay is an internationally recognized pioneer in photovoltaics. After starting his career in 1975 designing solar power system components for communications satellites at Spectrolab, he later joined ARCO Solar, where he established the research and development program and led the commercialization of crystalline silicon and thin film technologies.

In 1990, he became president and chief operating officer of Siemens Solar Industries, and from 1994 to 1997, he served as director of DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In 1997, he was named president and chief executive officer of ASE Americas, and from 2001 to 2005 served as founding chairman of the technical advisory board at SunPower Corporation.  He joined Applied Materials in 2006 as corporate vice president and general manager of the Solar Business Group. He served as president of Applied Solar and chairman of the Applied Solar Council from 2009-2013. As president, Dr. Gay was responsible for positioning Applied Materials and its solar efforts with important stakeholders in the energy industry, technical community and governments around the world.

He earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside and was elected a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2013. He established the Greenstar Foundation in 1997 to demonstrate an economically sustainable model that delivers solar power and internet access for health, education and microenterprise projects to developing world villages.

Caroline Golin is the Regulatory Director for Vote Solar focused in the Southeast region. Caroline specializes in system planning, electric utility regulation, ratemaking, solar finance, and renewable energy policy development.

Before joining Vote Solar she was finishing her PhD and co-founding the company The Greenlink Group. Caroline’s workout Vote Solar focuses on grid modernization and distributed energy resource integration as well as distributed generation rate design in vertically integrated utilities. She has developed award-winning models to evaluate and forecast the impacts of shifts in energy production and use, from utility dispatch to customer demand. She has authored over fifty publications related to distributed generated, resource planning, electric utility rate design, and renewable energy resources.

Caroline holds a Masters of Environmental Science and Engineering and a Doctorate in Public Policy from Georgia Institute of Technology. She is also a wife and mother to three boys, the oldest of which is dedicated to designing solar cars.

Mr. Levent Gun has over 25 years of technology experience having worked in technical and senior executive-level positions while establishing a track record of successful leadership at both start-ups and mature companies. Levent joined Ampt as its first CEO shortly after its Series A funding and lead all aspects of Ampt’s product and go to market strategies as well as built the team and Ampt’s customer driven culture. Under Levent’s leadership Ampt has created a new category of optimizers for the utility segment of the Solar PV market and became the #1 optimizer company worldwide for this largest segment.

Prior to joining Ampt as CEO, Levent was president and CEO of Kleer, a wireless audio semiconductor company that was acquired by SMSC. Prior to Kleer, Levent was president and CEO of Iospan Wireless, a pioneer in MIMO technology, which was acquired by Intel Corporation. Previously, Levent co-founded and led US Robotics’ Cable Data Business and transformed this fledgling start-up into a $100 million business after 3COM’s acquisition of US Robotics. Earlier in his career, Levent held various engineering management and leadership positions at Motorola and IBM, as well as research positions at several universities and labs.

Levent holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland and undergraduate degrees in engineering and mathematics from Bogazici University in Turkey. He has published extensively in technical journals and holds 14 patents and numerous awards for his pioneering work in high speed data communications and broadband access. An accomplished speaker, Levent is often invited to speak at industry events as well as present papers.

Yuri Horwitz is the Chief Executive Officer at Sol Systems, a preeminent solar development and asset management firm. He has led the company since its inception in 2008, focusing on its strategic development and managing the firm’s relationships with institutional clients. Mr. Horwitz has been involved in the energy and environmental policy fields for the last decade and is a recognized subject matter expert on solar finance and development. Under his leadership, Sol Systems has financed over 650 MW of solar assets throughout the United States. He serves on the Board the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Mr. Horwitz has presented at dozens of renewable energy finance conferences, and has guest lectured at Georgetown University, the University of Maryland, University of Virginia, and Yale. He has been recognized as a E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year, was recognized by Washington Business Journal's 40 Under 40, and was a recipient of Fast Company’s “Faces of Founders” Award. Sol Systems has been celebrated by Inc. Magazine’s 500 Fastest Growing Companies repeatedly. Prior to Sol Systems, Mr. Horwitz was an attorney at Alston & Bird, assisting clients with the development and financing of wind and solar facilities throughout the United States. Mr. Horwitz holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia and a dual BA from the College of William and Mary. He is a committed environmentalist.

Brandon Hurlbut is a co-founder and partner of Boundary Stone​ ​Partners, a clean energy advisory firm. He previously served as​ ​Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary Steven Chu at​ ​the U.S. DOE, where he managed the Department's principal​ ​initiatives and oversaw day-to-day operations of a federal agency​ ​with a $29 billion budget and a 115,000 person workforce. Brandon​ ​provided leadership and counsel to the White House and Cabinet​ ​Secretaries during high profile challenges including the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, the​ ​Gulf oil spill, and Hurricane Sandy. He served on the board of directors for DOE's $38 billion​ ​investment fund in clean energy, which is the largest of its kind in the world.​ ​

Brandon began working in the Obama Administration by serving in the White House as the Deputy​ ​Director of Cabinet Affairs, serving as the President's liaison to the Departments of Agriculture,​ ​Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. He previously served in​ ​senior positions on Barack Obama's first presidential campaign and practiced law at Baker &​ ​Daniels.

Brandon currently serves as a member of the board of directors to Sparkfund and The Solutions​ ​Project. He is a member of the Sierra Club Clean Tech Council and serves as an advisor to​ ​Powerhouse. Previously, he served on the advisory board of GE Current and as a senior fellow at​ ​Center for American Progress.

Jade Jones is a Solar Analyst with GTM Research covering the global solar supply market. Jade aggregates and analyzes technology and pricing data within the solar manufacturing sector which informs both research and consulting. Prior to GTM, she has held several positions providing insight into the key relationships, business models and technology trends that are shaping the cleantech sector. Jade has a BS in electrical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Melissa is the Director of Policy, Northeast for Cypress Creek Renewables - one of the largest utility and community-scale solar and storage developers in the US. She has over a decade of experience in the renewables market, including extensive government policy, regulatory, and political work, all scales of development experience, and technical expertise. She has experience advocating for and developing solutions on many key topics including ISO wholesale market structures and revenue streams, state RPS structures and REC systems, carbon pricing, compensating distributed clean energy resources based on value, and interconnection processes and standards, as well as experience with siting and property tax issues. She holds a BS from Princeton University.

Stephen Lacey is Editor-in-Chief of Greentech Media. He manages a team of writers focused on solar, storage, efficiency, mobility, and grid modernization. He’s also host of the Energy Gang podcast, a weekly roundtable on the latest energy and environmental news.

Olaf Lohr, born in Chemnitz, Germany, has a background in international businesses and market development with over 14 years of experience in market research, market entry and market expansion into the United States. Olaf is the Director of Business Development for sonnen, Inc. ([url=http://www.sonnen-batterie.com]http://www.sonnen-batterie.com[/url]), the U.S. branch of the sonnen Group a global pioneer and manufacturer of residential and commercial energy storage solutions and provider of energy services. sonnen is headquartered in Bavaria, Germany, and its U.S. headquarters are located in Los Angeles, CA.

As the Director of Business Development at sonnen, Olaf provides leadership for the company’s expansion into the United States. He is primarily focused on developing new energy storage markets for the commercial, utility, and financing sectors through the implementation of pilot projects and key partnerships across the country. Olaf’s expertise in customer adoption and retention of new technologies is key in educating stakeholders about the benefits of energy storage and defining new products and services for sonnen to meet the increasing demand for clean and reliable energy.

Prior to sonnen, Olaf managed sales and marketing and project development for a residential and commercial solar installation and engineering company headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. As an independent business consultant, he provided market research, business and product development, and sales and marketing services to several start-up companies. He served as the Director of Membership for the Surfrider Foundation for five years after moving to California in 2002. Olaf graduated from the University of Bayreuth with a Masters in Business and Sports Management, holds a dual-citizenship (Germany and USA) and currently lives in San Juan Capistrano, California.

As Senior Vice President of Development, Eric is responsible for overseeing the origination, development and acquisition of solar projects.

Eric brings over twenty years of experience in the renewables and infrastructure industries. Prior to joining SoCore, Eric was responsible for origination of distributed solar opportunities within Edison International’s subsidiary, Edison Energy, as well as day-to-day coordination with the SoCore and Edison teams.

Eric was a Director and later a Managing Director at Edison Mission Energy (EME), a competitive power generation business of Edison International. Eric was responsible for project origination and development primarily focused on the wind generation market. Responsibilities included originating, structuring, and closing new wind energy investments as well as managing all phases of development of a portfolio of Edison wind projects. During that period, EME acquired, developed and constructed nearly 1,800 MW of wind projects located throughout the US.

Eric joined the Edison companies (Edison Capital) in 2000 as a Senior Associate focused on structuring and pricing infrastructure and mezzanine investments. Prior to joining Edison, Eric worked in the project finance group at the Fluor Corporation where he evaluated major infrastructure project investments.

Eric received a Bachelor’s from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA in Finance from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.

ElectrIQ Power is a leading energy storage and management company that is developing hardware and software technologies for homes and small businesses, as well as energy services for solar installers and utilities. The company’s flagship product, the IQ System, is a fully-integrated energy storage, management and monitoring system that includes, at its base level, a 10 kWh lithium-ion battery and an 8 kW hybrid inverter controlled by a proprietary energy management software that maximizes the value of renewables, batteries and connected appliances using machine learning and controls. Founded in 2014 and based in Palo Alto, California, ElectrIQ Power is on a mission to innovate our way to a smarter, cleaner and more efficient world.

Dr. Mahesh Morjaria has been with First Solar over seven years during which he has had several leadership positions. He led the development of grid-friendly PV plant capability that has now been successfully deployed at a number of large utility-scale PV plants. Currently, he leads a team at First Solar that is responsible for grid integration and systems capability for utility-scale PV plants.

He brings more than 30 years of advanced technology, engineering and product development expertise in energy and other fields. Dr. Morjaria previously worked at GE for over twenty years where he held various leadership positions. In his previous role at GE Energy, Dr Morjaria was the engineering leader for wind turbine and wind plant controls.  Under his leadership GE successfully commercialized advanced control and SCADA features for the GE wind business.

He is an author of numerous papers and patents in the area of renewable grid integration, PV and wind plants, wind turbine controls, monitoring, diagnostics and services technologies. Dr. Morjaria’s academic credits include B.Tech from IIT Bombay and M.S. & Ph.D. from Cornell University in the U.S.

Scott Moskowitz is the Director of Strategy and Market Intelligence at Hanwha Q CELLS America Inc., where he heads market research and leads communication and policy initiatives. Prior to Q CELLS, Scott was a Research Manager at GTM Research and head of the Renewable Technologies Group, leading a team of analysts covering technology trends in the solar, storage, and wind energy markets. Scott holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and mathematics from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of California, Davis.

Meghan Nutting works closely with industry leaders, state and federal policymakers, and regulators to craft and implement policies that provide a more stable, sustainable business environment on behalf of Sunnova. Previously, she served as the Director of Policy and Electricity Markets at SolarCity for nearly five years. Before that, Nutting worked as a legislative director for a State Assembly member, and as a press secretary for former U.S. Senator. She has also held policy positions at the World Bank; the British Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; as well several environmental organizations. Nutting received a Master of Public Affairs from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Cornell University. She has been named one of the #Solar100 thought leaders in the U.S. and one of the Denver Business Journal’s top women in energy for 2018.

Billy Parish is Founder & CEO, of Mosaic, the largest lender for home solar in the U.S., named one of the world’s 10 most innovative companies in energy by Fast Company for the past two years. In 2002, he dropped out of Yale to found the Energy Action Coalition and grew it into the largest youth clean energy organization in the world with over 340,000 members. He was lead architect of the Clean Energy Corps proposal to create 5 million new green jobs, which was incorporated into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and was used to expand Americorps with a new “Clean Energy Service Corps”. He was #22 on Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business”, honored as a Rolling Stone magazine “Climate Hero,” and was elected as a Fellow by Ashoka, the global association of the world's leading social entrepreneurs. His book Making Good: Finding Meaning, Money & Community in a Changing World was an Amazon bestseller.

Austin Perea is a senior analyst for Wood Mackenzie and is the lead analyst for the U.S. Solar Market Insight report series. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Austin worked at The Boston Consulting Group, where he supported the energy practice as a research associate. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in economics and political science and a minor in Middle Eastern studies from the University of New Hampshire.

Matt serves as Sunlight’s CEO and is a member of the Board of Directors.  Matt joined Sunlight from Bank of America where he was a Senior Vice President responsible for the Bank’s $90 billion home equity portfolio.

Prior to Bank of America, Matt served as the Chief Operating Officer of Swift Financial, a small business lender. Before Swift, Matt held senior credit, marketing and operations roles at MBNA America and assisted in the launch of MBNA’s Canadian operations.

Matt has a B.A. from the University of Delaware.

Yury Reznikov is a consultant and adviser in the renewable energy space working with various companies on bringing new products to market. Previously, Yury was on the executive teams of both NEXTracker and SunLink as VP of Product and EVP of Product and Corporate Development, respectively. He also worked in the investment banking industry with Bear Sterns and MCF helping technology and renewable energy companies with M&A and capital raises.

Robert Rogan leads SunPower’s Strategy and Business Development Team for the Commercial Business Unit. In his role, Rogan identifies new market geographies, customers segments, partnerships, and product offerings to grow SunPower’s business, and drives strategies from concept to execution.  Previously at SunPower, he led Commercial and Residential Energy Storage efforts, creating the platform offering and growing the business from inception to a core commercial product offering.  Prior to joining SunPower, Rogan was Senior Vice President at eSolar, where he oversaw commercial activities in the Americas, as well as global strategic partnerships, corporate communications, and marketing.  Rogan holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Materials Science from the California Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Science and the award of Scholar of the College from Boston College.

Colin works on the Commercial team at Edison Energy, an expert advisor to commercial and industrial energy users that delivers comprehensive, data-driven, and integrated energy solutions. Within Renewables Advisory, Colin is responsible for supporting the structuring, review, and negotiation of renewable energy contracts on behalf of Edison’s Clients. These structures can range from Utility Scale offsite PPAs, Community Shared Solar, to onsite PPAs and leases, depending on the criteria and strategy of each Buyer. Colin also works on the analysis and due diligence of renewable energy projects to understand the project development process and support selection of the most competitive offers. Prior to joining Edison Energy, Colin worked on the PPA Origination team at EDP Renewables, focused on Northeast and Midwest US wholesale markets. There he gained exposure to development and financial modeling of utility scale renewable energy projects, and assisted in the successful negotiation of over 450MW of renewable energy PPAs with Utilities, Cooperatives, and Corporate and University Buyers. Colin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Environmental Studies from Brown University.

MJ Shiao currently serves as the Director of Community Solar at Arcadia Power, where he works to connect residential customers with community solar projects developed by Arcadia Power's partners. Before Arcadia, MJ held various positions at Greentech Media and Wood Mackenzie, including leading GTM Research, a 30-person team tracking, analyzing and forecasting the evolution of the solar, energy storage and grid edge industries.  MJ is a leading expert in the transformation of the electricity sector. He has spoken at numerous conferences, testified in front of the U.S. International Trade Commission on solar trade issues and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg and Buzzfeed. Before joining GTM Research, MJ managed and designed several MWs of residential and commercial PV projects. He holds a bachelor's in electrical engineering from the University of Delaware, where he was named a National Truman Scholar. A believer in the social benefits of solar power, MJ has also researched, installed and tested rural off-grid PV in India and Thailand.

Shane Skelton is a partner at S2C Pacific, an energy, environment, and infrastructure consultancy he co-founded in 2016. He also serves as Managing Director for Energy with Veda Partners, an investment advisory firm, through a joint venture agreement with S2C Pacific. He has extensive experience drafting laws and regulations and analyzing their economic and other industry-specific impacts in both the public and private sector.

Previously, Shane worked for Speaker of the House Paul Ryan as a Counsel and Policy Advisor on the House Budget Committee developing and managing all energy, natural resource, and regulatory policy. Shane has also held a number of other public policy oriented positions, including serving as Executive Director of the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure, a Washington DC-based non-partisan and non-profit think tank, working as a Policy Advisor to the American Petroleum Institute, and as Legislative Counsel for Congressman Bob Latta (R-OH). Shane is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned his J.D. from Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles.

Colin Smith is a Senior Analyst at Wood Mackenzie, where he leads coverage of U.S. utility PV with a focus on the competitive landscape and market fundamentals. Prior to working at Wood Mackenzie, Colin worked for Photon Consulting leading report sales, sales operations and marketing. Colin was also the sales and operations lead for Next Step Living, a residential solar startup. Colin holds a Bachelor of Science with honors from Queen’s University in Ontario in sustainability and biology.

Bret is a Principal of Southern Current and serves as their Vice President of Development and Strategy where he positions the company in new and emerging markets through policy development, regulation, and utility relationships.
Over his 8 years of experience in the commercial and utility-scale solar market, he has served in various capacities related to construction, development, and government relations.
Bret serves on the board of various solar industry and business organizations where he advocates for policy and regulatory reforms in the Southeast.

Paul Spencer leads the vision and strategic direction for Clean Energy Co (CEC), the nation’s leading community solar developer and solutions provider. Mr. Spencer has an extensive background in green development, energy efficiency, and building successful organizations. He has built ten companies in the last 30 years within various industries including energy, software, systems engineering, medical, brokerage, and real estate development. He holds an electrical engineering degree from Colorado State University. 

Mr. Spencer’s vision and leadership driving new innovation in clean energy resources has spawned an entirely new market, and is directly influencing the shift toward clean energy. He is a respected expert on current and emerging developments in distributed energy generation and its role in broader energy markets with respect to financial structures, utility assimilation, IT systems, and long-term asset and customer management. Through his leadership, CEC has built or developed more than 380MW of community solar projects over the past ten years, with 87 projects currently connected to the grid across 17 states and 35 utility partners – serving nearly 8,000 customers.

Terry has deep international expertise in business, agriculture, education, public policy and the environment. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency and later Cabinet Secretary, the Chief Policy Advisor to the Governor, where Terry was the architect of many groundbreaking sustainability policies, including California's landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, the Hydrogen Highway Network, and the Million Solar Roofs initiative. In 2010 Terry co-founded the R20 Regions of Climate Action, a public-private partnership bringing together subnational governments, businesses, financial markets, NGOs, and academia to implement measurable, large-scale, low-carbon and climate resilient economic development projects that can simultaneously solve the climate crisis and build a sustainable global economy. Since 2007 he has provided advice to Pegasus Capital Advisors and numerous global businesses on sustainability and “green” investing. In 2016, Terry joined the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation as CEO. An accomplished author, Terry's books include “Cracking the Carbon Code: The Keys to Sustainable Profits in the New Economy” (Palgrave Macmillan). In 2011, Terry was one of six finalists for the Zayed Future Energy Prize and The Guardian ranked Terry No. 1 in its “Top 50 People Who Can Save the Planet.”

Geoffrey S. Underwood develops utility-scale solar projects for 174 Power Global (a member of the $100b Hanwha Group of vertically-integrated companies, including Hanwha Q CELLS). Entering the solar industry in 2008, Mr. Underwood has since contracted more than 500MW of projects in 15+ states, and developed a recognized specialization in brownfield project development. Beginning in 2012, Mr. Underwood led the acquisition, development, project management and closing of the first utility scale solar project constructed on an active Superfund/CERCLA site. The 10.86MW Maywood Solar facility was constructed on the remediated Reilly Tar & Chemical contamination site in Indianapolis, IN, and became operational in early 2014 – resulting in receipt of the first-ever EPA RENEW Award in 2015.

Prior to 174 Power Global / Hanwha Q CELLS, Mr. Underwood managed solar asset acquisitions for Constellation Energy (now Exelon NYSE: EXC) in support of its national solar asset portfolio. Prior to Constellation, Geoff relocated from Virginia to lead business development for a regional solar development and construction firm, leading growth to more than $50MM annual revenues in its fourth year of operations. Entering the renewables sector post-eMBA, Mr. Underwood launched renewable energy equities coverage as a senior associate at Virginia-based, FBR Capital Markets in 2007.

Before entering the solar industry in 2007/8, Geoff completed an eighteen year career in Washington, DC with significant work in energy policy and economics, business and venture development, and with federal agencies, Congress and the White House. Mr. Underwood received his BA from the University of Florida and his MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Pierre-Pascal Urbon studied business administration and was active in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) consulting until 2005—when he joined SMA. In 2006, he was appointed to the Managing Board and in 2011 as Chief Executive Officer. Urbon planned SMA’s initial public offering and partnership with Danfoss A/S. He has also decisively advanced the Group’s internationalization and the Company’s transformation in 2015. As Chief Executive Officer, he has been responsible for Strategy, Sales and Service since January 2017. Pierre-Pascal Urbon is a member of the Board of Directors of Tigo Energy, Los Gatos, USA.

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