grid edge live 2015

Dr. David Danielson leads the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). As Assistant Secretary, he oversees a broad energy portfolio that is intended to hasten the transition to a clean energy economy. Previously, he was the first Program Director hired by DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). At ARPA-E, he developed and led R&D programs with a budget of more than $100 million that focused on high-risk, high-reward, disruptive clean energy technologies. Prior to joining ARPA-E, he was a clean energy venture capitalist at General Catalyst Partners, a Boston-based venture capital fund. He co-founded the firm's clean energy investment practice and helped build and grow startups in various clean energy technology areas including solar power, wind power, advanced biofuels, bio-gas, carbon capture and storage, and advanced lighting. He was a co-founder of the New England Clean Energy Council. He has authored more than 20 scientific articles in the field of advanced materials. While at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he was the founder and President of the MIT Energy Club and a founding Director of the MIT Energy Conference. For his work in building a strong multidisciplinary energy community at MIT, he was awarded the Karl Taylor Compton Prize, MIT's highest student award. He holds a Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Elisabeth Brinton is a trusted senior executive, thought leader and entrepreneur with a track record of successful innovation, execution, value creation and disruption across multiple industries, including Energy, Water, Food, Agriculture, and High Tech. 

Most recently, Elisabeth was the Corporate Strategy Officer for PG&E Corporation, a F200 Energy Holding Company that has been a global utility pioneer in renewables, customer solar, T&D, and energy efficiency.  She launched PG&E’s groundbreaking IOT “Grid of Things” business strategy, ran M&A and strategic investments, and led California’s exploration of new utility business models. Earlier, Elisabeth was the Chief Customer Officer of SMUD, running the $2 Billion Retail P&L for that vertically integrated utility, including complex 24x7, high-stakes operations and a team of 1,000 employees.

An entrepreneur at heart, Elisabeth has been in the C-Suite as an executive officer, CEO or Founder of four successful Silicon Valley start-up companies with technologies and products that were pioneering and disruptive for their time.  Ventures include, Loudcloud that pioneered the ASP business model and the now ubiquitous Cloud, where Elisabeth was on the founding leadership team and ran global marketing, helping the company scale and go public in record time for a US company.  Earlier, Elisabeth was the founder and CEO of her own technical product development and marketing agency where she created a business delivering over $100 million in value, serving both major consumer brands like Pepsico and Nike, and innovative start-ups delivering deep, pioneering work in food, agriculture and high tech, including the development of several patents and commercializing new category creating products like branded, value-added produce and early organic and specialty products from ice cream to natural sodas.

Elisabeth is a chemist and passionate creative, blending scientific/technical expertise with customer centric market innovation, business strategy and policy leadership.  She is a top honors graduate of Principia College with a triple major across scientific and humanities disciplines and both a Harry S. Truman and Lincoln Academy Scholar.  Out of College, Elisabeth worked for the US House of Representatives as a legislative assistant for a member of Congress and the House Judiciary Committee.

Currently, Elisabeth is a voluntary faculty Co-Chair for Singularity University’s Global Energy & Climate track (2013 Executive Program Alum) and serves on the Advisory Boards of Smart Wires, Rancho Purisima Farms, and the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center.

Bradley Williams is Vice President of Oracle Utilities Product Management, and is responsible for outage management, distribution management, mobile workforce management, work and asset management, and load analysis utility applications and smart grid strategy. Mr. Williams has more than 24 years of utility technology innovation experience. Prior to joining Oracle, he was a research director for Gartner's Energy and Utilities Industry Advisory Services, focusing on utility applications of GIS, SCADA/EMS/DMS, outage and work management, and transmission and distribution asset management research. Prior to that, he directed PacifiCorp's T&D asset management and was responsible for long-term asset strategies and business technology that developed and implemented comprehensive IT investment programs. As Director of T&D Infrastructure Planning, he was responsible for PacifiCorp's subtransmission planning, telecommunications, and operations technology development groups. Mr. Williams also worked at Southern California Edison for 10 years, where he was involved in transmission system planning, distribution automation, and reliability programs.

Katherine is a Partner and Co-Founder at 38 North Solutions, a boutique consulting firm that provides a suite of business strategy, public policy and communications services to innovative businesses and organizations. Katherine is currently President of GRID Alternatives Mid-Atlantic and Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum‘s Future of Energy Global Future Council. Katherine served as President of the GridWise Alliance, advocating for nearly $5 billion in funding for smart grid projects in the Recovery Act. Prior to that role, Katherine was a policy advisor for Good Energies, Inc., a private investment company with a portfolio in clean energy technologies of nearly $6 billion. She co-directed the American Bioenergy Association, working with the states of Maryland and New Jersey to develop renewable portfolio standards. At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Katherine led buildings research and then managed government relations in Washington, DC. Katherine spent a decade at Virginia Power, designing overhead and underground electrical systems for commercial and residential developments. Katherine studied electrical engineering at Northern Virginia Community College and holds degrees from Cornell University and the Sorbonne. Katherine is part of The Energy Gang podcast through Greentech Media.