solar summit 2016

Mr. Zagzebski serves as President of AES United States, one of six strategic business units of AES.  As President, Ken leads 10 businesses across the U.S. with more than 12 GWs of electric generation.  The businesses include two utilities, Dayton Power and Light Company and Indianapolis Power & Light Company, delivering energy to one million customers in the Midwest.   The company also has nearly 4GW of natural gas generation in Southern California as well as coal based generation in Hawaii, Oklahoma and Maryland.  The portfolio also includes over 700 MW of wind.  He has responsibility for leading AES’ growth efforts in an evolving U.S. energy market, including deployment of distributed energy solutions and grid scale  battery storage.

Zagzebski is an experienced utility executive with operational and financial leadership experience, both domestically and internationally. Prior to joining AES in 2007 he was Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Field Operations at Xcel Energy where he held a number of other leadership positions including the Executive Director of the company’s Asia-Pacific region with responsibility for the company’s regional investments primarily located in Australia.

Zagzebski has an MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire.  Zagzebski currently serves as Chair, Board of Visitors, at the Marian University Academy for Teaching and Learning Leadership.  He also serves on the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis, and the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership.

Tom Werner serves as SunPower’s CEO and chairman of the SunPower board of directors. Prior to joining SunPower, he held the position of chief executive officer of Silicon Light Machines, Inc., an optical solutions subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation.  Previously, Werner was vice president and general manager of the Business Connectivity Group of 3Com Corp., a network solutions company, and has also held a number of executive management positions at Oak Industries, Inc., and General Electric Co. He currently serves as a board member of Cree, Inc., Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and is a member of the Marquette University board of trustees. Werner holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Marquette University and a master's degree in business administration from George Washington University.

Alta Yen is the Managing Director of Strategic Planning for General Electric Company as of February 2018.  In this role, she is responsible for managing long-term strategic planning across GE.  As a 20-year veteran in the energy industry, Alta is a consummate analyst who seeks to maximize value and drive outcomes using data, numbers and good judgment.  Her experience spans several business cycles, multiple large-scale energy crises and the massive disruption currently undertaking the energy industry.

In 1999, Alta joined GE Structured Finance Group as a portfolio manager where she ultimately managed and worked-out a $1.4 billion portfolio consisting primarily of distressed assets related to Enron, PG&E and Mirant.  In 2004, she helped launch GE Energy Financial Services, a debt and equity investor specializing in the energy sector through an operational role and in 2005, she returned to the investing side.  In 2007, Alta was promoted to Managing Director and served as the Chief Risk Manager for the $4 billion energy lending business. There she led or played a critical role in numerous transactions, most notably the ~$1 billion project finance loan acquisition from the Bank of Ireland.  In 2013, Alta became head of the Investment Strategy team responsible for developing long-term investing strategies based upon energy fundamentals and leading the unit’s new business development activities, notably in the commercial & industrial solar and storage sectors.

Prior to joining GE, Alta worked in New York City and Hong Kong before joining a Taipei-based freight forwarding company in business development. 

Alta earned a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University, a certificate in advanced Mandarin from the Inter-University Program (“The Stanford Center”) and received a M.B.A. with a concentration in Finance from The University of Michigan.  In 2016, she co-founded the Greater New York City Chapter of the Women’s Energy Network where she remains a board member today.

Dr. Lidija Sekaric is the Director of Solar Energy Technologies Office and its SunShot Initiative at the Department of Energy. In that role, she manages and balances a portfolio of nearly $1B in projects, and sets the near and long-term goals for the programs. Prior to joining SunShot, she served as a senior advisor in the office of the Under Secretary of Energy and as a technical and market advisor on some of the world’s largest distributed solar generation projects. Prior to joining DOE, Dr. Sekaric was on research staff at IBM T.J. Watson laboratory where she conducted record-setting research in nanoscale science and engineering. She holds 30 U.S. patents and has over 40 scientific publications. Dr. Sekaric received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Applied Physics from Cornell University and her A.B. from Bryn Mawr College.