Executive Director

American Coal Ash Association

Session: Environmental Ash and Gypsum (CCR) Panel Discussion

Thomas Adams has served as the executive director of the American Coal Ash Association since February 2009. Prior to joining the association he was employed by the American Concrete Institute managing chapter and international activities as well as serving as executive director of the American Shotcrete Association. Mr. Adams worked in the ready mixed concrete industry for over 30 years. He is an active participant in a variety of trade and technical organizations related to the beneficial use industry including ASTM International, the American Concrete Institute, EPRI, and the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association.

Senior Engineer

East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. [EKPC]

Session: Electrical Systems: Easy to Overlook, Hard to Do Without

Dave Elkins has more than forty years of utility industry experience; predominately in the power generation area. Early in his career he served for more than 17 years in numerous positions at Dayton Power & Light’s (DPL) J. M. Stuart Station; a 2400+MW electric generating facility. He has also managed Duke Energy’s Wabash River Station (6 yrs) and Cayuga Station (9 yrs). Before leaving DPL Dave had the opportunity to manage the System Operations area for three years. In that role he was responsible for transmission system operation, bulk power marketing, and generation dispatch.
During his career Dave has had the opportunity to serve in lead roles for cultural change and safety initiatives, merger integration efforts, continuous improvement initiatives, and re-engineering the organization initiatives.
After retiring from Duke Energy, Dave worked with his son to start up a new company, ElkinsEarthworks, LLC. ElkinsEarthworks specializes in designing, manufacturing, and marketing measuring instrumentation and related devices used in the landfill gas industry. The company has received patents for its methane gas measuring instrumentation.
In April of 2008 Dave returned to the power generation arena as Plant Manager of Spurlock Station for East Kentucky Power. Spurlock is a large, complex 1500 MW electric generating facility. The plant includes state of the art generating units and environmental systems. Dave was specifically brought on board to create and implement major change initiatives along with employee succession plans. Dave led the Spurlock Team for three and half years at which time he was chosen to lead a corporate wide safety initiative for East Kentucky Power. Currently Dave is continuing to serve as the Program Manager for EKPC’s new safety initiative.

Enterprise Digital Architect

ABB

Session: Cyber Security - What You Need to Know!

Larry Alls is the Enterprise Digital Architect of BU Power Generation & Water within the Industrial Automation division. Larry has been a thought leader in the ICS cyber space working as the customer, third party solution provider, and OEM provider. Larry spent 15 years working with GE to provide security solutions that met many different national and international standards as well as integrating security with the ICS digital initiative. Prior to that Larry spent 15 years as a network engineer in the US providing design and support for local and cloud network. He is also an active member of industrial control regulatory and standards development work groups.

Professor

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Session: Renewable Technologies

Currently professor of Mechanical Engineering at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; ASME Fellow; Awards: recipient of AIAA Energy Systems Award (2013); recipient of two best paper awards from Electric Power and ASME Power Division at 2006 conference at Atlanta one best paper award recipient from ASME Design Engineering Conference at 2000 DETC at Washington D.C.
Research in energy systems, gas turbine, wind energy, and power engineering.

Global Service Product Manager, Power Generation & Water

ABB

Session: Asset Management Now and Going Forward

Marc Antoine has more than 25 years experience in engineering, development and product management of process computer systems, control systems and plant optimizationsystems. He is currently the R&D program manager for Service in Power Generation & Water at ABB.

Project Associate

Sargent & Lundy

Session: Cycling - Keeping Your Plant Economically Viable

Mr. Azukas is a senior mechanical engineer responsible for design and/or review of mechanical systems including calculation, specifications, and associated documentation for fossil fueled power plants both domestically and internationally. He has an extensive background in the area of the power plant thermal performance with experience developing heat and mass balance analyses for power plant cycles and conducting unique studies for operating plants to develop solutions to operating issues, etc.

Director of Safety and Health for Southern Company Operations and Alabama Power Company

Southern Company

Session: Event Learning Teams

Jennifer Bailey is director of safety and health for Alabama Power and Southern Company Operations. She is a certified industrial hygienist and certified hazardous materials manager.

Prior to joining Southern Company in 2015, Bailey had served as the safety manager at American Cast Iron Pipe Company (ACIPCO) since 2003. She has also held safety leadership positions at Citation Corporation, Boral Bricks, and the state of Utah Division of OSHA.

Jennifer earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental health from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Utah.

President & CEO

Middough Inc.

Session: Gas Technologies – Case Studies

With over 30 years of experience in engineering, consulting, and leadership, Sam is the President & CEO of Middough Inc. Middough provides major project solutions and consulting by combining the experience, expertise and reach of a large EPCM firm with the flexibility and customer focus of a local service provider. Sam leads the executive team and oversees the functional and financial performance of the company, ensuring alignment with the vision, mission, and values. Middough provides project solutions across several industries including: Chemical, Oil & Gas, Power, Refining, Metals, Agribusiness, Food, and Advanced Manufacturing.

President and COO

Appalachian Power Company

Session: Executive Roundtable: Change Is a Constant in the Modern World: What Does That Mean for the Power Industry?

Chris Beam is president and chief operating officer of Appalachian Power, serving approximately 1 million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee. As president, he oversees the company’s distribution operations and a wide range of customer and regulatory relationships.
Prior to his current position, Chris served as vice president of projects, controls and construction, responsible for all aspects of project management, project controls, commissioning and construction activities for AEP’s generation operations. He is a graduate of DeVry University and is certified in project management.
Chris is married, has two sons and lives near Appalachian Power’s headquarters city of Charleston, WV

Vice President

TRC Companies, Inc.

Session: Landfill Pond Closure

Peter Belmonte, PE is Vice President & National Market Director, Power & Utilities at TRC Companies based in Houston, TX. He has over 28 years of experience across multiple areas of highly regulated industries, especially in power generation. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York. Pete has conducted auditing, risk assessments, remediation, and due diligence/transaction advisory services on behalf of the owners of numerous power clients throughout the US. He has permitted well over 7000 MW of power generation projects in the state of Texas, permitted several hundred power plant pollution control projects throughout the US as well as new greenfield projects, started up/commissioned SUEZ’s TRAC-10 projects Owner/Operator when he was their Director, Environmental Engineering as well as supporting the start-up of the Red Hills Power Station including O&M of their AMU, and performed construction management of numerous pollution control projects at power facilities.

Associate Civil Engineer

Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc.

Session: Landfill Pond Closure

I am an associate civil engineer with more than 19 years of professional experience providing design of power-related projects involving CCR units, grading, drainage, railroads, roads, ponds, landfills and underground utilities.

As project manager, I lead my team in providing CCR landfill and impoundment project services at electric generating stations for our utility clients. My additional responsibilities include preparation of specifications, permit preparation support, cost estimates, construction management and schedule development.

Burns & McDonnell is a full-service engineering, architecture, construction, environmental and consulting solutions firm with more than 7,000 engineers, architects, construction professionals, planners, estimators, economists, technicians and scientists, representing virtually all design disciplines. We plan, design, permit, construct and manage facilities all over the world, with one mission in mind: make our clients successful.

Have a project you’d like to discuss or want to learn more about our service offering? Connect with me via email at [email protected] or reach me by phone at 816-349-6795.

Principal

Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc.

Session: Natural Gas-Fired Power Plant Permitting Considerations

Ms. Blinn is a Principal with Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc. and is the Pittsburgh Office Air Practice Lead. She is a Chemical Engineer with over 17 years of experience in managing and executing air quality work for various industries. Her primary focus is in air dispersion modeling, emission calculations, permitting and compliance.

Senior Engineer

Golder Associates

Session: Development in CCR – ELG Rules

Eric Blumenstein is a registered professional engineer with experience in a wide variety of water management projects. He has designed bench and pilot/demonstration scale test systems using treatment technologies, from chemical precipitation to filtration to biological, for a wide range of industrial clients throughout North America. Other water treatment projects have included water management alternative evaluations (including cost estimates), conducting treatability studies, preliminary and detailed design, fabrication and construction oversight, providing start-up support, and interpreting data to optimize water management system operations.

Owner

Total Wrecking & Environmental,LLC

Session: Decommissioning - Best Practices

Special Projects Manager

Innovative Combustion Technologies, Inc.

Session: Catalyst Management and Troubleshooting

Head of Technical Services

The International CCS Knowledge Centre

Session: Renewable Technologies

Corwyn holds a Mechanical Engineering degree and is registered as a Profession Engineer.

Corwyn has been working on the Boundary Dam 3 CCS project since early 2009. During this time, he served as both an engineer and a project manager focusing on: building the original business case; scope definition and delivery of the power plant upgrades and capture plant integration; and most recently has spent the past 3 years leading the effort to resolve deficiency and operational issues at the facility. He joined the International CCS Knowledge Centre in August 2017.

Plant Director, Harrington Station

Xcel Energy

Session: Flexible Operations

Dennis Buchanan, PE, is a Plant Director for Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS). SPS is one of 4 operating companies of Xcel Energy. Dennis has worked in the Electric Utility, Power Generation field for over 40 years. His background includes performance and plant engineering, project management, and senior management. A large portion of his career was dedicated to power plant process controls where he designed and implemented DCS retrofits throughout the SPS fleet. Currently, Dennis is the Plant Director of the Harrington/Nichols complex that consists of 3 coal fired units and 3 gas fired units. Dennis has a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech University and is a Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.

Technical Services Coordinator

Seminole Energy Services

Session: Building Blocks of a Connected Plant

Matt Buck joined EPRI in 2015 after more than 16 years of operational experience in the power industry.
Matt is a currently a Senior Technical Leader in EPRI’s Operations and Maintenance (O&M) research group in the Generation sector. He oversees R&D that supports plant O&M excellence.
Matt’s work include O&M performance assessments, work planning, equipment reliability, and changing mission profiles for plants; but his passion is the Digital Worker concept. This work focuses on the use of advanced mobile technology to make the O&M field worker smarter, safer, and more effective.

Author/Millennial Expert

Jeffrey Butler

Session: Be a Millennial Magnet

Director, Human Resources

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Session: Existing Climate on Labor Relations – Union

Scott recently transitioned to a Director position in Human Resources to leverage his strength with relationship building across multiple Strategic Business Units and Business Partners.

In his role as Director of Enterprise Improvement, Scott Bynum is responsible for leading a high-performing, diverse team that establishes a foundation of learning through training and improvement tools to cultivate a culture of continuous improvement (CI). Working closely with executives, union leaders, management, and both craft and non-craft personnel, Scott leads efforts to improve the content, delivery, and effectiveness of training in the areas of operations, maintenance, regulatory, corporate, and performance improvement.

One of Scott’s major accomplishments in this role has been establishing a robust CI program that has produced over $240M in cost benefits across TVA, through the execution of 950+ projects and training over 28% of the workforce.

Scott spent the first 15 years of his TVA career in various Instrumentation & Controls roles, including Sr. Instrument Mechanic Foreman and Instrumentation Instructor, as well as serving as union job steward for IBEW. In 2000, Scott joined the training organization where he supported Hydro, Coal, Gas and Transmission through the management of entry-level and promotional programs and training for NERC certifications. After serving in this organization for eight years, Scott joined the Human Resources organization as HR Manager for Fossil Operations. In this role, Scott led a team of HR consultants that supported 11 TVA fossil plants, 8 gas sites, and the Power Service Shops and Equipment Support Services organizations, while providing HR strategic support for executive leadership.

In 2010, Scott returned to the training organization to serve as Senior Manager, Technical Training. During this time, Scott effectively negotiated a continuing training program with the Trades & Labor Council union leadership and chaired joint (union/management) committees. In 2014, Scott accepted the role of Operations Account Manager, where he successfully led efforts to build relationships with internal and external clients of the Operations Strategic Business Unit, marketed the organization’s services, and increased business profitability.

Scott began leading the Performance Improvement group as Senior Manager in 2015, where he was responsible for developing the overall strategy and direction for PI functions. Scott led a team that launched two new programs, developed new policies and procedures to support effective operations, and increased utilization of proper safety behaviors. Scott served in this role until being promoted to Director of Enterprise Improvement.

National Technical Director of the DOE Nuclear Technology Research and Development (NTRD) Advanced Fuels Program

U.S. Department of Energy

Session: Nuclear Power Updates

Dr. Jon Carmack is currently a Senior Technical Advisor to the Office of Nuclear Energy. He has been Senior Technical Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy since March 2018. He previously served as National Technical Director for the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy Advanced Fuels Campaign.

He began his career at the Idaho National Laboratory in 1991 in the Fuels and Materials Department after graduating with a BS and MS in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Washington. He left the INL in 1999 and spent 5 years at BWX Technologies in Lynchburg, Virginia returning to the INL in 2004 to join the DOE Nuclear Technology Research and Development program. He obtained his PhD from the Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Idaho in 2012, focusing on fuel-cladding chemical interaction formation in fast reactor metallic fuels. The NTRD Advanced Fuels Campaign is responsible for the DOE LWR Accident Tolerant Fuel Program as well as the development of advanced fuels for transmutation in advanced reactor systems.

Senior VP of Engagement

CAEL - Council for Adult and Experiential Learning

Session: Building an Effective Training Program for Power Plant Operations

Christine Carpenter serves as the director of the Energy Providers Coalition for Education (EPCE), a non-profit national membership of energy employers, energy-related associations, labor and education providers partnering together to educate and train the energy workforce. In this role, Christine oversees the coalition and development and implementation of EPCE’s online education and training strategies. EPCE is a signature initiative of the Council for Adult Experiential Learning (CAEL), whose mission is to link learning and work to help working adult learners succeed. Christine also serves as CAEL's Vice President for Member Engagement and holds an MS in Organizational Leadership, Strategic Innovation and Change Management from Colorado State University and a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University.

Plant Director

NV Energy

Session: Women in Power Generation Roundtable

External Affairs & Government Relations

Pattern Energy Group LP

Session: Western Energy Markets – Meeting the Challenge of Charting a New Course

Director of Assets

DTE Energy Services, Inc.

Session: The Future of CHP

Mr. Cash has performed various roles in finance, business development, and asset management since joining DTE Energy Services in 2006. Mr. Cash currently leads the Asset Management team within the On-Site Energy business unit. The Asset Management team focuses on working with its customer, providing support when commercial issues arise, managing the P&L through the budgeting and forecasting processes, and organic business development. In his various roles related to Asset Management, Mr. Cash has executed numerous contract amendments to add services or extend contract terms to better serve the needs of DTEES’s clients. In addition to his role leading the Asset Management team, Mr. Cash has led numerous business development projects which have resulted in over $300 million of capital deployment within the On-Site Energy business.
Before joining the On-Site Energy business unit, Mr. Cash was part of the DTEES MBA Associate Program within the DTE Finance organization. In that role Mr. Cash was the lead financial analyst on multiple business development projects.
Mr. Cash earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from the University of Michigan as well as a Master of Business Administration degree from Michigan State University.

Director of Business Development for Small Power Systems, Siemens

Siemens Energy

Session: The Future of CHP

Bill Castor is Director of Business Development for Small Power Systems in Siemens Energy’s Power Generation Sales group. He is responsible for the development of small power projects for the Western U.S. including complex initiatives involving the integration of Siemens power generation, energy management and services portfolio. Over his 28 years in the energy business, Bill has held business development positions with Nations Energy, DTE Energy Services and Terra-Gen Power, all of which were entrepreneurial positions focused on the growth of conventional and renewable distributed generation portfolios.
Bill has been with Siemens for 6 years. He is a U.S. Army veteran and has earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from Central Michigan University, an Executive Management Certification from INSEAD in Fontainebleau France and a Masters Degree in Business Administration (Finance) from DePaul University.

CEO

TerraPro Solutions

Session: Women in Power Generation Roundtable

A trailblazer in a male-dominated industry, Kimberlee Centera has over 20 years as a risk management expert for the development and financing of large-scale generator energy projects. Under her leadership, TerraPro Solutions (formerly Centera Land & Title Services) has generated over 5,500 MWs in renewables, with a total financed value of over $3.5 billion, making it the top risk management practice in the renewables market. Her expertise includes identifying, managing and mitigating risk. She consistently delivers outstanding results on complex high-value projects. TerraPro Solutions provides high-level expertise in the development and implementation of renewable energy projects including wind, solar and energy storage. Comprehensive services range from site feasibility and land acquisition to due diligence for investment and financing, through construction, compliance and post-construction operations. Kimberlee has her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Redlands and she is a California licensed Real Estate Broker.

General Manager

Gallatin Fossil Plant

Session: Staffing Plants for Plants that are Closing

Clay was born and raised in Dover, TN where he was educated in the public school system and graduated from Stewart County High School in May of 1985. His parents were both employed by the Stewart County Board of Education and held education paramount during his early years. Following high school he attended Austin Peay State University (APSU) and graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry. Ironically, the day Clay returned home from graduation he received a job offer a Lab Technician Trainee position at TVA Cumberland Fossil Plant. After careful consideration he accepted the position foregoing his plans for graduate school taking a job with TVA.

Since accepting this position Clay has held 11 positions within TVA ranging from Lab Technician to Plant Manager positions at Gallatin and Johnsonville Fossil Plants. He currently serves as the General Manager of TVA Partner Alliance and Support. Related to this panel discussion Clay led the successful transition of TVA Johnsonville into retirement in December of 2017. During this transition the plant employees worked safely and posted the #2 and #3 national continuous run records on Units 1 and 4.

On a personal note Clay is married to Katie Shackelford Cherry and they has 2 children Katelyn (17 yrs) and Charles (13 yrs). As a family they all have a deep passion for traveling the western United States, hunting, fishing, and passionately supporting their favorite SEC football teams (Tennessee and Auburn). Go Big Orange and War Eagle!!!

Managing Partner

TotalGen

Session: Gas Fired Solutions to Support Energy Transformation

Program Manager

EPRI

Session: Asset Management Now and Going Forward

Dwayne Coffey is a Program Manager at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for EPRI’s Plant Management Essentials program (Program 225). This program focuses on providing guidance for organizational and operational excellence in power plants through continuous improvement in people, processes, and technologies. Dwayne is the Sector lead for EPRI U and Safety.
Dwayne has more than 35 years of operational and maintenance experience in the power industry, both in fossil and nuclear plants. Prior to joining EPRI, he held positions in maintenance, operations, and training in commercial nuclear power plants. He has also been a shift supervisor, operations manager, maintenance manager, plant manager and corporate operations manager in fossil power plants.
Dwayne served in the U.S. Navy Nuclear Power Program, as a reactor operator and then as an engineering watch supervisor on a fleet ballistic submarine. He then trained civilian and Navy personnel on safe operation and maintenance of naval power plants in Idaho where he received the Navy’s Master Training Specialist award.
Dwayne has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland University College in Nuclear Science. He also completed leadership development programs at the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Business and the University of Texas at Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management. He held a senior reactor operator (SRO) license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and SRO certifications at two other nuclear sites.

Energy Analyst/PhD

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Session: Renewable Energy Policy

Jeffrey J. Cook is a renewable energy market and policy analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He has been on staff at NREL since 2014, and focuses on state and local policy, permitting, resilience, technology cost reduction, and distributed energy resource aggregation. He received his PhD in political science from Colorado State University in 2017, where he was an instructor of environmental and public policy courses. He received his Master of Science in environmental science and policy from the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay in 2012.

Product Manager - 7HA.02 Gas Turbine

GE Vernova

Session: Dealers Choice: An Update on Gas Turbine Technology

Director, Generation Support

NV Energy

Session: Strategy for Remote Plant Operations

SVP Transmission & Power Supply

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Session: Existing Climate on Labor Relations – Union

Bob Dalrymple is currently Senior Vice President of Transmission & Power Supply in TVA’s Operations Group. This business unit is responsible for the planning, design, construction, maintenance and real-time operation of TVA’s transmission system – the largest public power system in the country. Transmission & Power Supply also has responsibility for TVA’s generation unit commitment and dispatch, power trading and power acquisition as well as reliability coordination services for seven electric utilities in parts of eleven states.
Before moving to his current position, Dalrymple oversaw the operation of TVA’s coal, natural gas and hydro generation assets.
Dalrymple began his career with TVA in 1990 as an electrical engineer in Transmission and Customer Service. Since that time he has served TVA in several capacities in the areas of transmission maintenance, customer service, and system operations in Tennessee and Alabama.
Dalrymple has over 28 years of utility experience in transmission delivery, system operations and power generation.

Planning Team Leader

Georgia Power

Session: Case Studies in Digital Applications

Dean, National Energy Center of Excellence

Bismarck State College

Session: Building an Effective Training Program for Power Plant Operations

Bruce Emmil is the Dean of the National Energy Center of Excellence (NECE) at Bismarck State College (BSC), located in Bismarck, N.D. In this position, Bruce is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the energy center which consists of eleven (11) Program Certificate and Associate in Applied Science degreed energy programs, one (1) Bachelor of Applied Science in Energy Management degreed program. These offerings are provided on-campus and/or online depending on the program. In addition, the energy center also provides various non-credit training initiatives and apprenticeship programs online, face-to-face or through correspondence.
Before joining Bismarck State College in 2001, Bruce spent 13+ years working in the generation sector of the energy industry for Northeast Utilities. Bruce’s responsibilities at BSC have included classroom instructor, online instructor, online course and program developer, and program manager until being named to his current position in July 2007.

Digitalization & PMO

Siemens

Session: Gas Fired Solutions to Support Energy Transformation

Senior Director of Business Development for Nuclear Technologies and Materials

General Atomics

Session: Nuclear Power Updates

In his role at NuScale, McGough oversees the company’s worldwide commercialization efforts. McGough joined NuScale from UniStar Nuclear where he was Senior Vice President.
McGough is a 34-year veteran of the commercial nuclear industry, working in support of nuclear plants worldwide. He has been inside all but two US nuclear plants and 16 outside the US.
His work has included involvement in new plant development projects, 6 spent fuel dry cask storage projects, 9 decommissionings, 16 steam generator replacement projects, TMI-2 defueling, and numerous other mechanical maintenance and low level radioactive waste management projects.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Physical Metallurgy from Washington State University, and an MBA from the Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also a graduate of the Kellogg Management Institute at Northwestern University.
Mr. McGough has written, published or presented over 80 papers.

Sr. Manager, Continuous Improvement

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Session: Event Learning Teams

Heather has 20 years of experience in the electrical utility. She is a product of TVA's training program, beginning her career in instrumentation maintenance in one of the company's oldest coal fired plants.
She has extensive experience in technical training development and currently serves as the leader for TVA's enterprise Continuous Improvement program. Under TVA's Performance Improvement umbrella, she also leads the non-nuclear Corrective Action Program, Human Performance Program, and the Operating Experience Program.

Senior Continuous Improvement Engagement Manager

Ameren

Session: Continuous Improvement

Mike Faller is a Senior Continuous Improvement (CI) Engagement Manager at Ameren Corporation in Saint Louis, Missouri. In his role, Mike is a member of a team of Engagement Managers responsible for guiding the business on their Lean CI journey.

Since joining Ameren in 2014, he has worked with much of the organization to implement Lean CI. Current areas of responsibility include Power Operations, Nuclear and Energy Delivery. Prior to this assignment, he led the Lean CI rollout in Business and Corporate Services, which includes IT, Supply Chain, Facilities Maintenance and Construction, HR, Finance and Diversity and Inclusion. He has engaged hundreds of coworkers at Ameren, developed other Lean CI practitioners and provided facilitation and guidance in dozens of CI events and projects.

Mike's philosophy of CI is based on Lean Enterprise, which is modeled on the Toyota Production System. He also incorporates elements of Deming Management Methods, Six Sigma and Theory of Constraints, as well as others. As a Lean coach, he believes that the best way to engage the organization is to empower and develop coworkers as Lean thinkers and problem solvers – building the organizational capability needed to be successful in the changing utility industry. This also results in a sense of ownership of Lean CI within the business, which promotes engagement of the workforce.

Mike began his journey in Continuous Improvement nearly thirty years ago, as a Machinist using Statistical Process Control to identify abnormalities in production processes. After returning to college and earning a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, he worked as a Manufacturing Engineer designing and building automated assembly equipment. In 2001, he joined Honeywell International in Lynn Haven, Florida, where he became a certified Six Sigma Black Belt. Mike also has a Six Sigma Black Belt certification from the Trane Company, at the time a division of American Standard, where he led a team of Continuous Improvement professionals, as well as many high impact projects. He also has a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt certification from Ingersoll Rand, where he was responsible for implementing and sustaining Lean CI in multiple plants in North America. Seeking a change after 20 years in manufacturing, Mike then joined Wyndham Vacation Ownership as a Master Black Belt in Orlando, Florida, eventually returning to his hometown of Saint Louis to join Ameren.

As a Saint Louis native, Mike enjoys Saint Louis Blues hockey and Cardinals baseball. He is an avid bicyclist, hiker and classic car enthusiast. It's been said that he has a great sense of humor; but this has been the source of much debate and can best be described as subject to individual interpretation.

President

IEM Energy Consultants

Jeff Fassett, President & Co-Owner, IEM Energy Consultants, LLC
Mr. Fassett is Co-owner and founder of IEM Energy Consultants LLC has more than 36 years of broad based experience in the power and related industries. He founded IEM in 1998 as a boutique consulting practice which provides consulting services in all aspects of power plant operations, maintenance, and management to clients worldwide. Mr. Fassett has provided services in outage planning, management and oversite, long range O&M budgeting, reliability assessments, and plant staffing analysis. In addition, he has also been involved in the negotiations of long-term service agreements representing over 30 GW of gas and steam turbine generating capacity worldwide and has testified as an expert witness regarding proper operations and maintenance practices and procedures. Under his guidance, IEM has experienced significant growth, and now employs almost 15 consultants.

Prior to forming IEM, Mr. Fassett held roles of increasing responsibility with various utilities, both regulated and IPP’s, as well as petrochemical process facilities. These roles included Plant Engineer, Maintenance Engineer, Start Up Manager, Maintenance Manager and Plant Superintendent. His experience includes coal, simple and combined cycle CT’s and coal gasification. Mr. Fassett sits on the Board of Directors of the Plant Managers Institute, the Advisory Board of the Electric Power Conference, is a member of the ASME Power Committee, and International Gas Turbine Institute, Education Subcommittee. He has taught college classes in Energy & the Environment, Ethics in the Energy Industry, Electronics and Power Plant Operations. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Dakota State University with an emphasis in Power Plant System Design

Vice President, Nuclear Technology

Global Nuclear Associates

Session: Cyber Security - What You Need to Know!

Kenneth Ferguson has been involved in high profile initiatives for over forty years as an engineer, senior manger, and consultant .His current affiliations include being involved as a technology Vice President as well as providing strategic planning services .Involvements have included the power generation, information technology ,petrochemical industries including the private sector and government agencies. A recurrent responsibility has involved program development, change management, and transforming organizations to respond to key situations ,establishing effective cyber culture is a relevant, high priority involvement.
Dr. Ferguson has physics and engineering degrees from the University of Michigan(Ann Arbor) and Carnegie-Mellon University. Past affiliations have included as employee of Westinghouse Electric, and then Price-Waterhouse Coopers. He has operated his own consultancy for over ten years.

Senior Engineer

KCP&L and Westar, Evergy Companies

Session: Metallurgical Considerations/Inspections in the Load Cycling Market

I am a professional engineer with nearly 7 years of experience. My primary role is that of a Metallurgical Engineer who operates the failure analysis laboratory. I am the head of the Boiler Tube Failure Reduction Program at the newly merged company Evergy, Inc. I am transitioning to a new role of "Boiler Inspector" for the fleet of KCP&L Legacy Coal Assets (Hawthorn, Iatan, LaCygne, Lake Road). I was instrumental in getting our High Energy Piping Inspection Program off the ground. I regularly consult on large capital projects including but not limited to: Seam Welded Hot Reheat Replacement (with non-seamed), Condenser upgrades (titanium), Absorber Repairs and Replacements (2205, 2507, and Hastalloy C-276), Grade 91 Repairs/Upgrades to Shot Peened Stainless Steel. I am moving into a mentor/trainer role and a hopeful management position in the future. I have my Masters of Engineering Management from the University of Missouri, as well as my CWI through AWS. I am also the President of the local KC Chapter of the American Society of Materials. If you have any questions about my presentation, feel free to contact me at any time on my cell phone at 816-912-7406.

Vice President

Mott MacDonald

Session: Leveraging BESS Through Controls and AI

With over 35 years of professional experience in the international power industry, Al Ferrer is responsible for the profit and loss, business development and marketing of the consulting services Mott MacDonald provides to its clients in the Americas, including Owner’s Engineering, Independent Engineering, due diligence, acquisition services, power plant performance improvement, CO2 strategies, operational risk management, air emissions control retrofits, upgrades and life extension, covering nuclear, coal, gas and combined cycle, biomass, geothermal, IGCC, circulating fluid bed, renewables such as solar, wind and biomass, and other power plant generation technologies. He worked for Stone & Webster most of his career with his last position serving as Senior Vice President and Managing Director. He worked for Burns and Roe as VP of the Consulting Division He has directed and executed work in the US, Canada, Chile, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and Korea. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi and Tau Pi Sigma. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Nuclear Engineering.

President

Otek Corporation

Session: Cyber Security in the Nuclear Power Plant

Dr. Fest attended Polytechnic University where he graduated with a BS in EE. He taught in vocational schools and was assistant professor until offered a scholarship by Heidelberg University and Armour Research Foundation in 1960. He opted to attend IITRI and graduated with Ph.D. in EE.
Dr. Fest has worked for ARF in advance solid state research and co-authored several patent papers. He was a contributor to the development of the PBX at Automatic Electric Co. and then joined Zenith Radio Corp. under contract with NASA, working on the Apollo program. In 1974 he established OTEK Corporation.

Vice President - Operations

Reliability Management Group

Session: Flexible Operations

Mr. Florence has over three decades of experience in leadership and operation in power generation. He was the RMG Project Manager for the Operational Excellence project at We Energies and WPS.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Florence was Vice-President for Alberta Coal Operations, responsible for the operation of TransAlta’s Alberta coal-fired generation, including three plants totaling 2750 MW. His previous experience includes operating positions in nuclear, coal, and gas plants. He held leadership positions of increasing responsibility at several plants.

He holds an undergraduate degree in Finance and Accounting and an MBA from Arizona State.

Vice President, Business Development

SmartBurn LLC

Session: Catalyst Management and Troubleshooting

Frank Fowler has over 25 years of experience serving the power generation industry. As Vice President of Business Development for SmartBurn, LLC, Frank’s primary responsibilities include commercial business development, general counsel, sales and account management. Frank works closely with SmartBurn’s clients to bring them higher value by tailoring the company’s resources to meet their specific business objectives.

Dr.

Siemens Industry, Inc.

Session: Gas Fired Solutions to Support Energy Transformation

To be provided later

EVP, and Chief Operating Officer

San Diego Gas & Electric

Session: Welcome and Keynote

Kevin Geraghty is currently serving as Vice President of Energy Supply for NV Energy. Under his direction, the Energy Supply business unit produces energy from 64 NV Energy-owned generating resources, procures all fuel and energy for NV Energy’s customers and provides gas services to customers in northern Nevada. In addition, his team is responsible for building new conventional and renewable energy generating facilities, as well as long-term contracting for conventional and renewable energy for NV Energy customers.

NV Energy provides a wide range of energy services to 1.3 million customers and nearly 40 million tourists throughout Nevada annually. NV Energy’s service area covers 45,592 square miles of one of the fastest growing states in the United States.

Mr. Geraghty joined NV Energy in 2008 with more than 20 years of experience in power generation, including extensive knowledge of power operations, maintenance, construction and management of coal, natural gas, and hydro facilities. His background includes power markets and power marketing in both regulated and non-regulated environments.

Mr. Geraghty has a bachelor’s of science in electrical engineering degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He helped create key industry users groups and has been active within many industry organizations. In addition, he is a guest speaker at important industry events and contributes to various industry-related publications.

Executive in Residence-McCrary Institute

Southern Company

Session: Case Studies in Digital Applications

James currently serves as the Southern Company Executive in Residence at Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security. In this role he works closely with industry, academia, and federal partners, including national laboratories on electric grid cyber security strategies. James also served as a senior fellow at the McCrary Institute, a prestigious group of nationally renowned cyber and critical-infrastructure security experts.

With more than 28 years of service at Southern Company, James co-led an initiative to implement an enhanced Operations cyber and NERC-CIP program support model and has held various operational and engineering support leadership positions. Prior to joining Southern Company, James served in the U.S. Marines. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Auburn University.

Environmental/Process Engineer

HDR Inc.

Session: Development in CCR – ELG Rules

Chloe Grabowski has over 5 years of experience in water, wastewater, and balance of plant systems associated with power generation and industrial facilities. Currently, she is an environmental/process engineer for HDR, Inc., where she is responsible for performing technology selection assessments, developing equipment procurement documents, executing conceptual/detailed design projects, developing water mass balances and sampling/monitoring plans, carrying out bench scale treatment studies, and performing water sourcing evaluations. Previous jobs include 9 months of field experience working as an intern at Consumers Energy’s J.H. Campbell Power Plant and 4 months of field experience working as an intern at Lansing Board of Water and Light’s Dye Water Conditioning Plant. Chloe graduated in 2013 with her bachelor’s degree in civil/environmental engineering from Michigan State University and will graduate with a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering Technology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in December of 2018.

Executive VP for Governmental/Environmental Affairs

Charah Solutions, Inc.

Session: Development in CCR – ELG Rules

Danny Gray is Executive Vice President-Governmental & Environmental Affairs at Charah. He has 40 years of experience in energy business which includes executive and equity positions at three of the largest CCR management companies. Appointed by the Secretary of Energy to the National Coal Council where he serves as Vice Chairman. Gray served on EPA Federal Advisory Committee for TSCA and served as American Coal Council President and as Vice-Chair of the Associate Members of the Southern States Energy Board. He has testified before US Senate on energy issues. A Virginia Tech honors graduate in Civil Engineering.

Sr. Director, Business Development

Riggs Distler & Company, Inc.

Session: Environmental Ash and Gypsum (CCR) Panel Discussion

Over 35 years’ experience in all aspects of engineering, design, management, marketing, sales and, business development in the Power, Refinery, Materials Handling and Heavy Construction Industries.

Currently Director of Business Development for Riggs Distler & Company. Riggs Distler is a recognized leader in the Mechanical, Civil, Electrical, T&D and Utility Construction industry.

Prior to Riggs, other Companies associated with were Matrix and AECOM legacy companies including URS, Washington Group, Raytheon and Ebasco Services.

Sr. Director Power Gen

CPS Energy

Session: Staffing Plants for Plants that are Closing

Melanie Green is a Sr. Director in Power Generation at CPS Energy, the municipally owned electric and gas company serving San Antonio, Texas – the nation’s 7th largest city – and surrounding region.

A native of Missouri, Melanie graduated from the University of Missouri – Columbia with a BS-Mechanical Engineering. She has over 30 years experience in of power generation.

President

Hazard Control Technologies, INC.

Session: Future of U.S. Coal Generation (co-located with PRB Coal Users' Group)

22 years in the fire protection

Professor. Director

University of Maryland

Session: Dealers Choice: An Update on Gas Turbine Technology

Ashwani Gupta is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park and also Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He received his Ph.D. and D.Sc. from Sheffield University, UK. He has co-authored three books and over 450 technical papers and edited 10 books. He is a Fellow of AIAA, ASME, SAE, and the Institute of Energy (UK). He is the recipient of AIAA Energy Systems award, and Propellants and Combustion award, the ASME George Westinghouse Gold medal award, James Harry Potter award and James Landis award, Worcester Reed Warner award, and University of Maryland President Kirwan research award and College of Engineering research award. He has also received several best paper awards from AIAA and ASME. He is an associate editor for AIAA J. Propulsion and Power, J. Applied Energy, and co-editor of the Environmental and Energy Engineering series of books published by CRC press.

O&M Manager – Engineering Coronado Generating Station

Salt River Project

Session: Metallurgical Considerations/Inspections in the Load Cycling Market

President

M E H & Associates, LLC

Session: Asset Management Now and Going Forward

Mr. Michael Harbison is the Founder and Owner of M E H & Associates, LLC. In this capacity, he performs unit walk-downs and assessments, modifies combustion systems, reduces emissions through advanced computational modeling, assesses and tunes boilers / boiler operations. Mr. Harbison covers the full US for the power generation sector.

Mr. Harbison specialized in process optimization for over twenty-five years.

Power Generation Regulatory Compliance Program Manager

HDR Engineering

Session: Development in CCR – ELG Rules

Christine has more than 25 years of experience in distribution, power generation and corporate support, including 13 years in leadership and management of projects and processes. She is recognized as a leader who builds efficient and effective teams through coaching, individual and team development, establishing structure and accountability that enables personal and professional growth of team and self. Christine is an effective communicator who is able to bridge silos among departments and across business units

Director, Project Oversight, Vogtle 3 & 4

Southern Company

Session: Nuclear Power Updates

Jeremiah is responsible for Project Oversight and Regulatory Compliance for Georgia Power and as agent for the Plant Vogtle 3 & 4 Project Co-Owners. Plant Vogtle 3 & 4 will be the first new nuclear units built in the United States in the last three decades. As construction continues, Georgia Power remains focused on completing Vogtle 3 & 4 with safety and quality as top priorities.

Manager, Air/Noise Department

Burns & McDonnell

Session: Natural Gas-Fired Power Plant Permitting Considerations

Mary Hauner-Davis is an environmental engineer and is also a Department Manager at Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc. Mary manages environmental permitting and licensing for power generation facilities as well as other industries. She has over 20 years of experience in environmental permitting and compliance for power projects. She specializes in complex air permitting projects for power generation and industrial facilities. Her work experiences require her to be up-to-date with the ever-changing regulations affecting the power industry.

Plant Manager - Wildcat Point Generation Facility

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative

Session: The Disruptive Route to Decarbonization

Brian Heinbaugh has a B.S. Engineering Technology and two Master’s degrees, M.S. Management and Master of Business Administration. He has been in the Power Generation industry for over 25 years in a variety of O&M roles dealing with many different technologies. He has served as a Director of Operations with both GDF Suez and NAES over simple cycle, combined cycle, and coal plants. Currently he is a Plant Manager with ODEC at their new 1000 MW Combined Cycle Wildcat Point Generation Facility.

Principal Engineer

Xcel Energy

Session: The Extended Digital Control Room

Jonathan Hicks is a Principal Engineer with the Xcel Energy remote Monitoring and Diagnostics Center. The Xcel Monitoring and Diagnostics center uses historical pattern recognition technology to identify early equipment condition issues across it’s fleet. The installed base includes conventional coal, combined cycle, nuclear and wind assets. Jonathan has been with Xcel’s Monitoring and Diagnostics Center since it’s inception and prior to that time worked for several consultants offering a wide variety of performance and equipment condition monitoring technologies.

Lean Master Black Belt

TECO Energy

Session: Continuous Improvement

Accomplished professional with over 30 years of leadership experience in Continuous improvement, Lean Six Sigma / Master Black Belt. Worked at Westinghouse and Honeywell Aerospace and Defense. Currently working as a Master Black Belt at TECO an EMERA Company.

Her specialties include:
•Change Management
•Data analytics
•Augmented reality/virtual reality
•Inventory Reduction
•Six Sigma Program Development/ Trainer
•Site Logistics
•Management Development
•Results oriented Site Baselines
•Government Contract Management
•Cell Layout and Design
•Value Stream Mapping

Plant Manager Montrose & Sibley Stations

Evergy, Inc

Session: Natural Gas-Fired Power Plant Permitting Considerations

Plant Manager

Southern Company

Session: Employee Engagement, Retention and Development

Johnny Howze III serves as plant manager for Georgia Power’s Plant Scherer in Juliette. In this role, he is responsible for providing overall leadership for operations of four coal-fired units that can produce 3,600 megawatts of electricity and provide electricity to power approximately 2.6 million homes. Since joining Southern Company in 1990 as a summer student, Howze has progressed through various leadership positions, including serving as plant manager at Gulf Power’s Smith and Scholz plants, and several Georgia Power plants, including Branch, Warner Robbins and Wansley. Howze also served as assistant to the executive vice president of customer service & operations for Georgia Power. During this time, he served as a loaned executive with former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin’s administration. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama and completed the executive MBA program at Kennesaw State University. Throughout his career, Howze has been active in the community, with such organizations as United Way and Bay County Chamber of Commerce, and two professional organizations – the National Society of Black Engineers and the American Association of Blacks in Energy. He serves on the advisory boards of the University of Alabama’s engineering department and the school’s Paul Jones collection of African American Art.

Performance Improvement Manager

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Session: Event Learning Teams

Robert Hunter is a performance improvement manager for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In his 15 years at TVA, Robert has served in various roles including 10 years in coal plant operations and the past five years in training and performance improvement. Robert has led and participated on many Root Cause Analysis teams and has taught Root Cause Analysis courses at TVA. When he isn't working or chasing around his three young children, he is home brewing beer or tinkering with his stereo equipment.

President

Gridforce Energy Management, LLC

Session: Trends and Developments in NERC Standards, CAISO Compliance, Disruptive Generation and CIP Compliance

CJ Ingersoll graduated from the University of Houston Law Center in 1999 and is a Licensed Attorney in the State of Texas. She started her career in the energy sector as a System Operator at Duke Energy North America in 2001 and transitioned from real-time system operations to compliance program development, management and strategic business development activities. CJ has been leading the Gridforce team’s growth and expansion in transmission, balancing and generation control throughout the United States since 2015. Extra-curricular activities are driven her 8 and 4-year-old daughters and include coaching, music and art of all forms.

President

Tetra Engineering Group

Session: Metallurgical Considerations/Inspections in the Load Cycling Market

Dr. Jackson is the President of TETRA ENGINEERING GROUP, INC. with headquarters near Hartford Connecticut, a wholly owned subsidiary located near Nice France and an office in Dubai that serves the UAE region.

A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (BS Nucl Engr '78, MS Nucl Engr '79 and PhD Nucl Engr & Science '81) he started his career in the electric power industry as an engineer in the Reactor Thermal Design Group at Combustion Engineering in Windsor Connecticut. Dr. Jackson worked on a variety of projects while at C-E including nuclear fuel design and manufacturing projects and in the late '80s, steam generator degradation-specific integrity assessments and reliability projections.

In 1988, he left C-E to form TETRA ENGINEERING GROUP with the late Dr. Frank Berte' and David Moelling, co-workers at C-E Nuclear. TETRA's consulting services were primarily for owners/operators of nuclear power plants in the USA. Beginning in the 1990s, TETRA began providing consulting services to the developers and owner of the fledgling natural gas fired CCGT industry. Core services developed around core competencies associated with steam boiler thermal modeling, degradation assessments, reliability evaluations and root cause failure analysis. This resulted in the heat recovery steam generator thermal modeling and condition assessment business line.

Starting in the late 1990s, Tetra expanded into related services for high energy piping at nuclear, radiant and combined cycle plants. Initially focused on high energy piping inspection plans and field walkdowns of pipe supports, today Tetra's Covered Piping Services include development of CPS Piping Programs, Degradation-Specific Inspection Plans and implementation of Field NDT Inspections. Dr. Jackson assumed the position of Director of Field Services as Tetra's field projects expanded. RCFA projects for these high energy piping systems led to the development of core competencies in pipe stress analysis, finite element modeling of pressure parts including piping and metallurgical evaluations of piping (and HRSG pressure parts).

Dr. Jackson was elected President of the firm in July 2018 following the passing of Dr. Berte' who had served in that capacity for 30 years.

Engineering Team Leader

The International CCS Knowledge Centre

Session: Carbon Capture Opportunities and Updates

Brent Jacobs joined the International CCS Knowledge Centre in June of 2017 and has 30 years of engineering experience including 20 years with SaskPower.
At SaskPower he specialized in the performance of thermal power generation including the integration of carbon capture and sequestration with existing power generation facilities. His roles have included Performance Engineer for the thermal power plants, Turbine and Heat Rejection Lead on a feasibility study for a new build coal plant with CCS, and Project Leader for Thermal Performance and Integration on the Boundary Dam Unit 3 ICCS Project. Brent then worked in SaskPower’s Generation Planning Department before moving to his current position as Engineering Team Leader with the International CCS Knowledge Center.
Brent holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and has recently started work on a Masters in Process Systems Engineering at the University of Regina.

Safety Supervisor

Ameren Missouri

Session: Coal Generating Plant Safety

Curtis Johnson is the Safety Supervisor for Ameren Missouri Sioux Energy Center in West Alton, Missouri. He has 17 years' experience in manufacturing and 10 years' experience in utilities. Positions within Ameren Missouri include: Production Operating Engineer 2008-2011, Operating Supervisor 2011-2015 and Safety Supervisor 2015 to present. Curtis's education consists of an Associate degree in machine shop technology from Ranken Technical College, a Journeyman Machinist Certificate from International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers, and a BS in applied management from Ranken Technical College.

Business Development Engineer

UL LLC

Session: Storage Technologies, Strategies and Solutions – Taming the “Duck Curve”

Maurice Johnson has 22 years of experience in product safety employed by UL LLC, with the last 15 years devoted to energy storage, batteries, fuel cells and land vehicle converters and inverters. His current role at UL LLC is Business Development Engineer for energy storage systems, motive and stationary batteries, fuel cell systems and capacitors. He is responsible for helping carry out market research to develop strategies and roadmaps for technical segments. He is also responsible for the application of technical requirements and standards to products certified within his areas of expertise. Maurice has a BS in Electrical Engineering.

Sr. Director Business Development

Day & Zimmermann

Session: Gas Technologies – Case Studies

Merrill has been involved in the fossil power generation industry for over 40 years, working for several companies specializing in Maintenances Services, Combustion Equipment, Combined Cycle Power Plants and Boiler start-up and commissioning. His area of expertise is in the boiler and balance of plant Engineering, Operation and Maintenance Services. Merrill resides in Plano, Texas and covers the southwestern United States for Day & Zimmermann. Merrill has a B.S.M.E. from the University of Massachusetts/Lowell.

Power Generation Services - O&M Manager

Black & Veatch

Session: Asset Management Now and Going Forward

Jeff Karloff, works for Black & Veatch as the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Manager in the Power Generation Services business.

Jeff has over 30 years of experience working in the electric utility industry. He has been a plant manager at both coal fired and gas turbine sites ranging between 50 and 700 MW. He also has experience in the economics of fuel selection for coal and gas plants and the optimization of fuel selection and plant operations to capitalize on market

More recently he managed the central engineering, fuels and renewables divisions for Omaha Public Power District (OPPD).

NERC CIP Specialist

NAES Corporation

Session: Trends and Developments in NERC Standards, CAISO Compliance, Disruptive Generation and CIP Compliance

Allen Kent has over 25 years of diverse work experience that includes managing, training, and continual professional development in information technology, specifically in cyber security. He has achieved IT certification in CISSP, CISA, MCSE:Sec, VCP, and several others. He taught information technology courses at the college-level for 7 years.

Mr. Kent currently works as a NERC CIP Reliability Specialist for NAES Corporation with over 6 years of NERC CIP compliance experience. Prior to that, he worked in the banking industry as a Technical Support Manager and Senior Security Analyst.

Cyber Security and Collaborative Operations Center Product Manager

ABB

Session: The Extended Digital Control Room

Dee Kimata is the Cyber Security and CoC Product Manager at ABB Power Generation & Water. In this role, she is responsible for driving the strategy aligned to cyber security and CoC offerings in her business unit. Prior to ABB, Dee worked as a senior consultant at KPMG and started her career at GE where she focused on strengthening the cyber security posture of industrial product companies through regulatory compliance, gap assessments, remediation roadmap creation, and strategy development. Dee has a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Creighton University, and is currently living in Houston, TX. Dee is passionate about promoting security in growth regions (specifically Africa) and women in technology. Because of this, Dee actively participates in AfricaHackOn events.

Project Manager/Sr. Piping Technologist

Stress Engineering Services Inc.

Session: Metallurgical Considerations/Inspections in the Load Cycling Market

Mr. Kimball has almost 40 years of experience. He currently serves as principal consultant for numerous mechanical integrity, boiler component and critical piping fitness for service studies. He is involved in assessments of pipe and the support systems, including pipe stress analysis, condition review, testing, design and retrofits. As an ASME member, Mr. Kimball has written or co-authored numerous papers and presentations on these subjects. Although he has worked primarily in Power, he has experience in the refinery, pulp and paper and offshore industries.

VP of Power Supply

Golden Valley Electric Association [GVEA]

Session: Keeping Coal Competitive

Bill is a 1978 graduate of New Jersey Institute of Technology a BSME. 26 yrs. of Bill’s career was spent with Foster Wheeler working in field service starting up and servicing boilers, mills, burners and associated equipment. Bill joined Progress Energy as the Lead combustion engineer in 2005. In 2013, Bill became the Maintenance and Engineering superintendent at a 700 MW combined cycle plant. In 2015, he assumed the manager position of Duke Energy’s Regulated Solar sites (~300MW). Bill left Duke in 2016 to assume the role of Project manager for the restart of Healy 2.

Chief Technology Officer

Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc.

Session: Dealers Choice: An Update on Gas Turbine Technology

Dr. Carlos E. Koeneke has worked in Rotating Equipment related field for more than 35 years. He joined Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1993 and worked for the Construction Department in Takasago Machinery Works in Japan. In 2001, he was transferred to Florida where he worked for the Service and Engineering Departments.
Prior to his current position, he worked 7 years for Venezuela’s petroleum holding company, in the Rotating Equipment Department.
Dr. Koeneke has a Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Tokyo, and is an ASME Fellow.

Project Associate

Sargent & Lundy

Session: Catalyst Management and Troubleshooting

Danielle Flagg has been working at Sargent & Lundy in the Fossil Power Environmental Technologies Group for ten years. Danielle has completed a wide range of retrofit projects involving air quality control technologies, water compliance strategies, and associated regulatory reviews and permitting work. Danielle is also responsible for managing environmentally-focused projects including several projects involving CO2 capture.

Senior Environmental Associate

Sargent & Lundy

Session: Natural Gas-Fired Power Plant Permitting Considerations

Ms. Kunkel is a registered professional engineer with a BS in Chemical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology. For the last 8 years, she has served as part of Sargent & Lundy’s Environmental Services group for the application of new and retrofit emission control systems for power generation. In this role, she has been active in applications of SO2, NOx, CO2 capture, gasification systems, and heat rate reduction at coal- and gas-fired power plants.

Training Supervisor

Omaha Public Power District (OPPD)

Session: Beating the Odds on Environmental Compliance

Mr. Kutz has over 17 years of operations and training experience obtained from working at an Ethanol plant, Oil Refinery, Gasification plant and Power Plant. Nik was hired at the Omaha Public Power District as a Plant Helper and worked his way up to a Unit Operator. Nik jumped at the opportunity to work in the Production Operations Training Department as a Training Coordinator for the Nebraska City Station and has since moved to the Production Operations Department Training Supervisor position. Some of his many responsibilities are providing Fire Brigade training to Operations Personnel as well as creating and delivering computer based training via OPPD’s Learners Management System. He currently resides in Nebraska with his wife and two children.

VP for Environmental Services, Safety, and Land Management

NV Energy

Session: Beating the Odds on Environmental Compliance

Kevin Geraghty is currently serving as Vice President of Energy Supply for NV Energy. Under his direction, the Energy Supply business unit produces energy from 64 NV Energy-owned generating resources, procures all fuel and energy for NV Energy’s customers and provides gas services to customers in northern Nevada. In addition, his team is responsible for building new conventional and renewable energy generating facilities, as well as long-term contracting for conventional and renewable energy for NV Energy customers.

NV Energy provides a wide range of energy services to 1.3 million customers and nearly 40 million tourists throughout Nevada annually. NV Energy’s service area covers 45,592 square miles of one of the fastest growing states in the United States.

Mr. Geraghty joined NV Energy in 2008 with more than 20 years of experience in power generation, including extensive knowledge of power operations, maintenance, construction and management of coal, natural gas, and hydro facilities. His background includes power markets and power marketing in both regulated and non-regulated environments.

Mr. Geraghty has a bachelor’s of science in electrical engineering degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He helped create key industry users groups and has been active within many industry organizations. In addition, he is a guest speaker at important industry events and contributes to various industry-related publications.

CEO

Geothermal Worldwide, Inc.

Session: Renewable Technologies

Mr. Nikola Lakic, Graduate Engineer, Architect, graduated from the School of Architecture, University Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, Macedonia, in 1982, and immigrated to the United States in 1983, as a student of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, Taliesin West in Arizona, and Taliesin East in Wisconsin.
Mr. Nikola Lakic worked as a Designer and Project Manager in several Civil Engineering offices in and around Palm Springs, California. After an accident in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, and a failure of the “Blow Out Preventer” (BOP) in the Macondo well, Mr. Nikola Lakic worked on and submitted the concept which was used to stop oil spillage about 40 days later. Mr. Nikola Lakic is the inventor of the “Scientific Geothermal Technology” which consist of the “Self Contained In-Ground Geothermal Generators System” (SCI-GGGS); “Self Contained In-Ground Heat Exchanger System” (SCI-GHES); and a special IN-LINE-PUMP/GENERATOR, which is a new preeminent methodology for harnessing geothermal energy for generation of electricity from inexhaustible geothermal sources with no pollution emitted during the production process, and not limited to geothermal reservoirs. Mr. Nikola Lakic is also, the author of an innovative method for drilling faster, deeper and wider well-bores “Apparatus for Drilling Faster, Deeper and Wider Well-bore”. Also, he is the author of the Proposal for the Restoration of the Salton Sea, California, which incorporate mentioned technology modified to accommodate local conditions having the final result production of electricity and potable water. The system can be implemented in many locations worldwide.

Director of Business Development

WaterFurnace International

Session: Storage Technologies, Strategies and Solutions – Taming the “Duck Curve”

After several tours of active military duty, Will has been in the HVAC industry since 1995. During that time he has worked in manufacturing, engineering, product management, and sales. He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and holds patents in communicating controls. Working towards common sense energy solutions, Will is a strong advocate for the integration of geothermal heat pumps into the re-electrification of North America.

Executive Editor

POWER magazine

Session: Dealers Choice: An Update on Gas Turbine Technology

Aaron Larson joined the POWER team in September 2013 as an associate editor and was named executive editor in 2017. Aaron has a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering technology and a master’s degree, specializing in finance. He spent 13 years in the U.S. Navy nuclear power program, advancing to Chief Petty Officer. He has worked at commercial nuclear, biomass, and coal-fired power plants, functioning in operations, maintenance, safety, financial, and management capacities. Aaron holds a Chief A Engineer boiler operator license in the state of Minnesota.

Senior Mechanical Engineer

Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc.

Session: Environmental Ash and Gypsum (CCR) Panel Discussion

Mr. Leach is a senior mechanical engineer and CCR handling specialist at Burns & McDonnell with 11 years of responsibility to coal power plant owners for the design and management of ash handling projects, new plants and plant upgrades. Mr. Leach received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas and a M.S in Engineering Management from Kansas State University. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Kansas and Kentucky.

National Sales Manager, North America

MAN Energy Solutions

Session: Gas Fired Solutions to Support Energy Transformation

Reed Lengel is the National Sales Manager for North America with MAN Energy Solutions, responsible for new unit sales of their large 4-stroke reciprocating engines for power generation. Reed has 14 years of experience in the power industry, with roles ranging from the on-site management and execution of heavy-duty gas turbine commissioning activities, to the product line management and technical sales of industrial and aero-derivative gas turbines, and reciprocating internal combustion engines. Reed holds a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida.

Vice President

Licata Energy & Environmental Consultants, Inc.

Session: Beating the Odds on Environmental Compliance

Tony has over 40 years of experience in the environmental and power generation fields. He started his career as a startup and performance engineer involved in the startup of fossil-fired boilers and air pollution control systems. His Air pollution control systems experience includes wet and dry FGD systems, Lo-NOx burners, SCRs, ESP’s, and baghouses. He has an in-depth knowledge of combustion and the control of dioxins thought combustion controls.
He has experience in project management with responsible for design, construction, startup, and operations of both waste-to-energy and fossil fired power plants

CEO

HOMER Energy

Session: Leveraging BESS Through Controls and AI

Dr. Peter Lilienthal is the CEO of HOMER Energy. Since 1993, he has been the developer of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s HOMER® hybrid power optimization software, which has been used by over 190,000 energy practitioners in 193 countries. NREL has licensed HOMER Energy to be the sole world-wide commercialization licensee to distribute and enhance the HOMER model.

Dr. Lilienthal was the Senior Economist with International Programs at NREL from 1990 – 2007. He was the lead analyst and one of the creators of NREL’s Village Power Programs. He has a Ph.D. in Management Science and Engineering

Vice Preesident

GRT Corporation

Session: The Extended Digital Control Room

Mr. Litvinov is an accomplished entrepreneur skilled in startup, business development, and operations taking vision to practical concept through successful implementation.

He led both national and international programs including Business Intelligence, Advanced Analytics and Information Security

Mr. Litvinov founded and led several successful startups including GRT Corporation that was included in Deloitte & Touche Technology 50 and 500 list and Inc.500 Fastest Growing Companies list.Mr. Litvinov carries Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Prior to founding GRT, Mr. Litvinov had over fifteen years’ experience in senior software engineering and management positions.
He holds an MS degree in Electrical Engineering.

Director - Asset Management

Jiangnan Environmental Technology Inc.

Session: Decommissioning - Best Practices

As Director – Asset Management, Greg is responsible for marketing, business development, construction, start-up and the operations of Enhanced Ammonia Desulfurization System (EADS) projects for Jiangnan Environmental Technology, Inc. With more than 30 years of experience in the power industry in regulated and unregulated businesses, both domestic and international, Greg has a diverse experience base that includes asset management, organizational change management, business development, international consulting and extensive generating plant management, operations and maintenance experience. Prior to his current position, Greg worked for AES where he focused on organizational and reliability performance improvements for AES generation businesses globally and the integration of newly acquired businesses. Greg has a mechanical engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA, with honors, from the University of Chicago where he concentrated in organizational change and strategic management.

Lead-Environmental Programs

Omaha Public Power District (OPPD)

Session: Beating the Odds on Environmental Compliance

Bryan has been with the Omaha Public Power District for 12 years. He currently leads the Environmental Services department, which ensures environmental compliance at five fossil fuel fired facilities. Previous projects have included leading implementation efforts for the MATS rule and the Cross State Air Pollution rule. He is currently working on ensuring compliance with the 316(b) rule along with the Coal Combustion Residuals rule. Bryan received a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2005 and an M.B.A. from Bellevue University in 2012.

Sr. Operations Manager

Southwestern Public Service Co.

Session: Flexible Operations

I have worked for Xcel Energy/SPS for 30 years in the Energy Supply Operations of our Generation business.
I worked in the operations department at Xcel Energy's 1100 MW coal fired Tolk Station facility for 20 years at different capacities in the operations department. I'm currently a Senior Operations Manager over the Operations Department at Xcel Energy's 1080 MW coal fired Harrington Station facility. I have been in this position for 10 years.

HL-Class Product Line Manager

Siemens

Session: Dealers Choice: An Update on Gas Turbine Technology

Jorge Luna has 12 years of industry experience within Siemens. Industry experience includes plant commissioning, plant application engineering, large gas turbine service and bid management.

In 2016, Jorge was a key member in the Siemens acquisition team for the Lincoln County Power Plant with Duke Energy, as the stepping stone project to test and validate the HL-class.

In his current role, he is the global Product Line Manager for the HL-class on a Solutions basis. A strategic role that analyses the global markets for large scale power generation solutions; while also supporting the respective Siemens regions with HL

VP Energy Resources

Tuscon Electric Power

Session: Western Energy Markets – Meeting the Challenge of Charting a New Course

Mechanical Engineer and Project Manager

Commonwealth Associates, Inc.

Session: The Future of CHP

Mr. McCormick has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Western Michigan University. He is licensed in the State of Michigan, as well as numerous other states around the country. Mr. McCormick has become a recognized leader in the industry for his numerous publications, conference presentations, and webinars on Combined Heat and Power (CHP), and for his active role with technical revisions as a member of the ASME B31.1 Power Piping Design Subgroup. He has over a decade of experience in planning, design, construction, and commissioning projects. His experience with power projects includes: project development and feasibility studies

Program Manager for Safety Project Support

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Session: Coal Generating Plant Safety

Larry McFarland is a Program Manager with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the nation’s largest public power company. He has governance and oversight for Contractor Safety as a member of the Corporate Safety Department in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Larry has more than 35 years experience in the Health and Safety field. Throughout his career he has worked with Olin Chemicals, a manufacturer of chlorine, caustic and swimming pool chemicals, Bowater Newsprint, a manufacturer of pulp and paper and M&M Mars candy company prior to his position in the utilities industry at TVA.
He holds a bachelor degree from East Tennessee State

Consultant, PRIN GEN REL& ANLYS

Xcel Energy

Session: Condition Based Monitoring

Product & Solutions Security Officer

Siemens Gamesa

Session: Cyber Security - What You Need to Know!

Director of Training and Safety

Kansas Municipal Utilities

Session: Catalyst Management and Troubleshooting

Brian Meek is the Director of Training and Safety at Kansas Municipal Utilities. Mr. Meek has over 20 years of experience in electrical generation, municipal utilities, and water management.

Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering Technology, an M.B.A., and is a veteran of the United States Navy. In addition, he is currently a doctoral candidate in Leadership at Walden University.

Energy Storage Consultant

EPRI Electric Power Research Institute

Session: The Path to 100%: How California Will Achieve 50% Renewables by 2026 and Be 100% Carbon-Free by 2045

I am an energy consultant in power generation, recently managing a multibillion-dollar power plant development and construction portfolio for Portland General Electric, a vertically integrated utility based in Oregon. I currently consult with EPRI on storage and PV interconnections.

My expertise lies in leading and developing complex projects involving renewable (solar, wind, storage, hydrogen) and traditional energy. I recently completed, in record time, construction of a highly efficient combined cycle plant valued at $500M.

EXPERTISE
• leadership,
• negotiating large contracts,
• developing executive relationships with domestic and international vendors and
• managing the construction of power plants from start to finish.

PROJECTS
• General Manager for PGE managing a global team responsible for engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning of large-scale power projects valued at $1.4 billion.
• Director for Generation Projects at PGE, a dozen valued at $100 million.
• Manager, Port Westward Project managing the development, engineering and construction of the 400 MW combined cycle plant near Clatskanie, Oregon.
• Manager, Mechanical Engineering for PGE/Enron, managing a group responsible for developing, engineering, procurement and construction of large complex projects and developing advanced project management techniques including project controls.
• Enron consultant for Enron India and Enron South America operations instrumental in starting two new companies: Enron Hydro Mod and PGO Coal Mod.

My hands-on career started at Bechtel working as a Stress Analyst and as a Field Engineer for the Fast Flux Test Facility in Richland.

I hold a Master of Science, Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle and have completed 20 units of MBA classes at Portland State University. In addition, I was selected to participate in the PGE Management Development Acceleration Program in 2010.

Exec VP & COO

Southwest Power Pool

Session: Western Energy Markets – Meeting the Challenge of Charting a New Course

Chief Executive Officer

American Coal Council

Session: Future of U.S. Coal Generation (co-located with PRB Coal Users' Group)

Betsy Monseu is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Coal Council. She has an extensive coal industry background, having worked in the commercial arena of the coal supply, transportation, and consumption sectors for many years. Since 2014, Betsy has also served as an appointed member of the National Coal Council, a federal policy advisory group to the U.S. Secretary of Energy. Betsy has an MBA from the University of Illinois Springfield and a B.S. in Economics and Business Administration from Illinois College.

Safety & Health Consultant

Lightstone Generation, LLC. - Gavin Power , LLC

Session: Coal Generating Plant Safety

Jeffrey W. Mullins, CSP -- Safety & Health Supervisor American Electric Power, James M. Gavin Plant. Jeff has worked in the power industry for 20+ years in the safety & health field. He has been at the Gavin Plant for the past 12 years. He is responsible for plant safety activities for 250+ employees & 200+ contractors daily.

Sr. Consultant Project Development

HDR Inc.

Session: Small Scale Distributed Energy and Microgrids

Arun has over fifteen years of engineering experience in energy infrastructure development, design, optimization and implementation. He has supported the design and development of cogeneration projects, central utility facilities, energy solutions involving the use of traditional fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal, ULSD /no.6 oil, and other renewable fuels such as woody biomass, wood pellets, biogas, landfill gas, solar PV, wind and low head hydro. More recently he has been reviewing Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) for utility client projects.

Manager Health & Safety I Power Supply

OGE

Session: Coal Generating Plant Safety

Vice President

DEKRA

Session: Event Learning Teams

David is a Vice President and Consultant Leader with DEKRA. He leads DEKRA’s Brain-Centric Reliability(TM) group and focuses on creating customized performance solutions based in applied neuroscience, and human error reduction consultations. BCR(TM) fosters strong performance reliability through a systemic approach of designing and enhancing workplaces and processes globally all with the human brain in mind.

Vice President Strategic Soultions

Qualus Power Services

Session: Electrical Systems: Easy to Overlook, Hard to Do Without

Brian is currently the Vice President of Strategic Solutions for Qualus Power Services, the parent company of CE Power and Power Grid Engineering. He has spent the last 30 years involved with the engineering, maintenance, testing, and commissioning of electrical apparatus for power plants and utility substations. In addition, Brian has been actively involved with implementing NERC programs, specifically related to FAC, IRO, MOD, PRC and VAR regulations for power plants. Brian is actively involved with IEEE PES, NETA, and various other trade organizations related to electrical apparatus maintenance and testing.

Technology Leader for Fuels, Combustion, and Efficiency

Black & Veatch

Session: Keeping Coal Competitive

Una Nowling is the Section Leader for Fuels, Reliability, and Efficiency at Black & Veatch. She has 27 years experience assisting utilities and energy companies with fuel quality impact studies; heat rate and efficiency studies including EPA-ACE, fuel sourcing and mine planning studies; combustion and boiler operations analyses; emissions compliance; and technical and scientific training. Ms. Nowling has managed more than 100 projects in her career at Black & Veatch, and continues to manage several domestic and international projects dealing with fuels and power plant performance. She is an Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) campus, a radio hostess on Kansas City Public Radio.

Sales & Marketing

Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc.

Session: Decommissioning - Best Practices

Mr. O’Brien is a Professional Engineer and Juris Doctorate with a variety of experience in field and home office engineering, demolition and decommissioning services, and construction management. He has experience in various sectors of energy including oil and gas as well as coal fired power plants, new and existing refinery construction, and pipeline services.

Mr. O’Brien’s demolition and decommissioning experience has been in demolition specification development and bid evaluations for coal‐fired power plants and industrial facilities. Additional demolition experience includes; project management, demolition contractor management, and detailed engineering design.

Dir. -Renewable Energy Strategies

Renewable Energy Strategies, Inc

Session: Western Energy Markets – Meeting the Challenge of Charting a New Course

Senior Editor

POWER magazine

Session: Women in Power Generation Roundtable

A national award–winning multimedia journalist, Sonal Patel has covered a wide range of technology, business, and policy issues affecting the power industry worldwide for POWER and its sister publications since 2008. Along with keeping her eye on national and international matters for POWER magazine’s monthly department Global Monitor, she contributes in-depth analysis and spot news pieces for POWER and POWERnews. She also surveys, crunches, and visualizes power generation data and trends from around the world for POWER’s web and print infographics and other multimedia. She is a graduate of the University of Houston.

Senior Editor

POWER magazine

Session: Western Energy Markets – Meeting the Challenge of Charting a New Course

Darrell Proctor joined POWER in 2017. He has years of experience in the energy and publishing industries, including as a writer, editor and energy data analyst for Ponderosa Advisors and Bentek Energy (S&P Global/Platts). He has written numerous reports and white papers on power demand, particularly from industrial facilities, as well as natural gas and crude oil exploration and trading. He also has written about transportation of commodities, particularly coal, crude oil and natural gas, and the operation of crude oil refineries. He was an assistant business editor and assistant news editor as well as Technology Editor for the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado, and also was a senior editor at the St. Petersburg Times in Florida. He is a graduate of Franklin College of Indiana.

Director, North American Service Operations

Siemens Gamesa

Session: Case Studies in Digital Applications

Engineering Manager, Power Systems

Ready Technologies, Inc

Session: Trends and Developments in NERC Standards, CAISO Compliance, Disruptive Generation and CIP Compliance

Maysam Radvar, M.Eng., P.Eng., P.E., SMIEEE is a Power System Engineer. After acquiring a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering at University of Alberta, he has established his career in the field of Power system and Protection System. Maysam has interest in performing NERC Compliance Studies, Power System Dynamic Modeling, NERC MOD-026 and MOD-027 Testing, and Transient Stability Analysis. He has been an Engineering Manager for Ready Technologies Inc. since 2010. He is a member of the IEEE Power and Energy Society, North American Generator Forum (NAGF) and

Executive, Generation

NV Energy

Session: Executive Roundtable: Change Is a Constant in the Modern World: What Does That Mean for the Power Industry?

Dariusz Rekowski began his career with Dynegy’s Generation, Destec Energy Inc., in April 1992. He has held positions in the Corporate Engineering Department, including Senior Mechanical Engineer. In this capacity he provided engineering, construction, and commissioning support for the DOW Chemical Oyster Creek Combined Cycle Project in Freeport, Texas. He also held the position of Power Systems Engineer, providing performance and feasibility studies, including cycle analysis of existing and new power plants as well as acceptance testing of the Michigan Power Plant in 1995.

In June 1996, Mr. Rekowski became Plant Engineer for Dynegy Operating Company at the Cogen Lyondell facility. In this capacity he was responsible for all plant engineering activities, including plant optimization and turbine maintenance. In 1998 he was promoted to Senior Plant Engineer.

In September 1999, Mr. Rekowski became Plant Maintenance Supervisor / Engineer at Dynegy’s Rockingham Power facility and began his experience with Siemens-Westinghouse W501FD fleet.

In October 2000, Mr. Rekowski was promoted to Plant Manager at Dynegy Riverside facility. In his new role he was responsible for the O&M team setup, plant acceptance at the facility substantial completion and commercial operation.

Mr. Rekowski was a Plant Manager of the Riverside, Foothills, and Bluegrass facilities in Kentucky as well as Rolling Hills facility in Ohio. He had an overall responsibility for operations and maintenance of those facilities.

Mr. Rekowski joined NV Energy Generation Team in February 2006. He assumed responsibility of the Plant Director at the Clark/Sunrise Complex. In January 2009 he assumed responsibility of the Generation O&M Director. In January 2013, he was promoted to Executive, Generation. In this capacity he provides support to NV Energy Generation fleet in achieving safety, environmental, and operational excellence.

Mr. Rekowski earned Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Maritime Academy in Gdynia, Poland and Master of Business Administration degree from the Morehead State University in Kentucky.

Chief Innovation Officer

Launch Alaska

Session: Leveraging BESS Through Controls and AI

Sales Manager

Siemens Energy

Session: Gas Technologies – Case Studies

Richard is a Sales Manager at Siemens Energy, covering North America and currently located in the Orlando, Florida office. Richard, a Mechanical Engineer and Six Sigma Green Belt, has over 20 years of experience in the industry and his current focus is on Heat Recovery Steam Generators and Waste Heat Recovery Units.

Principal Engineer

Ameren

Session: Coal Generating Plant Safety

Michael Schimmelpfennig is a Principal Engineer for Ameren Missouri in St. Louis, Missouri. He has more than 35 years experience in the design of coal fired power plant systems with emphasis in coal handling and coal dust control. In 1995, the St. Louis Chapter of the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers named him Outstanding Engineer in Industry. Michael received his BS and MS degrees in Mining Engineering from the University of Missouri - Rolla in 1980 and 1982 respectively. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Missouri and a certified Project Management Professional. He has completed numerous detailed studies associated with coal handling systems and coal dust hazards related to the utility industry, and has authored and co-authored several articles on power plant coal handling systems.

Manager-Development Engineering

Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc.

Session: Cycling - Keeping Your Plant Economically Viable

Justin Schnegelberger manages the Development Department within Burns & McDonnell’s Energy Division. Mr. Schnegelberger’ s team specializes in project development beginning in the early stages of resource planning through equipment and construction contract negotiations. In this role, Justin leads a team of engineers focusing on technology evaluation and assessment, feasibility evaluation, project scoping, conceptual design, performance and technical optimization and evaluation, and economic evaluation, This includes a strong understanding of current market trends and drivers, and in particular those impacting the gas fired generation industry.

CTO

Cyclone Power Technologies Inc.

Session: Storage Technologies, Strategies and Solutions – Taming the “Duck Curve”

Harry Schoell, is the Chairman and CTO. Harry is a lifelong entrepreneur and technology visionary. Harry is a native Floridian, born in Miami, and a third generation inventor and engineer. Harry has worked for years to realize his dream to create an environmentally-friendly engine, and has two patents issued and 11 patents pending on the Schoell Cycle Heat Regenerative External Combustion Engine, now called the Cyclone Engine, as well as many other patents pending on the engine’s components in the U.S. and internationally.

Since founding Schoell Marine more than 40 years ago, Harry successfully built that company and its reputation based on his original ideas, highly trained engineers, skilled drafts people, and prototype and production specialists. Schoell Marine covers all facets of contemporary boat design and manufacturing. His inventiveness has resulted in over 40 specialized patents and patent applications, and Harry is known throughout the marine industry for his genius and is highly sought after for his knowledge and expertise. He is always thinking ahead and “outside the box”.
Harry also patented a Jet Drive System and a trimmable surface drive, as well as a “Ground Effect Craft” that would gently glide above the water using surface effect as the medium. Harry also holds patents on a lightweight yet powerful, compact internal engine that he designed and built in 1990.

Harry has won the Engineer of the Year Award and Designer of the Year Award from Vapor Trails Magazine. He has also been presented with four different Innovation of the Year Awards from the NMMA (National Marine Manufacturers Association): one for a multi-hull boat design, one for a surface drive propulsion system, one for marine engine conversion, and a final one for a stepped hull design. All designs were patented in recent years. Harry belongs to SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), the ASME (American Society of Marine Engineers), and The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.

Business Manager

IBEW Local Union 721

Session: Existing Climate on Labor Relations – Union

In his role as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) representative and instructor of Code of Excellence for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Curtis Sharpe serves along with craft representatives for six other unions, TVA Labor Relations management, and TVA Senior Vice President of Transmission & Power Supply. Sharpe provides craft union oversight of the Code of Excellence efforts across the entire TVA fleet, which includes facilitating training through partnership with the TVA Enterprise Improvement group. His efforts through the Code of Excellence are part of the greater goal of affecting positive change in employee culture at TVA.
One recent accomplishment for Sharpe in this role has been the identification and training of 15 craft union facilitators. These facilitators, along with Sharpe trained approximately 5,000 TVA employees, across seven states. This goal was accomplished cooperatively with TVA management in five short months.
Sharpe started his career with TVA in 1993 as an Operations trainee at the Widows Creek Fossil plant and completed his training at the Johnsonville fossil plant where he obtained the Unit Control Room Operator qualifications. Upon transferring back to Widows Creek he continued work as a Unit Control Room Operator and Electrical Switchyard Control Room Operator. His switchyard experience prepared him to make his transfer to TVA Hydro Operations at the Raccoon Mountain Pumped Storage facility in 2004. Sharpe worked in various roles at Raccoon Mountain facility having achieved the role of Hydro Tech Level III, Senior Operator of Pump Storage in 2007 where he worked until his transition into the Code of Excellence Instructor role in the spring of 2018.
During his tenure with TVA, Sharpe has served as an IBEW job steward before being elected to the Assistant Business Manager/Vice President role for IBEW Local 721 in 2007. He served the membership of his IBEW local in this capacity until being elected Business Agent/President in 2011 and is currently in his third term with IBEW Local 721.

Principal

Future Energy Development, LLC

Session: Storage Technologies, Strategies and Solutions – Taming the “Duck Curve”

Linda Shaw established Future Energy Development in 2005, after managing an environmental law firm—Knauf Shaw LLP—for many years, to assist distributed energy companies in siting their projects, especially on brownfield real estate. She advises clients on bundling state and federal incentives, attracting lenders and investors for project financing, and providing practical land use, real estate, permitting, environmental review, and contracting legal services to expedite project development.

Working with the legislature and policy organizations, Ms. Shaw seeks to streamline land use and regulatory processes to incentivize reuse of brownfield sites for the development of distributed generation facilities.

Vice President

IEM Energy Consultants

Session: Decommissioning - Best Practices

Rob Shepard holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineer from Mississippi State University and is licensed as a professional engineer in Kansas and Mississippi. He is a certified project manager through PMI and has more than 30 years of experience in the power industry. He founded The Energy Group, PLLC in 2006 and recently merged his company with IEM Energy Consultants, Inc. and formed IEM Energy Consultants, LLC. This new company, has greatly expanded and provides consulting services in all aspects of power plant management, operations, and maintenance to clients worldwide, with current clients ranging from the Middle East to Africa to South America, the Caribbean and Australia, which complements all of their domestic US clients. He and his wife Sue Ellen have three children, two of which are married, and a grandchild on the way.

Sr. Project Manager

EDG Inc.

Session: Environmental Ash and Gypsum (CCR) Panel Discussion

Randy Shepler has over 40 years of professional experience in project development, engineering, procurement, fabrication, and construction. Mr. Shepler is a Material Handling Specialist with many successful projects completed both domestically and abroad. These projects include Coal yards and terminals, Ship and Barge loading and unloading systems, Biomass fuel yards, and Coal Ash conversions, handling and storage systems.

Mr. Shepler’s EPC project experience was acquired while in the employ of Dravo Bulk Material Handling, Sandwell Engineers, POWER Engineers, and as EPC Division Manager for CCC Group Inc. of San Antonio Texas.

Mr. Shepler is currently employed by EDG Consulting Engineers

Executive Director of Finance - Analysis

MGM Resorts International

Session: Welcome and Keynote

Henry Shields is the Executive Director of Finance and Analysis for the Corporate Sustainability Division of MGM Resorts International in Las Vegas. The Division was created by MGM for the purpose of elevating environmental responsibility to the level of a core company principal. In his present position, Henry provides analytical oversight and support for all Division initiatives. This includes the evaluation of strategies and tactics to deploy resources and reduce the environmental impact of company operations. Henry also manages elements of the company’s energy procurement including utility relations and the regulatory environment.

Henry has been with MGM Resorts International for over eighteen years serving in a variety of roles in Finance. He holds an MBA and BS from the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He is married, has two daughters, and resides in Las Vegas.

Sr. Engineer

WE Energies

Session: Gas Fired Solutions to Support Energy Transformation

Senior Vice President

Environmental Liability Transfer, Inc.

Session: Decommissioning - Best Practices

Product Manager

Martin Engineering

Session: Small Scale Distributed Energy and Microgrids

Executive Director

Martech Training Services

Session: Building an Effective Training Program for Power Plant Operations

Mark’s background in the electrical power generation, coupled with his experience in mechanical maintenance, instructional design, and e-Learning, inspired him to create Martech and build a top-notch design team to tailor training programs specifically for each client. For the past 21 years and today, Mark continues to work closely with Martech clients, ensuring that the training programs we build will not only meet but exceed their high expectations.

Mark's favorite projects are holistic training programs that focus on competency and program sustainability.

Mark and his wife reside in The Woodlands, TX and stay busy with one daughter in high school and another daughter at Texas Tech.

Project Engineering Manager

Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc.

Session: Gas Technologies – Case Studies

Jeff Sweatland has worked in Power Generation for 24 years. He joined Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems in 2006 and worked for both the Service and New Generation Projects teams.

Prior to his current position, he worked 11 years for another Power Generation OEM.

Mr. Sweatland has a Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Florida. He is a US Air Force Veteran, who specialized in aircraft power plant technology.

Founder & Principal

ST Power Services Consultants, LLC

Session: Western Energy Markets – Meeting the Challenge of Charting a New Course

Technical. Commercial. Operational. Strategic.

Siraj Taj is the rare power industry consultant who understands every side of the business — because he’s been there.

In his 32-year career, Siraj has become an expert in all facets of the thermal power generation industry. Since 2016 Siraj and his firm, ST Power Services, have enabled thermal power plants to remain viable and profitable by devising solutions that are innovative, collaborative, and pragmatic.

Siraj and his team guide owners through critical business decisions and processes, to improve total asset performance, develop cost-effective O&M strategy to expertly integrate Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and Conventional Power Systems (CPS). This approach empowers owners to achieve life-cycle cost savings of 35%+. Most recently, Rebuild GT26 following a catastrophic failure with pragmatic and innovative solutions delivering significant time and cost savings. Also upgraded several turbine control systems to increase operational efficiency, reliability and profitability of plant with GT7EA, W501D5A, LM6000, and others.

ST Power Services has become the industry’s knowledge hub for all things related to Alstom, GE, Siemens and other gas turbines, as well as overall plant operations and maintenance strategy in a rapidly shifting energy landscape. Siraj is frequently asked to speak at leading industry events, such as Experience POWER and the AOG annual conference, and has contributed to POWER magazine.

President

CoalSAFETY,I Inc.

Session: Coal Generating Plant Safety

With over 37 years of experience in the electric power industry, Bob has extensive background in fire protection, occupational safety & health, management systems, emergency preparedness and response.

Head of Business Development & Strategy, North America

Siemens Gamesa

Session: Renewable Energy Policy

Partner

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP

Session: Cyber Security - What You Need to Know!

Paul Tiao is a partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth and founder and co-chair of the firm’s Energy Sector Security Team. Paul has in-depth knowledge of cybersecurity risk management, investigations, litigation, SAFETY Act protection, regulations and policy. He is outside cybersecurity counsel to numerous energy companies, and advises clients on preparedness and incident response. Paul has handled the response to all types of cyber attacks against companies in the energy and other sectors. Prior to joining Hunton, Paul served as special counsel and then senior counselor for cybersecurity and technology to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Mueller. He is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in Maryland, Trial Attorney at the U.S. Justice Department, and Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

Program Manager

NAES Corporation

Session: Trends and Developments in NERC Standards, CAISO Compliance, Disruptive Generation and CIP Compliance

Mr. Timmons is a Program Manager at NAES Corporation where he leads the Plant Life Management Initiative. He has more than 25 years experience in management of hazardous and radioactive waste using a variety of waste treatment technologies. He is a registered geologist and hydrogeologist in Oregon & Washington and developed or played a key role in the commercialization and deployment of three innovative waste processing technologies. Mr. Timmons holds B.S and M.S. degrees in Geology.

Business Manager for UA Local 43

IBEW Tenth District

Session: Existing Climate on Labor Relations – Union

Brent E. Hall was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He is a 35 year member of the IBEW, completing the Journeyman Lineman program in 1989 at Memphis Light, Gas, and Water Division. While serving as an officer in his local union, he earned a degree in Electrical Engineering. He was appointed International Representative in 2002, and elected IBEW Tenth District IVP in 2016. The Tenth District covers 52 local unions and 20,000 members in TN, AR, NC, and SC, including TVA. He lives in Lebanon, TN with his wife of 32 years as has two grown children.

Business Process and Innovation Manager

Southern Company

Session: Future of Work in the Digital Power Plant

Carl Toner is Business Process and Innovation Manager for Southern Company’s Technical and Project Solutions organization. In this role he has responsibility for improving processes and implementing technologies to increase efficiencies throughout the facility life cycle. Toner has held positions including Project Manager and Engineering Manager during his 37-year career at Southern Company with experience spanning fossil, nuclear, and hydro generation, and has served in leadership roles for multiple industry committees and technology groups. He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Alabama and a M.S. in Structural Engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Sr. Director of iFactory Sales, IIoT

Advantech

Session: Building Blocks of a Connected Plant

Jon Towslee is the Sr. Director of iFactory Sales for Advantech’s Industrial IoT business unit based in Cincinnati, OH. Jon has 30+ years of automation industry experience. He has spent the last 20+ years leading, growing, and managing automation and IIoT related businesses. Jon’s experience spans many areas including commercial and industrial automation, utility and industrial power generation/transmission/distribution, HVAC systems, energy management, control and information system design and applications, and digitalization and digital transformation.
 
Jon earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from The University of Akron and his MBA from John Carroll University, where he was selected to join The Beta Gamma Sigma business honor society. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Ohio and a Certified Energy Manager by the Association of Energy Engineers.

Labor Relations Senior Consultant

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Session: Existing Climate on Labor Relations – Union

In his role as Senior Consultant for Labor Relations at The Tennessee Valley Authority-TVA, Will Trumm is responsible for providing advice and counsel to executive management in the areas of negotiated labor agreements and mediation and resolutions of union/management disputes, while overseeing the implementation of the Code of Excellence program at TVA. Working closely with executive leaders, union council leaders, managers, and craft personnel, Will has established working relationships that has improved communications and transparency in decision making, resulting in higher levels of workplace safety, production and morale.

One of Will’s major accomplishments in this role has been spearheading efforts to align both union and TVA leaders in developing productive relationships to accomplish mutual goals of providing a safer more productive workplace.

In addition to his role in Labor Relations, Will spent the first couple of years of his TVA career in Human Resources’ roles inside the TVA Nuclear Fleet. Will provided HR consultation in areas of workforce planning and staffing, leadership continuity, employee development, performance management and labor relations. Will was specially assigned as the HR leader to support the start up of Watts Bar Unit 2 the First new Nuclear reactor started up in the United States since the 1990s.

Prior to joining TVA, Will held senior HR leadership roles for both Amazon and the Home Depot. Will’s strong HR background serves him well as he leads efforts to improve organizational effectiveness and bridge relationships of union and management.

Owner/Director

Advanced Valve Solutions Inc.

Session: Cycling - Keeping Your Plant Economically Viable

Karel has been in the control valve for approx 30 years.
A side step in his career was working as a sales manager for Standard Fasel Lentjes, a manufacturer of HRSG's
Since 1998 owner and director of Advanced Valve Solutions B.V. located in the Netherlands
After opening a second office in the UK in 2006, Karel has contributed to modify HRSG installations and its most critical valves to handle the sometimes severe service conditions over the last 10 years in CCGT installations doing start/stop operation.
Next challenge is to do the same in the US after opening a third office in Saratoga Springs in 2016

Director, Plant Operations Spurlock

East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. [EKPC]

Joe VonDerHaar has over 35 years of experience in the utility and manufacturing industries. On the utility side he has held positions in System Operations, Transmission & Distribution and Power Generation. On the manufacturing front he was a Plant Manager for a Power Transmission OEM. A common thread in both industries is the tremendous change in process and mission because of competition, new technology and evolving regulations. Being able to adapt and even welcome change is critical to success.

Joe is currently the Plant Director at the Spurlock Power Station, a 4-unit, coal fired, 1500MW facility in Maysville Kentucky. He holds an engineering degree from the University of Dayton.

VP - Strategy and Global Energy Analytics

Peabody Energy

Session: Future of U.S. Coal Generation (co-located with PRB Coal Users' Group)

Christopher S. Walker is Vice President of Strategy and Global Energy Analytics for Peabody. He oversees the company’s strategic planning cycle and strategic initiatives, as well as leads global energy and coal market research activities to best inform the organization on new business and market opportunities.
Mr. Walker joined Peabody in 2007. He has also held roles in Sales and Trade Support, Corporate Treasury, Investor Relations and Supply Chain Management. Prior to joining Peabody, Mr. Walker held finance and accounting positions with Emerson Electric, Georgia Power, KPMG and Arthur Andersen.
Mr. Walker holds a Bachelor of Science degree and master’s degree in Accounting from Clemson University and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.
Peabody is the leading global pure-play company and a member of the Fortune 500, serving power and steel customers in more than 25 countries on six continents. The company is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the iconic ticker symbol BTU. Peabody is guided by seven core values: safety, customer focus, leadership, people, excellence, integrity and sustainability.

Director - Market Services

Kinder Morgan

Session: The Disruptive Route to Decarbonization

George Wayne is the Director of Market Services for Kinder Morgan West Region, based in Colorado Springs, CO. Wayne is currently responsible for developing the fundamental outlook for all of Kinder Morgan, the largest midstream operator of interstate gas pipelines and related storage asset in North America. Wayne is a BAI-certified risk professional and holds a bachelor’s degree in mineral engineering math and geophysics and a master’s degree in energy economics from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO.

Industry Marketing Manager

Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery

Session: The Future of CHP

Senior Vice President

Hanson Professional Services Inc.

Session: Environmental Ash and Gypsum (CCR) Panel Discussion

Mr. Whalen joined Hanson in 1988 and is a senior vice president and principal for the power market unit of Hanson. He is a licensed professional engineer and has 34 years of consulting engineering experience. Mr. Whalen holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil/geotechnical engineering, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he serves on the Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association Board of Directors. He specializes in working with power industry clients, providing project planning, permitting, design and construction support services. His current project work includes wind and solar energy, coal combustion residual and power delivery projects.

President

Ready Technologies, Inc

Session: Trends and Developments in NERC Standards, CAISO Compliance, Disruptive Generation and CIP Compliance

Mr. Jeff Whitt is an Electrical Engineer and the President of Ready Technologies, Inc. He graduated from the University of Alberta in 1994 and has been a consultant to the power industry for more than 20 years. Mr. Whitt’s experience includes power plant control system upgrades, coal handling control system installations and upgrades, generator testing to meet NERC and WECC MOD-025, MOD-026, and MOD-027 standards, assessments to verify compliance with NERC PRC-019, PRC-024, PRC-025, and PRC-027 standards for generation owners, and transmission system dynamic model validation. He has worked with clients in coal, nuclear, natural gas, solar, and wind power generation plants. Mr. Whitt is a registered Professional Engineer in Washington, California, and South Dakota.

Vice President, Sales & Marketing

Wolf Point Engineers & Contractors

Session: Environmental Ash and Gypsum (CCR) Panel Discussion

Production Superintendent

Lubbock Power & Light

Session: Flexible Operations

President

Expertech Engineering Corp.

Session: The Disruptive Route to Decarbonization

Dr. Justin Zachary is currently the President of the consulting firm ExperTech Engineering Corp. For the last 5 years he had a technology leadership position as Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Technology and Quality Division for Samsung Construction and Trading Corporation. Justin has more than 40 years of experience in advanced technologies implementation, with special emphasis on fossil power generation and renewable energy conversion technologies. Prior to his work for Samsung, Justin was Technology Manager and Fellow for Bechtel Power Corporation. He developed in depth competitive studies and original application solutions for various types of electrical power plants. While employed with Siemens Power Corporation and General Electric Company, he engineered steam and gas turbine machinery. Dr. Zachary is a well-recognized international specialist in power generation, renewable energy, carbon capture and sequestration. He has authored several books, wrote and presented more than 82 technical articles on various related topics. He also owns patents in combustion control and advanced thermodynamic cycles.

Assistant Vice President - Senior Account Engineer

FM Global

Session: Electrical Systems: Easy to Overlook, Hard to Do Without

Ron Zeh is a Senior Account Engineer at FM Global’s St. Louis operations. He is responsible for managing the property risk assessment and risk improvement services provided for his clients on a global basis. Ron is charged with utilizing engineering-driven risk management solutions and property loss prevention research to help clients remain resilient against a wide range of exposures and support the commonly held belief “the majority of loss is preventable.”

Ron has 28 years of loss prevention engineering, training, and management experience within the insurance industry. Appointed to his current position in 2016, Ron has previously served as a field engineer (fire/boiler), electrical specialist, account engineer, training specialist, group manager field engineering, and a business process improvement consultant. He is commissioned by the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors and is currently a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers - St. Louis Chapter. He holds a B.S. in Industrial Technology from Tennessee Technological University.

Sr. National Account Manager

United Rentals

Session: Plant Management Institute 2019

Sr. National Account Manager