Dr. Parviz Adib
Dr. Parviz M. Adib is the Founder of Pionergy consulting offering services on regulation, economics, and public policy. His work experience included 21 years with the Public Utility Commission of Texas where he advised the Commission and performed the duties of the first ERCOT Market Monitor. He also prepared several Reports for Mexican Government, including a workplan to implement Market Monitoring and Surveillance System for the Mexican electricity market. His last position was the Advisor to the Mexican Market Monitoring Unit that ended as of December 31, 2020. Dr. Adib has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin where he taught graduate and undergraduate courses.
Nora Ankrum
Nora Ankrum is Director of Special Programs at the UT Energy Institute, where she facilitates strategic collaboration on cross-disciplinary initiatives to support energy literacy, education, and research. She is the Director of two of the Institute’s signature events, UT Energy Week and EnergizeUT, and she serves as UT’s Ecosystem Builder in Residence for the Texas Exchange for Energy and Climate Entrepreneurship (TEX-E) program. Nora also manages the Institute’s Student Hub, UT’s portal for student opportunities, resources, and events related to energy, sustainability, and innovation.
Tom Anson
Tom Anson has been practicing energy and utility law, especially on electricity regulatory, contractual, and other matters, for over four decades.
Andrew Ball
At UT, my research has focused on the electricity grid and the fuels that power it. I am particularly interested in emerging energy technologies, entrepreneurship, and the future of the electricity grid. My professional background includes investment banking at Barclays Capital and venture capital at Premji Invest, where I evaluated climate tech companies from Series A to IPO. My work spanned sectors such as electric vehicles, batteries, carbon capture and storage, critical minerals, hydrogen, alternative fuels, and long duration energy storage. I have a Bachelor’s in Economics from Harvard University with a minor in Energy and Environment.
Dr. Fred Beach
Currently, Director of the Energy & Earth Resources Graduate Program at the University of Texas at Austin. Beach holds a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs, an M.S. in Physics from the Naval Postgraduate School; and a B.S. in Chemistry with a minor in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Oklahoma. Since 2005, Beach has held a number of roles in energy and technology research, development, management and policy at UT within the Institute for Advanced Technology, the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy, and the UT Energy Institute, where he was the Associate Director.
Vijay Betanabhatla
Vijay Betanabhatla is Head of Power at SLB New Energy, leading initiatives in energy storage, geothermal, hydrogen, and carbon solutions. With over 20 years of experience in the electric power industry across system operations, markets, renewable energy, and clean energy technology development. Vijay serves as a board director at the Long Duration Energy Storage Council and previously served on the board of CleanTX and Energy Transition Fellow at University of Texas at Austin. He holds an MSEE from UT Arlington and an MBA from UT Austin, McCombs School of Business.
Luiz Brandão
Luiz Brandão holds a PhD in Finance from PUC-Rio, and a MSc. in Civil Engineering and an MBA from Stanford University. He is an Associate Professor at the Business School of PUC-Rio and Director of PUC-Rio’s Energy and Infrastructure Research Center which carries out research in Energy and Blockchain Economics, Infrastructure Projects, Risk Analysis and Real Options. He is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin.
Amanda Brown
Amanda Brown brings in-depth regulatory, market policy, commercial, energy market and business development experience to her role as Vice President, Energy Markets & Regulatory Strategy at Hunt Energy Network.
Andres Carvallo
Andres Carvallo is the founder and CEO of CMG Consulting, a strategic planning and advisory firm focus on Smart Grids, Smart Utilities, Smart Cities, and Smart Buildings. Additionally, Andres has three key roles at Texas State University. Andres is a Materials Applications Research Center (MARC) Fellow, Professor of Innovation in the College of Science and Engineering, and Co-Director of Connected Infrastructure for Education, Demonstration and Applied Research (CIEDAR) Center. Andres is a former CEO, CIO/CTO, President, EVP, GM, and PM at Austin Energy, Philips Electronics, Digital Equipment Corp. (nowHPE), Borland, SCO, Microsoft and several startups.
Young-ho Cho
Young-ho Cho received the B.S. degree from Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea, in 2022. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree from The University of Texas at Austin, TX, USA. His research interests include machine learning and data analytics for renewable energy, power system operations, and energy management systems.
Lori Cobos
Lori Cobos recently served as PUCT Commissioner and Chief Executive and Public Counsel at OPUC. Cobos is a recognized leader in the electric power industry, with over 20 years of wide-ranging executive level experience in the regulation and development of the electric market in Texas during a time of unprecedented growth, market reform, transmission buildout, and major weather crises. Cobos’s experience extends across ERCOT, SPP, and MISO markets in both the public and private sector. Cobos is the President of Cobos Strategies LLC, a consulting firm specializing in advising clients on regulatory, legal, policy, legislative, and project development matters in the electric power industry.
Bret Colby
CPS Energy, Nuclear Oversight, Owner-Alternate STP, PUCT Advanced Nuclear Working Group – Constellation Energy, Operations Shift Manager, Manager Design Engineering-Electrical/I&C – US Navy Commander (Ret) – Trident Training Facility Kings Bay Executive Officer, S8G Prototype Plant Executive/Operations Officer, USJFCOM Intelligence Operations Officer – Iraq, USS Greeneville Combat Systems Officer, Naval Nuclear Power School, USS West Virginia – MBA Charleston Southern University, MA Air University, BSEE Norwich University.
Peter Cramton
Peter Cramton is an Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland and an International Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods. Since 1983, he has researched auction theory and practice. The focus is the design of auctions for many related items. Applications include auctions for radio spectrum, electricity, and financial securities. He has introduced innovative market designs in many industries. He has advised many governments on market design and dozens of bidders in major auction markets. He received his BS in Engineering from Cornell University and his PhD in Business from Stanford University.
Jacob de Leon
With nearly 20 years in the utility industry, I’ve held roles in Gas Operations, Supply Chain, and Customer Service. As Managing Principal of Operational Excellence, I lead a team of Lean Six Sigma Black Belts driving efficiency. I am also leading the creation of a Business Process Management Office to standardize and optimize workflows. Additionally, I am a key partner in our ERP Transformation project, collaborating with the EIT team to blueprint the company, identify pain points, and support Global Design efforts to integrate Oracle into future operations. As part of the Strategy team, I’m establishing a Hoshin Kanri approach for strategy execution.
Alonso Fernandez
A Texas native, born in Houston and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, Alonso is pursing a M.S. in Energy and Earth Resources with a mechanical engineering degree from UTRGV. He has both research and industry experience, including hands-on technical energy assessments with the Industrial Assessment Center, drafting standard operating procedures for a gas turbine OEM, and conducting a feasibility analysis for a campus-wide district energy system with an engineering consulting firm. Currently, he works part-time with the Webber Energy Group on an EV charging optimization project and will join ERCOT’s Market Analysis team for a summer internship.
Marilyn Fox
Marilyn J. Fox is the President of Fox, Smolen & Associates. As a professional accountant, specializing in rate regulation of electric, gas and water utilities, she has served as an expert witness in local, state and federal proceedings and presented testimony before the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) the Texas Legislature and many city councils. Marilyn was employed as the Assistant Director of Accounting at the PUCT and as Houston’s Director of Regulatory Affairs from 1986 through 1989 and Austin’s Assistant Director of the Finance and Administrative Department. After co-founding FSA in 2001 she directed the company in brokering electricity contracts for customers.
Erik Funkhouser
Erik is the Executive Director of Good Energy Collective. His experience spans climate change research, policy, and technology innovation. He specializes in market development, RD&D initiatives, and organizational strategy. His work has included roles in government, universities, and a leading energy policy think tank. Erik’s advisory work included initiatives like the California Solar Initiative and NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Fund, aligning research and policy to advance clean energy. As Managing Director at Columbia University’s Carbontech Development Initiative, he managed $16M+ in funding and launched key research programs, shaping policies for sustainable technology adoption.
Will Gorman
Will Gorman is a Research Scientist in the Energy Markets and Policy Department at Berkeley Lab where he focuses on the interconnection of variable generation into the electric power system, the economics of distributed energy resources, and the application of energy storage within electricity systems. Previously, Will worked with the utilities practice at The Brattle Group, where he focused on wholesale electricity market and retail rate design. Will has a PhD in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a B.A in Plan II Honors from the University of Texas at Austin.
Christoph Graf
Christoph Graf is an expert in energy economics, navigating the intersection of economics, law, engineering, and operations research. Dr. Graf’s research delves into the intricacies of electricity market designs within the context of the ongoing energy transition, while also tackling the complex issue of market power within capacity-constrained transmission networks. Currently serving as a Research Scholar at the Institute for Policy Integrity, New York University School of Law, and a Research Affiliate in the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford University, Dr. Graf’s experience is further enriched by postdoctoral appointments at Stanford University and UC Berkeley.
Dana Harmon
Dana founded Juniper Advisory Group in 2021 to develop strategies to advance a sustainable energy future. She has over 20 years of energy industry experience in executive leadership, social impact research, technology commercialization, and management consulting. She previously served as Executive Director of the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute and chaired the City of Austin’s Resource Management Commission. She is a Marshall Memorial Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and serves on the Research Advisory Board of the American Council for An Energy Efficient Economy as well as the City Council for the City of West Lake Hills, TX.
James Henahan
James Henahan has served as Calpine’s Senior Vice President of Commercial Analytics since February 2022. In this role, Mr. Henahan oversees market analytics, pricing and asset optimization. Mr. Henahan began his career with General Electric, where he earned three patents related to power plant systems. He holds both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, as well as a Master of Business Administration from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
David Hesser
Mr. Hesser joined Tenaska in 2019 and is currently responsible for a team of analysts that perform fundamental analysis supporting Tenaska’s power trading, energy management, and asset-related commercial organizations. Prior to joining Tenaska he worked for multiple companies across the energy space. Functional responsibilities included trading, structuring / pricing of energy transactions, market risk management, credit risk management, consulting, and executive management of a retail electric supplier. His degrees include a BBA in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.
Monty Humble
Founder of High Road Clean Energy, which develops utility scale solar energy projects. Previously, oversaw the development of a proposed 1,000 MW wind project and led lobby efforts to support renewable energy projects. As a partner at Vinson & Elkins, advised legendary Texas entrepreneur in connection with development of major wind development; advised acquirers in connection with leveraged buyout of large Texas publicly traded utility company; advised Texas publicly owned utility company regarding strategy for unbundling generation transmission and distribution assets in connection deregulation of Texas electricity market; represented client in connection with unbundling of Georgia G&T.
David Inbar
David Inbar is Founder and CEO of Dejalytics Inc., an Austin-based developer of solutions for price-driven grid flexibility. The Dejalytics cloud service controls flexible generation and market driven demand response by industrial and commercial loads. David has more than 25 years’ technology and business leadership experience in enterprise data management and analytics. David holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from Cambridge University and an MBA from the London Business School.
