UT Energy Week 2015
Speakers and Panelists
Sergio Alcocer
Under-Secretary for North American Affairs
Secretariat of Foreign Relations, Mexico
Friday Breakfast Keynote
Sergio M. Alcocer is a Civil Engineer from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Since January 2013, Dr. Alcocer has served as Under-Secretary for North American Affairs at the Secretariat of Foreign Relations. In the public sector, he has previously served as Under-Secretary for Energy Planning and Technology Developments at the Secretariat of Energy, and as Research Director of the National Center for Disaster Prevention at the Secretariat of the Interior. Dr. Alcocer has also been Secretary General – Provost – , Coordinator for Innovation and Developments, and Director of the Insitute of Engineering of the UNAM. As an academic, Dr. Alcocer is a member to the National System of Researchers since 1994. He is the President of the Mexican Academy of Engineering and member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and various technical societies. He has received several honors and awards for academic achievement, including the National University Distinction for Young Scholars in the area of Technology Innovation and Industrial Design, and Research Award from the Mexican Academy of Sciences in the area of Technological Research (2001).
Vicky Bailey
Nuclear Matters Leadership Council
The Future for Nuclear
Vicky A. Bailey has over twenty years of national, international, corporate executive and governmental experience in energy and regulated industries. Ms. Bailey has demonstrated leadership as a state and federal regulator, a public utility corporate executive and as the leading international official for the U.S. Department of Energy. She currently serves on the Leadership Council of Nuclear Matters, a national education campaign promoting the value of preserving existing nuclear energy plants.
Most recently, she was an entrepreneur and principal of BHMM Energy Services LLC, a certified minority-owned energy facilities management organization. Ms. Bailey has also served as the President of Anderson Stratton International and as President and board member of PSI Energy, Inc., Indiana’s largest electric utility.
In government, Ms. Bailey’s was appointed by President George W. Bush as the first Assistant Secretary for both Policy and International Affairs (2001-2004) at the U.S. Department of Energy and was earlier appointed by President Clinton to serve as a Commissioner on the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). As the Assistant Secretary she served as Vice Chairman of the International Energy Agency. While a FERC Commissioner she was an architect of wholesale open access policies leading to the creation of regional competitive power markets.
Ms. Bailey was appointed by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu to the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. She also serves as Chair of the United States Energy Association.
Bill Barnes
Director of Regulatory Affairs
NRG Energy
Climate Change: Environmental and Economic Conflicts
Bill is Director of Regulatory Affairs for NRG located in Austin. He is responsible for covering ERCOT market design issues for both the retail and wholesale markets, providing market analysis, and advocacy. Bill is an elected member of the Wholesale Market Subcommittee and Protocol Revision Subcommittee in the ERCOT stakeholder process. In addition, Bill serves as chairman of the Loads in SCED Subgroup which is evaluating demand response participation in the real-time market and the Market Credit Working Group. Bill has over 15 years of experience in the power industry.
Prior to joining NRG, Bill was a Vice President in US Power Trading at J Aron & Company, the commodities trading subsidiary of Goldman Sachs. During his 5 years at Goldman, he was responsible for executing commodity trading strategies, managing various power generation assets, conducting power market design and policy research, and providing strategic commercial advice.
Before joining Goldman Sachs in 2008, Bill was the Manager of Settlements and Billing at ERCOT. While at ERCOT, he spent over 7 years managing, designing, and maintaining the commercial aspects of the ERCOT power market. In addition, he has testified numerous times before the Public Utility Commission of Texas to articulate market design aspects of the competitive power market. Bill began his career at Accenture working on competitive retail markets and ISO market development.
Bill earned a Masters of Electrical Engineering with a concentration in Software Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelors of Chemical Engineering from the University of Dayton.
Doyle Beneby
President & CEO
CPS Energy
Tuesday Morning Keynote: “Building Bridges to a Low Carbon Future”
Doyle N. Beneby is President and Chief Executive Officer for CPS Energy, the largest municipal electric and gas utility in the nation. A veteran of the energy industry with over 30 years of experience, Doyle has expertise in many facets of the electric & gas utility industry including strategic planning, power generation & delivery operations and asset acquisition.
Prior to joining CPS Energy, Doyle held various leadership roles at Florida Power & Light, Consumers Energy Company, PECO Energy, ComEd, and Exelon Power where he served as President.
During his time at CPS Energy, Doyle has transformed the vertically integrated utility’s generation fleet to one of the most diversified in the country, with an emphasis on low carbon and renewable sources. He has also created industry leading public private partnerships with clean technology companies that have brought thousands of jobs to the Greater San Antonio area. A passionate innovator, Doyle is currently championing the role grid optimization and demand response can play in reducing peak demand in the state of Texas.
Doyle is a graduate of Montana Technical College where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in engineering. He also earned a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Miami. In 2008, he completed the Advanced Executive Leadership Program at Exelon Academy/Northwestern University and the Advanced Management Program at Exelon Training Center in 2003.
Doyle serves on the Board for industry organizations such as Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), Capital Power Corporation, Argonne National Laboratory, Keystone Center & Energy Board, American Gas Association (AGA), Texas Public Power Association (TPPA), Large Public Power Council (LPPC), and Association of Edison Illuminating Companies (AEIC). He also serves on local Boards including the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, and United Way of San Antonio & Bexar County.
Mark Berg
Executive Vice President, Corporate
Pioneer Natural Resources
Financing of Oil and Gas Projects
Mark Berg was elected Pioneer Natural Resources’ Executive Vice President, Corporate in May 2014, and prior to that, he served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel since April 2005. Before joining the Company, Mr. Berg served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of American General Corporation, a Fortune 200 diversified financial services company, from 1997 through 2002. Subsequent to the sale of American General to American International Group, Inc., Mr. Berg joined Hanover Compressor Company as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. He served in that capacity from May 2002 through April 2004. Mr. Berg began his career in 1983 with the Houston-based law firm of Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. He was a partner with the firm from 1990 through 1997. Mr. Berg graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tulane University in 1980. He earned his Juris Doctorate with honors from The University of Texas Law School in 1983.
Steven Biegalski
Director
Nuclear Engineering Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin
The Future for Nuclear
Dr. Steven Biegalski earned his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 1996. He joined the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin in 2002. Dr. Biegalski is currently the Director of the Nuclear Engineering Laboratory (NETL). He is licensed as a Professional Engineer in the states of Texas and Virginia. His research focuses on nuclear analytical methods, nuclear instrumentation, nuclear reactor design, and nuclear reactor operations. Dr. Biegalski’s research includes the development and utilization of instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), prompt gamma-ray activation analysis (PGAA), neutron depth profiling (NDP), and neutron radiography. He also conducts research that supports nuclear explosion monitoring and nuclear forensics. He has experience modeling environmental pathways with a special focus on atmospheric transport modeling. In the past he has worked to develop technology in support of nuclear treaties.
Jose Bravo
Chief Scientist
Shell
Monday Morning Keynote: “Back to the Future: How Oil and Gas will play a Fundamental Role in our Energy System in the Years to Come”
Jose has been with Shell since 1995. As Chief Scientist Physics and Separations for Royal Dutch Shell Group, he advises on technology and R&D strategy and implementation. He leads a team of seven scientists and provides strategic level consulting in technology and R&D for Upstream and Downstream (chemicals and refining), gas, renewables, and hydrogen businesses. His experience includes commercial interactions, technology licensing and technical services. He has published over 50 technical papers and six patents in distillation and extraction areas. He has also instructed the Distillation in Practice and Extraction course for Continuing Education for The University of Texas and the Separations Research Program. Jose holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, and Graduate Degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Fred Burton
Vice President of Intelligence
Strafor
Mexican Energy Reform: Transforming a National Industry Panel Discussion
Fred Burton, Stratfor’s Vice President of Intelligence, is one of the world’s most foremost authorities on security and terorism. Burton guides Stratfor’s extensive coverage of the security environment in Mexico and closely monitors Mexican drug cartels, their areas of influence and their drug trafficking routes. Before joining Stratfor, Burton was a counterterrorism agent with the U.S. State Department from 1985 to 1999. During his 14-year career, Burton was involved in many high-profile investigations including: The search for Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing, resulting in his arrest; The assassination of Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin; The killing of Rabbi Meir Kahane and al Qaeda’s New York City bombing plots before 9/11; Libyan-backed terrorist attacks against diplomats in Sanaa and Khartoum; the deaths of U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Raphel and Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Burton was deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service, where he was in charge of preventing and investigating attacks against diplomatic personnel and facilities. While a Stratfor analyst, he was appointed to the Board Security Council and served as the Assistant Director of Intelligence & Counterterrorism at the Texas Department of Public Safety. Burton is also the author of three books, most recently Under Fire: The Untold story of the Attack in Benghazi (St. Martin’s, 2013), which was a New York Times best-seller and provides the first detailed account of the infamous assault in Libya in September, 2012.
Robert Chesney
Professor
School of Law, The University of Texas at Austin
Friday Morning Panel Discussion
Bobby Chesney is the Director of the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also holds positions as the Charles I. Francis Professor in Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the School of Law. The Strauss Center maintains research programs on a broad array of topics, including several touching upon energy and geopolitics. Professor Chesney is a former member of the Advanced Technology Board and the Intelligence Science Board, and has testified before Congress on national security affairs on many occasions. In addition to his positions at the University of Texas, he is a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution, a member of the American Law Institute, and a senior editor for the Journal of National Security Law & Policy. He is a co-founder and contributor to www.lawfareblog.com, the leading source for analysis, commentary, and news relating to law and national security. He is a magna cum laude graduate of both Texas Christian University and Harvard Law School.
Ken Cohen
Vice President Public and Government Affairs
Exxon Mobil Corporation
Communication Issues for the Energy Sector
Kenneth P. Cohen is the Vice President of Public and Government Affairs for Exxon Mobil Corporation. Mr. Cohen has worldwide responsibility for the Company’s government relations, communications, media relations, global community relations and corporate brand activities.
Mr. Cohen joined the Company’s legal department in 1977 after serving as an Assistant Professor of Law at Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis. He held a variety of staff assignments and, in 1985, he became Chief Attorney, Refining, Environment and Health. In 1989, he was named Assistant General Counsel, Exxon Company International; in 1991, he became Senior Counsel and Coordinator, Exxon Corporation Law Department. In 1995, he became General Counsel, Exxon Chemical Company; and in November 1999, he was named to his current position.
Mr. Cohen did his undergraduate work at Northwestern University and earned his J.D. degree from Baylor Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Baylor Law Review. He earned his LL.M. from Yale Law School, where he was a Sterling Fellow.
Mr. Cohen is a member of numerous professional associations and serves on the Board of Directors of the Teagle Foundation and Vogel Alcove. In addition, he is on the executive committee of the United States Council for International Business, National Trustee for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the Board of Trustees for the Council on Foreign Relations.
Margaret Cook, Energy Week Co-Chair
President
Longhorn Energy Club
Opening Remarks
Margaret is a PhD student studying Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. As graduate research assistant under the supervision of Dr. Michael E. Webber, she studies the effects of water constraints on power generation and fuel extraction. While in graduate school, Margaret has interned in the Texas House of Representatives through the Environment & Energy Internship Program of Texas as the Legislative Intern for the House Energy Caucus, in the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the Department of Energy as a part of the Archer Center Graduate Program in Public Policy, in the Environmental Services Department at Austin Energy, and as an Environmental Intern for Apache Corp.—a position she received because of work she presented at the 2014 UT Energy Forum. She received her Masters of Science in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, Masters of Public Affairs, and Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from UT.
John Corrigan
Partner
Strategy&
Financing of Oil and Gas Projects
John Corrigan is a partner in Strategy&’s Dallas office aligned to the firm’s energy, chemicals, and utilities practice. His main focus is on natural gas midstream and energy markets, and he has worked with public and government-owned utilities in the U.S. and Canada.
He co-authored a strategy+business article on unconventional gas discovery, “Big Oil and the Natural Gas Bonanza”.
John joined Strategy& in 2004 from Deloitte. Prior to consulting, John spent 10 years in the energy industry working primarily in the midstream and markets area with roles in trading, business development, and finance, including one year as CFO at Aurora Natural Gas. He holds an MBA and a BA in Economics from the University of Texas.
Christi Craddick
Chair
Texas Railroad Commission
Monday Lunch Keynote Speaker
Christi Craddick is in the forefront of the newest wave of pragmatic conservatives moving into leadership roles across Texas. Raised in a strong conservative household, retained as legal counsel by prominent Texas firms, and shaped by more than a decade as a trusted political adviser, Christi has set a clear standard of integrity, self-reliance and innovation in her role as Chair of the Texas Railroad Commission.
Since her tenure on the Commission began in November 2012, Craddick has pushed to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of an energy industry that is driving the state’s unparalleled economic success. In the process, she has repeatedly proven that sensible regulations, careful listening and plain talk can foster innovation that has solidified Texas leadership in the energy sector.
Making it a top priority, Christi has worked to educate the public about the oil and gas industry and its impact in Texas. She has fought against Washington’s one-size-fits-all environmental policies that would kill jobs and stifle energy production growth. Christi has advocated for recycling in the oilfields, helping to drive the percentage of reclaimed water upwards, an essential achievement in a state enduring a multi-year drought.
As part of her efforts to modernize the agency, Christi has championed an Information Technology (IT) overhaul for the Commission, seeking improvements that would upgrade the Geographic Information System, increase public access to the agency’s data, and speed up inspections and permitting times.
A native of Midland, Christi earned both her Bachelor’s Degree as a Plan II graduate and her Doctorate of Jurisprudence from The University of Texas at Austin. During her career as an attorney, she specialized in oil and gas, water, tax issues, electric deregulation and environmental policy.
Following the example of her father and mother, Craddick has been drawn to public service and politics. As president of a grassroots advocacy firm, she took the lead on work in coalition building in the public policy arena and development and implementation of issue strategies.
Christi serves her community as an active member of organizations including the State Bar of Texas, University of Texas Liberal Arts Alumni Advisory Council, and Dell Children’s Medical Center Foundation. Christi resides in Austin with her daughter, Catherine, and is an active member of St. Austin’s Catholic Church.
Roger Duncan
former General Manager
Austin Energy
The Future of Electricity Generation & Utilities
Roger Duncan is a Research Fellow with the Energy Institute and a Research Associate at the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at The University of Texas at Austin. In addition, Roger serves on the Board of Directors of the Alliance to Save Energy, and is Chairman of the Board of the Pecan Street Project, an Austin smart grid initiative.
A former General Manager of Austin Energy, the municipal utility for Austin, Texas, Roger was twice elected to the Austin City Council, serving from 1981 to 1985. In 2005, Business Week magazine recognized Roger as one of the top 20 carbon reducers in the world. He has a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin with a major in philosophy.
Robin Dunnigan
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy
U.S. Department of State
Friday Morning Panel Discussion
Robin Dunnigan is a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service, currently serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy in the Department of State’s Bureau of Energy Resources. Ms. Dunnigan oversees the bureau’s Office of Middle East and Asia and the Office of Europe, the Western Hemisphere and Africa. During her 22-year career in the Foreign Service, Ms. Dunnigan has served overseas in Vietnam, Chile, Turkey, Cuba and El Salvador. In Washington, she worked in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and on the staff of the Secretary of State in the 24-hour Operations Center.
Ms. Dunnigan is a distinguished graduate of the National War College, where she earned a Master of Science in National Security Strategy. She also received a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley. Ms. Dunnigan speaks Spanish, as well as some Turkish and Vietnamese.
James Dyer
Professor
Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management, The McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin
Assessment of the Full Cost of Electricity
James Dyer received his B.A. and Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin. His research and teaching interests include risk management, multiple criteria decision making, and capital budgeting.
Thomas Edgar, Energy Week Co-Chair
Director
Energy Institute, The University of Texas at Austin
Opening Remarks
Professor Thomas F. Edgar, a chemical engineer who has been on The University of Texas at Austin faculty for more than 40 years, serves as the director of the Energy Institute. Edgar holds the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Chair in Chemical Engineering. He received his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Kansas and the Ph.D. from Princeton University. He served as Department Chair of Chemical Engineering (1985-93), Associate Dean of Engineering (1993-96), and Associate Vice President for Academic Computing (1996-2001) at UT Austin. For the past 40 years, Edgar has concentrated his academic work in process modeling, control, and optimization. He has published over 450 articles and book chapters. He has supervised the thesis research of over 45 M.S. and 80 Ph.D. students. Edgar has co-authored the textbooks Coal Processing and Pollution Control Technology (Gulf Publishing, 1983), Optimization of Chemical Processes (McGraw-Hill, 2001) and Process Dynamics and Control (Wiley, 2010). He was President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) in 1997. He is board secretary of Pecan Street Inc. in Austin, Texas, which deals with renewable energy and smart grids. He is a member of the National Academy Engineering. Dr. Edgar’s current energy research covers renewable energy, combined heat and power, energy storage, and improved oil recovery (www.che.utexas.edu/edgar_group). In the area of teaching, Edgar initiated a popular engineering elective, “Energy Technology and Policy,” in 2005 and has co-taught a similar signature course for students outside of engineering.
Lois Epstein
Engineer & Arctic Program Director
The Wilderness Society
Arctic/Frontier Drilling – Safety, Regulation & Environmental Issues
Lois N. Epstein, P.E., an Alaska-licensed engineer, is Arctic Program Director for The Wilderness Society, a national conservation organization. Her efforts focus on ensuring that onshore and offshore Arctic oil and gas operations are as safe and environmentally-sound as possible and protecting sensitive areas from new resource development. Previously, Ms. Epstein was a private consultant on environmental and policy issues and a senior engineer for several national and regional non-profit organizations. Ms. Epstein has presented invited testimony before the U.S. Congress on over a dozen occasions, largely focusing on release prevention in the oil and gas sector. Additionally, she has served on several federal advisory committees covering offshore operations, pipeline safety, and refineries. Ms. Epstein has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. In May 2010, Ms. Epstein advised the Department of the Interior on its safety report to the President following BP’s Gulf spill.
Ms. Epstein has a masters’ degree from Stanford University in Civil Engineering with a specialization in environmental engineering and science, and undergraduate degrees from both Amherst College (English) and MIT (mechanical engineering).
Cris Eugster
Group Executive Vice President, Chief Generation and Strategy Officer
CPS Energy
The Future of Electricity Generation & Utilities
Cris Eugster leads the Generation and Strategy Group for CPS Energy, one of the nation’s largest municipally-owned utilities with over 730,000 electric customers and 325,000 gas customers. CPS Energy is vertically integrated and includes generation, transmission and distribution, and retail services with annual revenues of over $2 billion and total assets of over $10 billion. Cris is responsible for the overall operations, dispatch, and evolution of CPS Energy’s generation capabilities that include approximately 6,500 MW of traditional power plants (natural gas, nuclear, and coal) and 1,100 MW of renewables (wind, solar, and landfill gas). The Generation and Strategy Group includes energy supply and market operations to serve retail load and to support ERCOT wholesale transactions.
Cris also leads overall corporate strategy, integrated resource planning, new products and services, research & development, and environmental oversight, driving the transformation of CPS Energy into a strong, innovative 21st century power provider. The strategy has led to significant investments in low carbon capabilities such as combined cycle natural gas, wind, and solar, in addition to large scale demand response programs and innovative smart grid solutions. CPS Energy is nationally recognized for its efforts in the New Energy Economy and has won numerous awards.
Cris sits on a number of Boards including the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) and Mission Verde Alliance. Past Boards have included Build SA Green, Solar San Antonio, Texas Renewable Energy Industry Association (TREIA), DOE State Energy Advisory Board, and the Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
Prior to coming to San Antonio, Cris was the first Chief Officer for Sustainable Growth for the City of Houston as part of Mayor Bill White’s team. Cris was also a Partner with McKinsey & Company, an international management consulting firm. He received his PhD and MS in Electrical Engineering from MIT focused on quantum transport research in nanostructures. He received his BS in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University with Magna Cum Laude honors.
Michelle Michot Foss
Chief Energy Economist
Bureau of Economic Geology’s Center for Energy Economics, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
Financing of Oil and Gas Projects
Mexican Energy Reform: Transforming a National Industry Panel Discussion
Michelle Michot Foss is the Chief Energy Economist, Bureau of Economic Geology’s Center for Energy Economics, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Foss has more than 35 years of experience; advises U.S. and international energy companies; publishes and speaks widely; provides public commentary and testimony. Expertise includes global oil and gas, LNG, gas-power, energy scenarios and outlooks. She developed and led U.S. and foreign projects including corporate funded research and consortia (U.S-Mexico gas, North America gas-power, global gas and power, North American LNG), USAID/U.S. Department of State (Central Asia, South Asia, West Africa), U.S. Department of Energy (oil markets, U.S.-China Oil and Gas Industry Forum, Iraq oil and gas), World Bank (NCOs) and research and training contracts by sponsoring organizations in Japan, Mexico, Trinidad, Tobago and Angola. Dr. Foss is an executive instructor, UT McCombs School of Business corporate energy programs; co-developer of UT-ExxonMobil global upstream commercial overview program and recipient of ExxonMobil Teaching Excellence award 2013. She holds degrees from University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Colorado School of Mines, and University of Houston.
Jeff Fleeman
Director, Advanced Transmission Studies & Technologies
American Electric Power
Wednesday Morning Speaker
Jeff Fleeman is Director of Advanced Transmission Studies and Technologies at American Electric Power. AEP serves over five million customers, operating in 11 states and three regional transmission organizations. AEPs assets include 39,000 miles of transmission lines and 3,500 T&D substations. Fleeman is responsible for system dynamic analysis, asset performance and renewal programs, transmission technology strategy and deployment, and HVDC/FACTs systems. He has BSEE and MSEE degrees from The Ohio State University. Jeff chairs the Electric Power Research Institutes (EPRI) Transmission & Substation Advisory Council and is the co-chair of the Power System Electric Research Centers (PSERC) Transmission & Distribution Stem. He chaired the Edison Electric Institutes (EEI) Transmission Committee from 2005-2007 and continues to serve on their executive council. Fleeman is a senior member of IEEE and its Power and Energy Society (PES), where he is the Ohio PES Chapters Chair and also Chairs the PES Region 2 Scholarship Plus Committee. Jeff is a member of CIGRE and is a registered PE in Ohio.
Tom Gardner
Managing Director, Global Corporate and Investment Banking Group
Merrill Lynch
Financing of Oil and Gas Projects
Tom currently serves as Managing Director in the Global Corporate and Investment Banking Group for Merrill Lynch focusing on energy upstream acquisitions and divestitures. He has more than 26 years of upstream E&P experience with Southwestern Energy, Ryder Scott, ExxonMobil and Arco Alaska and was a Director of E&P Research and registered equity analyst at energy niche investment bank Simmons & Company International. He is a Registered Professional Engineer and former Chairman of the Houston Chapter of the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers. He holds and B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University and an MBA from the Mays Business School, Texas A&M. Tom currently resides in The Woodlands, Texas.
John Goodenough
Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
Wednesday Morning Speaker: “Rechargeable Batteries Old and New”
After receiving a Ph.D. in physics in 1952, John B. Goodenough was a Group Leader at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory where he helped to develop the ferrimagnetic spinels used in the first RAM memory of the digital computer. In the course of this work, he identified structural transitions caused by cooperative orbital ordering and he developed the rules for the sign of the interatomic spin-spin magnetic interactions. In the subsequent decade, Goodenough explored the magnetic and transport properties of transition-metal compounds, including the transition from localized to itinerant electron behavior where strong electron-lattice interactions give rise to static or dynamic charge-density waves. These studies were summarized in his two books Magnetism and the Chemical Bond and Les oxydes des métaux de transition, translated from his long review titled Metallic Oxides. With the first oil crisis in the early 1970s, Goodenough turned to the study of energy materials. Called in 1976 to head the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory of the University of Oxford, UK, he developed in England the layered Li1-xCoO2 for the cathode of a rechargeable Li-ion battery; it was used in the battery of the first cell telephone marketed by the SONY Corporation that launched the wireless revolution. Goodenough subsequently identified two other transition-metal oxide structures, spinel and ordered olivine, as potential cathodes material; that are also used as cathodes in commercial Li-ion batteries. In 1986, Goodenough took the Virginia H. Cockrell Centennial Chair of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin where he has returned to his fundamental studies of transition-metal oxides and their use as electrodes of Li-ion batteries and the solid-oxide fuel cell.
For more info, see http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2014/12/john-goodenough.
Steve Hagle
Deputy Director, Office of Air
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Climate Change: Environmental and Economic Conflicts
Steve graduated from Oklahoma State University with a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering. Prior to joining the Texas Air Control Board in 1987, he worked for NL Industries conducting laboratory evaluation of enhanced oil recovery prospects and field work with Measurement-While-Drilling well logging tools. While with the TCEQ, Steve has also worked in the New Source Review Permits Division as a permit engineer, technical specialist, and manager of the Chemical and Technical Specialist Sections; in the Office of Air Quality deputy’s office; and as the director and assistant director of the Air Permits Division.
Darren Hammell
Co-founder and Chief Strategic Officer
Princeton Power Systems
Policy implications of increasing energy storage on the grid
Mr. Hammell graduated with honors from Princeton University with a B.S.E. in Computer Science.
After winning first place in the 2001 Princeton University Business Plan Contest, he co-founded Princeton Power Systems.
Mr. Hammell has served in various roles at PPS as President & CEO, Executive Vice President of Business Development, and currently Chief Strategic Officer.
He was named one of Red Herring Magazine’s “Young Moguls” in 2005 and NJ-BIZ’s “Forty Under 40” business leaders in New Jersey the same year. He is a member of the State of New Jersey’s Clean Energy/Clean Technology Industry Workforce Advisory Council and a Founding Trustee of the non-profit New Jersey Solar Industry Manufacturer’s Association. He joined the Einstein’s Alley Board of Directors in 2012, and the New Jersey Technology Council Board of Directors the same year.
Kevin Howell
Chairman of the Board
Illinois Power Generating Company
Natural Gas: King for a Day or Here to Stay?
Mr. Howell has over 35 years of industry experience. He is an accomplished power and natural gas executive with extensive commercial leadership at the executive levels of affiliates of Duke Energy, Dominion Resources, NRG Energy and Dynegy. Following a brief retirement from NRG in 2010, Mr. Howell most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Dynegy, where he ran commercial and plant operations as well as environmental health and safety. Mr. Howell retired from Dynegy in January of 2013. Mr. Howell currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Illinois Power Generating Company, an affiliate of Dynegy. Mr. Howell has previously served on the Board of Directors for Entrust Energy, a privately held energy retailer and Nanosolar, a thin film solar manufacturer.
Ron Hulme
Chief Executive Officer
Parallel Resource Partners
Financing of Oil and Gas Projects
Ron Hulme is the Chief Executive Officer of Parallel Resource Partners, a private equity firm that is focused on upstream North American oil and gas. Parallel closed its first fund in early 2012 and has equity commitments of approximately $860 million. From late 2008 until early 2011, Ron served as the Chief Executive Officer of Carlson Capital, a $9 billion AUM multi-strategy hedge fund and co-sponsor, along with Bluescape Resources, of Parallel Resource Partners.
Prior to joining Carlson, Ron spent 26 years at McKinsey & Co. where he served many industry leading energy and private equity clients. He led several of McKinsey’s Practice Groups, including the Global Corporate Finance Practice, the Global Risk Practice, the Global Strategy Practice, the Americas Oil and Gas Practice, and the Houston Office. Ron was also an active leader in McKinsey’s internal governance, having served in the Office of the Managing Director and as a member of the Firm’s Shareholders Council (the Firm’s elected Board).
Ron earned a BBA degree from the University of Texas and an MBA degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. He is an active board member of several non-profit organizations including Texas Children’s Hospital (Past Chairman), the Alley Theatre, the University of Texas Energy Institute, and the Advisory Board of the UT McCombs School of Business.
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Former United States Senator
Friday Morning Speaker
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is a businesswoman and public servant. She is senior counsel at Bracewell & Giuliani LLP and represents clients in banking, energy, public policy, telecommunications, and transportation. In January 2013, she stepped down from her seat in the United States Senate, where she was the first woman to represent the State of Texas. During her twenty years in the Senate, she focused on energy issues, including research and initiatives to encourage investment and innovation in the energy sector. Prior to her Senate service, Senator Hutchison was elected Texas State Treasurer in 1990 and to the Texas House of Representatives in 1972 where she was the first Republican woman ever elected to that body. She served in the Texas House until 1976 when she was appointed by President Gerald Ford to serve as vice-chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business, an innovative interdisciplinary joint venture of the School of Law and the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, was established by the UT System Board of Regents in 2014. The Center’s mission is to expand educational opportunities that the university offers its students interested in pursuing careers in energy, as well as to provide critical analyses of business, legal, and policy questions related to energy with special emphasis on Latin America.Senator Hutchison is a distinguished University of Texas alumna (B.A, J.D) and staunch advocate for excellence in higher education.
Debbie Kimberly
Vice President, Customer Energy Solutions
Austin Energy
Thursday Morning Keynote: “New Programs, Enhanced Approaches to Meeting Customer Energy Needs at Austin Energy”
Deborah Kimberly joined Austin Energy in January, 2013 as the Vice President of Customer Energy Solutions. Her organization is responsible for the utility’s energy efficiency and demand response programs, solar program, green building and advanced transportation, market analytics and the key accounts function.
Kimberly has worked in the utility industry for over 30 years, and spent more than 22 years at Salt River Project. Most recently, she was SRP’s Director of Customer Programs and Marketing, where she had responsibility for energy efficiency product design and implementation; marketing of all products, price plans and services; measurement & evaluation and market research. Previous positions included managing SRP’s financial services organization and involvement in public policy and strategic planning initiatives.
Kimberly earned her B.A. degree in International Relations from Stanford University and her Master’s in International Management from Thunderbird.
Kimberly serves on the EPRI Power Delivery Unit Sector Council, SPEER’s (South Central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource) Board of Directors and Commission on Energy Efficiency, the Program Advisory Committee of the Consortium for Energy Efficiency and is an Executive Sponsor of the Austin Energy Pecan Street Working Group and the Texas Fuel Independence Projects.
Bob King
President
Good Company Associates
Policy implications of increasing energy storage on the grid
Bob King is the founder and president of Good Company Associates. King has provided visionary leadership on state and local policy in the areas of energy and electric utilities policy since 1972. King founded Good Company Associates in 1991, and the firm has played an important role in the evolution of utility policy, including electric restructuring, advanced meter infrastructure and smart energy technology, demand response, energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy storage, and distributed generation.
Under King’s leadership, Good Company provides insightful business development support and assistance to emerging energy technology companies, and established companies wishing to offer new energy products and services in Texas. He helped develop the first commercial-scale wind farm in Texas and the first transmission ‘wheeling’ project in 1995, prior to the advent of wholesale competition. He helped launch a number of ‘smart-energy’ companies, and developed innovative market strategies for a range of technology and service providers.
King served as a Vice President of Resource Management International, now Navigant Consulting, and regional director of KENETECH Corporation. King also had a 20-year career in government, serving as the youngest senior manager at the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1979, and as an energy policy advisor to the Chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission, and the Lt. Governor and Governor of Texas. He was also an energy policy advisor to the Governor of California for two years.
King was the founder of a number of organizations including the Texas Solar Energy Society in 1977 and the Texas Renewable Energy Industry Association in 1983. King was a member of the Texas Governor’s Sustainable Energy Development Commission in 1992. King helped establish the Center for Commercialization of Electric Technologies (CCET), the South Central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource (SPEER), and the Texas Energy Storage Alliance (TESA). King is a current board member and Vice President of the Gulf Coast Power Association, a board member of the National Peak Load Management Alliance, and a member of the Association of Energy Service Professionals and the Association of Energy Engineers. He is also a member of the board and past Chairman of the Texas Council on At-Risk Youth.
King is a graduate of Vanderbilt University’s Engineering School and the University of Texas’ LBJ School of Public Affairs. He is a registered engineer and trained mediator.
Rebecca Klein
Principal
Klein Energy, LLC
Wednesday Lunch Keynote: “New Customer Engagement Models”
Rebecca Klein is Principal of Klein Energy, LLC, an energy consulting company based in Austin, Texas. Her clients include international and domestic companies focused on penetrating or expanding, in the North American power sector whose needs concern regulatory, commercial, financial and/or government affairs expertise. Over the last twenty years she has worked in Washington, DC and in Texas in the energy, water and national security arenas.
Prior to starting her own company in 2006, Ms. Klein was the Chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas during which time she oversaw the restructuring of the State’s $36 billion electric power industry. She worked extensively with other State PUC commissioners and Federal regulators on issues related to power, water and critical infrastructure protection. From 2007 to 2013, Ms. Klein was Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Lower Colorado River Authority, the largest river authority in Texas. During her tenure she helped shepherd advances in the way LCRA implements water management, water permitting and water rate methods. While at the LCRA, she interacted extensively with Federal and State authorities to enhance funding levels and to seek regulatory efficiency. Following the World Trade Center bombings in 2001, Ms. Klein was appointed to the Texas Homeland Defense Task Force which was tasked to identify and mitigate security vulnerabilities for the State across power, water and telecommunications assets.
Ms. Klein has worked previously in Washington, DC and continues to engage in federal issues for her clients as they relate to power and water. She first arrived to the Nation’s Capital in 1988 as one of twelve people selected nationally to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Fellowship Program during which time she worked for the Secretary of the Air Force’s Legislative Affairs Office. From 1989-1992, she worked in the White House in the Office of Presidential Personnel where she assisted in recruiting and recommending sub-cabinet level presidential appointees in the national security arena of government. She served as Associate Director at the U.S. Trade Development Agency, from 1992-1993, overseeing the agency’s accounts in multi-national development banks. From 1996-1997, Ms. Klein worked at the American Enterprise Institute undertaking legal research in current telecommunications issues. She was then hired as a Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Ms. Klein also worked for Bearing Point Consulting, spearheading the start-up of their Government Affairs & Industry Relations Office.
Presently, Ms. Klein sits on the Board of Directors of Avista Corporation, a publicly-traded utility headquartered in Spokane, WA. Other Boards on which she currently sits include the for-profit company, National Institute for Renewable Energy, and the non-profit, Power Across Texas. She has previously served as a Diversity Advisory Committee Member for the Federal Communications Commission.
Ms. Klein retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve in January 2015. She is a veteran of Desert Storm where she served in Saudi Arabia. She received her academic training at Stanford University (B.A., Biology); Georgetown University (M.A., National Security Studies); and St. Mary’s Law School (J.D.). She is fluent in Spanish having grown up partly in Venezuela and Mexico. She is a native of San Antonio, TX.
Adrián Lajous
Senior Fellow
Center for Global Energy Policy, Columbia University
Mexican Energy Reform: Transforming a National Industry Panel Discussion
Adrián Lajous is a Senior Fellow of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. He serves on the Board of Trustees for El Colegio de México. Until April 2014 he was Chairman of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and a Director of Schlumberger. Adrián Lajous has also served on the board of Repsol. Tenaris, the Comisión Federal de Electricidad and a number of Mexican industrial and financial corporations. From 2001 to 2011 he was senior energy advisor to McKinsey & Company. In 1994 Adrián Lajous was appointed Director General of Pemex (CEO) and Chairman of the boards of the Pemex group of operating companies. He stepped down from this position in December 1999. Adrián Lajous taught at El Colegio de México (1971-76). In 1983 he moved on to Pemex where he held a succession of key executive positions: Executive Coordinator for International Trade, Corporate Director of Planning, Corporate Director for Operations (COO) and Director of Refining and Marketing. Mr. Lajous holds degrees in Economics from the National University of Mexico and Cambridge University.
Dan Lashof
Chief Operating Officer
NextGen Climate America Inc.
Climate Change: Environmental and Economic Conflicts
Dan Lashof is the Chief Operating Officer of NextGen Climate America Inc. and an NRDC Senior Fellow. His main focus is solutions to global warming, in particular developing federal and state regulations to place enforceable limits on carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping pollutants. He has participated in scientific assessments of global warming through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and has monitored international climate negotiations since their inception. He earned my bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics at Harvard and has a doctorate from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. He became an environmentalist the first time he went backpacking on the continental divide above Boulder, Colorado. He recently moved back to Berkeley with his wife Diane and their dog Diva. They have three adult sons. He enjoy bicycling, hiking, and skiing when there is enough snow.
Colin Leyden
State Regulatory and Legislative Affairs Senior Manager, Natural Gas
Environmental Defense Fund
Natural Gas: King for a Day or Here to Stay?
Colin oversees EDF’s efforts to improve environmental performance and oversight of oil and natural gas production activities in Texas. He manages technical experts and policy advocates, and works with state officials, industry partners and NGOs.
Colin has more than 12 years of policy and public advocacy experience in Texas. Prior to joining EDF, Colin was a Managing Director at the public affairs firm, DCI Group, where he primarily consulted with generation and retail energy companies in the Texas competitive market. He has also worked for the Texas House of Representatives and Senate, directed a statewide environmental organization, and run communications for a statewide political campaign.
Colin holds a B.S. in Communications from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.
Anna Lising
Manager of Regulatory Affairs and Market Development
Opower
How Smartgrids Enable Consumers
Anna Lising is a Manager of Regulatory Affairs and Market Development at Opower. Anna leads Opower’s regulatory and policy strategy throughout the southeast region, including Texas. Anna joined Opower in 2013. Prior to joining Opower, Anna served in policy advisor and program management roles with various organizations, including the U.S. Department of Energy and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Anna holds a Masters degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington.
Robert Manning
Senior Fellow
Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security and its Strategic Foresight Initiative at the Atlantic Council
Friday Morning Panel Discussion
Robert A. Manning is a senior fellow with the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security and its Strategic Foresight Initiative at the Atlantic Council. He is author of Envisioning 2030: US Strategy for a Post-Western World, The Shale Revolution and the New Geopolitics of Energy and other studies of global trends. He served as senior strategist, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) National Counterproliferation Center, 2010-2012 and director, long-range energy and regional/global affairs, US National Intelligence Council, Strategic Futures Group, 2008-2010. From 2005-2008, he served as a member of the secretary’s Policy Planning Staff, Department of State and from 2001-2005 he was senior counselor, energy, technology and science policy, Department of State, where he advised the undersecretary of state for global affairs and other senior officials on a range of issues including: energy and climate change policy; and new energy technologies. From 1997-2001, he was director of Asian studies and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He led several CFR task forces including the Korea Task Force and The Southeast Asia Task Force among others. His publications at CFR include The Asian Energy Factor (Palgrave/St. Martins 2000); China, Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control; essays on nuclear weapons, numerous journal articles on international energy and Asian security issues; and roughly half a dozen book chapters in edited volumes on China, Korea, Japan, regional security architecture, energy and energy security.
He was previously an advisor for policy and public diplomacy to the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs at the Department of State. From 1988-1989, he was an advisor to the Office of the Secretary of Defense
Mel Martinez
Former United States Senator
Friday Lunch Keynote Speaker
Mel Martinez is Chairman of the Southeast U.S. and Latin America for JPMorgan Chase & Co. Senator Martinez was elected to the United States Senate in 2004. Representing Florida as a U.S. Senator, Martinez served on several committees including Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Armed Services and Foreign Affairs. While serving in the Senate, Senator Martinez led efforts to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and was a trusted voice on foreign policy issues throughout the Western Hemisphere. Prior to his time in the Senate, Senator Martinez served as the 12th Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As the first Cuban-American to serve in a President’s cabinet, he became known for his efforts to increase homeownership for all Americans and his aggressive efforts to end chronic homelessness. Senator Martinez also served as Mayor of Orange County (Orlando, FL) and prior to his public service, he practiced law for 25 years. He received both his B.S. and J.D. degrees from Florida State University. In addition to his role with JPMorgan Chase, he is actively involved on housing policy reform discussions as co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Commission. Mel also serves on the boards of Marriott Vacations Worldwide as Lead Director and NVR, Inc.
Brewster McCracken
President and CEO
Pecan Street
Wednesday Morning Speaker
Brewster McCracken is president and CEO of Pecan Street, a research and commercialization institute focused on the utility industry and headquartered at The University of Texas. In July 2014, Time Magazine described Pecan Street’s work as “the most extensive energy-tracking study in U.S. history. . . That kind of data is unprecedented in the electricity industry. . . The Pecan Street team is already using it to upend long-held theories about electricity use.” Mr. McCracken was one of three global smart grid project leaders invited by the government of Japan to present at the one-year anniversary conference for the reconstruction of Fukushima in March 2012. In 2013, Smart Grid Today named him one of the nation’s “50 Smart Grid Pioneers,” and GreenBiz.com named him to its VERGE 25 list of 25 U.S. smart grid leaders. He is the author of numerous research reports on customer energy use. He was elected to two terms on the Austin City Council, serving in a city-wide at large position. Through his elected position, he served as a board member of Austin Energy and Austin Water, founded and chaired the city council’s Emerging Technologies Committee and led the city’s collaboration with The University of Texas to establish technology incubators in bioscience and wireless technologies. Prior to holding elected office, he practiced commercial litigation for nearly a decade with two large international law firms. He is an honors graduate of The University of Texas School of Law and Princeton University, and he holds a master’s degree in public affairs from UT’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.
Lin McGroary
Energy Week Co-Chairman
Longhorn Energy Club
Lin is a graduate student in the Energy & Earth Resources program at the Jackson School of Geosciences. Her research interests include financing of energy projects, land leasing for oil and gas exploration and the negotiation of international petroleum contracts. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from The University of Sheffield, and has previously studied at Copenhagen Business School. Lin is also the current Alumni and Professional Development Chair for the Energy Resources Group.
Colin Meehan
Director of Regulatory and Public Affairs
First Solar
Climate Change: Environmental and Economic Conflicts
Colin Meehan is Director of Regulatory and Public Affairs at First Solar, with responsibility over Texas and the eastern U.S. Most recently, Mr. Meehan led Comverge, Inc.’s demand response regulatory and market strategy in Texas and California. Prior experience includes serving as Environmental Defense Fund’s Policy Manager for U.S. Climate and Energy; Wholesale Settlement Analyst for the Lower Colorado River Authority focusing on ERCOT nodal market implementation; and as a wholesale power markets analyst for ICF International where he was the lead analyst for the development of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative IPM model.
Mr. Meehan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Math and Economics from the University of Rochester and a Master of Science degree in Energy and Earth Resources from the University of Texas at Austin.
Prachi Mehta
Energy Week Co-Chairman
Longhorn Energy Club
Prachi is a graduate student in petroleum engineering at the Cockrell School of Engineering, UT Austin. She is a graduate research assistant working in the nanoparticles for subsurface engineering (NSE) group at PGE. Also, she interned in the nanotechnology group at Baker Hughes over the summer. Her current research involves application of nanoparticles for heating applications in the oil & gas industry. Prior to this, she did her bachelors in petroleum refining technology and worked at the world’s largest grass-roots refinery, Reliance Industries Ltd., India. Prachi’s interest in oil & gas has inspired her to advance her learning and encompass all fields of petroleum – from downstream to upstream. On a personal level, she loves exploring new places and write stories.
Bernardo Mendez
Product Manager
Active Power
How Smartgrids Enable Consumers
Bernardo Mendez serves as product manager for Active Power’s flywheel energy storage products that are engineered for smart grid and microgrid applications.
A well respected and skilled strategist in the energy storage and data center infrastructure space, Mendez has more than 17 years in various domestic and international roles in engineering, sales, and product management.
Prior to Active Power, Mendez served as marketing manager at 3M working closely with their Smart Grid and Power Quality Strategies teams and before this was product manager at Eaton Corp. in their Electrical Division. While at Eaton, Mendez managed the organization’s 200 to 1000 kVA UPS platform for both transformer based and transformerless UPS product lines.
Mendez earned a master’s in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Technology Institute of Higher Learning (ITESM) in Monterrey, Mexico.
Emmanuel Monnerie
Technical Implementation Manager
Landis+Gyr
How Smartgrids Enable Consumers
Emmanuel Monnerie is a Technical Implementation Manager at Landis+Gyr, a Toshiba company. He is responsible for managing the deployment and integration of Smart Grid systems for large and small utilities throughout the world. Prior to his current position, Emmanuel occupied different Smart Grid engineering positions within companies such as Schlumberger and Atos Origin and has a combined Smart Grid experience of 17 years. Emmanuel also holds several US patents in the field of Smart Grid and has been recognized as a key contributor for the definition and adoption of the IEEE Smart Utility Network telecommunication standard 802.15.4g/e.
Ali Moshiri
President
Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company
Friday Morning Panel Discussion
Ali Moshiri is the president of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company. Mr. Moshiri joined Chevron in 1978 as a reservoir engineer and later became a drilling engineer. He has held several postions while working with Chevron including; reservior engineer, drilling engineer, senior production engineer, supervisor of Reservoir and Facilities Engineering for Chevron Energy Technology Company, manager of Technical Applications for Chevron Overseas Petroleum in the UK, supervisor of Petroleum Engineering, general manager of Strategic Planning and Assets Evaluation and managing director of Chevron Latin American Exploration and Production Company where he was responsible for upstream operations in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela. Mr. Moshiri graduated from the University of Tulsa with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in petroleum engineering. He is a member of the Jones Graduate School Council of Overseers at Rice University; serves on the Advisory Board of Spindletop International Charities; serves on the boards of the Council of Americas, the Institute of the Americas the Trust for the Americas, the Organization of American States, the William J. Clinton Foundation’s Presidential Advisory Council on Economic Growth and Investment for Haiti and the Houston Zoo; is chariman of the Niger Delta Partnership Initiative; and was chairman of the Venezuelan Association of Hydrocarbons from 2005 to 2006.
James Murphy
Executive Director of Water Resources and Utility Operations
Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority
The Impact of Water Resources on Energy Technology
James Lee Murphy, Esq. is the Executive Director of Water Resources and Utility Operations for the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority. A graduate of Tulane University and the Tulane University School of Law, James practiced law in the oil and gas industry, served as an administrative law judge for the Texas Water Commission, and represented the Trinity River Authority as general counsel for 16 years. He has been with GBRA for over seven years. James has served on the State Bar of Texas’ Board of Legal Specialization in Administrative Law, is a past president of the San Antonio Bar Association Environmental Law Section, and serves on the Guadalupe Bay and Basin Stakeholder Committee, and the South Central Texas Regional Water Planning Group among other professional and civic endeavors.
Mica Odom
Communications Director
US Climate and Energy Program, Environmental Defense Fund
Communication Issues for the Energy Sector
Mica Odom is the Communications Director for Environmental Defense Fund’s US Climate and Energy Program. She leads the program’s multi-channel communications strategy, with an emphasis on clean energy. Mica oversees traditional and social media activities, the creation of digital and print marketing materials, and the development of compelling messaging and content to help the program meet its goals.
Prior to joining EDF, Mica worked for Meridian Solar as the company’s Government & Public Division Manager, leading crucial bidding processes and funding procurement efforts to secure new business as well as developing and coordinating governmental relations, marketing, PR, and social networking initiatives. Mica has also worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Clinton Climate Initiative, at a leading advertising agency, GSD&M, and for the Texas House of Representatives during the 79th and 80th Texas Legislative Sessions. She is a mentor and co-chairs the Mentor Leadership Council for Explore Austin and serves on EDF’s Sustainability Council.
Mica holds a M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.S. in Psychology from Southern Methodist University.
Sheila Olmstead
Associate Professor
LBJ School of Public Affairs
Assessment of the Full Cost of Electricity
Sheila Olmstead received her B.A. From the University of Virginia, Masters from The University of Texas at Austin, and PhD from Harvard University. Her research and teaching interests include environmental and natural resource economics and policy, with a focus on water and energy resources.
Aboyi Olokpo
Global Product Champion for Rotary Steerable Systems
Schlumberger Drilling and Measurements
Arctic/Frontier Drilling – Safety, Regulation & Environmental Issues
Aboyi Olokpo, based in Houston, is the Global Product Champion for Rotary Steerable Systems with Schlumberger Drilling and Measurements. He began his career with the company in Aberdeen in 1998 as a Drilling Services Engineer and has held several positions in Service Delivery, Operations Management, Quality and Sales management in various locations in Europe, Africa and CIS. Before taking his current position, he was Oilfield Services Sales Manager in the Gulf of Guinea Region. In his current role, he is focused on delivering technologies that advance drilling practice and efficiency in diverse markets, especially the rapidly growing Unconventional resources developments. Aboyi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Federal University of Technology – Owerri, Nigeria.
Sheldon Parmer
Health, Safety, and Environmental Manager
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
Arctic/Frontier Drilling – Safety, Regulation & Environmental Issues
Sheldon Parmer is Health, Safety, and Environmental Manager for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation’s Mozambique project. Sheldon’s professional experience includes positions as drilling engineer, environmental specialist, and HSE Manager. Sheldon has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and is a licensed professional engineer in Texas.
Ian Partridge, Energy Week Program Chair
Postdoctoral Fellow
Energy Institute
Ian Partridge has worked part time at the Energy Institute since joining it as a post-doctoral researcher in January 2013. He has led efforts to establish a Graduate Portfolio Program in Energy Studies at the University of Texas, and participates in numerous Energy Institute research projects and other initiatives. His research interests include the economics of renewable energy and financing of low carbon electricity generation, particularly in the developing world, the effects on human health of emissions from coal-fired electricity generation plants and environmental issues related to oil and gas production.
Dr. Partridge graduated with a Ph.D. in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin in 2012. Before coming to the University of Texas, he worked for many years in the oil and gas industry, as a management consultant and in investment banking. He has degrees in Engineering from Cambridge University, England, and in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Tony Payan
Director
Baker Institute Mexico Center
Mexican Energy Reform: Transforming a National Industry Panel Discussion
Tony Payan, Ph.D., is the Françoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies and director of the Mexico Center at the Baker Institute. He is also an adjunct associate professor at Rice University, an associate professor of political science at the University of Texas at El Paso, and a professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. Payan’s research focuses primarily on border studies, particularly the U.S.-Mexico border. His work theorizes on various topics regarding international borders, including border governance, immigration, border security, organized crime and the manifestation of U.S. foreign policy at its borders. Payan has authored two books: “Cops, Soldiers and Diplomats: Understanding Agency Behavior in the War on Drugs” and “The Three U.S.-Mexico Border Wars: Drugs, Immigration and Homeland Security.” He is currently working on a manuscript titled “The Bird’s Eye View: An Elite Analysis of Mexico’s 2006-2012 Security Strategy” and the second edition of his book “The Three U.S.-Mexico Border Wars.” Payan has served on several boards, including the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority in El Paso, Texas, and the Plan Estratégico de Juárez in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. He served as president of the Association of Borderlands Studies in 2009-2010. Payan earned his B.A. in philosophy and classical languages from the University of Dallas and his MBA from the University of Dallas Graduate School of Management. He received his doctorate degree in international relations from Georgetown University in 2001.
Jorge Piñon
Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
Mexican Energy Reform: Transforming a National Industry Panel Discussion
Jorge R. Piñon is Interim Director of The University of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy and Director of its Latin America and Caribbean Energy Program. He was president of Amoco Oil de México and president of Amoco Oil Latin America, based in Mexico City. After the Amoco-BP merger he was transferred to Madrid, Spain to manage BP Europe’s western Mediterranean petroleum supply and logistics operations. He retired from BP in 2003. With international experience in business development and joint ventures, relationship management in emerging and transitional markets and a network of senior energy contacts in Latin America; he is recognized as an independent analyst of regional energy issues and the geopolitics of oil and natural gas in Latin America. Mr. Piñon has testified before the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as before the Texas Senate and Texas House of Representatives committees on issues of energy policy and Latin America; he holds a degree in International Economics and a certificate in Latin American Studies from the University of Florida, Gainesville.
Charles Porter
Assistant Professor
St. Edward’s University
The Impact of Water Resources on Energy Technology
Charles Porter is an Assistant Professor at St. Edward’s University, and a testifying Water Rights and Real Estate expert nationwide. His newest book is Sharing the Common Pool: Water Rights in the Everyday Lives of Texans (Texas A&M University Press), one of the only primers on water rights in Texas ever published. He is also the author of Spanish Water/ Anglo Water, a history of the San Antonio water system during the Spanish colonial era.
He was awarded the 2009 Austin Board of Realtors’ Realtor of the Year, and the 2007 Travis County Dispute Resolution Center’s Peacemaker Award for Business. He serves on the Professional Standards committee of the Texas Association of Realtors.
Ariel Ramos
Partner
Haynes & Boone, Mexico City
Mexican Energy Reform: Transforming a National Industry Panel Discussion
Arial Ramos is a partner in the Finance Practice Group at Haynes and Boone, SC in Mexico City. He primarily focuses on transactions related to the development and financing of infrastructure projects, including, among others, power, oil and gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), government procurement, public-private partnerships (PPP or Proyectos de Prestación de Servicios), toll roads, maritime ports and terminals, water treatment plants, aqueducts and shipping. In addition, he has deep experience and actively participates in real estate, mergers and acquisitions and corporate and debt restructuring matters. Ariel has advised lenders, developers, buyers and sellers, and governmental entities in transactional negotiations; assisted in preparation of corporate documentation and risk identification, assessment and allocation as well as advised on negotiation and instrumentation of project agreements. Ariel has served as an adjunct professor of law at Escuela Libre de Derecho, Mexico City, Mexico in Administrative Law Second Course, 2009, and at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, Mexico City (CIDE), 2007-2008. He was also Professor of Law of Licenciatura (B.A. equivalent) and Maestría (LL.M. equivalent) degrees at the Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City: International Economic Relations, International Contracts, Banking and Contracts, 1996-2002.
Bram Reinders
Director Alliance Management
Alliander NV
The Future of Electricity Generation & Utilities
Bram Reinders studied Computer Science and holds an Executive MBA from Purdue University (US). His professional career focuses on developing and implementing emerging technologies in the US and Europe.
Bram’s current role for Alliander is to establish relevant Smart Grid and Smart City partnerships for the Netherlands by aligning with European technology providers, government, regulators, universities, consumer organizations and the European Commission.
Bram is also founder of the European Network of Cyber Security ENCS, was Chairman of several Expert Groups of the European Commission and Co-author of several European Commission reports.
Matt Roberts
Executive Director
Energy Storage Association
Policy implications of increasing energy storage on the grid
Matt Roberts serves as the Executive Director of the Energy Storage Association, overseeing operations and strategic initiatives for the industry’s trade association. Matt has over 12 years of experience in energy policy, communications and association management with a recognized expertise in renewables, distributed generation, and sustainable infrastructure. Prior to joining ESA, Matt oversaw policy and operations for a global energy trade association focused on reforming our transportation infrastructure and expanding the use of renewable fuels. Matt started his career as a House staffer and speech writer, and has consulted in the energy industry with organizations and companies focused on storage, solar, wind and geothermal energy policy and commercial deployment.
Jerome Schubert
Associate Professor
Texas A&M University
Arctic/Frontier Drilling – Technical Issues
Dr. Jerome J. Schubert is an Associate Professor in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University and has BS, MEng, and PhD degrees, all in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University. With over 35 years’ experience in the petroleum industry as a drilling engineer, he specializes in well control methods and training, deep water drilling, dual gradient drilling, under-balanced drilling, managed-pressure drilling, extreme high-temperature/high-pressure rheology, cementing, XHPHT gas kicks, and well abandonment. Dr. Schubert has extensive industry experience with Pennzoil Company and Enron Oil and Gas, as well as in academia at the University of Houston-Victoria’s Petroleum Training Institute, and at Texas A&M University since 1994.
Kirk Sorensen
CEO
Flibe Energy
The Future for Nuclear
Kirk Sorensen is a founder of Flibe Energy and currently serves as President and Chief Technical Officer. Kirk has been a public advocate for thorium energy and liquid-fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) technology for many years. He founded the weblog “Energy From Thorium” which has been the platform for the international grassroots effort to revive research and development of fluoride-based reactors. Prior to founding Flibe Energy, he served as Chief Nuclear Technologist at Teledyne Brown Engineering and with their support has pushed advance consideration of thorium. Previous to that, Kirk worked for ten years at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center spending the last two of those years on assignment to the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command. Kirk has briefed many senior military and civilian decision makers on LFTR technology and its compelling advantages, including its potential use in portable modular reactors for the US military. Kirk has a master of science in nuclear engineering from theUniversity of Tennessee and a master of science in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Kirk has been a prominent advocate for thorium energy with regular speaking engagements and media interviewsacross the world.
David Spence
Professor of Law, Politics & Regulation
McCombs School of Business and School of Law, The University of Texas at Austin
Assessment of the Full Cost of Electricity
David Spence is Professor of Law, Politics & Regulation at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business and School of Law. He earned his Ph.D in political science from Duke University, and his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law. Professor Spence research and teaching focuses on government regulation, particularly energy and environmental regulation. He is co-author of the Foundation Press textbook, Energy, Economics and the Environment (3d Ed., 2010), and has published numerous scholarly articles on subjects relating to energy policy, regulation and the regulatory process in journals such as the Cornell Law Review, the Journal of Legal Studies, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Public Administration Review, and the California Law Review, among others. He is and Co-Director of the Energy Management & Innovation Center at the McCombs School.
Lance Spross
Director of Engineering Standards and Maintenance Strategy
Oncor
Wednesday Afternoon Speaker: “When ‘What if’ Becomes ‘What is’”
Lance Spross is Director of Engineering Standards and Maintenance Strategy for Oncor. In this role, he is responsible for development and maintenance of engineering and construction standards and for providing strategic guidance related to operational and maintenance activities for Oncor’s Transmission and Distribution organizations.
Lance joined Texas Utilities, Oncor’s predecessor company, in 1987 and has had assignments in Nuclear Generation, Distribution Engineering, Distribution Operations, Transmission Operations, Asset Management, Cyber Security and Corporate Strategy. Over the past twenty-eight years, he has held numerous management and leadership roles within these organizations.
He is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.
Lance and his wife Kim live in Midlothian, Texas and have three adult children.
Melinda Taylor
Executive Director
The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business
Friday Morning Speaker
Melinda E. Taylor is a Senior Lecturer and Executive Director of the Center for Global Energy, International Arbitration and Environmental Law at the University of Texas at Austin. Taylor joined the faculty of the Law School in January 2006. Prior to joining the faculty, she was the director of the Ecosystem Restoration Program of Environmental Defense where she managed a staff of attorneys, scientists and economists engaged in projects to protect endangered species and water resources across the United States. Taylor has also served as deputy general counsel of the National Audubon Society in Washington, D.C. and was an associate at Bracewell & Patterson in Washington. Taylor specializes in Environmental Law and Public Land and Resources and received her JD and BA from the University of Texas at Austin.
Chris Tomlinson
Business Columnist
Houston Chronicle
Arctic/Frontier Drilling – Technical Issues
Chris Tomlinson is the business columnist for the Houston Chronicle, focusing on energy, business and policy. Until April 2014, he was the supervisory correspondent for The Associated Press in Austin, responsible for state government and political reporting in Texas.
From 2007-2009, he was an investigative reporter for the AP working in Iraq, Austin and Washington DC. He served as the AP’s East Africa bureau chief in Nairobi, Kenya from 2004 to 2007 and was responsible for text, photo and television coverage from14 countries. He was appointed East Africa correspondent in 2000 and before that served two years as an international editor at AP’s headquarters in New York. He started with the AP in 1995 as the Central Africa correspondent based in Rwanda.
Shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks, the AP assigned Tomlinson to cover operations in Afghanistan, including the Battle of Tora Bora. During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the AP chose Tomlinson as their lead embedded reporter and he has spent two years. Tomlinson has also reported from conflicts in Uganda, Burundi, Congo, Sudan and Somalia. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992 with special honours in humanities.
Evan Ture
Senior Sales Application Engineer
Younicos Inc
Policy implications of increasing energy storage on the grid
Evan Ture designed, installed, tested, and commissioned 16.5 MW and 11 MWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in both island grids and mainland grids. He sits on the board of a trade association in Puerto Rico with the Spanish acronym: APER (Association of Renewable Energy Producers). Evan informs APER’s approach to supporting energy policy changes in the Caribbean and has participated in APER by developing technical recommendations that govern renewable energy integration.
Evan’s skills and expertise as an engineer involve developing controls strategies and specifications for energy storage systems, modeling electrical resource interaction and grid stability, and designing BESS’ to precisely and cost-effectively address grid instability.
Evan Ture started his career with research in distributed solar generation at Cornell University where he graduated with a BS Materials Science & Engineering and a specialty in Electrical Properties of Materials.
Mike Tweedy
US Procurement Manager
eni US operating Company
Financing of Oil and Gas Projects
Mike Tweedy is currently US Procurement Manager for eni US operating Company the fourth largest Upstream business in the world’s sixth largest integrated energy company. Formerly the head of Lloyds Register Systems and Controls group where his global team consulted on risk, automation, systems and cyber threats in the oil and gas sector he also spent time as President of getSmart Group LLC, a boutique strategy consulting firm serving the energy sector he worked with companies targeting and landing M&A candidates in the US and international servce sector . From 2010-2012, Mr. Tweedy was Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) for a Fortune 50 integrated oil and gas company, Marathon. Prior to joining MRO, Mr. Tweedy spent 2 years with BHPBilliton as their Global Supply Manager for Petroleum after retiring from CVX in 2008. IN CVX he enjoyed a long career in multiple D&C engineering, large capital project management, and SCM roles across the Chevron Enterprise for more than 25 years ( with 21 addresses) . Having spent more than 15 years resident in Non-US locations from Bangkok to Lagos he now resides in Houston.
As CPO and Global Supply Manager, he was accountable for all third party spend, engaging over 10,000 suppliers, across more than 50 countries and 20 businesses and several 100 discrete product lines, which ranged from refining support and catalysts to upstream EPC, wells services and rigs to distribution c-store and branding. In his spare time he owns a winery in Houston, a rubber farm in Thailand and toys with antique Pontiacs to absorb any excess captial he might have amassed.
Mr. Tweedy is a member of several industry groups and a published technical author and speaker. He served as a Distinguished Lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the US. He holds a Bachelors degree in Petroleum Engineering and has an advanced certificate in Supply Chain Mgt from WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
Paul Wattles
Senior Analyst in the Market Design and Development group
Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)
How Smartgrids Enable Consumers
Paul Wattles is Senior Analyst in the Market Design and Development group at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the Independent System Operator for 85% of Texas electric load. The Market Design and Development team was formed in 2012 to advance ERCOT’s strategic plan and mission statement by dedicating resources to study and make recommendations for the structured evolution of the ERCOT market. Since its formation the group has led initiatives to enable Load Resource participation in the Real-Time Energy Market, integrate Fast Response Regulation Service into the ERCOT suite of Ancillary Services, and begin the redesign of Ancillary Services to better meet the needs of the grid of the future. Paul has been with ERCOT since May 2004, and is the former Supervisor of Demand Response and former Manager of Governmental Relations. He has over 13 years of electric industry experience with an emphasis on wholesale markets, advanced metering, demand response, and regulatory and governmental affairs; over a decade of private sector business experience; and six years of service as a Congressional aide in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona in Tucson, with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Michael Webber
Deputy Director
Energy Institute
Communication Issues for the Energy Sector
Michael Webber is Deputy Director of the Energy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin. In addition, he is the Josey Centennial Fellow in Energy Resources and serves as Co-Director of the Clean Energy Incubator and Associate Director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy. Dr. Webber also is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, where he teaches and conducts research on energy and environmental issues.
Dr. Webber holds four patents and has authored more than 150 publications. He is on the board of advisers for Scientific American and is an originator of Pecan Street Inc., a public-private partnership for smart grid innovation and deployment. Previously Webber studied at the RAND Corporation and was a Senior Scientist at Pranalytica, where he invented sensors for homeland security, industrial analysis, and environmental monitoring.
Dr. Webber has a B.A. and B.S. with High Honors from UT Austin, where he has been honored for exceptional teaching. He has an M.S. and Ph.D. (Mechanical Engineering) from Stanford. He has been an American Fellow of the German Marshall Fund, a White House Fellowship finalist and an AT&T Industrial Ecology Fellow.
John Williams
Senior Communications Specialist
Lower Colorado River Authority
The Impact of Water Resources on Energy Technology
Mr. Williams is author of a forthcoming book on the Lower Colorado River Authority that will be published later this year by Texas A&M University Press. He recently retired from a career as a writer and editor at LCRA that spanned nearly four decades, covering many of LCRA’s operations and how they affected the lower Colorado River basin, Central Texas and LCRA itself. Mr. Williams dealt with many of LCRA’s key personalities and issues, giving him a rare perspective of the agency and its workings. His articles about LCRA and other subjects have appeared in the Austin American-Statesman, Texas Co-Op Power magazine, the University of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences newsletter, and other publications. He wrote and hosted a series of video segments, “LCRA Historic Moments,” that appeared on cable television. Mr. Williams also served as editor for histories of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and San Antonio’s St. Anthony Hotel.
Duncan Wood
Director
Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute
Friday Morning Speaker
Dr. Duncan Wood is the director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center. Prior to this, Wood was a professor and the director of the International Relations Program at the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM) in Mexico City for 17 years. He is also a member of the Mexican National Research System (level 2), a member of the editorial board of Foreign Affairs Latinomerica, and has been an editorial advisor for both Reforma and El Universal newspapers. In 2007, he was a non-resident Fulbright Fellow and, between 2007 and 2009, he was technical secretary of the Red Mexicana de Energia, a group of experts in the area of energy policy in Mexico. He has been a Senior Associate with the Simon Chair and the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studeies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. His research focuses on Mexican energy policy, including renewable energy, and North American relations. He studied in the UK and Canada, receiving his PhD in political studies from Queen’s Univeristy, Canada, and is a recipient of the Canadian Governor General’s Visit Award for contributions to the Mexico-Canada relationship.
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