Carla Peterman, Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission
Mike Florio, Senior Fellow, Gridworks (Former CPUC)
Michel Peter “Mike” Florio is a consultant on energy policy, regulation and markets, and a Senior Fellow at Gridworks, an Oakland non-profit that convenes stakeholder meetings and publishes papers on issues related to decarbonization of the electric sector. Mr. Florio was appointed to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in January of 2011 by Governor Jerry Brown, and served a full six-year term through the end of 2016. As part of his work at the CPUC, Mr. Florio oversaw proceedings dealing with resource planning, ratemaking, demand response and the integration of distributed energy resources. Prior to his CPUC appointment, he served for over 30 years as an attorney for The Utility Reform Network (TURN), the leading utility consumer advocate group in California.
Mr. Florio also served on the governing board of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) from May of 1997 through early 2005, and on the board of the California Power Exchange from May of 1997 until January of 2001. During his tenure on the CPUC, he represented the commission in a variety of western states forums, including the Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation, the Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners, and the Transmission Expansion Policy Planning Committee of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC).
In 1978 Mr. Florio received a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a Masters of Public Affairs (M.P.A.) from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He was admitted to the California State Bar that same year.
Bill Gross, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Idealab
Amazed by the inventions of Thomas Edison and Leonardo da Vinci, Bill Gross grew up dreaming of being an inventor. He started his first company – Solar Devices – in high school during the energy crisis of 1973 with a dream of making solar energy practical on a small scale. He sold more than 10,000 kits and plans for solar energy products by mail order in the back of Popular Science and Scientific American magazines. These sales helped him pay his way through college at the California Institute of Technology, where he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1981."
While at Caltech, Bill invented and patented a new high-performance loudspeaker design and started a company to manufacture those speakers called GNP Loudspeakers (Gross National Products). Those speakers went on to become a model for many other high-end audiophile products.
After Caltech, Bill and his brother created HAL, the natural language interface for the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet, which was at the time the leading software in the world. Bill’s company was acquired by Lotus, and while there he created many software products, including the award-winning Magellan for finding and searching personal information.
In 1991, Bill started a new company called Knowledge Adventure, an educational software publisher that grew to be the third largest in the world. The company created the Jumpstart series of education products, sold 20 million copies to children all over the world, and revolutionized multimedia educational software. The company was acquired by Vivendi in 1995."
In 1995, Bill founded CitySearch, the world’s first online interactive city guide. After expanding to many cities across the country, the company went public in 1998. The company added online ticketing by merging with Ticketmaster, and eventually the combined company was acquired by Barry Diller’s InterActiveCorp to create the leading local portal and transaction company.
In 1996, filled with ideas, Bill decided to start his dream laboratory – a company “incubator” – modeled after Edison’s lab. Named Idealab, the company’s mission is to challenge the status quo, to be bold, and to tackle big ideas that others would not. Idealab just celebrated its 21st anniversary, and during its more than two
decades, it has started more than 150 companies, created more than 10,000 jobs, and had more than 45 successful IPOs and acquisitions.
Among the transformative changes that Bill has wrought is the invention of the business model that powers most of the monetization of the internet. Bill invented the “paid click”, or CPC (cost-per-click) model with the company GoTo.com/Overture, which he founded in 1998. After a successful IPO and becoming the global market leader in paid search, the company was acquired by Yahoo in 2003 for $1.6 billion. Today, Bill’s pioneering idea is used by millions of websites around the world and remains one of his most significantly impactful inventions.
Bill’s newest effort in renewable energy is Edisun Microgrids, a company whose breakthrough technology will meaningfully contribute to the world’s efforts to minimize reliance on fossil fuels.
In addition to serving as Idealab’s board chairman, Bill is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Technology and of the Art Center College of Design.
Janice Lin, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Strategen
Janice Lin is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Strategen. She brings more than two decades of experience in clean energy strategy, market development, and corporate strategy to Strategen. During this time she has advised a diverse range of clients including renewable energy equipment manufacturers and service providers, large corporations diversifying into clean energy, and real estate developers building sustainable communities.
In 2014 Janice co-founded the Global Energy Storage Alliance (GESA), an international non-profit organization, and currently serves on the Board of Directors and as Chair of the Executive Committee. Prior to that Janice co-founded the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA) in 2009, and remains Executive Director. Janice has also served on the Electricity Advisory Council of the US Department of Energy, the Board of Advisors for the Energy Policy Initiatives Center (EPIC) and the Energy Storage Committee of Joint Venture Silicon Valley. Janice is also a Member of the Advisory Council of the German American Chamber of Commerce, the UCSD Strategic Energy Initiatives Advisory Council, and Co-Founder and Chair of the annual Energy Storage North America (ESNA) conference.
Prior to founding Strategen in 2005, Janice held several senior management positions with PowerLight Corporation (now SunPower Corporation), including Vice President of Product Strategy and Vice President of Business Development. During her tenure at PowerLight, Janice led initiatives in product and new market strategies, business development, regulatory affairs, strategic partnerships, investor relations, and customer finance.
Janice holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, a BS from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Arts and Sciences. She is the winner of ESA's 2013 Phil Symons Energy Storage Award, and NAATBATT’s 2014 Market Development Award.
Marty Adams, Chief Operating Officer (COO), LADWP
Martin L. Adams is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the LADWP. As COO, Mr. Adams oversees the Water System, the Power System, and certain Joint System functions.
Mr. Adams brings to the post more than 30 years of experience, leadership, and understanding of LADWP operations. Most recently, Mr. Adams was the Senior Assistant General Manager - Water System. He has been involved in local and regional water issues for more than 30 years with a career that has touched on most every aspect of Los Angeles’ water system, including planning, design, and operation. Prior to leading the Water System, he headed the LADWP Water Operations Division, which is responsible for the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the City’s water supply system.
A civil engineer by training, Mr. Adams is a native of Glendale, California, and attended Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Outside of work, he also serves as Chairman of the Board of the new San Fernando Community Health Center and recently completed nine years on the Water and Power Board for the City of Burbank.
Mona Tierney-Lloyd, Senior Director, Western Regulatory Affairs, Enel X North America, an Enel Group Company
Mona has been active in the development of energy policy in the Western United States for nearly 20 years and has 30 years of energy experience. She has been employed by Enel X, formerly EnerNOC, Inc., an Enel Group Company, since 2008. She has participated in the development of regulatory and legislative policy for distributed energy resources (DERs) including demand response, energy efficiency, energy storage and electric vehicles. Some of the issues that Mona has successfully represented DER resources include:
Development of the demand response auction mechanism and contract negotiation
Inclusion of DERs in utility procurement
Wholesale market integration of DERs
Fighting against anti-DER legislation
Data access issues
Resource Adequacy
Mona is on the board of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT) and Chair of the Board of the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA). She is the Energy Committee Co-Chair for Silicon Valley Leadership Group, where she received the Chairman’s Award in 2018, and the Western Chair of the Advanced Energy Management Alliance. She received the “Innovator, Woman of the Year” Award by California Women in Energy in 2017. She is active in other trade organizations include Advanced Energy Economy, TechNet, California Efficiency and Demand Management Council and Mission:data. She is also Vice Co-Chair of the ERCOT Demand-Side Working Group, active in the Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance and the Arizona Independent System Administrator, as well as a past board member.
Prior to her employment with EnerNOC, Mona was a Regional Vice President of Government Affairs for Constellation NewEnergy and Director of Government Affairs for Enron Energy Services. She also worked for San Diego Gas & Electric and Elizabethtown Gas Company and Elizabethtown Gas Company in New Jersey. Mona began her career working for a natural gas and petroleum exploration and development company (Atlas Energy Group). She has a BS Degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from Penn State.
Nick Chaset, CEO, East Bay Clean Energy
Nick is Chief Executive Officer of Alameda County’s new community choice energy agency, East Bay Community Energy (EBCE). Nick has been instrumental in all aspects of its formation, bringing with him over a decade of energy policy and legislative experience. Service to county businesses and municipalities launched in June 2018 with residential service for 11 of its cities following in November. Nick is also very active working on CCA issues across California as a member of the Board of the California Community Choice Association. Prior to EBCE, Nick served as Chief of Staff to Michael Picker, President of the California Public Utilities Commission and as a special advisor to Governor Jerry Brown focused on distributed energy resources. He began his career working in clean energy for Q-Cells, RenewFinancial, the California Public Utilities Commission and KEMA Consulting. Nick holds a MBA from Georgetown University and a BA in international relations from Tufts University.
Alex Morris, Vice President, California Energy Storage Alliance
Alex Morris is Vice President of Strategen’s consulting and advocacy practice. He is responsible for policy and regulatory affairs, and leads strategic policy consulting for businesses and government groups. Alex is also the Director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs for the California Energy Storage Alliance, where he directs CESA’s engagements in a range of California and Federal agencies, workgroups and associations.
Alex has more than 10 years of experience in policy and regulatory work, leading major efforts to shape and promote policy or regulatory outcomes at the California legislature, the CAISO, FERC, and other agencies. Alex also brings years of utility-focused strategic consulting experience to Strategen, and has worked closely with utility, private, and trade groups to shape and execute on strategic business plans. Alex has focused on a broad range of cutting-edge topics such as Storage Legislation, Electric Market Design, Renewables Integration, FERC Policy, Smartgrid, Electric Transportation and Plug-in Vehicles, Rate Design, the California Solar Initiative, and more. Alex joined Strategen in 2015 and previously worked for electric utilities PG&E and SCE after receiving his MBA from the University of California, Davis.
Vicken Kasarjian, COO, Marin Clean Energy
As the Chief Operating Officer, Vicken oversees Internal Operations at MCE, including HR, Finance, and Accounting, Power Resources including Scheduling, and Customer Programs. With a long-term vision of meeting or exceeding environmental goals, Vicken looks forward to developing and establishing internal policies and procedures to help take MCE to the next level of maturity and growth.
Vicken’s career in the energy industry spans over 30 years and includes these highlights:
Imperial Irrigation District: Completed a 20MW/30MWh state-of-the-art battery storage system with Black Start capability that improves on reliability. Negotiated the construction of a 30MW solar facility that allocates 100% of its output to all of the 16,000 low-income customers of IID.
Sacramento Municipal Utility District: Carved out 4,650 MW load from PG&E into a new Balancing Authority that merged together the operations of MID, SMUD, City of Roseville, City of Redding, City of Shasta Lake, Truckee Public Utility District, WAPA and USBR in northern California. Joined Northwest Power Pool to maximize the effectiveness of regulating reserves between Pacific Northwest and Northern California and to significantly reduce cost of holding reserves.
Northern California Power Agency: Participated in the creation and implementation of NCPA Metered Sub System within the CAISO. Implemented a forward market pooling process where Members had the opportunity to reduce transmission and scheduling costs.
CAISO: Implemented and ran the first congestion management auction. Documented the details of all in-market and out-of-market transactions during market meltdown.
California Department of Water Resources: Increased revenues from power sales to make the electric pumping cost of delivering of up to 4.2 million-acre feet of water to 29 water contractors almost negligible. Participated in the development AB1890 that created the CAISO.
Michael Carpol Sr. Manager - Sales, Energy Storage Solutions NEXTracker, Inc
Michael leads Sales for NEXTracker’s Energy Storage Solutions. Michael is the main point of contact and the internal champion for his clients, bringing relentless energy and focus to the project development process. Prior to NEXTracker, Michael spent the last nine years in renewable energy project development, most recently at Tesla and SolarCity where he developed over 25 energy storage projects. Michael earned his B.A. in Economics from UCLA.
James H Caldwell Jr., Project Manager for Low Carbon Grid 2030 Study
Jim Caldwell has been in the energy field for over fifty years with a broad range of experience in virtually all forms of renewable energy. He has worked for large and small corporations, utilities, trade associations, and governmental agencies. He is the Project Manager for the Low Carbon Grid 2030 Study an analytical effort sponsored by over 30 entities looking to examine the economic and operational concerns with significant expansion of California’s investment in renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the electric sector.
Edward Burgess, Director, Strategen Consulting
Ed helps to lead Strategen’s utility and government consulting practices. He specializes in evaluation and design of policies and programs to advance deployment distributed energy resources, demand-side management programs, energy storage and grid integration of renewable energy. Ed has served clients in the renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy storage industries, including several Fortune 500 companies, major energy project developers, trade associations, utilities, government agencies, universities and foundations. His analysis has given companies strategic insight into clean energy investment opportunities and has helped to guide regulations and policies in many states across the country, including New York’s recent adoption of a 1,500 MW energy storage deployment goal.
Prior to joining Strategen, Ed worked as an independent consultant where he provided technical analysis to a law firm in Arizona, supporting the firm’s clients in cases before the Arizona Corporation Commission. He also worked with Schlegel & Associates to provide technical analysis on demand-side management policies in Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania and several other states that have led to billions of dollars in new energy efficiency investments. Ed also played a lead role in two major initiatives at Arizona State University: The Utility of the Future Center and the Energy Policy Innovation Council where he conducted research and policy analysis for the Governor's Office of Energy Policy, the Department of Environmental Quality, and other major stakeholders in Arizona. At the Utility of the Future Center, he also worked with utilities and former public utility commissioners across the country to develop a strategic approach and model rules for transitioning to a distributed energy future.
Ed earned his bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Princeton University and two degrees from Arizona State University - Master of Science (M.S.) in Sustainability and Professional Science Master (P.S.M.) of Solar Energy Engineering and Commercialization.
JIn Noh, Policy Manager, CESA
Jin Noh is a Manager at Strategen Consulting. He manages policy and regulatory affairs for the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA). Prior to joining Strategen, Jin worked as an Analyst at SRI International where he worked on a range of technology and innovation policy consulting projects for clients such as the New York State Energy & Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology (KACST). As a graduate student consultant, Jin also advised Sonoma Clean Power (SCP) on behavioral energy efficiency best practices and energy storage procurement strategies. Jin received a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy Studies and Economics from Duke University, and a Master's in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. His master's thesis assessed state regulatory decisions on grid resilience investments on behalf of the Office of Energy Policy & Systems Analysis at the Department of Energy (DOE
Carrie Bentley, Co-Founder and CEO, Gridwell Consulting
Carrie Bentley is the co-founder and CEO of Gridwell Consulting and has over a decade experience in the energy industry across the ISO/RTO markets. Ms. Bentley currently provides analysis and strategic support on “all things ISO,” including transmission, interconnection, capacity, and the energy markets. Ms. Bentley began her California energy work in the California ISO’s market monitoring unit and most recently had been acting as a lead market design and regulatory policy developer; leading design and stakeholder initiatives in critical areas such as flexible ramping, resource adequacy, and renewable integration. Prior to working at the California ISO, Ms. Bentley was a consultant for GDS Associates, an engineering and economics consulting firm where she specialized in power supply contracting, natural gas hedging, and stakeholder support in the Southwest Power Pool, PJM, and ERCOT.
Dr. Aimee Bailey, Director of Decarbonization and Grid Innovation, Silicon Valley Clean Energy
Dr. Aimee Gotway Bailey is the Director of Decarbonization and Grid Innovation at Silicon Valley Clean Energy. Aimee’s work centers around identifying and managing technical, economic and regulatory barriers and opportunities to achieve deep decarbonization. Prior to SVCE, Aimee held positions focused on solar technology and policy, climate policy, emerging technologies and strategic planning at EDF Innovation Lab, Pacific Gas & Electric, City of Palo Alto Utilities, Global Environmental Institute (Beijing, China) and the U.S. Department of Energy. Aimee has a BSE in materials science from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and a PhD in physics from Imperial College in London.
Martha Guzman Aceves, Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission
Martha Guzman Aceves was appointed Commissioner at the CPUC by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. on Dec. 28, 2016. She has focused on issues related to fuel switching, broadband access, water affordability, access to distributed solar and various other energy and telecommunications issues. She previously served as deputy legislative affairs secretary in the Office of the Governor since 2011, focusing on natural resources, environmental protection, energy and food and agriculture. She was sustainable communities program director for the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation from 2005 to 2011. From 2006 to 2008, she worked with Swanton Berry Farm on human resources issues including a new employee-stock ownership program. She was legislative coordinator for United Farm Workers from 1999 to 2005, working on labor and environmental issues. In 2010, she co-founded Communities for a New California, a charitable organization promoting increased civic engagement of underrepresented communities. Guzman Aceves earned a Master of Science degree in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Davis, and a Bachelor of Science in International Economics from Georgetown University
Jan Pepper, Chief Executive Officer, Peninsula Clean Energy
an was elected to the city council of Los Altos in 2012 and served as Mayor from December 2014 to December 2015. She was re-elected in 2016 for a second four-year term. She served on the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District from 2013 to February 2017. She earned a BS in civil engineering and an MBA, both from Stanford University. Jan is a registered professional engineer in California.
At APX, she developed and pioneered the first use of renewable energy credits, which are now the standard currency for trading and tracking renewable power. At Clean Power Markets, her company designed and implemented the successful Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC) program for the State of New Jersey.
Lori Mitchell, Director, San Jose Clean Energy
With more than 20 years of experience in the renewable energy and utility industry, Lori comes to San José from her most recent employment at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC). Her career at SFPUC reflects a succession of progressively responsible positions, including Manager of Renewable Energy, Power Supply Manager and, most recently, Acting Director of Energy Infrastructure.
Lori is a licensed Mechanical Engineer in California with an educational background in environmental resources engineering. The earlier part of her career included working on all aspects of a renewable energy start-up called PowerLight, which eventually was acquired by SunPower Corporation in San José. At the SFPUC, her work included the initial energy contract negotiations for its CCE program and managing related operations, managing operating and capital budgets, and hiring and building operational teams. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Resource Engineering from Humboldt State University and is a LEED-certified professional. She has authored and presented multiple technical papers at renewable energy industry conferences and held positions at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the California Energy Commission and the California Air Resources Board.