The Grid Forward Board of Advisors draws a diverse group of experts from across our membership to help guide our focus and activities. Join Grid Forward, and become part of this forward-looking group!
Grid Forward maintains a group of diverse industry professionals to help steer the key activities of the organization. Advisors are invited to serve from among members in good standing to align with the core interests and efforts of the organization. The Executive Committee of the Board reviews Advisor candidates which are confirmed by the Executive Director. There are no term limits for Advisors. Advisor meetings are generally held monthly. Typically four to six Advisors are selected each year.
Our advisors commit to three-year terms, so there are often opportunities for new leaders to help us move forward. Contact Grid Forward if you or someone you know would like to serve.
Director, Advanced Analytics
Ankush is responsible for developing and delivering a robust Grid Transmission and Distribution analytics capability and program for Exelon’s six utilities. Ankush is passionate about enabling awareness and adoption of analytics across organizations to help accelerate development of an analytics-driven culture and co-founded Exelon Utilities’ premiere Analytics Academy program. He’s spent 10 years at Exelon in various Analytics and Audit leadership roles and currently leads its Utility Analytic Institute’s Safety Analytics Community initiative, serves on the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies’ (AEIC) Analytics Council, and previously co-chaired the joint Data Analytics Committee for Edison Electric Institute and American Gas Association (EEI-AGA). Ankush is a University Gold Medalist from Louisiana State University, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Director of Regulatory Affairs and Industry Relations
Drawing from her consulting experience, Marguerite supports external and government relations for Landis+Gyr’s by analyzing “the four levers” of energy policy at the state and national level: regulation, technology, policy, and markets. Past clients include Fortune 500 companies, the Department of Energy, municipalities, energy developers, energy efficiency product developers, environmental nonprofits, smart grid advocates, and national laboratories. Areas of expertise include grid modernization, investor-owned utility regulation, DER policy, advanced rate design, smart metering business cases, and demand-side management portfolios. Marguerite is passionate about event production, public speaking, systems thinking, and creative approaches to solving complex problems, including decarbonization of the grid and energy equity issues in the U.S.
Chief Digital Officer
Nathan is responsible for developing and executing strategies to increase POWER’s impact on the energy transition though application of emerging technologies. He has been in the energy industry for almost 30 years and has spent his career working with leading edge technologies which has resulted in an expertise around systems which automate and control the grid. For the past 20 years he has been at POWER where he started our distribution services division, helped develop our SCADA capabilities, and is a subject matter expert on electrification. He is a licensed PE in the state of Idaho, holds a BSEE from the University of Idaho, and has a Chief Technology Certificate from the Wharton School of Business.
Assistant General Manager
Stephen Boorman, PE, has served as the Assistant General Manager for Idaho Falls Power since September 2018. Stephen has been in engineering and management for over 30 years, with 25 of those years working for electric utilities. His previous positions have included Light Department Director for the City of Cheney, Washington, City Administrator for the City of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and Engineer for Missoula Electric Coop. He also worked for the Boeing Company after graduating with a degree in electrical and electronic engineering from Montana State University. With his extensive experience in engineering, city planning and utility operations, in his role as Assistant General Manager, Boorman focuses on engineering with utility planning and operations. He also supports internal staff needs across various Idaho Falls Power and Fiber Divisions, working both internally and externally to support collaborations with other City departments and with customers.
VP Transmission Planning and Asset Management
Jeff oversees the transmission planning and asset management program to promote the reliability, efficiency and economical use of the transmission-related physical assets. Planning and Asset Management is responsible for the development of an asset management system framework that informs decisions on near and long-term activities and strategies to meet the predicted future demands on BPA’s transmission system, achieves its desired performance levels and realizes the lowest life-cycle costs for these assets. Prior to BPA, Jeff worked for several utilities and communication companies, including CenturyTel and Pacific Power and Light. Jeff earned his bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from Colorado State University, and he holds a professional engineering license in Oregon.
President and CEO
Scott Corwin is the President & CEO of the American Public Power Association. He previously served as executive director of the Northwest Public Power Association in Vancouver, Washington, where he worked on behalf of utility and associate members in ten western states and British Columbia. Prior to NWPPA, he served as the executive director of the Public Power Council, advocating for public power’s access to federal power from the Bonneville Power Administration. Corwin has extensive experience developing and advocating for federal policy positions before Congress, executive branch agencies, industry partners, and the media. He has served on numerous industry task forces relating to power supply, has been an expert witness before Congress, and served on various charitable and community boards.
Managing Director, Electricity Industry Transformation
Heather Donaldson is a 25-year electricity industry veteran supporting clients as they embrace opportunities that promise transformational business impacts. As a Managing Director at Black & Veatch in our Strategic Advisory organization, Heather leads solution design and delivery across transformational areas including transportation electrification, renewable electric supply, and grid modernization. In addition to her breadth of expertise, clients value her approach to organizing complex information into decision-making frameworks. These frameworks help facilitate understanding key issues and tradeoffs, risks, and financial potential that leads to implementable strategies and roadmaps.
Ms. Donaldson developed her expertise through a variety of roles at organizations at the cusp of transformation including the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), Southern California Edison (SCE), and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). She has also held leadership roles in consulting firms including Accenture, The Structure Group, and APX. Her roles spanned the industry value chain from regulatory policy, wholesale markets, transmission and distribution grid planning, smart grid technology and strategy, and grid operations.
Executive Director
Charity Fain has over 25 years of experience building stronger communities in the US and around the world. As the Executive Director of the Community Energy Project (CEP), Charity is responsible for the strategic direction, leadership and management of the organization to fulfill our mission that everyone deserves a safe, healthy and efficient home, regardless of income. In this effort, she designs programs that provide free home services focused on safety, health, and energy efficiency for low-income Oregonians. Charity also leads CEP’s advocacy efforts at the city and state level to push for climate and energy justice. Prior to CEP, Charity’s professional experience focused on increasing civil engagement and political participation around the world. She has a BA in International Relations from The American University with a minor in Russian language.
Vice President Energy Resources and Services
Ryan is driven to accelerate the transition to a more efficient economy powered by a clean & modern energy system. At MVEC Ryan is responsible for power supply, resource planning, key accounts, member programs, innovation, and external affairs. Ryan has delivered industry leading initiatives with US utilities, industry, state and national partners across energy services, distribution, transmission, generation and energy markets with a focus on the grid modernization, DERs and R&D. Ryan has three engineering degrees and learns something new every day.
Chief Operating Officer
Amy Grice, Chief Operating Officer, has been with Peninsula Light since 2011 focusing on new operational technologies to improve distribution system efficiencies, data visualization and outage response. Amy embarked on her utility career in the early 2000’s as an electrical engineer for a municipality in the SCADA/Control Center. She has a Master of Engineering and Technology Management and a Bachelors of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, both from Washington State University. She is a registered PE in Washington State and has completed the NRECA Management Internship Program (MIP).
Commissioner, Vice Chair
Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Gunda in February 2021 to serve as the Energy Commission’s public member. Gunda was later appointed to Vice Chair in September 2021. He is the lead commissioner on energy assessments. Gunda served as manager of the Demand Analysis Office and deputy director for the Energy Commission’s Energy Assessments Division. The division forecasts and assesses energy demands and supplies.Before joining the Energy Commission, he served in a variety of capacities at the Energy Efficiency Institute at the University of California, Davis, including as the director of research, where he directed the institute’s operations and research portfolio.
He holds a master of science in mechanical and aeronautical engineering from Utah State University. Gunda is pursuing his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from UC Davis. He is a serious cricket fan and former captain of his college team. He lives with his family in Davis.
President & CEO
Bryan Hannegan is President and CEO of Holy Cross Energy, a not-for-profit, member-owned electric cooperative utility providing electricity and energy products and services to more than 42,000 customers in Western Colorado. Prior to joining Holy Cross in July 2017, Bryan was an Associate Laboratory Director at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where he co-founded the US Department of Energy’s Grid Modernization Initiative and started up the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF), a unique “distribution grid in a box” enabling utilities, entrepreneurs and consumers to work together on cleaner, more affordable and more reliable energy systems. Earlier in his career, Bryan held senior leadership roles at the Electric Power Research Institute, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Tim Heidel is Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer at VEIR. Tim served as VEIR’s first Chief Technology Officer from January 2020 when the company was founded until February 2023.
Prior to VEIR, Tim was a member of the investments team at Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), investing in companies that leverage innovative technologies to significantly address climate change. Prior to BEV, Tim served as Deputy Chief Scientist at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), where he helped lead NRECA’s technology scouting and research and development activities on behalf of NRECA’s 900 non-profit, member-owned electric utility members. Prior to NRECA, Tim served as a Fellow and Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), where he led the development of 3 new programs and managed a portfolio of over 75 research projects. His focus at ARPA-E included new approaches for controlling and optimizing the transmission and delivery of electric power. Dr. Heidel also managed programs focused on high-efficiency power electronics, including new magnetic materials, new capacitor technologies, and wide band gap semiconductor devices.
Partner
Mark leads the US commercial team for Opus One Solutions, which was recently acquired by GE Digital. Prior to Opus One, Mark was VP of Sales & Strategy at Varentec, acquired by Koch, where he was responsible for key accounts & go-to-market. He began his career as a distribution engineer with Manitoba Hydro and then took on various roles from utility sales to buy-side M&A within Siemens Energy. Mark was the team lead for the acquisition integration of eMeter to Siemens prior to taking on global product responsibility for cloud based solutions within eMeter. Mark holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Manitoba and completed his MBA at Rollins College in Florida.
SVP Policy and Market Development
Anne Hoskins leads Generac’s Policy team as Senior Vice President for Policy and Market Development, where she advocates for policy initiatives to accelerate distributed clean energy deployment, modernize the electric grid, and improve energy resiliency and reliability. She has almost two decades of regulatory, policy and strategy experience across multiple venues in the energy and telecommunications industries, including serving as Chief Policy Officer of Sunrun, Commissioner of the Maryland Public Service Commission, SVP of Policy and Sustainability at Public Service Enterprise Group, and Senior Counsel at Verizon Wireless. Anne has advanced regulatory innovation through her Board of Directors’ roles on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) and the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA).
President
Philip Jones is currently President of Phil Jones Consulting LLC based in Seattle, Washington, that provides expert advice and consulting services for organizations in the fields of energy and utility regulation, communications regulation, and cybersecurity compliance and regulation. Besides his consulting work, Mr. Jones serves as a Director of the Western Grid Group which advocates for clean energy resources and an efficient transmission grid in the Western States. He also serves as a Board Advisor to Energy Impact Partners (EIP), based in New York City. Mr. Jones is on the Board of Directors of Greenlots, one of the leading innovators developing intelligent solutions for EV infrastructure for utilities. He also serves on the non-profit Boards of Directors of Carbon WA and Climate Solutions. Commissioner Jones served on the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) from March 2005 to March 2017. Mr. Jones was active nationally with the FERC, U.S. Department of Energy, DHS, and the FCC. He also served on the Advisory Council of EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute).
Michael Jung leads government affairs and public policy at Modern Hydrogen. Previously, he was the founding Executive Director of the ICF Climate Center and a member of the expert committee for the COP28 Energy Transition Changemakers initiative. Michael’s career in energy has reached across both investor-owned and consumer-owned utilities. He has served as a policy advisor to governors, and he has been an early team member at several successful clean technology startups, including Utilidata, Varentec (acquired by Sentient Energy), and Silver Spring Networks (acquired by Itron). Michael most recently served as Vice President for Government Affairs at the Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative. He chaired an energy task force for Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and crafted landmark electricity legislation as a policy advisor to the campaign and administration of Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. Michael began his career managing environmental and climate change policy at American Electric Power.
Chief Executive Officer
Clay Koplin has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Cordova Electric Cooperative since 2007. He is also currently serving on the Northwest Public Power Association Board of Trustees, Alaska Center for Energy and Power Advisory Board, and is Mayor of Cordova. His professional specialties include project management, underground electric and communication design and installation best practices, various aspects of static and dynamic hydroelectric and hydrokinetic disciplines, electric utility business management, and strategic planning and execution. He has participated in recent US State Department sponsored outreach to Greenland and Northern Canada around arctic, off-grid, renewable energy policies and practices. Clay has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.
Director of Electrification and Strategic Technology
David Logsdon is Seattle City Light’s Director of Electrification and Strategic Technology. In this role David works with City leaders to achieve the strategic intent of deep decarbonization through electrification, leading the development and implementation of a portfolio of electrification and innovation projects, programs, and partnerships. This includes the implementation of leading-edge technologies and projects including Grid Modernization and emerging technology pilots as key components of Seattle City Light’s objective to promote and facilitate equitable electrification. David previously worked at Con Edison for a decade where he led Product and Service Development, revamping energy efficiency programs and launching new non-wires, electrification, and non-pipeline solutions portfolios.
Federal Affairs Manager
Larry Luong leads SMUD’s federal affairs conducting legislative analysis and advocacy, managing regulatory proceedings, and spearheading federal grants. Over the past 15 years, he has established cross-funtional teams within the company to address initiatives to secure municipal finance options, advance renewable energy development projects, inform electricity market regulation, and craft industry recommendations for carbon emisisons reduction rules. Larry and the federal affairs team report to SMUD’s Chief Legal Officer and advise the company’s Executive Team. In May 2023, Larry earned an Executive Master’s in Leadership degree from Georgetown University. His original research addressing how innovation works at SMUD formed the basis of a master’s thesis in the process for publication submission. Larry completed his Bachelor’s degree, with high honors, in political science from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Juris Doctor, with emphasis in Corporate Law, from UCLA School of Law. Larry is a member of the California Bar Association and the Energy Bar Association. A longtime resident of Sacramento and proud father of four kids, Larry relocated as a child to California after he and his family fled war-torn Vietnam.
Chief Executive Officer
Jessica Matlock was recently named the new Chief Executive Officer of La Plata Electric Association. Prior to this position, Jessica served as Assistant General Manager of Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD) No. 1, the 12th largest public utility in the US, overseeing customer and energy services and external/government affairs, including leadership of the PUD’s efforts to develop and operate solar energy, energy efficiency, electrification of transportation, and demand response programs. Matlock also led the PUD’s “Utility of the Future” efforts to modernize and enhance customer experience. Previously, Matlock held a number of positions with the Bonneville Power Administration, including a fellowship with a U.S. Senator as a lead energy expert for the Energy Policy Act of 2005, as well as serving as a power marketing specialist, constituent account executive for the State of Idaho, and fish and wildlife project manager. She serves and has served on various boards and councils related to hydropower, clean technology, SmartGrid, energy efficiency and conservation, cybersecurity, and fish and wildlife. A Colorado native, Matlock holds a Master of Public Administration from Portland State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical oceanography from the University of Washington. Matlock also served in the United States Coast Guard.
Commissioner
Ann McCabe is a commissioner at the Illinois Commerce Commission. She has over 25 years of energy and environmental policy and regulatory experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Prior to rejoining the ICC in February 2022, Ann led the US program at the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) for two years. In her prior term as an Illinois commissioner from March 2012-January 2017, Ann focused on grid modernization, power transformation, regional transmission and nuclear issues. She was president of the Organization of PJM States, Inc. (OPSI) and of the MidAmerica Regulatory Conference (MARC) boards. Her consulting experience includes two years as the interim executive director of The Climate Registry and assisting nonprofit and trade association clients on regulatory and policy issues. Ann has a master’s in public policy from the University of Chicago’s Harris School and a bachelor’s in political science from Williams College.
Director
Smriti Mishra is Director of Go to Market activities at WeaveGrid. She oversees the business development team, sales operations, alignment on market and regulatory priorities, industry collaborations, and supports operations to deliver best-in-class software for WeaveGrid’s utility partners. Smriti has expertise in energy innovation, aggregation, and building industry collaborations. Prior to WeaveGrid, she was a Director at National Grid, a large Northeast utility with territories in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, as well as a UK business that includes grid operations. She led a global team, and her responsibilities included leading joint ventures for distributed energy for the unregulated business, including investments of over $110M in residential solar and storage. Smriti has also operated in demand response at EnerNOC (now Enel X) in a general management function as a P&L owner whose team optimized portfolios of over $100M in annual, recurring revenue. She has developed several joint ventures that were first-of-kind with unique regulatory structures and bridges for public/private partnership, which each resulted in long term value for all stakeholders. She earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor’s in Physics, Honors from University of Chicago
EVP of Government & Regulatory Affairs
Meghan Nutting is the Executive Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Sunnova Energy Corporation, a leading U.S. residential solar and storage services provider. In this role, she works closely with company and industry leaders, nonprofits, state and federal policymakers, and regulators to craft and implement policies that provide a more stable and sustainable business environment for solar electricity generation. Prior to working at Sunnova, she served as the Director of Policy and Electricity Markets at SolarCity for nearly five years. She has also worked as a Legislative Director for New York State Assembly member Linda Rosenthal and as a Press Secretary for former U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe. Meghan has held policy positions at the World Bank and the British Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as well as a number of environmental organizations. In these positions, Meghan has worked on, advocated for, and impacted a significant number of energy and environment-related issues and policies. She has been named one of the #Solar100 thought leaders in the U.S., one of the Denver Business Journal’s top women in energy for 2018 and one of the DBJ’s top women in business in 2021. She was also a 2021 C3E award winner from the U.S. Department of Energy in the business category. She was a candidate for the Colorado House of Representatives in 2017-18. Meghan received her BA in Biology from Cornell University and her MPA from Princeton University.
President & Board Chairman
Steven Parker, CISA, CISSP, is President of EnergySec, and is a founding director of the organization. He has been engaged in critical infrastructure protection within the electric sector since 2001, including 8 years as a senior security staff member at a large investor-owned utility. As one of the original CIP auditors, he helped establish the NERC CIP audit program at the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) in 2009. At EnergySec, he developed and established its NERC CIP training program, and has instructed more than 1000 industry professionals on this topic. Mr. Parker is also a partner at Archer Security Group, a leading consulting firm specializing in compliance and security in the energy sector. His experience includes a broad range of security disciplines including e-commerce, identity management, intrusion detection, forensics, incident response and investigations, security event monitoring, and NERC CIP compliance.
CEO
Jeff Ressler is Chief Executive Officer of Clean Power Research. Since joining the company in 2007, he has overseen the inception of the SolarAnywhere(r) and WattPlan(r) software families, and grown PowerClerk(r) from a nascent, online incentive processing tool into a powerful, general purpose energy program automation solution. Today, the company’s cloud software solutions serve ten of the top ten utilities in the United States as well as countless project engineers, renewables developers and independent power producers around the world. Earlier in his career, Jeff spent more than ten years at Microsoft, with leadership roles on Exchange and SQL Server as well as a nearly three-year assignment as speech assistant to Bill Gates. Jeff holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.
Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Adam Richins is Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Idaho Power. Since joining Idaho Power in 2011, he has served as Vice President of Customer Operations and Business Development; General Manager of Customer Operations Engineering and Construction, and Senior Counsel. Richins holds two Bachelor of Science degrees (Mathematics from the University of Puget Sound and Civil Engineering from Columbia University). He earned a law degree from the University of Washington and clerked for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Richins serves on boards at Saint Alphonsus Health System, Boise School Foundation, the Boise Chamber of Commerce and the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee.
Director of the Electricity Infrastructure and Buildings (EI&B) Division
Dr. Karma Sawyer is the Director of the Electricity Infrastructure and Buildings (EI&B) Division at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). She is responsible for vision and strategy to tackle the nation’s most important energy efficiency, clean energy, and electricity infrastructure challenges. The Division consists of about 450 staff members in eight technical groups in electrical, mechanical, and systems engineering, data and computer sciences, cybersecurity, policy and economics by building diverse, multi-disciplinary teams to provide innovative and actionable solutions to Department of Energy and Department of Defense clients.
Director of Policy and Strategy and COO
Julia Selker is the Director of Policy and Strategy and Chief Operating Officer for Grid Strategies. In this role, she facilitates new business and coordinates the Future Power Markets Forum. Julia also serves as the Executive Director of the Working for Advanced Transmission Technologies (WATT) Coalition, leading policy advocacy and education on Grid Enhancing Technologies. She previously worked in communications for the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and technology startups, interned with Congressman Peter DeFazio focused on energy and climate policy, and worked on the launch of Monterey Bay Community Power through the public relations agency Miller Maxfield, Inc. She has a bachelor’s degree in physics from Reed College.
Sr. Managing Director of Energy
Marc Spieler is a seasoned executive in the technology and energy sectors, and currently the Senior Managing Director for the Global Energy Industry at NVIDIA. Since his appointment in July 2019, Marc has been instrumental in crafting and executing NVIDIA’s strategic direction across the energy sector, encompassing key areas such as oil and gas, renewables, power generation, and utilities.
In his role at NVIDIA, Marc is responsible for leveraging the company’s accelerated computing platforms to drive innovative applications in HPC, visualization, deep learning, data science, and artificial intelligence in all segments of energy with a focus on accelerating decision-making and optimizing outcomes for energy companies. Marc’s key responsibilities include spearheading business development initiatives, steering product innovation in collaboration with engineering, and leading targeted marketing strategies. He is pivotal in cultivating a diverse industry ecosystem, forging connections with influencers, system integrators, solution providers, startups, and established corporations, thus driving NVIDIA’s market expansion and revenue growth in the energy sector.
Founder & CEO
Mischa’s product development and management experience in the embedded electronics, wireless, and software industries was honed at organizations such as ECO Fuel Systems, Newpoint Thermal and the Okanagan Research & Innovation Centre. Mischa is a frequent speaker and panelist at industry conferences, university programs and government events on the smart grid and the innovation potential of technology to transform business and society. He represented Awesense as a voting and participating member during the inception of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and an active volunteer at Science World to encourage school children to pursue careers in math, science, and engineering. Mischa holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Victoria and in Wireless, Electronics, Engineering Technology from the British Columbia Institute of Technology, after leaving a PhD path at Simon Fraser University in Mathematics.
Founder & President
Travis has been at the forefront of utility transformation since 1998, and leads the established utility consulting practice for JTS based out of Vancouver, British Columbia. With a focus on business operations and emerging technologies, he has worked on numerous AMI and Smart Grid initiatives in multiple countries. Travis provides strategic leadership and support to more than 30 JTS consultants who are actively working with utility customers around the globe on projects ranging from demand side management to people, process and tools relating to bulk electric system operations. Prior to founding JTS in 2004, Travis worked as an application consultant implementing utility customer information system throughout North America, and previous to that was employed by BC Hydro as a business analyst. Travis has worked both above and below the meter, with utility scale as well as distributed generation, and been in the field to appreciate how water, gas and electric utilities have operated in the past and need to operate in the future.
Director of Digital Cloud Strategy & Business Development
Joe Tellez, Director of Digital Cloud Strategy at TRC, where he supports market strategies and business development activities centric to TRC Digital services and has been on the Advisory Board since 2015. Joe provides vision for both short-term and long-term strategies to improve utility performance through the effective use of utility technology. He brings over 25 years of industry experience serving in a number of senior leadship roles in organizations including UiPath, Tacoma Power, Utility Integration Solutions / Alstom Grid, and Sempra Utilities – San Diego Gas & Electric / Southern California Gas Co. He is a sought-after panelist and author, serves on the UW-Tacoma School of Engineering & Technology Advisory Board, and served as the Executive in Residence at University of Colorado’s Global Energy Management Program. He obtained a B.S. in industrial and systems engineering and an M.S. in systems architecture & engineering from University of Southern California.
Professor | Director of Energy Systems Innovation Center
Mani V. Venkatasubramanian is a Boeing Distinguished Professor in Electrical Engineering at Washington State University (WSU), Pullman, WA. He also serves as the Director of the Energy Systems Innovation Center (ESIC) which manages the power engineering research and education at WSU. He serves as the Chair of the IEEE PES Working Group on Power System Dynamic Measurements. He is an elected member of the Washington State Academy of Sciences. He was an invited member of the working groups that studied the 1996 Western interconnection blackouts and the 2003 Northeastern blackout. Mani has been working on modeling, stability analysis, and control designs for power grids for the past thirty years. He is an IEEE Fellow for his contributions to the online detection of oscillatory behavior of electric power systems. He is a recipient of the IEEE PES Prabha S. Kundur Power System Dynamics and Control Award.
CEO
Dr. Karen Wayland is a recognized expert in national energy and environmental policy and served in leadership positions at the highest levels of government and nonprofits. Through her business, kW Energy Strategies, she has been providing strategic consulting on grid modernization policy, coalition building and communications for major clean energy companies, national environmental organizations, local officials, and foundations. At the U.S. DoE, she established a team for former Secretary Moniz to conduct analyses and develop strategies for DOE’s work with states, local authorities, served on leadership team for the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER), and was the primary author of the QER “Modernizing the Grid” chapter and policy recommendations. Dr. Wayland worked on energy and climate legislation for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid when he was Majority Whip. She has extensive experience working with nonprofit organizations, including as CEO of the Clean Energy Project, Legislative Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Director on the Board of Center for Sustainable Energy, and Distinguished Associate at the Energy Futures Initiative. She has been the Policy Advisor to GridWise Alliance for the last year. Dr. Wayland is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy and an Equity in Energy Ambassador at the US DOE. She holds a Master of Science from the University of Connecticut and a Dual Ph.D. in the fields of geochemistry and resource development from Michigan State University.
Executive Director, Development
Jordan White joined GridLiance in 2021 as Executive Director, Development, where he focuses on electric transmission development in the western United States. Prior to joining GridLiance, Jordan served as a Vice President of Strategic Engagement and Deputy General Counsel for the Western Electricity Coordinating Counsel (WECC). Before his time at WECC, Jordan worked as legal counsel to the Utah Public Service Commission until his appointment as a commissioner by Governor Gary Herbert in 2015. During his time at the Commission, Jordan served as President of the National Conference of Regulatory Attorneys, Chair of the CAISO Western Energy Imbalance Market Body of State Regulators, Chair of the Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body, Regulatory Liaison to RC West, President of the Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners, and as a Class 5 Representative on Peak Reliability’s Member Advisory Committee.