The Grid Forward Board of Directors represents the diversity of stakeholders: utility, industry solution providers, professional services, education, government and non-profits.
Our Board of Directors manages the business and financial affairs and strategic direction of the organization as outlined in the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. Members of the Board have relevant leadership experience in the energy and utility industry, so their contributions will help support the organization’s mission of promoting and accelerating grid innovation. Board Members serve three-year terms.
Nominations from among members in good standing are considered by the Nominating Committee when notice is provided to the Executive Director, Secretary, or other members of the Nominating Committee in writing. Candidates are voted on by the Board of Directors. The slate of renewing and incoming members elected by the Board is then voted on by the membership in the Annual Meeting. Board meetings are generally scheduled quarterly. The Board may fill vacancies from resignation or other changes. Typically 2-4 members are elected each year.
Kaitlyn Albertoli is the CEO and Co-Founder of Buzz Solutions, where she leads the use of artificial intelligence to help electric utilities modernize how infrastructure is inspected and maintained. Buzz Solutions enables utilities to convert large volumes of inspection imagery into prioritized insights that support faster decision-making and more effective asset management.
With over 20 years of experience in the electric utility industry, Lora is currently serving as SMUD’s first Chief Zero Carbon Officer, responsible for the transition of SMUD’s power supply to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2030. Lora provides leadership for SMUD’s energy supply, which includes resource, settlements and market planning; design, construction, maintenance and transition of SMUD’s power generation assets; and customer program strategy, design and development pertaining to distributed energy resources. She’s also responsible for research and development activities, grant application and administration, and establishing new zero-carbon business partnerships.
Luis is the CEO of Uplight, the technology partner of energy providers transitioning to a decarbonized future. A recognized leader across the energy ecosystem, he joined the organization in September 2022 to help scale Uplight’s market leading grid edge customer engagement, enrollment, and load flexibility platform. Prior to joining Uplight, Luis was the global head of Schneider Electric’s Digital Energy business, where he worked to accelerate the digitization of power networks by building and implementing new technology solutions. Having worked on all sides of the utility industry, Luis has vast global experience running software businesses, scaling startups, and leading growth and customer engagement initiatives.
Treasurer
Julie leads the Power & Utilities National Practice for Moss Adams LLP, and has been providing auditing, accounting, and consulting services since 2000. Some of her specific areas of focus include: advanced utility accounting, regulatory assets and liabilities, technical auditing (including single audits), contracting, business feasibility studies, internal control evaluation, litigation support, and relationship management. Julie currently serves on the Moss Adams’s Executive Council, training and development committee, audit task force, and recruiting program. In addition, she serves as an AICPA peer reviewer and is a regular speaker on technical and operational issues related to the energy and utility industry.
Elliot Hinds is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group at Sheppard Mullin with a focus on corporate and energy matters. While he is deeply engaged in energy transactions, he also works with clients in a variety of other capital-intensive industries, including manufacturing, health care, and technology. Elliot works extensively on mergers and acquisitions, debt financings, project development and finance, and joint ventures. The projects he has worked on include renewable energy (including wind, geothermal, solar, and biomass), natural gas, cogeneration and coal-fired electric power, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and bioethanol facilities. He has handled many billions of dollars of energy project finance transactions and worked on some of the first merchant facilities to be developed and/or owned in a fully deregulated environment. He represents several wind and solar energy project developers, technology companies and other companies.
As Global Energy Partner Ecosystem Manager for NVIDIA, Shawntia is responsible for spearheading energy partner relationships to define and execute AI transformative strategies that drive growth of the global energy partner ecosystem through sustainable growth. She has also held senior positions at G&W Electric, ABB and Eaton.
Evan O’Mahoney, Chief Information Officer at CPS Energy, leads the Enterprise Information Technology (EIT) organization, overseeing Infrastructure & Operations, Enterprise Architecture, Business Solutions, Digital Experience, and Execution Excellence. He drives the development of digital and technology strategies that align with enterprise objectives and sponsors Evolve, the company’s Digital Transformation program.
Jennifer Potter is a resident of the Maui, Hawaii with over 18 years of experience in the US energy industry. She works as a Faculty Energy Specialist at the Hawaii Natural Research Institute at the University of Hawaii, where her research focuses on microgrids and energy policy. She leads a US Department of Energy project on community microgrids in the Hawaiian Islands, emphasizing resilient energy infrastructure.
Previously, Jennie served as Senior Director of Regulatory Innovation at Strategen Consulting and as a Commissioner with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission for five years, where she implemented innovative regulatory frameworks, including performance-based regulations and performance incentives for energy providers. At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Jennie led the nationally recognized California Demand Response Potential Study, and authored numerous papers on demand response, energy efficiency, advanced electricity rates, and resiliency, and has presented her research nationally and internationally.
Jenny received the Grid Innovator of the Year award from Grid Forward in 2022 and the Thought Leadership award from the Peak Load Management Alliance in 2018. She holds a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and Economics.
Raiford Smith, Global Head, Power and Energy for the Cloud at Google, leads the fastest growing industry vertical at Google Cloud – Power and Energy. This includes all utilities (electric, gas, water), IPPs, TSO/DSOs, and oil and gas firms as well as related OEMs, EPCs, ISVs, advisory services, and products companies. He has also held senior positions at AES, Entergy, CPS Energy and Duke Energy.
Marie Steele is the Vice President of Integrated Energy Services at NV Energy where she leads a diverse team responsible for the company’s clean energy customer programs and services including energy efficiency, demand response, electric vehicles, battery storage and renewable energy. The team is also responsible for integrated grid planning and the distributed resource plan, which ensures NV Energy customers and Nevadans benefit from distributed energy resource deployment. Her experience at NV Energy spans across transmission and distribution projects, financial planning and analysis, and renewable energy strategy.
A persistent advocate for equitable sustainable solutions, Marie has been a prominent voice in the transportation electrification space in Nevada, co-authoring the Nevada Governor’s Office of Energy report, Electrifying Nevada’s 21st Century Transportation System as Principal and Co-Founder at e-Centricity, LLP, a woman-owned Nevada based business.
Marie received her MBA from the ESADE Business School in Barcelona, Spain and has Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Iowa with an International Business Exchange at the University of New South Wales.
Dr. Emma M. Stewart is a leading expert in power systems and critical infrastructure security, specializing in electric distribution, grid resilience, modeling and simulation, and operational cybersecurity. She is the Chief Power Grid Scientist at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and serves as the Director of the Center for Securing the Digital Energy Transition. In these roles, Dr. Stewart leads cutting-edge initiatives to strengthen the security and resilience of the power grid, addressing the critical challenges facing modern energy systems. Dr. Stewart has worked with international utilities, U.S. national laboratories, and organizations across the globe. Before joining INL, she served as Chief Scientist at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), where she oversaw a multimillion-dollar R&D portfolio and led programs focused on workforce education, information sharing, and incident response for electric cooperatives.
Dr. Vidya Vankayala is currently the Director of Smart Microgrid Applied Research Team (SMART) at the center for applied research and innovation, BC Institute of Technology (BCIT). In this role, Vidya is responsible to define and direct applied research programs that advance the state of the art in grid modernization and resilient systems. His goal is to define and implement a new innovation roadmap for BCIT and province of BC to support resilient energy systems. Dr. Vankayala brings more than 30 years of experience in the utility and hi-tech sectors.
Dr. Vankayala led innovation at various utilities as a Chief Architect, Solution Director and Industry Specialist. Dr. Vankayala is a member of IEEE and a contributor to several smart grid and smart city standards. He has over 30 publications in operations, planning, cyber security and technology enablement of smart infrastructures for industry, community and home.
Previously at Powertech Labs Inc., Vidya was responsible for the world-class High Power Lab which offers unique grid-connected testing and validation services to the utility industry. His team developed several new services at Powertech including NERC CIP assessment and audit support, Distribution Automation, Distribution System Reliability Assessment to incorporate Climate Change Impacts, Wildfire Risk Assessment and Mitigation and Microgrid Design and Planning.
Michelle Vargo is senior vice president of Energy Operations for Puget Sound Energy, responsible for gas and electric operations, engineering, customer and system projects, wildfire mitigation and response, and corporate shared services. She joined PSE in July 2023 from Seattle City Light, where she served as Chief Operating Officer responsible for all utility transmission, distribution and system operations functions. Prior to that, she held a number of leadership roles, including Deputy Chief Operating Officer, and as a director in both Transmission and Distribution and Generation Operations and Engineering. Before joining Seattle City Light in 2013, Michelle worked in business development for the LNG and industrial gases industry and spent five years as an engineering officer in the United States Army.
Piper Wilder is founder and CEO of 60Hertz Energy, a company developing software to maintain fleets of distributed energy resources — from village infrastructure, to remote industrial sites, to solar arrays. The company has won more than 10 national and international awards for their work. Piper was inducted into the Alaska Innovators Hall of Fame in 2022, is a 2020 Tory Burch Foundation Fellow, and former German Chancellor Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The company serves customers from Nigeria to the Canadian Arctic, including the US Navy. She lives in Anchorage with her husband and 4 yr old daughter.
