REV4NY Exchange

Hunter has spent his career focusing on the development and application of value driven analytics to improve business performance. As General Manager of Data Services, he is responsible for driving Tendril’s Data Services business unit and leading a team of analytics professionals to extend the value of Tendril’s products and services. He has held key executive and management roles in the US and UK, including CMO at HBOS Cards Services, Head of Commercial Management at Barclaycard, and held senior positions at Partners First and Providian. He also holds a PhD in Systems Engineering, has served on the Faculty at Visa Europe Business School and is a frequent conference speaker.

Ron Ambrosio is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and Chief Technology Officer for Smarter Energy Research, overseeing activities across twelve Research Laboratories around the world. He joined IBM in 1981 at the T.J. Watson Research Center, working on real-time operating systems, distributed applications, and cyber-physical systems. Ron initiated IBM’s activities in Smart Grids in 2000.
In 2003 he represented IBM in the planning and launch of the GridWise Alliance, and in 2004 was selected by DoE for the 13-member GridWise Architecture Council, serving as Chairman in 2009-2010. Ron was Chairman of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) Architecture Committee in 2009-2014.

Laney Brown is the Director of Smart Grid at Iberdrola USA. Prior to her current role, she was responsible for Smart Meter program at Central Maine Power and the development of Iberdrola USA’s Smart Grid strategy.

Ms. Brown received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colby College and a double Masters in Business Administration with a focus on the Global Energy Industry from the University of Strathclyde Business School in Scotland and University Pontificas Comillas ICADE in Spain.  Laney has been recognized as a top Smart Grid professional in 2012 and 2015.

As Chief Commercial Officer, Karen is responsible for building and leading Stem’s commercial enterprise, including: strategy, policy, sales, marketing and product management. Her team at Stem has successfully deployed a large fleet of customer-sited storage with software and analytics that serve both commercial customers at the site and electric utilities and wholesale markets. Prior to joining Stem, she was a Managing Director in the commercial systems group at SunPower. Her teams successfully deployed large PV systems on DOD, DOE and VA facilities throughout the United States. Additionally, Karen led the key account efforts at SunPower with responsibility for Apple, Verizon, Macy’s and other Fortune 500 customers. Karen has consulted in utility-scale energy programs and spent 10 years at Honeywell Grid Solutions designing and delivering energy efficiency, demand response and smart metering programs. She currently serves as Treasurer on the board of directors of the Energy Storage Association ESA and holds a board seat on the SmartElectric Power Alliance (SEPA). Karen graduated from Bowdoin College with a BA in economics.

Sunil Cherian is the Founder and CEO of Spirae, a company that specializes in software platforms for integrating high levels of renewables and Distributed Energy Resources for a wide range of applications. Since founding Spirae in 2002, he has been focused on productizing distributed energy software and growing the company’s intellectual property portfolio, customer base and strategic partnerships.
Prior to Spirae, Dr. Cherian founded Sixth Dimension, Inc. for providing communication and control technologies for the electricity industry and served as its CEO from 1997 to 2002.

Dr. Cherian has extensive experience in renewable energy integration, microgrids, and distributed energy resources management for end-use and utility applications and holds two patents related to distributed control of electric power systems. He has been involved in shaping the distributed energy industry for over twenty years through various DOE initiatives, Gridwise Alliance and the Fort Collins Zero Energy District. He has served on the Board of Colorado Cleantech Industry Association and as Advisor to the Rocky Mountain Institute’s e-Lab Initiative and the NY REV initiative. He is currently featured in the Smithsonian Institution’s Places of Invention exhibit as an energy innovator.

Andy is the Founder and CEO of Sealed, an energy services company that finances home performance upgrades with guaranteed energy savings. Customers that work with Sealed's HomeAdvance program receive a no or low cost home performance project, and are guaranteed to only pay based on the energy they save. Sealed works with utilities, local contractors, and other partners to engage customers with its HomeAdvance program. Prior to Sealed, Andy ran business development for Efficiency 2.0, a software company that partnered with utilities to better engage residential customers around saving energy. Prior to Efficiency 2.0, Andy worked as an analyst at GreenOrder, a management consulting firm focused on profitable corporate sustainability strategies. Andy holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College.

Alfred Griffin is President of NY Green Bank, where he oversees the development of partnerships with private sector capital providers and other clean energy market participants to address barriers that limit private investment in attractive renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. Mr. Griffin brings 25 years of financial experience to NY Green Bank and is an industry leader in developing innovative solutions in support of renewable energy generation and energy efficiency. Prior to joining NY Green Bank, Mr. Griffin held roles in corporate and investment banking, capital markets, and risk management at Citigroup Global Markets Inc, including Alternative Energy Banking.

Mr. Griffin holds bachelor’s and M.B.A. degrees from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and serves on the university’s Board of Visitors. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Lawrence Jones is Vice President, International Programs at Edison Electric Institute (EEI). Prior to joining EEI, Lawrence spent the past 15 years of his career with Alstom Grid Inc., most recently as Vice President, Utility Innovation & Infrastructure Resilience, where he assisted utilities worldwide with formulating strategies for deploying new technology solutions. While at Alstom, Lawrence also served as Vice President, Policy, Regulatory Affairs & Industry Relations. He is a member of numerous U.S. and international industry advisory committees, and serves as Co-Chair of the 21st Century Power Partnership Leadership Forum, as a member on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee, and as a member of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Smart Grid Advisory Committee. He received his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and his Ph.D. in Power Systems Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE.

Richard Kauffman joined the administration of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo as New York State’s first “energy czar” in February 2013. Mr. Kauffman oversees and manages New York State’s entire energy portfolio, including the New York State Department of Public Service, the New York Power Authority, the Long Island Power Authority, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

Prior to joining the administration, Mr. Kauffman worked in energy and finance at some of the nation’s highest levels, most recently serving as senior advisor to Secretary Steven Chu at the U.S. Department of Energy. In his private sector career, he was chief executive officer of Good Energies, Inc., a leading investor in clean energy technologies; a partner of Goldman Sachs where he chaired the Global Financing Group; and vice chairman of Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Securities Business and co-head of its Banking Department.

Mr. Kauffman is also chair of NYSERDA’s Board and has served as chairman of the Board of Levi Strauss & Co., and on the boards of several other organizations, including the Brookings Institution and the Wildlife Conservation Society. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2014, Mr. Kauffman was named by Fortune Magazine as one of the World’s Top 25 Eco-Innovators.

Riggs Kubiak is the CEO and Co-Founder of Honest Buildings, the new standard in operations, design, and construction. The New York City technology company is purpose built for real estate owners and operators to significantly reduce project spend through a suite of bid management, analytics and workflow tools combined with a deep market network, which yields unparalleled data insights.  Owners using the platform today include SL Green, WeWork, Time Equities, Kushner Companies, and many others.

Launched in 2012, Honest Buildings has raised more than $17 million in venture capital funding to date. Prior to co-founding Honest Buildings, Riggs spent for 5 years at Tishman Speyer in New York City where he worked on over $30 billion of new acquisitions, spent time in asset management, and then led the global sustainability initiative.

Cheryl Martin launched Harwich Partners to work with public and private sector entities to accelerate technology adoption. Before this she served as Acting Director of ARPA-E and was also Deputy Director for Commercialization where she developed the Technology-to-Market program.  Prior to joining ARPA-E, Dr. Martin was an Executive in Residence with KPCB.  She spent 20 years with Rohm and Haas Company and most recently had been General Manager for the Paint and Coatings Materials business in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Dr. Martin earned a B.A. degree from the College of the Holy Cross and a Ph.D. from MIT.

Clay Nesler is Vice President, Corporate Sustainability for Johnson Controls.  In this role, he leads the company’s global environmental sustainability council and is responsible for sustainability practices across the company’s global manufacturing operations. Since joining Johnson Controls in 1983, Clay has held a variety of leadership positions in research, product development, marketing and strategy in the United States and Europe. 

Nesler received BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a winner of the 2005 Corenet Global Innovator’s Award, the 2012 VERGE 25 award and is a co-inventor of twelve U.S. Patents.

Naimish Patel is the Founder and CEO of Gridco Systems, a leader in agile grid infrastructure solutions, enabling utilities to more effectively integrate renewable and distributed generation, increase energy efficiency, manage peak capacity, and improve system reliability. Previously, Naimish was an EIR at General Catalyst Partners.  Prior to joining General Catalyst, Naimish was one of the four founding team members of Sycamore Networks. Naimish holds B.S., M.S., and M.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering from MIT and is the holder of 18 patents. He serves on the Advanced Energy Economy Board of Directors and on the President’s Council at Olin College.

John Rhodes has more than 30 years of experience in business with a focus on the financial and energy industries, and has lived and worked internationally, including India, Germany, Brazil, and Argentina.

Prior to his appointment at NYSERDA in 2013, Mr. Rhodes served as the Director for the Center for Market Innovation at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an international environmental advocacy organization. The Center works to channel private capital towards environmentally beneficial investments with a focus on energy efficiency, renewable energy, green infrastructure, and sustainable food and agriculture.

Before joining NRDC, Mr. Rhodes spent three years acting as chief operating officer at Good Energies, a leading investment firm focused on renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Additionally, Mr. Rhodes was a partner at Booz Allen Hamilton where he provided strategic consulting for clients across technology–intensive industries including energy, aerospace, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. He has also served as a trader and general manager at Metallgesellschaft, a German mining, metals and engineering firm.

He also serves on boards of several nonprofit organizations, including the Alliance to Save Energy, Urban Green Council, and New York Institute for Special Education.

Vic is the founder and CEO of Green Charge , the largest commercial energy storage developer in the U.S. Over the course of seven years, Vic grew the company from an idea all the way to successful acquisition in April, 2016 by ENGIE, the largest independent power producer in the world. Prior to Green Charge, Vic held management positions at various enterprise cloud computing companies, including Oracle. Vic holds an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and an engineering degree from the University of Virginia.

Gary Wetzel is the Vice President-US Sales for S&C Electric Company based in Chicago IL.  He has over 35 years of experience in the electrical industry applying solutions for all aspects of electrical distribution systems working with diverse customers in both utility and private industry.  He has been with S&C for 20 years serving in various capacities including sales, marketing, application and system engineering.
Gary is a Senior Member of IEEE and has co-authored papers on arc-resistant switchgear and presented IEEE papers and tutorials on distribution switchgear, arc-resistant switchgear, microgrids, energy storage and power quality.

Ed White is Vice President of New Energy Solutions at National Grid. With great agility, decisiveness, creativity, and collaboration; Ed and his growing team have taken the leadership role in applying a dedicated focus to building the utility of the future. This is all in support of National Grid’s Connect21 strategy and the ongoing development of new efficient products and services created to meet the needs our customers and communities both demand and deserve. In development are innovative customer pricing models, modernized smart grid programs, microgrids, distributed service platforms, battery storage and a robust clean transportation strategy – all using energy smarter and more strategically.

Prior to his current role, Ed successfully led a team that developed the company’s largest distributed solar installation project and was also the U.S. lead on developing National Grid’s Energy Management Strategy.  He has been with National Grid for more than 20 years working with a number of teams, including Electric Operations, Environmental, Procurement, and also served as Chief of Staff to the President and CEO of the US Business.

Ed earned his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a certificate in High Performance Management from Northeastern University in Boston.  He also completed Cambridge University’s Program for Sustainability Leadership.

Audrey Zibelman has extensive experience in the public, private, and not-for-profit energy and electricity sectors. She is a recognized national and international expert in energy policy, markets, and smart grid innovation. She has participated as both counsel and expert witness in numerous electric utility proceedings before state and federal regulatory and legislative bodies.

Ms. Zibelman is a founder and past president and chief executive officer of Viridity Energy, Inc., which she formed after more than 25 years of electric utility industry leadership experience in both the public and private sectors. 

Previously, Ms. Zibelman was the executive vice president and chief operating officer of PJM, a regional transmission organization that operates the world’s largest wholesale power market and serves 14 states throughout the eastern United States. Ms. Zibelman also held executive positions at Xcel Energy, and served as general counsel to the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission and as Special Assistant Attorney General in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.

She is chair of the New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment. She sits on other boards including the State Energy Planning Board and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.