u.s. energy storage summit 2017

Mia collaborates with internal and external stakeholder groups to synthesize market insights and guide the prioritization of investments for the development of new market products. MISO’s markets clear more than $37 billion dollars in energy transactions annually. With an evolving fleet, market strategy focuses on what new products are needed to continue to drive non-discriminatory market efficiency and price transparency, aligned with grid reliability, and also send appropriate price signals to guide investment decisions. Prior to MISO, Mia worked at 3M in Corporate Strategy and in Global Sustainability in Corporate R&D on innovating new products to address major world challenges like climate change and water scarcity. Earlier experiences were gained at Gamesa in wind farm development and in management consulting for market strategy for clean tech and renewable energy clients. Mia has a Masters in Sustainability and Environmental Management from Harvard University, an MBA from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. in Communications and Swedish from North Park University.

As the Director of IREC’s Regulatory Program, Sara Baldwin Auck develops and oversees IREC’s national regulatory engagement strategy on distributed energy resource policies, in coordination with IREC’s Regulatory Team.  Sara is a co-author of IREC’s Charging Ahead: An Energy Storage Guide for State Policymakers and led the development of the first-of-its-kind National Scorecard for State Shared Renewable Energy. On behalf of IREC, Sara serves on the Advisory Board of Grid Lab and on the Technical Team for the US DOE SunShot Solar Market Pathways initiative. Prior to joining IREC, Sara was a Senior Policy Associate for Utah Clean Energy, where she directed and implemented strategic clean energy policy and regulatory efforts in Utah and served on the Utah Governor’s 10-Year Energy Initiative, Energy & Environment Subcommittee. Sara was named an “Innovator and Influencer” by Solar Power World in 2017 and one of “Utah’s Enlightened 50″ by the Community Foundation of Utah in 2012.

Sue Babinec is a Senior Commercialization Advisor at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). She helps lead ARPA-E's Technology-to-Market effort, which focuses on preparing breakthrough energy technologies for the transition from lab to market.

Babinec has spent her career focused on research and commercial programs in materials, electro-active materials, displays, sensors, and electrochemistry, with extensive experience in Li-Ion batteries. Prior to ARPA-E, Babinec served as Technical Director for A123 Systems, Inc., where she led research groups innovating in Li-Ion materials and cell technologies and also developed an analytical organization in support of the company’s global business.

Babinec spent the first 20+ years of her career at The Dow Chemical Corporation, where she was awarded the Inventor of the Year and was the company’s first woman Corporate Fellow. Her role also included Scientist Partner to the Dow Venture Capital Organization-Physical Sciences, leading technical analysis of investment opportunities and hands-on partnering in start-up investments. Babinec also co-invented a low-cost display technology that was spun out as the venture- funded Aveso Displays.

Babinec received her M.S. in Physical Science from Michigan State University and B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin. She holds 40+ patents and has authored or co-authored dozens of journal articles and book chapters on her areas of expertise. She is an active member of The American Chemical Society and The Electrochemical Society.

Dan Berwick is Borrego Solar’s Executive Vice President of Business Development, based out of the New England regional headquarters. Dan’s primary focus is on shaping Borrego Solar’s unique business strategies and product offerings around the country, with a particular focus on the opportunities created by policy and regulation. Dan has led Borrego Solar’s market expansion efforts in Massachusetts and New York, as well the development of Borrego Solar’s third-party O&M business. He is a leading expert on solar policy design, and the intersection of renewable energy policy and market dynamics. Prior to joining Borrego Solar, Dan worked on renewable energy policy reform at the Texas House of Representatives. He’s also worked in the utilities practice area at The Brattle Group, an economic consulting firm, and he supported Federal policy efforts for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Dan earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Sloan School of Management and his Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Mr. Calavitta is a senior member of Macquarie Capital’s in-house project development team based in Austin, Texas.  Mr. Calavitta joined Macquarie in 2013 and brought with him a unique and complementary background in project finance, project development, M&A and private equity.  Over his 24-year career as a transactional finance specialist, Mr. Calavitta has helped close 48 deals with an aggregate transaction value over $5.7 billion, including $3.2 billion of renewable power and energy infrastructure transactions over the past 11 years.  Since joining Macquarie, Mr. Calavitta has helped develop and finance over 1,000 MW of wind power and solar power projects and he is currently leading Macquarie’s efforts to commercialize a $200 million contracted portfolio of behind-the meter, battery storage facilities in southern California which Macquarie acquired from and is jointly developing alongside Advanced Microgrid Solutions.  Mr. Calavitta attended Tulane University in New Orleans on a full merit scholarship and earned his Bachelor of Science in Management degree with distinction (summa cum laude) in 1993.

Scott Clavenna has been leading high-tech market research firms for over 15 years. In his capacity as a trusted analyst and consultant, Scott has helped dozens of companies enter and succeed in complex and intensely competitive markets worldwide. He also has authored more than 30 reports that helped define important emerging market segments in optical and broadband communications.

Prior to founding Greentech Media, Scott was chief analyst at Heavy Reading, the market research arm of Light Reading, the dominant online media company in the telecommunications market. CMP bought Light Reading in 2005. Before creating Heavy Reading, Scott founded PointEast Research, providing strategic consulting and market intelligence to a broad mix of startups, venture capitalists and major suppliers in the communications/IT industry, and worked as director of research for Light Reading. In 1997, Scott co-founded Pioneer Consulting, which quickly grew into the leading market research firm covering the optical and broadband communications industry.

Giovanni Damato serves as Senior Project Manager in the Energy Storage and Distributed Energy Resource Program at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

Giovanni has over a decade of professional experience leading the exploration of distributed energy resources (DER), including grid-connected energy storage. Giovanni provides innovative grid storage and DER techno-economic analyses with strategic recommendations to energy industry stakeholders, while managing the program’s integrated modeling frameworks for EPRI’s grid storage practice areas. He leads the collaborative efforts in Grid Services and Analysis through the Energy Storage Integration Council (ESIC) and drives StorageVET™ ([url=http://www.storagevet.com]http://www.storagevet.com[/url]) development as its product manager.

At Strategen Consulting, Giovanni led the team’s clean energy value proposition practice for over eight years. Stakeholders sought his expertise to identify use cases, construct evaluation frameworks, and conduct cost effectiveness analyses of various clean energy projects that included the integration of solar, fuel cells, energy storage, and electric vehicles. On the regulatory front, he guided the California Public Utilities Commission’s stakeholder process for the cost effectiveness evaluation of energy storage during the Storage Rulemaking (AB2514) and inclusion of energy storage in California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program.

As a licensed general contractor, Giovanni founded a custom homebuilding business.

Giovanni holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS in Civil Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He enjoys trekking—including Mount Everest, Aconcagua, and Kilimanjaro.

Erik Ellis is currently the manager for Technology Assessment and Integration at APS.    APS Technology Assessment investigates new distribution, transmission, and DG technologies with respect to technical and business merit.    Specific responsibilities include development of the energy storage and microgrid business plans, implementation of projects thereunder, and the design and integration of 1,500 smart inverters under a master controller in the 10 MW APS residential-rooftop Solar Partners Program.  

Mr. Ellis joined APS in early 2011.    He has over 15 years of experience in the power industry in leadership positions at GE, Areva Solar, and EDF Renewable Energy.

Mr. Evans is the President and CEO, and a founder of ESS Inc. Having started ESS from his garage in 2011, he led the company to the commercialization of the Iron Flow Battery system in 2016. Prior to ESS, Mr. Evans was the Director of Design & Product Development at ClearEdge Power Inc. His team designed the ClearEdge5, a 5kW combine-heat-and-power fuel cell system, which was successfully commercialized in 2010. This product received both CSA International certification in North America and KNREC certification in Asia. Mr. Evans began his career at United Technologies Corporation (UTC) where he held technical leadership positions in their Fuel Cell business and, prior to that, as a project engineer in the Pratt & Whitney aircraft engine business. In 2006, Mr. Evans was awarded the distinguished George Mead Award, the highest honor for individual engineering achievement at UTC.

Mr. Evans has authored over 15 patents and patent applications. He holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering and a MS in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University, a MS in Finance from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a M.B.A from Carnegie Mellon University.

Dan is the head of the Energy Storage team at Wood Mackenzie (formerly GTM Research), where he focuses on front-of-the-meter energy storage applications. He previously worked as a Senior Consultant with DNV GL where he focused on competitive energy markets and the intersection of emerging energy business strategies within the broader evolving technological and regulatory environment. Prior to DNV GL Dan worked with Navigant Consulting and the Department of Energy.

Dan has 10 years of experience in the energy space as a researcher, consultant, and analyst. Dan holds a Master’s of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Wind Energy Center and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics-Physics from Brown University.

Kyle Garton is Director of Product Development at AutoGrid Systems, responsible for DERMS and virtual power plant applications of energy storage, demand response and any flexible energy resource for residential to industrial scale deployments across the globe.

Prior to AutoGrid, Kyle held product management positions at Stem and SunPower commercializing distributed behind-the-meter energy storage products. Kyle has been involved in deployments of fleets of distributed energy resources across the US, Germany, Japan and Australia; providing value to both customers and utilities with local energy optimization and grid services capabilities. Prior to focusing on energy storage, Kyle held a business development role at SunPower, developing landmark solar projects for Fortune 100 clients, ranging from small rooftop systems to >20MW power plants. In his early career Kyle worked in academic research and development of next generation energy harvesting nanomaterials. Kyle holds a B.S. in Engineering Physics from UC Berkeley and a M.S. in Materials Science & Engineering from UC San Diego.

Matt Gregori serves as a Technology Development Manager for Low Carbon Resources in the Research, Development, and Demonstration (RD&D) group at SoCalGas. In this role, he seeks out new clean energy technologies that are ready for deployment at the pilot or demonstration scale. His current focus is on technologies that convert renewable electricity into hydrogen or renewable Natural Gas for injection into the natural gas grid.

During his career in the clean energy field, Matt has operated and optimized clean energy projects from food waste anaerobic digesters to biodiesel production facilities.

Matt earned a B.S. in Chemistry at The California Institute of Technology and an MBA at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.

Terry Grant is Managing Partner and head of the solar market practice for Marathon Capital. He is based in San Francisco and focuses on the power, alternative energy and energy technology sectors.

Prior to joining Marathon Capital, Mr. Grant was a Managing Director with FBR Capital Markets focused on alternative energy and power portfolio restructurings in the Energy Group. Mr. Grant originally joined FBR in 1997 and founded the equity research practice in energy, covering the IPP and non-utility generation sub-sectors. From 2000-2005, Mr. Grant was involved in energy technology investment ventures both investing, and offering financial advisory services for energy technology and power asset companies. He founded and served as Portfolio Manager in a hedge fund focused on the energy sector.

Prior to FBR, Mr. Grant held a variety of positions at US Generating Company – a PG&E and Bechtel partnership in the energy sector. He was involved in project financings totaling over $2 billion, corporate M&A work, and was responsible for project development for the South Western Region of the United States.

Mr. Grant received his BA from Wake Forest University and his MBA from the Babcock Graduate School of Business at Wake Forest University. Mr. Grant holds Series 7, 24, 63 and 79 licenses.

Matt Harper is a fifteen-year product development veteran with a track record of repeatedly leading the successful development and commercialization of clean and renewable technologies.His career spans groundbreaking work in fuel cell vehicles (with Ballard Power Systems), hydrogen delivery (with General Hydrogen) and water purification (with Axine Water Technologies). Matt’s experience commercializing flow batteries goes back more than ten years, first as the lead engineer on three successive generations of products for VRB Power Systems and Prudent Energy, then as VP Products and Marketing at Prudent responsible for all aspects of product delivery.
Matt holds a dual Master's degree in Management and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Matt’s multidisciplinary degree from MIT integrated work within the MIT School of Engineering, MIT Sloan School of Business, Harvard Business School and Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government. Matt is a globally recognized expert on energy technology development and commercialization, having presented at conferences across China, Europe, the US and Canada. Matt holds seven US patents, and is a Professional Engineer registered in British Columbia, Canada.

As Chief Technology Officer, Larsh is leading hardware and software engineering to meet the needs of Stem's C&I, utility, and energy market customers. Prior to joining Stem, Larsh was Chief Technology Officer at Siemens Digital Grid, where he led technology development teams on products spanning from consumer metering, demand response and analytics to control center software and grid automation. He joined Siemens via the acquisition of eMeter, a Bay Area software company of which he was a co-founder and responsible for innovation and development of meter data management, analytics, and advanced smart grid applications. Prior to eMeter, he co-founded CellNet Data Systems, a pioneer in wireless networks for smart metering and distribution automation and now a unit of Landis+Gyr a Toshiba company. Larsh was a founding member of the DOE’s Gridwise Architecture Council (GWAC) and remains a Member Emeritus. He earned a B.S. and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.

As President and CEO of Greensmith, John has led the company from concept to market leadership in grid-scale energy storage technology since joining in 2009. He set the technology and strategic vision for Greensmith early on: to provide the energy storage technology platform of choice to customers and partners leveraging a battery-agnostic, software-optimized and distributed network approach. Prior to Greensmith, John spent over 20 years building high-growth, B2B technology companies and was a strategy consultant to a number of vertical sectors including the electric utility industry. John held C-level roles at four venture capital-backed technology companies operating globally, including a consortia-based electronic marketplace that served 21 of the 25 largest electric utilities in North America. John also served as a senior strategy consultant for A.T. Kearney and Braxton Associates in the areas of corporate/business unit strategy, enterprise transformation and portfolio/growth strategy. John holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business and an undergraduate degree in Economics and Sciences from the University of Western Ontario.

Praveen Kathpal is Vice President of Global Market Development at AES Energy Storage and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Energy Storage Association. His responsibilities at AES include accelerating global energy storage market growth, and bringing energy storage to new customers and new applications. Mr. Kathpal joined AES in 2007. Prior to joining AES, Mr. Kathpal was a consultant at ICF International. He holds a BA in Economics and a MBA from the University of Virginia.

Peter Klauer is a Senior Advisor, Smart Grid Technology, at the California Independent System Operator Corporation in Folsom California. The California ISO provides open and non-discriminatory access to over 80% of the state’s wholesale electricity transmission grid, supported by a competitive energy market and comprehensive infrastructure planning effort.

Peter is responsible for supporting smart grid research and facilitating the integration of emerging smart grid technologies into the ISO’s wholesale energy markets and operational systems.  Peter acts in an advisory role on technical programs and research initiatives, including, the California Energy Commission’s EPIC Program, the US Department of Energy’s ARPA-e agency, national laboratory research initiatives, EPRI, and California Investor Owned Utility demonstration projects with the ISO. 

Peter also supports state energy policy development in emerging renewable and smart grid technology areas within the California Public Utilities Commission’s Energy Division and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.

Roy Kuga is vice president, Grid Integration & Innovation, a team responsible for developing strategies and plans for:

• PG&E's grid of the future
• distributed energy resources, including energy storage, demand response, and net metering
• clean transportation
• technology pilots and demonstration projects.

Roy previously served as vice president, Energy Supply Management, overseeing the Company's procurement of gas and electric supplies, storage, transmission, financial hedging and greenhouse gas allowances.  He has worked on renewable and conventional power contracting and resource development, wholesale market design, and bidding, scheduling and dispatching PG&E's energy portfolio into California’s wholesale market.  Earlier in his career, Roy led the Company's strategic planning team for electric industry restructuring. 

Roy has also worked in the oil and gas and telecom industries.  He holds Bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering and mathematics, and a Masters degree in operations research.

Chris heads eastern US and Latin America business development for Dynapower’s Energy Storage Group.  He joined the renewables and storage industry in 1996 heading up the North Carolina Solar Center’s grid interconnection program advising utilities and regulators on interconnection policies. Chris spent 10 years with ABB, starting in ABB’s renewable energy R&D laboratory focused on power electronics and renewable energy and had roles in product management and channel program strategy. He earned a masters in mechanical engineering through NC State University’s Program in Renewable Energy. He graduated magna cum laude in economics from Princeton. Chris and his family are based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle.

Audrey deploys and aggregates home solar, batteries, and other energy services to serve residential customers, utilities, and grid operators in creating a more affordable, clean, reliable electricity grid. Audrey also serves on the NIST Smart Grid Advisory Committee. Previously, Audrey was VP of Analytics & Design at Advanced Microgrid Solutions, where she built the analytics and operations platform to optimize a 50 MW fleet of customer-sited batteries as a virtual power plant in Southern California after the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. This resulted in Series A and B corporate funding and a $200 million project finance raise – the largest dedicated energy storage finance vehicle at the time. Prior to that, Audrey led policy and analysis at the CA Public Utilities Commission President’s office, Harvard University, U.S. Department of Energy and the International Energy Agency. She holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Princeton University. At home she builds forts and Snap Circuits with her two children.

Dan Loflin currently serves as the CEO of Geli, a leading supplier of software solutions to the energy storage industry. Under his leadership, Geli closed its Series A funding and expanded business operations to New York City and Australia. Dan comes to Geli with more than 20 years of experience developing and commercializing market-defining technologies, and has held senior management and advisory roles at Locus Energy, IBM, LG Electronics, and McKinsey & Company. Dan holds a BA from Columbia University and a MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.

ElectrIQ Power is a leading energy storage and management company that is developing hardware and software technologies for homes and small businesses, as well as energy services for solar installers and utilities. The company’s flagship product, the IQ System, is a fully-integrated energy storage, management and monitoring system that includes, at its base level, a 10 kWh lithium-ion battery and an 8 kW hybrid inverter controlled by a proprietary energy management software that maximizes the value of renewables, batteries and connected appliances using machine learning and controls. Founded in 2014 and based in Palo Alto, California, ElectrIQ Power is on a mission to innovate our way to a smarter, cleaner and more efficient world.

Chris has worked in the energy industry for over 20 years, the last 16 of which at Northern Power. He has led and been a part of the development of power conversion, energy storage, microgrid, and wind turbine systems including Northern Power’s industry-leading 100 kW distributed wind turbine. Chris has also served in a variety of operational and commercial roles, including director positions for both engineering and product management.

Dirk Michels, a partner in Ballard Spahr's Energy and Project Finance Group, is one of the leading energy technology and renewable energy attorneys in California. He represents energy technology and renewable energy companies, as well as investors, developers, lenders, and equipment vendors, in developing and financing solar, biomass, wind, thermal, transmission, storage, smart grid, and other energy projects in corporate, M&A, energy project development and financing, debt and equity financings, tax equity financings, joint ventures, and other strategic alliances within the United States and abroad.

During a 20-year career practicing law in California and Germany, he has advised publicly traded and privately held clients in venture funding, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, and project financing transactions worth billions of dollars. A recognized leader in the domestic distributed solar energy industry, Mr. Michels has been at the forefront of representing solar, wind, and energy storage projects involving collaboration between U.S., German, and Canadian companies.

Troy Miller is director – Grid Solutions at S&C Electric Company. He has over 21 years of experience in the Power Engineering industry. Miller has a vast history in the application and implementation of all aspects of power electronics and power quality, including energy storage, VAR compensation and Uninterruptible Power Systems. Miller holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

West has significant experience in financing renewable energy companies and assets, particularly in leading groundbreaking financial transactions. Prior to joining AMS, West had a successful tenure as Vice President of Structured Finance at SolarCity, since 2011. While there he raised over $2 billion in diversified forms of capital, including pioneering the first solar asset backed securities in the industry and helping position the company in the public markets. West has also held finance management roles at AES Solar and investment roles at US Renewables Group.

Carla J. Peterman was appointed to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. in December 2012. Commissioner Peterman is the CPUC’s assigned Commissioner for a number of proceedings including energy efficiency, alternative transportation, energy storage, and several rate cases. Commissioner Peterman serves on many boards including the NARUC Board of Directors and the California Broadband Council. She served as the Chair of the Plug in Electric Vehicle Collaborative for 2012-2013.
She was previously appointed by Governor Brown, in 2011, to the California Energy Commission where she was lead Commissioner for renewables, transportation, and natural gas.
Commissioner Peterman has conducted research at the University of California Energy Institute and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and was an investment banker focused on energy financing at Lehman Brothers.
Commissioner Peterman holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Energy and Resources from The University of California Berkeley.  She also earned a Master of Science degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Commissioner Peterman holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Howard University.

J.W. has been a co-founder and driving force behind multiple early innovative companies in the renewable industry. He was the co-founder of Main Street Power, a pioneer in the distributed generation power purchase agreement space and an innovator in clean energy finance, driving the first New Market and Investment Tax Credit portfolio. J.W. has also served as an executive, Chief Development Officer, and Chief Operating Officer with Milender White Construction, SunShare, and Clean Energy Collective — in addition to his work, he serves on the board of the Solar Electric Light Fund ([url=http://www.SELF.org]http://www.SELF.org[/url]). J.W. is a graduate of the University of Colorado and has a Master's in Public Policy from Georgetown University.

Julia Pyper is a Senior Editor at Greentech Media covering utilities, grid issues, electric vehicles, the solar industry and energy storage. Find her on Twitter @JMPyper.

Joshua Rogol serves as Chief Development Officer at Strata Solar, leading origination and development of storage and solar projects across the US.Josh has contracted more than 500MWh of BESS and currently manages a solar and storage pipeline of more than4GWs. Previous experience includes VP of Sales at ViZn Energy, VP of Business Development for Urban Green Energy (UGE), and was a founding member of PHOTON Consulting.

Tim is the Principal Advisor for Distributed Energy Resources at the Center for Sustainable Energy, where he leads project proposal development for DER projects involving energy storage and microgrid technologies, and provides technical assistance to CSE’s market transformation programs such as the Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP.) He has spent more than 20 years developing and deploying new renewable energy technologies, including fuel cell buses in Europe, wind turbines large and small across the US, and microgrids here in California. Tim’s work focuses on the integration of technical strategies and profitable business models to accelerate the market evolution of emissions-free transportation, power generation and energy consumption. Tim has Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University, and an MBA from the University of California, San Diego.

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.

MJ Shiao currently serves as the Director of Community Solar at Arcadia Power, where he works to connect residential customers with community solar projects developed by Arcadia Power's partners. Before Arcadia, MJ held various positions at Greentech Media and Wood Mackenzie, including leading GTM Research, a 30-person team tracking, analyzing and forecasting the evolution of the solar, energy storage and grid edge industries.  MJ is a leading expert in the transformation of the electricity sector. He has spoken at numerous conferences, testified in front of the U.S. International Trade Commission on solar trade issues and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg and Buzzfeed. Before joining GTM Research, MJ managed and designed several MWs of residential and commercial PV projects. He holds a bachelor's in electrical engineering from the University of Delaware, where he was named a National Truman Scholar. A believer in the social benefits of solar power, MJ has also researched, installed and tested rural off-grid PV in India and Thailand.

As the President and CEO of Shoals Technologies Group, Dean Solon is responsible for running all facets of the business. Dean has a proven executive management track record and over 20 years of experience driving sales and technological growth in the solar industry. Dean founded Shoals in 1996 with partners and in the year 2000, bought all their shares in the business and changed the course of Shoals from manufacturing for the automotive industry to the solar industry. While solar was in it’s infancy, Dean saw an opportunity to bring his extensive automotive knowledge and experience to a fledgling industry. Prior to the founding of Shoals, Dean worked in technical sales at multiple automotive tier one and tier two companies. During that time, Bosch Automotive approached Dean with a request for him to start his own manufacturing business and become their sole vendor for automotive brush cards. This request was the catalyst for Dean to found Shoals Technologies Group and supply Bosch Mexico with product for many years. Dean attended college at Purdue University in 1988 and studied mechanical engineering.

Jeff St. John comes to Greentech Media from The Fresno Bee, where he covered solar-power, biofuel and biomass developments in California's Central Valley, and the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Wash., where his beat included nuclear power and nuclear-waste remediation, as well as the research and development of biofuels, fuel cells, energy-management systems and other energy technologies. He also has written for the Anchorage Daily News, UpsideToday.com, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and he won a National Headliner Award in 2005. Jeff has a master's degree from the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and believes green technology will save the planet.

Carl has over 40 years of utility industry experience managing energy for California’s sixth largest utility, the Imperial Irrigation District, as the Energy Manager and the Portfolio Management Officer. During his tenure at the utility, Carl initiated strategic project management, implemented processes that saved hundreds of millions in costs, and oversaw the implementation of battery storage projects. As a member of the Geothermal Energy Association board, Carl helped initiate the use of renewable energy as a catalyst for addressing the Salton Sea environmental issues.

Carl is the Vice President of Imperial Valley Development and Storage Integration for 8minutenergy. He oversees the development of renewable projects in Imperial Valley and works with 8minutenergy’s storage team to bring energy storage projects to fruition.

Mr. Terruzzin is an innovator and internationally recognized expert in climate change mitigation strategies with proven track record of growing businesses at the intersection of clean-tech (renewable and energy storage) and digitization (IoT + blockchain). Having launched two international companies, Mr. Terruzzin has also developed extensive experience in building teams and transforming innovative ideas into successful businesses. He is Director - Energy Storage at E.ON Climate & Renewables, founding advisor of the Energy Blockchain Consortium and has held strategic positions at GE, Evolution Markets and Roland Berger Management Consulting. Mr. Terruzzin holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business, a PhD in Applied Statistics (Energy Economics), and an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Padua (Italy).

Linh Tran leads LG Chem’s residential and small C&I markets in North America. Linh's professional background includes R&D engineering for US homeland security, utility demand response programs and software analytic sales. She earned her MBA from California State Univ., East Bay. Her responsibilities at LG Chem include all aspects of new product launches, developing supporting product programs and product training for residential markets and small C&I markets. From May 2017, Linh has been focused on the launch of LG Chem’s first home battery in North America. She’s had success in developing the training program, installer certification process and product registration platform in addition to supporting sales & marketing efforts.

Rogers Weed is Vice President of Product Management for Doosan GridTech, responsible for marketing and product-related business decisions such as pricing, packaging and positioning. Rogers has over 15 years of experience in product management and business roles at Microsoft – he was a Corporate Vice President and part of the company’s Marketing Leadership Team. In 2009, Rogers was appointed by Governor Chris Gregoire to direct Washington State’s Department of Commerce where he provided leadership on economic development issues including the state’s energy policy. Rogers began his career as a Consultant with Bain & Company.

Alta Yen is the Managing Director of Strategic Planning for General Electric Company as of February 2018.  In this role, she is responsible for managing long-term strategic planning across GE.  As a 20-year veteran in the energy industry, Alta is a consummate analyst who seeks to maximize value and drive outcomes using data, numbers and good judgment.  Her experience spans several business cycles, multiple large-scale energy crises and the massive disruption currently undertaking the energy industry.

In 1999, Alta joined GE Structured Finance Group as a portfolio manager where she ultimately managed and worked-out a $1.4 billion portfolio consisting primarily of distressed assets related to Enron, PG&E and Mirant.  In 2004, she helped launch GE Energy Financial Services, a debt and equity investor specializing in the energy sector through an operational role and in 2005, she returned to the investing side.  In 2007, Alta was promoted to Managing Director and served as the Chief Risk Manager for the $4 billion energy lending business. There she led or played a critical role in numerous transactions, most notably the ~$1 billion project finance loan acquisition from the Bank of Ireland.  In 2013, Alta became head of the Investment Strategy team responsible for developing long-term investing strategies based upon energy fundamentals and leading the unit’s new business development activities, notably in the commercial & industrial solar and storage sectors.

Prior to joining GE, Alta worked in New York City and Hong Kong before joining a Taipei-based freight forwarding company in business development. 

Alta earned a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University, a certificate in advanced Mandarin from the Inter-University Program (“The Stanford Center”) and received a M.B.A. with a concentration in Finance from The University of Michigan.  In 2016, she co-founded the Greater New York City Chapter of the Women’s Energy Network where she remains a board member today.