Diane Denton is vice president of integrated planning for Duke Energy’s Florida and Midwest utilities. In this role, she is responsible for driving the planning and execution of the company’s clean energy strategy in Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.

Before assuming her current position in May 2021, Denton served as vice president, state energy policy for Duke Energy in North Carolina. In this role, she was responsible for providing leadership and direction in the development and implementation of public policy that is in the best interest of the customers and communities served by Duke Energy. Denton worked very closely with policymakers and other stakeholders to find working, sustainable solutions to energy policy needs. She served in this role since 2019.

Since joining the company in 1996, Denton has held various leadership positions on both the regulated and commercial sides of the business, including business development for large industrial customers, marketing, and project management where she developed commercial power plants in the Northeast region of the United States. She also served as managing director of federal policy for Duke Energy.

Denton earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Guilford College and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
 

Denton is active in the community and has served on the boards of directors for Boy Scouts of America, Theatre Charlotte, and the Energy Board for the Keystone Policy Center. She is currently serving on the board of E4 Carolinas, which serves as the trade association for energy companies located in North and South Carolina.

A native of Charlotte, N.C., Denton and her husband, Don, have two sons.

Chris Neidl is a the co-founder of OpenAir, a global volunteer collective launched in 2019 to advance carbon dioxide removal (CDR) through member-driven advocacy. In this role Chris has helped lead advocacy efforts at the state level related to low carbon concrete procurement policy, including the Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Leadership Act (LECCLA), as well as carbon removal procurement and incentives, including the New York Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act, the NY Carbon City Property Tax Abatement Act, and the Luxembourg Negative Emissions Tariff. Chris came to CDR and low carbon concrete from a fifteen year career in solar energy, which spanned diverse research, activist and project management roles in North America, South Asia, Afghanistan and East Africa. Chris is an upstate New York native and long-time Brooklyn resident currently based in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

As a Manager on the Green Bank’s Clean Energy Finance Team, David provides debt financing for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects through the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) and commercial solar Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) programs. In addition, David evaluates proposals for investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency and other clean tech projects as part of the Green Bank Capital Solutions Program.

Prior to joining the Green Bank, David performed a year of national service through AmeriCorps NCCC. He also spent the summer of 2019 working for the American Sustainable Business Council.

Matthew Lind is a director within 1898 & Co., a part of Burns & McDonnell, providing market assessment and resource planning for a variety of clients in the utilities industry. Having worked as a professional consultant in the utility and energy sector since 2004, I specialize and support engagements in system planning and market congestion studies driven by strategic, economic, and regulatory considerations for generation or transmission development in markets across North America.

In his previous consulting engagements, he worked with municipal, cooperative, investor-owned utilities, developers, and regional transmission organizations on projects ranging from Order 1000 and competitive regional transmission project development, integrated resource planning, new transmission planning, demand-side management, asset retirement, transmission congestion impacts, and other long-term economic decisions.

1898 & Co. is a business, technology and security solutions consultancy where experience and foresight come together to unlock lasting advancements. We innovate today to fuel your future growth, catalyzing insights that drive smarter decisions, improve performance and maximize value. As part of Burns & McDonnell, we draw on more than 120 years of deep and broad experience in complex industries as we envision and enable the future for our clients.