Sheri Givens is The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA)'s President and Chief Executive Officer. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, SEPA is dedicated to helping electric power stakeholders address the most pressing issues they encounter as they pursue carbon-free electricity by serving as a trusted partner providing education, research, standards and collaboration. Pior to SEPA, she served as vice president of US policy and regulatory strategy at National Grid, a clean energy company serving the electric and heating needs of more than 20 million customers in Massachusetts and New York. Her professional experience includes over twenty years in legal, regulatory, legislative, and external affairs. Prior to joining National Grid, she consulted on utility consumer education and regulatory policy issues in energy markets nationwide. She is a former Governor-appointed Texas utility consumer advocate and served on the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates’ Executive Committee. She has also served on the boards of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Texas Reliability Entity, Northeast Clean Energy Council, Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, and Association of Women in Energy. Earlier in her career she was an attorney for the Public Utility Commission of Texas, Texas Workforce Commission, and Texas Legislature.

Omar José Guerra Fernández is a research engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, Colorado, and works within the Power Systems Design and Planning (PSDP) group at the Grid Analysis and Planning Center (GPAC) . He received the B.Sc. Chemical Engineer from the Industrial University of Santander, Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia, in 2005; the M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, in 2009, and obtained the Ph.D. BS in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA, in 2017. At NREL he is conducting research to develop a better understanding of the economics of renewable energy technologies, including energy storage, hydrogen, power wind, solar photovoltaic and CO2 electrolysis technologies. He is the author or co-author of a variety of publications on the following topics: economics of multi-scale energy storage, hydrogen and CO2 electrolysis technologies; integration of wind and solar photovoltaic energy sources into energy systems; and modelling, simulation and optimization of large-scale integrated energy systems. His awards include the NREL President's Award 2021 and the College of Engineering Outstanding Research Award, Purdue University, 2017.

Cliffton Cross, Frog Lake First Nations #121 & #122 Council Member, is currently serving FLFNs for a second term. Cliffton is proud to say that he was born and raised, attended K-12, graduated, married, and raised a family in his home First Nation. Councillor Cross has over 20 years’ experience working with the youth of his community, and he was previously employed with the community for 10 years, as FLFNs Youth and Recreation Director.

Councillor Cross currently holds the portfolios of Education, Daycare, Child and Family Services, Youth and Recreation, Blue Quills University, Capital Projects, and Economic Development. Through various community programs and implementation of several commercial operations, with the FLFNs Chief and Council, Cliffton has been instrumental in advancing the community’s involvement in industry projects including progress of the Site Reclamation Program, SAGD development, implementing a NET Zero Power plant project, and Carbon Hub Sequestration projects. The FLFNs has established partnerships and joint ventures with multiple industry partners, post-secondary/poly-sci institutions, engineering firms and communities, and most recently, the Legacy Energy & Alternative Power (LEAP) Strategic Master Plan – with multiple (14+) large scale green energy, food and water sovereignty and sustainability projects that are all in various stages of development.

Phil Sharp served 10 terms as a member of the US House of Representatives from Indiana and a lengthy appointment on the faculty of the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Institute of Politics at Harvard University.

Prior to his service in Congress from 1975 to 1995, Sharp taught political science at Ball State University from 1969 to 1974. Following his decision not to seek an eleventh consecutive term in the House, Sharp joined Harvard's Kennedy School, where he was a lecturer in public policy from 1995 to 2001. He served as director of Harvard's Institute of Politics from 1995 to 1998 and again from 2004 until August 2005. He also was a senior research fellow in the Environmental and Natural Resources Program from 2001 to 2003.

Sharp currently serves on the board of directors of the Energy Foundation, on the external advisory board of the MIT Energy Initiative, and chairs the advisory committee for the MIT study on the utility of the future. He was the recipient of the 2015 James R. Schlesinger Medal for Energy Security awarded by the US Department of Energy. Sharp previously served on the board of directors of the Duke Energy Corporation from 2007 to 2014. He was appointed to the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future and served from 2010 to 2012. He was also appointed to the National Academies’ Committee on America’s Climate Choices and served from 2008 to 2011. In addition, he served on the international advisory board of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program from 2007 to 2012 and chaired the external advisory committee for the MIT Nuclear Fuel Cycle Study from 2008 to 2010.

From 2002 to 2010, Sharp was congressional chair of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a panel established by the Hewlett Foundation and other major foundations to make energy policy recommendations to the federal government. In December 2004, the commission released a long-term energy strategy, Ending the Energy Stalemate: A Bipartisan Strategy to Meet America's Energy Challenges. The report was widely recognized as a comprehensive roadmap for future energy policy, receiving considerable attention from Congress during the debate over the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

During his 20-year congressional tenure, Sharp took key leadership roles in the development of landmark energy legislation. He was a driving force behind the Energy Policy Act of 1992, which led to the restructuring of the wholesale electricity market, promoted renewable energy, established more rigorous energy-efficiency standards, and encouraged expanded use of alternative fuels. He also helped to develop a critical part of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, providing for a market-based emissions allowance trading system.

Sharp served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where he chaired the Fossil and Synthetic Fuels Subcommittee from 1981 to 1987 and the Energy and Power Subcommittee from 1987 to 1995. He also was a member of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, where he served on the Energy and Environment Subcommittee and the Water and Power Resources Subcommittee.

After leaving Congress, Sharp was a member of the National Research Council's Committee on Effectiveness and Impact of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards, which issued its report in 2001. He chaired the Secretary of Energy's Electric Systems Reliability Task Force, which issued its report in 1998.

Sharp served on the board of directors of the Cinergy Corporation from 1995 to 2006, on the board of the Electric Power Research Institute from 2002 to 2006, and on the National Research Council's Board of Energy and Environmental Systems (BEES) from 2001 to 2007. He was co-chair of the energy board of the Keystone Center, was a member of the Cummins Science and Technology advisory council, served on the advisory board of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), and chaired advisory committees for the MIT studies on the future of nuclear power, the future of coal, and the future of solar energy.

Before accepting the RFF presidency, Sharp was senior policy advisor to the Washington law firm of Van Ness Feldman, and a senior advisor to the Cambridge economic analysis firm of Lexecon/FTI.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1942, Sharp was raised in Elwood, Indiana. After a year at DePauw University, he transferred to Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, where he graduated cum laude in 1964. He spent the summer of 1966 at Oxford University and received his PhD in government from Georgetown University in 1974.

PhD in government, Georgetown University, 1974
BS in foreign service, Georgetown University, 1964