Monthly archive

Steve Hauser

Job Title: 
Chief Executive Officer
Organization: 
Association of Edison Illuminating Companies

Mr. Hauser serves as the CEO of the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies (AEIC).

Prior to AEIC, Hauser served as the CEO of the GridWise Alliance, a national industry led organization that promotes the modernization of the nation’s electricity infrastructure. He is a nationally and internationally recognized expert on transforming the power sector to meet future economic, environmental, and energy security mandates. For more than 30 years, Mr. Hauser has been a leader in clean energy and smart grid technology development efforts including solar, wind, batteries, electric vehicles, GIS software, geothermal, microgrids, fuel cells, and building energy efficiency. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and has authored and contributed to numerous articles and books. Mr. Hauser was the driving force behind the creation of the GridWise® Alliance, the Global Smart Grid Federation, and related smart grid organizations. Since 2000, he has brought together hundreds of companies to create a broad industry vision to transform the electricity sector, policies, markets, and technologies. Mr. Hauser has testified before both House and Senate Energy committees, significantly raising the visibility of these issues with federal and state policy makers. He participated as a key advisor to the National Science and Technology Council’s Smart Grid Task Force resulting in the White House release of the “Policy Framework for a 21st Century Grid”. He has held senior management positions at various companies and DOE labs.

Profile Type: 
Speaker

Louis Finkel

Job Title: 
Senior Vice President of Government Relations
Organization: 
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA)

Louis Finkel is the Senior Vice President of Government Relations of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).

Prior to NRECA Finkel was the Executive Vice President of Government Affairs for the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), where he directs the association’s federal, state, and local government relations activity. He has 19 years of experience on Capitol Hill, working inside and outside of government, and specializes in food, hunger, agriculture, energy, technology, environmental, trade and tax policy issues.

Prior to joining GMA in 2012, Finkel served as vice president, federal public affairs group, at McGuireWoods Consulting, LLC, where he represented corporate, trade association and not-for-profit clients before Congress and executive branch agencies. 

Finkel was chief of staff for the U.S House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology, which was chaired by Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN). Louis also served in the government relations office of Exxon Mobil, where he represented the company before Congress and conducted policy analysis and strategic planning on matters of policy and politics. Additionally, Louis worked in the firm Lent, Scrivner & Roth, LLC, as legislative director to Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN), and as legislative assistant and staff assistant to Representative Peter Deutsch (D-FL).

Ronald

Job Title: 
Director of Renewable Energy and Fleet Enabling Technologies
Organization: 
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Ron Schoff is the Director of the Renewable Energy and Fleet Enabling Technologies area at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

The Renewable Energy and Fleet Enabling Technologies research area is focused on:

  • Assessing the performance, cost and market economics of renewable generating technologies, primarily wind, solar, and hydropower.
  • Conducting targeted RD&D to address critical issues relative to the technical assessment, operation, maintenance, and overall reliability of renewable generation assets.
  • Improving environmental performance of renewable generation facilities with focus on siting and permitting, wildlife impacts, human impacts, and end-of-life disposal and recycling opportunities.
  • Materials and non-destructive evaluation research supporting all energy supply asset types.
  • Integrated asset management, plant management and digital worker support, helping asset owners and managers improve performance at lower cost.
  • Digital transformation scope, including cyber security, sensors and advanced data, automation and controls and artificial intelligence R&D.

Prior to his current role, Schoff led EPRI’s Technology Innovation program, which focuses on industry thought leadership; scouting emerging technologies through engagement with universities, technology incubators and startups; and collaborative, early-stage research.

Schoff holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from Villanova University. He has published numerous papers and given talks at various technical conferences worldwide.

Profile Type: 
Speaker

Crisis Ahead for Electric Utilities as Electrification Picks Up

March 13th, 2023

The world’s greatest machine, the U.S. electricity supply system, will begin to sputter in a few years as more is asked of it than it can deliver with its present resources and constraints. 

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