Monthly archive

Phil Jones

Job Title: 
Executive Director
Organization: 
Alliance for Transportation Electrification

Philip Jones is currently President of Phil Jones Consulting LLC based in Seattle, Washington, which provides expert advice and consulting services for organizations in energy and utility regulation, communications regulation, and cybersecurity compliance and regulation. He is continuing to work in market development and potential independent system operators (ISO’s) in the Western States and EV (electric vehicle) infrastructure and distributed energy resources. He provides advice at the C-Suite level to utilities and organizations in assessing the future viability of utility regulation given the changing dynamics in the regulated electricity and natural gas industries.

Mr. Jones currently serves as Executive Director of the Alliance for Transportation Electrification (ATE), a recently established industry-funded non-profit association that seeks to promote the acceleration of transportation electrification deployments, a robust utility role, and interoperability and open standards. He also serves as a Board Advisor to Energy Impact Partners (EIP), based in New York City, a private equity infrastructure fund comprised of major utility investors seeking to invest in innovative young technology companies focused on the energy sector. He also serves on the non-profit Boards of Directors of Climate Solutions.

He currently services on the Advisory Council of EPRI, which is the lead R&D organization’s public-interest voice for the international electric power industry consisting of current NARUC Commissioners, academics, vendors, and industry experts. Commissioner Jones served on the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) from March 2005 to March 2017 for a total of twelve years or two six-year terms. Originally appointed by Governor Chris Gregoire and confirmed unanimously by the state Senate for his original term, he was re-appointed by the same Governor in January 2011 for an additional term.

Mr. Jones served in many advisory roles in the energy and communications sectors during his tenure. He was active nationally with the FERC, U.S. Department of Energy, DHS, and the FCC. In the communications field, Mr. Jones served on the North American Numbering Council (NANC) and the Task Force on Optimal PSAP Architecture (TFOPA) of the FCC regarding NG 911 system deployment. Mr. Jones served as President of NARUC (National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners) in the 2012-13 year. He made cybersecurity and gas pipeline safety his themes for the 50 state Commissions. He served on the Board of Directors of NARUC from 2011 to 2017 and chaired the Washington Action Committee.

He served on the Telecommunications Committee of NARUC and was active in issues such as numbering, universal service, intercarrier compensation reforms, and public safety and Next-Generation 911 issues. Mr. Jones served on the Board of the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI) for several years, serving as Chair of the Board from 2009 to 2012.Mr. Jones served as Managing Director of Cutter & Buck (Europe) BV, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 1997 to 2012. He managed an apparel and sportswear operation across the U.K. and continental Europe.

He also founded and operated an independent consulting business based in Seattle from 1991 to 1997, where he specialized in offering advice and consulting services in energy policy and international trade issues. From 1983 to1989, Mr. Jones served as a senior legislative assistant to former Senator Daniel J. Evans (Washington-Rep.) in the U.S. Senate, in which he staffed him on multiple energy and natural resource issues, including the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), electricity transmission, nuclear waste legislation, oversight of U.S. DOE policies and budgets, as well as international trade policy agreements such as the WTO and NAFTA, among others.

Mr. Jones is a native of Spokane, Washington, and graduated from Harvard College with a B.A., with Honors, in East Asian Studies in 1977.

Mike Hartrick

Job Title: 
Senior Director & Executive Advisor, Energy and Environment
Organization: 
Alliance for Automotive Innovation
Mike joined the Alliance for Automotive Innovation at its inception, coming from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which he joined in 2016.  Among other topics, he covers greenhouse gas/fuel economy regulations and vehicle certification issues.  He brings over 20 years of automotive industry experience to Auto Innovators including 16+ years at FCA (and its predecessors).  His experience includes 12 years in rulemaking and compliance planning for U.S. light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas, fuel economy, and zero emission vehicle regulations.  Mike also has experience in vehicle emission and powertrain testing, and in emission control system defect investigation.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Michigan Technological University.

Anna Lafoyiannis

Job Title: 
Technical Leader
Organization: 
EPRI

Anna Lafoyiannis is a Technical Leader in the Energy Systems and Climate Analysis Group at EPRI, supporting Program 178 on Resource planning for Electric Power Systems.

Her primary research areas include long-term electricity sector resource planning, risk analysis and investment decision-making under uncertainty. Prior to joining EPRI, she was supervisor of reliability assurance at Ontario’s IESO, where she developed its capacity market, set specifications for long term contracts and defined the grid services needed ensure reliability in the future. She also held leadership roles at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), including a term as chair of NERC's Reliability Assessment Subcommittee.

Anna holds a B.A.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Waterloo and M.Eng. in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, with an emphasis on Sustainable Energy from the University of Toronto.

Casey Cathey

Job Title: 
Vice President of Engineering
Organization: 
Southwest Power Pool
As Vice President of Engineering, Cathey leads SPP’s evolving, innovative approach to consolidated transmission planning, and he oversees the ongoing development of the organization’s transmission expansion plan, administration of generator interconnection and transmission service study processes, and the advancement of regional resource adequacy policies. Hired in 2006, Cathey has served in various key roles at SPP including Senior Director of Grid Asset Utilization where he led a group responsible for developing and implementing novel electric industry policies, tools, and procedures aimed at preparing SPP for the grid of the future. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Louisiana State University, an MBA from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in Arkansas.

Florence Amate

Job Title: 
Founder & President
Organization: 
Laisar Management Group

Florence Amate is the Founder and President of Laisar Management Group, a management consulting company that helps organizations rethink the roles of Business Diversity and Sustainability in their overall business strategy. Organizations in every industry have relied on Florence and her team to shape their community engagement and sustainability strategies.

Laisar employs a unique set of methodologies to harness the power of institutional data to assess, implement, and succeed in business diversity initiatives. Florence’s profound understanding of economic and workforce inclusion, regulatory requirements, and program implementation has equipped her to support clients in streamlining, advancing, and reporting on their initiatives.

Since 2011, Florence has successfully developed and managed socio-economic and workforce inclusion strategies. Leveraging data analytics and storytelling, she has been able to demonstrate the resulting impact of these strategies. Clients have embraced how internal and external data can be used to improve their bottom line, tell their story, and build stronger and more vibrant communities. Florence believes that organizations are stronger when they understand the importance of common interest with their stakeholders, and this has been evident in her work over the last 20 years.

Ms. Amate is an ambassador for the power of using analytical data to tell the story of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) advancement and its impact on communities. She has led the implementation of DEI regulatory compliance, monitoring and reporting for large scale development projects in the Washington, DC Metro area for private sector organizations, as well as local and state governments.

Todd Snitchler

Job Title: 
President and CEO
Organization: 
Electric Power Supply Association

As the Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA)’s president and CEO, Todd Snitchler represents companies that own competitive power generation assets and advocates for policies that focus on achieving and maintaining well-functioning and properly regulated competitive wholesale electricity markets.

Prior to joining EPSA, Todd served as the Vice President of Market Development at the American Petroleum Institute where he worked with industry, government, and customer stakeholders to promote increased demand for and continued availability of our nation’s abundant and clean natural gas resources.

Prior to that, Mr. Snitchler was a principal for Vorys Advisors, LLC in Ohio where he led the government affairs efforts in the energy and utility space where he represented competitive suppliers and independent power producers and developers. In that role he established strong relationships in Ohio and nationally with policy makers and industry participants supportive of competitive markets.

Mr. Snitchler previously served as chairman of both the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the Ohio Power Siting Board. He was elected twice to represent the 50th House District in Stark County, Ohio.

Mr. Snitchler has published on numerous topics including the benefits of competitive energy markets; cyber security issues; electricity deregulation difficulties; and the role of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Snitchler received his J.D. from the University of Akron School of Law and his B.A. from Grove City College.

Angela Wilkinson

Job Title: 
Secretary General and CEO
Organization: 
World Energy Council

Angela is the World Energy Council’s sixth Secretary General since its founding in 1923.

Angela is one of the world’s leading global energy futures experts, an experienced energy executive, a distinguished Oxford scholar and a published author. She has 30 years of experience in leading national, international and global multi-stakeholder transformation initiatives on a wide range of economic, energy, climate and sustainable development related challenges.

Angela has worked as a senior executive in the public-, private-, academic- and civic sectors. She was appointed Secretary General and CEO of the World Energy Council in 2019. Angela joined the Council in 2017 to create a practical energy transition leaders toolkit and direct a new strategic insights programme. Prior to that Angela led an upgrade in strategic foresight at the OECD, based in Paris. Prior corporate experience includes decades in Royal Dutch Shell and British Gas plc.

Angela is a Fellow of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Centre for Strategic Foresight, an International Advisory Board Member of the Russian Higher School of Economics, Moscow (HSE), and a Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Science (WAAS). She has published four books and numerous articles. Angela has a PhD in Physics.

Gillian Caldwell

Job Title: 
Chief Climate Officer and Deputy Assistant Administrator
Organization: 
United States Agency for International Development

Gillian serves as USAID’s Chief Climate Officer and is responsible for directing and overseeing all climate and environment work across the agency. She also serves as Deputy Assistant Administrator, overseeing REFS’ Center for Energy, Infrastructure, and Cities (REFS/CEIC); the Office of Environmental and Social Safeguarding (REFS/ECSS); Center for Climate Positive Development (REFS/CCPD); and the Center for Natural Environment (REFS/CNE). 

Ms. Caldwell has worked to protect human rights and the environment throughout her career. Prior to joining USAID, she served as the CEO of Global Witness, which has a focus on tackling climate change and deploys investigations into corruption and natural resource extraction to drive systems change worldwide. From 2007-2010, she launched and led 1Sky, a highly collaborative cross-sector campaign with over 600 allied organizations to pass legislation in the U.S. to address the climate crisis. Gillian also has extensive experience consulting in the areas of strategic planning and organizational development with over 70 non-profits, foundations, and universities. 

Ms. Caldwell has a B.A. from Harvard University and a J.D. from Georgetown University, where she was recognized as a Public Interest Law Scholar. She has received a series of awards recognizing her work as a leading global Social Entrepreneur.

Hon. Geoffrey R. Pyatt

Job Title: 
Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources
Organization: 
Department of State
Geoffrey R. Pyatt, a career member of the Foreign Service, class of Career Minister, was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources on September 19, 2022. Ambassador Pyatt served as U.S. Ambassador to Greece from 2016 to 2022 and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine from 2013 to 2016.  Among other recognitions, he received the State Department’s Robert Frasure Memorial Award in recognition of his leadership of the U.S. response to Russia’s invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014. Previously, Ambassador Pyatt was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs from 2010-2013. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna, Austria from 2007 to 2010. He also served three times at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India, as Deputy Chief of Mission from 2006 to 2007, Political Counselor from 2002 to 2006, and Political Officer from 1992 to 1994.  Ambassador Pyatt was Economic Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2002 and Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Lahore, Pakistan from 1997 to 1999.  Since joining the Foreign Service in 1989, he has also served on the National Security Council staff, on the staff of Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott and at the U.S. Embassy in Honduras. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he worked with The Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank that brings together leading citizens of the Americas. Ambassador Pyatt grew up in La Jolla, California and holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Yale and B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine.

USEA Power Sector Podcast Episode 46: GridStor VP for Policy and Strategy Jason Burwen

May 23rd, 2024
In this episode of the USEA Power Sector Podcast series on battery storage, GridStor Vice President for Policy and Strategy Jason Burwen answered questions by journalist Herman K. Trabish about the critical next steps to advance utility-scale battery storage at the federal, state, and merchant market levels.

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