Monthly archive

Katheryn Scott

Job Title: 
Market Analyst
Organization: 
Department of Energy

Katheryn Scott leads projects for the Office of Technology Transitions’ (OTT's) market analysis team including two Pathway to Commercial Liftoff Reports: Industrial Decarbonization and Long Duration Energy Storage. Liftoff reports act as market diligence for public and private investors to inform commercialization strategy of priority technology areas. These reports and other market analysis inform DOE strategy and identify commercialization opportunities across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the 17 National Laboratories. OTT’s market analysis efforts also helps connect private sector counterparts with relevant DOE and lab expertise.

Prior to OTT, Katheryn worked as a consultant with Bain & Company supporting clients in commercial diligence and operational analysis focused on technical industries from mining to healthcare. While at Bain, she completed an externship with the Ad Hoc Group supporting ClimateTech startups on regulatory and go to market strategies. Before consulting, she had experience in material science research across MIT Labs and Honeywell UOP.

Katheryn received a MMSc from Tsinghua University in Beijing funded by a Schwarzman Scholarship and a BS in Material Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Stephen Hendrickson

Job Title: 
Director of Market Analysis
Organization: 
Department of Energy

Stephen Hendrickson leads the Office of Technology Transitions’ (OTT's) market analysis activities. OTT develops and disseminates detailed market analysis to identify commercialization opportunities across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the 17 National Laboratories and inform DOE strategy. OTT’s market analysis also helps connect private sector counterparts with relevant lab expertise and technologies.

Prior to OTT, Stephen conducted policy, financial, and market analysis in DOE’s Office of Policy. He entered the federal government as a Presidential Management Fellow in 2010. Prior to joining DOE, Stephen conducted economic analysis and modeling at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory while pursuing his MBA. Prior to that he spent two years focused on international education and economic policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Stephen has an MBA from the University of Colorado, a Master’s in International Development from the University of Pittsburgh, and a BA from the University of Michigan.

Nora Mead Brownell

Nora brings over 30 years of experience to the board in utility operations, oversight, and regulation. She was nominated by President George W. Bush to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) where she served from May 2001 until June 2006. Nora serves on the Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Advisory Board, Sunnova Board of Directors, and is a partner in Clean Energy Ventures. From 2019-2020, Nora served as the Board Chair of Pacific Gas & Electric, leading it through bankruptcy restructuring. She has served on the board of National Grid PLC, Tangent Energy Solutions, Spectra Energy Partners, Times Publishing Company, ONCOR, Comverge, New World Capital Strategic Advisory Council, and the Advisory Board of Starwood Energy Fund and Direct Energy.

Nora served as the president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (2000-2001) and served on the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission from 1997 until 2001. In addition, Nora has lectured at the Vermont Law School’s Center for Energy and the Environment, the Michigan State University Institute of Public Utilities, the University of Idaho, and the Wharton MBA Program, amongst others. She attended Syracuse University.

Adam Clayton Powell III

dam Clayton Powell III is executive director of the USC initiative on election cybersecurity, in association with USC’s schools of business, engineering, law and public policy and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. With support from Google, this bipartisan initiative provides in-state training in all 50 states to reinforce election integrity and build defense against digital attacks.

Powell is a senior fellow and director of Washington programs for the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. He is also a senior fellow at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, and is a member of the Public Diplomacy Council of the United States, of which he served as president from 2015 until 2019. Before his move to Washington in 2010, he was USC’s Vice Provost for Globalization, opening new USC facilities in Shanghai and Seoul and supporting USC initiatives worldwide. Previously he was Director of the USC Integrated Media Systems Center, a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

Earlier roles include Vice President/Technology and Programs of the Freedom Forum and the Newseum; Executive Producer at Quincy Jones Entertainment; and Vice President for News and Information programming at National Public Radio.

Previously Powell spent sixteen years at CBS News and at CBS-owned television and radio stations in New York, including as writer for Walter Cronkite for CBS News space coverage; News Director of all-news WINS radio, leading it to be the #1 station in New York; Manager of News Operations for CBS News; Manager of CBS News Special Events and Political Coverage for the 1980 election; and Coordinating Producer of the CBS Morning News with Charles Kuralt.

David Derigiotis

Job Title: 
Chief Insurance Officer
Organization: 
Embroker
David Derigiotis leads the development of Embroker’s innovative insurance vertical products, particularly cybersecurity, technology and privacy offerings. Before coming to Embroker, Derigiotis served as corporate senior vice president and national professional liability practice group leader for Burns & Wilcox, an international wholesale broker and MGA. He has 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, with expertise in complex cybersecurity exposures, data privacy law, regulatory requirements, and emerging technologies such as blockchain, decentralized finance and cryptocurrency. Derigiotis is also a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and holds many industry certifications.

Sacha Fontaine

Job Title: 
Principal Industry Consultant
Organization: 
SAS

With over two decades of experience in the power, utilities, and renewables sector, Sacha is passionate about developing and delivering innovative energy solutions that address the complex and emerging challenges faced by client utilities.

As a Principal Utility Consultant at SAS, he leverages AI and Machine Learning to empower utilities to optimize operations, enhance customer experience, and increase revenue. Motivated by SAS's mission to create a better world through analytics, he brings diverse perspectives and experiences from previous roles at Duke Energy, GE, and Siemens to the team.

Rob Austin

Job Title: 
Senior Program Manager
Organization: 
EPRI

Robert Austin is a Senior Program Manager for the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) Plant Modernization & Data Driven Decision Making (3DM) Initiatives.  Previously, he managed EPRI’s Instrumentation & Control research program as well as the Nuclear sector’s Software Development Group.  He has over 20 years of technical experience, primarily in the nuclear industry.  Mr. Austin joined EPRI in 2008.   

Mr. Austin joined EPRI from AREVA NP Inc., where he managed a variety of engineering modification and equipment supply projects for the U.S. commercial nuclear power fleet.  During his tenure with AREVA, Mr. Austin also worked for the company’s Paris office as a deputy proposal manager for new nuclear power plants in China. 

Prior to AREVA, Mr. Austin acted as a lead mechanical engineer and engineering manager at Duke Engineering & Services.  Mr. Austin has also worked in consulting engineering at large process chemical plants, as well as working as an engineer in the Acoustic Department at the Electric Boat Corporation in New London, CT.    

Mr. Austin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Florida Atlantic University where he was valedictorian of his graduating class.  He also attended First Year Law at Georgetown University, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in history (Cum Laude) from Davidson College.  Mr. Austin is a registered Professional Engineer (PE), a Certified Information Systems Security Profession (CISSP), and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).  Mr. Austin is also a member of Tau Beta Pi, Phi Beta Kappa and an Eagle Scout.  He has traveled extensively around the world and is proficient in multiple languages. 

Dr. Brandon Briggs

Job Title: 
Professor - Department of Biological Sciences
Organization: 
University of Alaska - Anchorage

Brandon R. Briggs, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alaska Anchorage, the Core Director for the Advanced Instrumentation in Microbiome Studies (AIMS) Core facility, and Chief Technology Officer of Arctic Biotech Oath. Dr. Briggs is a geomicrobiologist with over 20yrs experience in microbe-metal interactions. He has gained extensive experience in microbe-metal interactions by working on iron reduction in clays, acidophilic iron reducers, bioremediation of chromium, and the effects of metals on the microbiota in hot springs. More recently, Dr. Briggs has applied his knowledge of microbe-mineral interactions to develop a novel and sustainable method for extracting, concentrating, and separating rare earth elements. This biotechnology doesn’t use hazardous or toxic chemicals and is more efficient and cost effective than current technologies.

Profile Type: 
Speaker

USEA Power Sector Podcast Episode 40: Ormat Technologies VP of Business Development Paul Thomsen

May 2nd, 2024
In this episode of the USEA Power Sector Podcast geothermal series, Paul Thomsen, Ormat Technologies Vice President of Business Development, answered questions by journalist Herman K. Trabish about the present and future of conventional and advanced geothermal technologies as seen by one of the most successful geothermal owner-operators in the US and the world.

USEA Power Sector Podcast Episode 39: Geothermal Rising Executive Director Bryant Jones

May 2nd, 2024
In today’s USEA Power Sector Podcast, Bryant Jones, Executive Director of Geothermal Rising, kicked off the podcast’s series on geothermal energy by answering questions from journalist Herman K. Trabish about the rising potential of geothermal energy as a source of US power system reliability and as a domestic source of lithium and other minerals critical to the energy transition.

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