Paige Morkner is a Geologist and Geo-Data Scientist at the US Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory. Paige’s work applies geology, data science, machine learning, GIS, and data analytics to support data curation for subsurface modeling, analysis, and simulation. Paige leads and collaborates with teams of researchers at NETL to develop data curation strategies for multi-source, multi-scale datasets in support of onshore carbon dioxide transport and storage, and methane emissions mitigation research. Her research is often driven by the need to find and build data solutions for varying stakeholder communities. She obtained a B.S degree in Earth Science from California Polytechnic State University (San Luis Obispo) and a M.S. degree in Geology from Western Washington University.

lay Rikard is vice president of System Planning for Southern Company. He leads resource planning, retail generation development and transmission planning through strong coordination of planning among Southern Company system’s electric operating companies. He also leads resilience planning and is responsible for the planning aspects of the company’s net-zero transition.

He previously served as director of Fleet Operations, where he led the commitment and dispatch of the Southern Company generation fleet to ensure reliability at the lowest cost possible.

Rikard began his career with Southern Company in 2003 and has held a variety of positions in the areas of generation development, market analysis and structuring, coal procurement and environmental affairs. He has held leadership positions in Fleet Operations and Trading, environmental compliance, and generation siting. He also has led the structuring and analysis group in Commercial Operations. Earlier in his career, Rikard served as the assistant to the Southern Company chief production officer and the Alabama Power senior production officer.
Rikard earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA at the University of Alabama. He is a strong supporter of the community, having served on the Alabama Policy Institute board.

avid Porter is EPRI's Vice President, Electrification & Sustainable Energy Strategy. In this role, he provides executive oversight and leadership to the teams responsible for EPRI's research, development, and demonstration of electrification and customer solutions, sustainability and ecosystem stewardship, and environmental health and safety. EPRI's work in these areas is key to a decarbonized economy-wide energy future including emphasis on equity and environmental justice as part of the development and deployment of technology.

Porter joined EPRI in July 2009 as a Senior Account Executive and moved to Executive Director Generation in July 2010 before transitioning to Director Strategic Accounts role in April 2012. Most recently, he was Director U.S. Accounts where he led both the U.S. and government account teams dedicated to the technology needs of major electric industry clients and select Federal and State governmental entities, respectively.

With more than 30 years of energy industry and executive leadership experience, Porter has worked across a variety of utility operations including power marketing, transmission, distribution, energy efficiency, customer programs and sustainability. Prior to his current role at EPRI, Porter held a variety of executive and management positions in the energy field at Florida Power Corporation and Duke Power, as well as in telecommunications and management consulting.

Porter holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University and is a Licensed Professional Engineer.

Frederick S. “Stu” Bresler oversees all aspects of PJM’s market functions and corporate strategy. His responsibilities cover all of the markets operated by PJM, including those for Capacity, Day-Ahead and Real-Time Energy, Ancillary Services, Financial Transmission Rights, and Demand Response operations.

Bresler is responsible for the continued evolution of PJM’s market design, including the integration of renewable resources and the development of analytics around the performance of those markets. Bresler is also responsible for establishing and maintaining PJM’s forward-looking strategic objectives and initiatives, and driving their progress across the organization. An employee of PJM since 1994, Bresler previously held other leadership and management positions within the Markets Division, as well as engineering positions in the Operations Division.

Bresler started his career at PJM in 1994 as a Professional Engineer supporting System Operations, and he was later responsible for implementing PJM’s Demand Response Program and, ultimately, market design for the RTO. Bresler was key in the development of mechanisms by which PJM’s operations and markets are coordinated with those of surrounding balancing authorities and regional transmission organizations.

Bresler earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and a Master of Management in business administration from The Pennsylvania State University. He is also certified by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).

Bresler is chair of the board of PJM Connext Inc., a PJM subsidiary. He is also chair of the board of APEx (the Association of Power Exchanges), an international organization of electricity and gas market operators. He has been a long-time volunteer for Habitat for Humanity of Chester County, where he served the maximum term on the organization’s board of directors from 2018–2023. Bresler is also on the external advisory board for the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering in the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.