Mr. Hicks provides energy consulting service to the United States Energy Association (USEA) in support of their work with utilities around the world. Prior to his work with USEA he was Chief of Party (COP) for the Energy Policy Program (EPP) in Pakistan. EPP is a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded program to help reduce the energy shortfall in Pakistan. In his responsibilities as COP, Mr. Hicks directed the EPP team in executing projects in electric generation, transmission, natural gas supply and energy policy reforms in the government. Prior to his assignment in Pakistan, Mr. Hicks was President of Pike Energy Solutions where he was responsible for the engineering and construction of electric infrastructure associated with electric utilities, wind and solar farms, and other merchant power sources in the continental United States and Tanzania, Africa. In 2004, Mr. Hicks reported to Ambassador Bremer as Senior Advisor for Electricity as part of the Iraqi reconstruction project. From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Hicks intermittently provided electrical engineering consultancy services in Iraq to the United States government. From 1972 to 2003, Mr. Hicks was employed by Duke Energy, beginning as an electrical engineer and progressing through management until retiring as Senior Vice President of Transmission. Mr. Hicks received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana State University and is a registered Professional Engineer in North and South Carolina.