2023 EBA Mid-Year Energy Forum Speaker Bios
Matthew J. Agen
Chief Regulatory Counsel, Energy
American Gas Association
Matthew J. Agen is the Chief Regulatory Counsel, Energy at the American Gas Association. Mr. Agen is an energy attorney with over eighteen years of experience in the private sector and with the federal government. Mr. Agen has extensive experience advising and representing natural gas distribution companies, oil pipelines, natural gas pipelines, and electric utilities in a variety of federal regulatory and transactional matters arising under the Natural Gas Act, Interstate Commerce Act, and Federal Power Act before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). He has additional experience representing clients before U.S. Courts of Appeals, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), other federal agencies, and state commissions. Mr. Agen serves on the Board of Directors for the North American Energy Standards Board and as an Associate Member of the CFTC’s Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee. Mr. Agen is a past Chair of the Energy Bar Association’s Gas, Oil & Liquids Steering Committee.
Sean A. Atkins
Partner
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
With over two decades of experience before the FERC, state utility commissions, and federal appellate courts, Sean A. Atkins focuses his practice on the regulatory challenges facing the electric utility industry. He has extensive experience with legal and policy issues related to wholesale electricity markets, transmission planning and operations, and the development of renewable power facilities.
Sean represents clients in administrative and appellate litigation, and negotiates settlements of complex matters before utility regulators. He advises clients on the development of effective compliance programs and helps clients to develop best practices under a variety of regulatory regimes.
Sean's accomplishments include settling complex electric transmission formula rate issues, obtaining approvals for new transmission planning procedures designed to facilitate the needs of renewable power, and litigating the terms of a new wholesale electricity market design for an independent system operator in the western United States. He has served as chair of a working group of counsel representing utilities in the northeastern United States that successfully formed
Nancy E. Bagot
Senior Vice President
Electric Power Supply Association
Nancy Bagot serves as senior vice president, assisting the management of the association and leading the association’s regulatory team which develops and advocates federal and state policy issues affecting the development and evolution of competitive wholesale power markets. Issues include the refinement of RTOs and related market rules, ensuring fair and open access for all market participants to wholesale markets, and the development of mutually reinforcing reliability standards and competitive market operations.
Prior to joining EPSA in 2002, Bagot served as the Washington, D.C. government affairs manager for five major interstate natural gas pipelines: Northern Natural Gas, Florida Gas Transmission, Transwestern Pipeline, Northern Border Pipeline and Midwestern Transmission. From 1990 – 1999, Bagot worked in TransCanada Pipelines’ Washington,D.C. office as a regulatory representative and analyst. Bagot has represented the interests of the energy industry before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other federal entities, focusing on electricity markets,natural gas and general policy. She has served as Chair and member of committees ofthe Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, as a member of the Keystone Dialogue on Natural Gas and Cleaner Power, and as a Board member of the Interstate Pipeline Regulatory Committee. She is currently a non-attorney professional member of the Energy Bar Association. Bagot received a B.A. degree from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Noel W. Black
Senior Vice President, Federal Regulatory Affairs
Southern Company
Noel Black is the senior vice president of regulatory affairs for Southern Company. In this role, he is responsible for federal and state regulators, as well as state executive affairs. Noel directs the company’s energy policy outreach with agencies including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, and Environmental Protection Agency. Noel holds a BS in marketing and an MBA from the University of Southern Mississippi.
William Borders
EVP, Legal and Chief Compliance Officer
Invenergy
Will Borders oversees Invenergy’s multidisciplinary global compliance function, ensuring that business activities across the company meet or exceed global regulatory and contractual standards. He also serves as a member of the company’s investment, compliance, business operating and ESG committees. Previously, Borders served as Invenergy’s deputy general counsel with oversight of many commercial, regulatory, corporate and employment legal matters throughout the company’s global footprint. Prior to Invenergy, Borders was in the energy practice of DLA Piper. He received his law degree from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago-Kent College of Law and a bachelor's degree from Allegheny College.
Andrea J. Chambers
Of Counsel
DLA Piper US
Andrea Chambers focuses her practice on energy regulation and project finance. She has 30 years of experience on matters before the Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC) and has advised on wholesale electric energy markets, natural gas pipelines and electric transmission and interconnection issues at the federal and state levels..
Suzanne E. Clevenger
Partner
Vinson & Elkins LLP
Suzanne counsels clients with respect to regulated and unregulated midstream assets. Specifically, Suzanne focuses on FERC regulatory requirements and compliance with FERC regulations, including creation of regulatory compliance and internal audit programs, rate regulation of natural gas pipelines and storage companies, and regulatory requirements at FERC for developing liquids and natural gas pipelines. Suzanne also works with clients on the negotiations of midstream agreements, including for service on interstate gas and liquids pipelines, gathering pipelines, processing facilities, storage terminal agreements, and agreements for the purchase and sale of commodities.
Denise Foster Cronin
Vice President of Federal and RTO Regulatory Affairs
East Kentucky Power Cooperative
East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) is a not-for-profit state-regulated electric generation and transmission cooperative responsible for providing and delivering reliable energy to 16 owner member, not-for-profit distribution cooperatives that power homes and businesses for over one million rural Kentuckians.
Denise Foster Cronin oversees federal regulatory matters related to electricity markets, generation and transmission operations, and transmission planning. She also oversees issues related to PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM) that impact EKPC’s operations and reliable, affordable service to its owner member distribution cooperatives. PJM is a Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) that operates a wholesale power market and coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia. EKPC integrated into the PJM market in 2013 to harness the benefits of the large, regional wholesale power market.
Prior to joining EKPC in 2020, Foster Cronin served as Vice President of State and Member Services at PJM. She previously held various regulatory positions at Exelon, and began her career working at the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate.
Foster Cronin is a graduate of Hood College and Penn State Dickinson Law. She is a member of the Penn State Dickinson Law Leadership Council Advisory Board. She is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania, and is a member of both the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Energy Bar Association. She also is a member of the Mid-Atlantic and Kentucky chapters of the Women’s International Network of Utility Professionals and the American Association of Blacks in Energy.
Florence K.S. (Flossie) Davis
Associate General Counsel
Constellation Energy
Florence K.S. (Flossie) Davis is an Associate General Counsel with Constellation Energy, where she leads the wholesale transactional team, providing legal support on various corporate and commercial transactions and matters. In previous roles at Constellation, she provided regulatory and compliance support to the competitive retail business, advising clients on state regulations related to retail energy supply and other energy projects, including distributed generation. She has written numerous articles and co-edited an ABA-published book on legal and regulatory issues related to energy law, with a focus on renewable and distributed energy topics. Before joining Constellation, Flossie was a partner in the Energy and Utilities group of Day Pitney, LLP, with a practice focusing on transactions involving energy companies, including retail and wholesale power contracts, renewable energy credit transactions, demand-side management, battery storage projects, and mergers and acquisitions, and also chaired the firm’s women’s initiative, Women Working Together.
Flossie is a past chair of the Renewable Energy and the Energy Efficiency and Demand-Side Management committees of the Energy Bar Association, and a past Board Member of the Charitable Foundation of the Energy Bar association. She is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and The College of William and Mary.
Geoffrey Dietz
Director of Federal Government Affairs
The Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas
Mr. Dietz serves as RNG Coalition’s Director of Federal Government Affairs based in Washington D.C. Previously Mr. Dietz worked as a Manager of Government Affairs with TotalEnergies where he managed policy analysis and advocacy related to U.S. economic statecraft, industrial policy, and the energy transition. He previously served as a Global Policy Fellow with GE, managing cross-sectoral policy analysis, stakeholder engagement and written production for GE executives.
Mr. Dietz has a BA in Diplomacy & Foreign Affairs from Miami University in Ohio. He holds an MA in Security Studies with a focus in International Energy Policy & Geopolitics from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Joan Dreskin
Senior Vice President, Secretary & General Counsel
Interstate Natural Gas Association of America
Joan Dreskin has been with the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America as general counsel since March 1998. She now serves as vice president of regulatory affairs and general counsel. Prior to joining INGAA, Ms. Dreskin worked at Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in FERC’s Office of the General Counsel and also – from 1993 through August 1997 – as legal assistant to then-Commissioner Don Santa.
Ms. Dreskin received a bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University, Waltham,Massachusetts. She received a juris doctorate from Emory University School of Law.
Jay Duffy
Litigation Director
Clean Air Task Force
Jay Duffy joined CATF in the fall of 2013. His work focuses on reducing greenhouse gas pollution at power plants and other stationary sources through environmental regulations utilizing his Clean Air Act and administrative law expertise. Jay was recognized by the Environmental Law Institute as an “emerging leader” in 2020.
Prior to joining CATF Jay worked at the Clean Air Council in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he focused on permitting oversight for natural gas facilities, power plants and refineries. He now represents the Council and many other non-profits in Clean Air Act appellate litigation.
Jay holds a J.D. from Villanova Law School where he was associate editor of the Villanova Environmental Law Journal and a member of the Delaware Valley Environmental Inn of Court. He also held internships with U.S. EPA Region 3 and PennFuture during his time at Villanova. Jay graduated from the New York City Environmental Law and Leadership Institute in 2011.
Timothy Dumbleton
Chief Operating Officer
Microgrid Networks LLC
Tim is the Chief Operating Officer at MicroGrid Networks and has more than 20 years of experience in design and construction, primarily with large projects in New York City.
Tim is responsible for MGN’s relationships with strategic real estate developers, owners and operators, and the design and development of the energy facilities MGN integrates and operates in partnership with them on their lands. Tim’s deep experience in the design, development, permitting, finance, and construction of complex real estate projects in NYC is central to MGN’s objective of being the partner of choice for energy service projects in NYC.
Prior to joining MGN, Tim owned and operated TADA, a Design and Development office in NYC where he served as principal in a dozen real estate developments in residential and commercial properties. Tim also served as Design Director for Young Woo & Associates and was Managing Partner of TEN Arquitectos in New York and Mexico City. Tim has a Master of Architecture Degree from Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a licensed architect in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas and is NCARB Certified.
Joseph H. Fagan
Partner
Day Pitney LLP
Joseph Fagan, the Managing Partner of the DC office, represents natural gas and electric clients alike on energy regulatory, litigation, contractual and transactional matters, and frequently provides assistance on enforcement, government investigations, corporate compliance, ratemaking, project development, asset acquisitions and all other matters associated with the regulated power and gas markets.
Joseph has represented clients for over 25 years in federal, appellate and district court litigation, and before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Department of Energy (DOE) in a broad range of matters including rate, enforcement, permitting and import/export issues.
Giuseppe ("Joe") Fina
Assistant General Counsel
Public Utility District No. 1 of Snohomish County
Joe is Assistant General Counsel with the Public Utility District No. 1 of Snohomish County. He joined Snohomish County PUD in March 2011. He provides general support for the Power Supply, Power Scheduling, Rates, Transmission, and NERC Compliance departments. Joe chairs the Large Public Power Council’s Energy Regulation Task Force and leads the SPP Markets+ Legal Group.
Joe began his energy career as Attorney-Advisor with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C. Subsequently, he was an attorney in private practice, representing investor-owned utilities and electric cooperatives and their affiliates. Joe holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, with honor, from DePaul University and a Juris Doctorate from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law.
Jennifer Fischell
Associate
MoloLamken LLP
Jennifer Fischell is an attorney at MoloLamken LLP, a litigation boutique, where her practice focuses on energy and administrative law, complex civil litigation, and appeals. In addition to her experience in private practice, she has served as a law clerk for Justice Elena Kagan of the U.S. Supreme Court, for Judge Raymond Kethledge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and for Judge Ronnie Abrams of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Jared B. Fish
Attorney, Solicitor's Office
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Jared Fish represents the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the federal courts of appeals, defending the Commission’s orders and rulemakings. His practice implicates a range of issues that recur in litigation at the Supreme Court and in the lower courts, including, for example, the intersection of federal and state jurisdiction over the electric energy and natural gas sectors, and judicial deference owed agency decisions. Prior to joining FERC, Jared clerked for Judge Consuelo Callahan on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and practiced energy and environmental law at Crowell & Moring LLP.
Brian J. Fitzpatrick
Principal Fuel Supply Strategist
PJM Interconnection
Brian Fitzpatrick is Principal Fuel Supply Strategist at PJM Interconnection after having previously spent 16 years at UGI Utilities Inc. He is a graduate of SUNY Polytechnic Institute.
Jignasa P. Gadani
Director, Office of Energy Policy and Innovation
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Jignasa Gadani is the Director of the Office of Energy Policy and Innovation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. She formerly held the position of Acting Director of that office.
Prior to joining the Office of Energy Policy and Innovation, Ms. Gadani served from 2010-2014 as the Director of the East Division in FERC's Office of Energy Market Regulation. Ms. Gadani has held several other positions at the Commission, including as an attorney advisor in the Office of the General Counsel’s Energy Markets Division from 2001-2006 and 2009-2010, and as a Legal Advisor to Commissioner Philip D. Moeller from 2006-2009. During law school, Ms. Gadani also worked at the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Ms. Gadani earned a B.A. from DePaul University and a J.D., with a Certificate in Environmental and Energy Law, from Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology.
Robert W. Gee
President and Founder
Gee Strategies Group
Robert W. Gee is President of Gee Strategies Group, LLC, a Washington, D.C. consulting firm providing policy analysis, advocacy, and litigation support for investors, trade associations, utilities,renewable energy companies, independent power companies, and public institutions. A 40-yearveteran of the energy industry, he has served as an attorney, senior state and federal public official,and technology executive, combining the fields of law, public affairs, technology, and finance required to address the challenges of global and US domestic energy markets. A recipient of various honors and awards, he has testified before the United States Congress, and provided commentary for Reuters; The Wall Street Journal; the Los Angeles Times; and PBS, BBC, and CNBC television programs. His editorials have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Dallas Morning News , and the Houston Chronicle.
He served as Vice President for Development and Partner Relations for the Electricity Innovation Institute (E2I), an affiliate of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), where he advocated development of the “smart grid” to digitize the electric utility power delivery system. From 1997 to 2000 he served as Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs and as Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, D.C.He chaired the Energy Department’s Central Asia/Caspian energy strategy, and was responsible for the timely completion of the Department's 1998 Comprehensive National Energy Strategy. He also oversaw the operation of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and the national research program to develop and demonstrate advanced clean coal, natural gas, and petroleum technologies.
From 1991 until 1997 he served on the Public Utility Commission of Texas and as its Chairman from 1991 through 1995. During his service, he chaired the Committee on Electricity for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
Brian George
U.S. Federal Lead, Global Energy Market Development and Policy
Google
Brian is responsible for energy regulatory and policy engagement across the federal government, including Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Department of Energy. In addition, he is responsible for energy regulatory and legislative engagement across PJM and the mid-Atlantic region, where Google datacenters represent a large and growing commercial load. Brian has extensive experience in wholesale electricity market design and energy policy. Prior to Google, Brian was the Senior Director for Strategy and Government Affairs at the Electric Power Supply Association where he led policy development and federal legislative engagement for a membership consisting of over 150,000 MW of competitive power generation across the US. Brian started his career as an economist at FERC, serving in roles across multiple offices, including the Office of Enforcement and the Office of Energy Policy and Innovation. Brian capped his service at FERC as a technical advisor to former commissioner Rob Powelson, where he advised on significant issues impacting all of the organized electricity markets. A native of West Virginia, Brian now lives in Maryland with his wife, son, and goldendoodle.
Monica Gonzalez
Assistant General Counsel - Operations and Planning
ISO New England Inc.
Monica is Assistant General Counsel – Operations and Planning at ISO New England where she is responsible for all regulatory legal matters related to regional planning, operations, and compliance. In this role, she leads the team of attorneys responsible for advising and supporting various departments at the ISO in the development and implementation of tariff rules related to planning, operations and compliance. This includes all aspects of interconnection service. She also advises and supports the System Planning and Reliability Committee of the Board on these matters. Before joining the ISO in 2006, Monica was an attorney with Powell Goldstein (now, Bryan Cave) in Washington, D.C., where she represented Independent System Operators, Regional Transmission Organizations, and wholesale energy market participants on regulatory and litigation matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Previously, Monica was an attorney with Duncan, Weinberg, Genzer & Pembroke in Washington, D.C., where she represented municipal utilities, electric cooperatives, irrigation districts, and joint action agencies. She focused specifically on ratemaking, rulemaking, and other regulatory matters before FERC and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia and Ninth Circuits. Monica earned a B.A. from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law.
Meghan E. Greenfield
Senior Counsel
U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Defense Section
Meghan Greenfield is the Senior Counsel for Appellate Matters with the Environmental Defense Section in the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. In this role, she supervises and personally handles the defense of EPA's rulemakings and other actions in the federal courts of appeals. Ms. Greenfield is presently on detail with EPA's Office of General Counsel where she is working on the Agency's rulemakings under Clean Air Act Section 111 for electricity generating units and for the oil and gas sector, among other matters.
Nikki Hall White
Partner
Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Nikki joined Wilkinson Barker Knauer from one of the nation’s largest electric utilities where she led regulatory strategy to favorable outcomes including transitioning to alternative rate making, achieving clean energy goals, and developing strategy for transportation electrification. A highly regarded former energy regulator for seven years, Nikki has a unique understanding of the complex policy changes needed to achieve an equitable energy transition. Nikki has a keen appreciation for competing interests among state jurisdictions and the depth required to navigate them to achieve innovative business solutions to current and future challenges. Nikki formerly served as Chair of the South Carolina Public Service Commission for two years leading the agency through novel solar legislation implementation and Uber’s first entry into the state. From that experience, she honed her skills in achieving consensus among divergent stakeholders. Nikki’s experience as a former regulator combined with her time at an investor-owned utility equips her to advise on matters ranging from ratemaking strategy, clean energy transition, stakeholder engagement, achieving ESG goals, and environmental justice issues.
Prior to her roles in the utility sector, Nikki was a former magistrate judge and prosecutor in South Carolina.
In her free time, Nikki enjoys cooking, fitness (to mitigate all the cooking), skiing, and traveling.
Emily Hammond
Glen Earl Weston Research Professor of Law
The George Washington University
Professor Hammond is a nationally recognized expert in energy law, environmental law, and administrative law. A former environmental engineer, Professor Hammond brings technical fluency to cutting-edge issues at the intersection of law, science,and policy. Their scholarship focuses on the regulatory process, the responses of various legal institutions to scientific uncertainty,electricity markets, climate change, and the law of water quality. Professor Hammond's articles have appeared in numerous top-ranked journals, including the Columbia Law Review, the Duke Law Journal, the Michigan Law Review, and the Vanderbilt Law Review. They are a co-author of one of the nation’s leading energy law texts, Energy, Economics and the Environment, and the environmental law text Environmental Protection: Law and Policy, in addition to a variety of book chapters and shorter works. Professor Hammond’s current projects include an examination of administrative law in regional and local offices, and a book project that explores how federal energy and environmental laws have enabled, shaped, and hindered grassroots resistance movements in Central Appalachia.
Committed to service leadership, Professor Hammond held a presidential appointment at the Department of Energy during the2021-22 academic year, where they served as Deputy General Counsel for Litigation, Regulation, and Enforcement; and Deputy General Counsel for Environment and Litigation. Previously, Professor Hammond served as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at GW Law, and was awarded the Distinguished Dean Award by the graduating classes of 2020 and 2021. An energetic and dedicated teacher, they were also awarded the Distinguished Faculty Service Award by the graduating class of 2018.
An elected member of the American Law Institute, Professor Hammond has served as a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States and is a member-scholar with the Center for Progressive Reform. They are a past Chair of the American Association of Law Schools’ Administrative Law Section and currently serve on the Executive Committee for the Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. They have consulted on various energy, environmental, and administrative law matters, authored amicus briefs, and testified before Congress on these issues. Professor Hammond actively collaborates with other researchers from a variety of disciplines and is a past Distinguished Young Environmental Scholar recipient at the Stegner Center, University of Utah. Prior to joining the GW law faculty, Professor Hammond served on the faculties at Wake Forest University and the University of Oklahoma College of Law, where they served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Director of the Law Center. They have visited at the University of Texas, Florida State University, and the University of Georgia. Before entering academia, Professor Hammond practiced law with Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore in Atlanta, Georgia, and clerked for Judge Richard W. Story of the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Emma F. Hand
Partner
Dentons
Emma Hand is a founding partner and leader of Dentons' award-winning Energy Practice, and a Past-President of the Energy Bar Association. She plays an essential role on the US federal and state regulatory team, advising public power entities, municipalities, large energy customers and load-serving entities, including signature clients such as the City of New Orleans, CPS Energy in San Antonio, Municipal Electric Utility Association of New York (MEUA), and the Alliance to Save Energy in both regulatory and litigation settings. Emma has extensive experience litigating before administrative agencies and tribunals at the federal and state government levels; representing clients in appeals from agency decisions and rulemakings; and counseling clients on energy efficiency and all sources of electric generation, including renewables and distributed generation.
Highly regarded by her peers, Emma served as President of the Energy Bar Association for 2016-17, and has served on the boards of directors of the Charitable Foundation of the Energy Bar Association and the Foundation of the Energy Law Journal, and on the Energy Law Advisory Board of The George Washington University Law School. Emma advises a broad array of industry clients on all aspects of state and federal utility regulation and litigation. Emma has extensive experience with energy efficiency, demand-side management programs, and smart cities initiatives. She frequently is called upon to lead broad-based community outreach programs and is a highly skilled negotiator. Some of her specific projects have included advising the New Orleans City Council in all aspects of their role as utility regulator. She works closely with the Council, the regulated utility, and stakeholders on integrated resource planning matters, ratemaking and cost allocation issues, reliability issues, designed and implementation of energy efficiency programs, FERC and state court litigation, environmental issues, and so forth.
She also has experience advising clients on a host of issues related to state and federal regulatory structures, and energy-related incentives that may be available to businesses. She works closely with municipal entities and industrial clients on matters that relate to FERC jurisdiction and the organized power markets. She also closely tracks innovations in the energy sector that may foreshadow regulatory challenges or opportunities for clients.
Alexander Herrgott
President
The Permitting Institute
Alex Herrgott is a nationally recognized infrastructure policy and project delivery expert, serving as a trusted resource and education partner for federal and state policymakers and regulators across the United States. He created The Permitting Institute in January 2021, after nearly two decades of crafting bipartisan partnerships and common-sense reforms in Congress, the executive branch, and the private sector. His work continues to focus on pragmatic reforms to the permitting process, that will successfully rebuild, expand, and modernize America’s aging infrastructure, across all infrastructure sectors, while preserving our environmental and cultural resources.
In 2018, Alex was appointed as the Executive Director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council. In this role, he was empowered to work with Congress and the Executive Office of the President to streamline the Federal process and deliver unprecedented time savings for projects, including some of the largest renewable and conventional energy projects in the world.
He also served as chairman of a council of the deputy secretaries of 13 federal agencies, enforcing a principle that delivery of new jobs and critical infrastructure improvement does not conflict with providing thorough environmental project reviews that safeguard our natural and cultural resources while protecting vulnerable populations.
Jacqulynn B. Hugee
Managing Counsel - Federal Energy Regulatory
Dominion Energy Services Inc.
Jacqui is Managing Counsel – Federal Regulatory for Dominion Energy where she manages the legal team responsible for federal energy regulatory matters. Before joining Dominion Energy, she was Senior Director and Managing Counsel for PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. where her responsibilities included serving as the lead attorney for regulatory matters relating to the planning and operation of the PJM electric grid and wholesale energy markets, credit risk, commercial transactions, regulatory audits and regulatory compliance. Jacqui also previously served as Associate Corporate Counsel for American Water Works Service Company and began her career in private practice as an Associate and Partner at Cozen O’Connor and Schnader Harrison Segal and Lewis, and as a law clerk for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Jacqui has served as an officer, director or other leadership roles for several non-profit organizations, including The Forum of Executive Women and the Foundation of the Energy Law Journal. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College with a double major in Political Science and Black Studies and her Juris Doctorate from Duke University School of Law.
Makram B. Jaber
Partner
McGuireWoods
Makram is the co-leader of McGuireWoods’ Environmental Enforcement & Regulatory Counseling practice group. Utilizing his prior experience as a professional engineer and more than 20 years of legal experience, he brings a balanced approach to counseling and defending clients under federal environmental laws.
Makram’s practice focuses primarily, though not exclusively, on the Clean Air Act. He regularly partners with clients to help them obtain and defend permits, defend enforcement actions, and represent their interests in rulemaking proceedings and related Court of Appeals litigation under the Clean Air Act. While involved in matters that run the gamut of Clean Air Act programs, he has deep experience in the New Source Review (NSR) program and Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs).
Makram has represented companies in numerous enforcement cases and settlements under the NSR enforcement initiative since its inception in 1999. Clients from a variety of industries–in the power sector, oil and gas, and manufacturing--rely on his in-depth knowledge of the NSR program to obtain and defend permits for new and expanded facilities, to counsel them on compliance and, if necessary, to defend enforcement actions for existing facilities.
Clients look to Makram to guide them through cross-cutting issues and to find durable solutions to the complex problems they face. Serving as lead counsel, he successfully defended a utility industry client in appellate litigation in an interdisciplinary case involving the intersection of the Clean Air Act’s regional haze program and the Endangered Species Act.
Makram defended a Clean Water Act (CWA) citizen suit alleging unauthorized discharges to surface water and groundwater from coal ash basins at a large electric generating company’s facilities. He has also counseled a hazardous waste recycling facility on compliance with hazardous waste laws, and he has defended clients under the Superfund law.
From 1996 to 1997, Makram served as a law clerk in the chambers of Hon. Stanley F. Birch, US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to embarking on a career in law, he practiced as a licensed Professional Engineer.
Patricia W. Jagtiani
Executive Vice President
Natural Gas Supply Association
Patricia W. Jagtiani is Executive Vice President of the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA). For over 20 years, Pat has held senior positions at NGSA where she manages strategic planning and policy development and oversees member-driven regulatory, climate and power market policies that help frame the public debate, elevate issues important to natural gas producers and marketers. Pat regularly participates at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and regional electric organizations to advocate for NGSA’s priorities and serves as NGSA’s member advocate before federal agencies, Congress, and with other industry groups and market participants, often taking the lead on building coalitions that strengthen NGSA’s ability to voice its positions. Pat is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with degrees in Political Science and International Studies.
David S. Lapp
People's Counsel
Maryland Office of People's Counsel
David S. Lapp was appointed People’s Counsel in 2021 by Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh. David has 30 years of combined experience as a lawyer, policy analyst and writer focusing on public policy and corporate accountability in important segments of the economy. His positions have required mastery of complicated legal issues and competing public policy goals. For the past 23 years as an attorney, his work has emphasized state and federal regulatory policy in the utility, tobacco, and healthcare industries.
Until his appointment as Acting People’s Counsel, David worked from 2004-2020 as an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland (OAG). In his most recent position at OAG, David served as Deputy Counsel for the Maryland Department of Health, addressing healthcare industry regulation and providing advice and representation to the State Medicaid Program. Before that, as Chief Counsel of the OAG’s Tobacco Enforcement Unit, he was a leader in state and national efforts to enforce the national tobacco Master Settlement Agreement against the major cigarette manufacturers.
For more than 10 years prior to his work at OAG, David advocated on behalf of consumer and environmental interests in the field of utility regulation, first as a writer and policy analyst, and then as an attorney, primarily representing and advising state regulatory commissions and environmental and consumer advocates.
David graduated in 1998 from the University of Maryland School of Law, Order of Coif. He served as Articles Editor of the Maryland Law Review and received several academic awards. Following law school, he served as a law clerk on the Maryland Court of Appeals for Judge Howard Chasanow. He received his Bachelor of Arts with honors in 1989 from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.
Robert Loeb
Partner
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Bob Loeb is a partner in Orrick's Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation practice, specializing in high stakes and complex cases. Before joining Orrick, Bob served as one of the leaders of an elite appellate group at the Department of Justice. He has briefed hundreds of cases and has personally argued more than 190 appeals, including cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, every federal circuit and numerous state courts. The National Law Journal’s Litigator of the Week column recently recognized Bob’s appellate major wins in energy and product liability cases.
Thomas A. Lorenzen
Partner
Crowell & Moring LLP
Environmental and climate-related regulations pose substantial challenges and increasingly present significant competitive opportunities for companies doing business in the United States. With over a decade’s experience at the Department of Justice supervising the legal defense of all Environmental Protection Agency regulations, Tom Lorenzen has a deep understanding of both the federal rulemaking process and the limits of EPA’s regulatory authority. That’s why major U.S. corporations and trade associations turn to Tom to help them shape those regulations before they’re finalized, to challenge or defend them in court when they are issued, and to resolve compliance issues once they are operative.
Tom is a trusted adviser to clients seeking to successfully navigate the federal environmental rulemaking process. With a decade of Justice Department experience as the assistant chief responsible for supervising the legal defense of all EPA regulations and other final agency actions in the federal Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court, he has a unique ability to help his clients shape environmental policy and provide vital input on proposed federal environmental regulations through written comment and direct interaction with federal environmental regulators, many of whom are his former clients or colleagues.
Tom is also known for his extensive appellate and administrative law experience, which he brings to bear when his clients choose to challenge the EPAʼs and other agenciesʼ regulations in court, and increasingly when they seek to defend regulations that they determine present opportunities for their businesses. Tom has litigated or supervised challenges arising under virtually every federal environmental statute, including the Clean Air Act; Clean Water Act; Safe Drinking Water Act; Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act; Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act; Toxic Substance Control Act; National Environmental Policy Act; and Endangered Species Act.
Tom also helps his clients resolve issues of compliance once those regulations are in place, whether by aiding in the conduct of internal compliance audits, responding to agency requests for information regarding compliance with environmental laws and regulations, or resolving allegations of noncompliance. Tom is co-chair of Crowellʼs Environment and Natural Resources Practice Group and is also a leader of the firmʼs Environmental, Social, and Governance working group. He is one of just four U.S. lawyers ranked as Band 1 in Climate Change Law in 2022 by Chambers and Partners. Tom is a frequent lecturer and commentator regarding federal environmental law, climate change regulation, administrative law, federal policymaking, and effective appellate brief writing and arguments.
Jomar Maldonado
Director for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
Council on Environmental Quality
Jomar Maldonado is the Director for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) at the Council on Environmental Quality. In this role, he provides policy guidance to Federal agencies and regulatory interpretation to assist with their compliance with NEPA. Jomar has over 15 years of environmental policy and legal experience in the Federal government working on environmental review matters such as NEPA, Environmental Justice, Endangered Species Act, Migratory Birds, Floodplain Management, Wetlands Protection, and similar requirements. His career includes 8 years as an attorney and program team lead with the Federal Highway Administration and 7 years in the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he functioned as the Agency’s Environmental Officer. While at FHWA, Jomar also provided legal advice to agency staff on other project delivery areas such as Buy America requirements, innovative financing mechanisms, design-build contracts, public-private partnerships, cargo preferences, Davis-Bacon Act, project labor agreements, utility coordination, and design standards for highway projects.
Jomar is originally from Puerto Rico. He earned his Bachelor’s of Science degree in environmental science in May 2000 from the University of Puerto Rico and a joint law and Masters in Public Policy degree from the University of Maryland in May 2003.
Omar Martino
Executive Vice President, Markets and Regulatory
Invenergy LLC
Omar Martino oversees Invenergy’s regulatory, markets and transmission interconnection activities. Martino comes to Invenergy with more than a decade of energy industry experience, and he previously held similar positions with Lightsource BP, EDF Renewable Energy, Terra-Gen Power and RES-Americas. Martino has experience leading both domestic and international teams and draws on his expertise in market policy and regulatory affairs to support Invenergy’s significant renewable energy project pipeline. Martino holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, a master’s degree in finance from the University of Colorado at Denver, and a post-graduate law degree with a focus on risk management and compliance and financial services from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law.
The Honorable Bernard L. McNamee
Partner
McGuireWoods
Former FERC Commissioner Bernard L. McNamee is a partner at McGuireWoods and a senior advisor at McGuireWoods Consulting. McNamee is also the Street Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Appalachian School of Law. McNamee is widely regarded as a leader on energy policy and the law.
Before being nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, McNamee served in the U.S. Department of Energy as Executive Director of the Office of Policy and Deputy General Counsel for Energy Policy. During his career, McNamee has served as a senior policy advisor to a U.S. Senator, and served four attorneys general in two states (Virginia and Texas), and was a policy advisor to a Virginia governor.
In addition, McNamee practiced energy law for almost 9-years representing clients at the Virginia State Corporation Commission and the North Carolina Utilities Commission.
McNamee received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and his law degree from Emory University School of Law.
Thomas S. O'Neill
Partner
Jenner & Block
Thomas O’Neill helps clients navigate the rapidly evolving energy industry. Advances in technology, climate urgency, and new customer choices are accelerating regulatory change. Tom’s clients include power generators, utilities, clean-tech startups, and companies that consume large amounts of electricity for their operations. They turn to him for counsel on new laws, switching to greener energy sources or adapting to the energy transition.
With more than 20 years of experience in the energy industry including generation, transmission and development, Tom helps clients see the big strategic picture. When utilities want to develop green substitutes, he helps them consider the legal pathways to enable an orderly transition over time. When producers wish to sell alternatives to utilities, he can help them amend state laws and regulations to facilitate the production and transport of their new product.
Before joining Jenner, Tom was a client of the firm as a business leader at one of America’s leading energy providers. This gives him a unique perspective and advantageous insights. With his strong track record of advocating for policies that enable new clean energy business models, he is the lawyer that companies headed for tomorrow constantly demand.
Manisha D. Patel
Deputy Executive Director
Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council
Manisha Patel is the Deputy Executive Director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council). Ms. Patel has over two decades of experience developing and implementing regulations, policies, and guidance for public agencies and the private sector to deliver infrastructure projects effectively and efficiently, while protecting our natural resources and producing positive outcomes for our communities. Her mastery of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and acumen for solving complex multi-jurisdictional problems, including working with a broad and diverse range of stakeholders, have yielded some of the fundamental federal environmental and energy efficiency regulations and policy of the last decade.
Prior to joining the executive staff at the Permitting Council, Ms. Patel was a Vice President at WSP, a global engineering services firm. At WSP, Ms. Patel led the Environmental Process and Policy Practice Team, providing cross-disciplinary strategic advice to deliver major infrastructure projects by using innovative approaches for accelerated environmental reviews and permitting approvals.
Ms. Patel shepherded the development of a Planning and Environment Linkages (PEL) guidebook for the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration. PEL is a collaborative approach to transportation decision-making that uses the community, economic, environmental and transportation goals developed during the planning stage to inform and accelerate the environmental review process under NEPA. She was also part of the team that identified and implemented the process used by the State of California to become the first state to assume federal environmental responsibilities from the Federal Railroad Administration under the NEPA Assignment Program (23 USC 327). Ms. Patel co-authored the handbook that describes the NEPA policies and practices used by the California High Speed Rail Authority to deliver the largest infrastructure project in the nation.
Ms. Patel’s former federal service includes serving as the Deputy General Counsel for the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to provide government-wide legal advice on NEPA. She also served as the Deputy Associate Director for Regulatory Policy at CEQ, working closely with federal agencies, state and local governments, stakeholders, and other White House offices to advance sound and practical policy. Prior to joining CEQ, she served in various capacities at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), holding leadership positions in EPA’s Office of General Counsel and Office of Regional Counsel (Region 6).
Ms. Patel served as a primary reviewer for the 2015 U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Red Book: Synchronizing Environmental Reviews for Transportation and other Infrastructure Projects. She also played an integral role in the drafting and implementation of key environmental provisions of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act and the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act. She was one of the architects of FAST-41.
Ms. Patel has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Northwestern University and a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center. She is also an alumna of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Executive Energy Leadership Academy. She hails from Lima, Ohio; started her career in Chicago, Illinois and Washington, D.C.; proudly lived in Dallas, Texas; planted roots in Falls Church, Virginia; and now happily calls St. Louis, Missouri home.
The Honorable Ann Rendahl
Commissioner
Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission
Ann was first appointed to serve as a commissioner of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission by Gov. Inslee in December 2014 for a six-year term that ended Jan. 1, 2021. Ann has been reappointed and confirmed to a second six-year term ending Jan. 1, 2027.
Ann is a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, or NARUC, Committees on Electricity and Critical Infrastructure, prior chair of the Committee on Electricity, a member of the Executive Committee, and serves on the Board of Directors.
Ann serves as a member of the Body of State Regulators for the California ISO's Energy Imbalance Market. Ann also serves as a member of the Electric Power Research Institute's Advisory Council through August 2025, and as a member of the Advisory Council of the Center for Public Utilities at New Mexico State University.
Ann previously served as the Director of Policy and Legislation for the UTC. Prior to leading the UTC’s Policy and Legislative Affairs Section, she served as the Director of the Administrative Law Division, as an administrative law judge for the UTC, and as an assistant attorney general representing the UTC.
Ann is a graduate of Wellesley College and received a master’s degree in Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her law degree from UC Law San Francisco.
Jane E. Rueger
Partner
Perkins Coie LLP
Jane Rueger draws on her deep knowledge of the electric and natural gas industries and markets to advise clients in transactional, litigation, policy, and regulatory matters.
Jane regularly represents clients in the negotiation of power purchase agreements (PPA) (conventional and renewable generation), gas purchase and sale agreements, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions, project financings, interconnection agreements, gas pipeline precedent agreements, and asset management agreements. She also counsels market participants on regional transmission organization (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO) market rules around the United States and the development of creative strategies to successfully operate within those markets.
Her experience includes Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) litigation matters and settlements that involve electric or gas pipeline rates and RTO/ISO market structures. She also represents clients in non-public investigations into alleged violations under FERC’s market manipulation rules, the Federal Power Act (FPA), Natural Gas Act (NGA), and Natural Gas Policy Act (NGPA).
In addition, Jane advises clients on advancing their energy policy goals at both federal and state levels in areas such as transmission planning, grid interconnection, market structures, and adoption of policies favorable to cutting-edge technologies that are critical to decarbonizing the energy industry, such as zero-emission vehicles. She is a trusted advisor to energy market participants with regard to all aspects of FERC regulation, including obtaining and maintaining market-based rate authority, obtaining prior authorization for mergers and acquisitions under Section 203 of the FPA, FERC audits, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) compliance issues, and tariff administration and compliance.
A core strength of Jane’s practice is the diverse nature of her knowledge and client base, including electric and gas utilities, financial institutions, large industrial consumers of power, offtakers of renewable power, pipeline developers, energy marketers, and other utility service providers.
Jane has been an active member of the Energy Bar Association (EBA) for many years. In 2020-21, she served as president of the EBA.
A published thought leader, Jane regularly writes on topics relevant to the electric and natural gas industries, such as electric battery storage. Jane also serves as an adjunct professorial lecturer in law at George Washington University School of Law, teaching a seminar on offshore wind development and transmission planning.
At her previous firm, Jane was the co-chair of their LGBTQ affinity group, and she maintains an active pro bono practice such as representing the Solar Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing the use of solar and solar-compatible technologies worldwide.
William Sauer
Managing Director, Federal Government Affairs
Duke Energy
William Sauer is the Managing Director of Federal Affairs. William joined Duke Energy in 2019. He focuses on federal regulation and issues before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, and other agencies. Prior to joining Duke Energy, William worked at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for over a decade, serving in various offices including the Office of Enforcement, Office of Energy Policy and Innovation, and as an Advisor to Commissioner Colette D. Honorable. William also served as a Senior Advisor in the White House National Economic Council and a Policy Advisor in the U.S. Senate.
William serves as a member of the Board of Directors of WIRES, a non-profit trade association that promotes robust and effective transmission solutions to economic, environmental, and reliability challenges. He served as President of WIRES in 2022.
John Lee Shepherd, Jr.
Partner
Hunton Andrews Kurth
John represents energy suppliers, utilities, and other electric power and natural gas market participants in complex regulatory and litigation matters.
With more than 20 years of experience in the energy industry, John represents public utility energy suppliers and transmission owners, regional transmission organizations, large industrial concerns, and other electric power and natural gas market participants in a wide variety of regulatory litigation, certification, and enforcement matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and federal courts.
Prior to joining Hunton Andrews Kurth, John served as Director of Legal Policy at FERC, where he was responsible for advising three Chairmen and several Commissioners on the implementation of energy policy through adjudication, rulemaking, and judicial review. His responsibilities included drafting orders and facilitating negotiations among commissioners, managing external litigation and coordinating positions with other federal agencies, and drafting briefs and arguing cases in matters before the Supreme Court, appellate courts, district courts and bankruptcy courts. Following his return to private practice, John’s work continues to emphasize energy and capacity market design, transmission incentives and cost allocation, pipeline certification and abandonment, hydroelectric licensing, Mobile-Sierra issues, waivers, civil enforcement matters before FERC and reviewing courts. In addition to his work at the firm, John is an Adjunct Professor of Energy Law and Appellate Advocacy at The George Washington University Law School.
Saul J. Singer
Senior Ethics Counsel
District of Columbia Bar
Saul Jay Singer, Senior Legal Ethics Counsel for the District of Columbia Bar, has served as litigation counsel with the United States Department of Justice, with several top District of Columbia and Maryland firms, and as a solo practitioner. He has litigated several high-profile civil rights matters, including representing high school teacher David Sanders in a federal civil rights/wrongful death action against law enforcement officials arising out of the attack at Columbine. He also served as actuary and ratemaker for several ratemaking organizations, insurance companies, and as actuary for the government contractor for the National Flood Insurance Program.
Mr. Singer, who also serves as counsel to the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee and the Legal Ethics Committee, teaches Continuing Legal Education courses for the D.C. Bar, is a sought-after ethics presenter at legal seminars and conferences, and writes a Speaking of Ethics column for the Washington Lawyer. Mr. Singer has published almost 300 articles based upon items in his world-class collection of historical autographs and original documents, and he continues to maintain his delusions regarding his proficiency on the basketball court in the face of stark and brutal evidence to the contrary.
Kim N. Smaczniak
Special Counsel
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Kim Smaczniak serves as Special Counsel at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Her portfolio includes work to advance the Chairman’s priority reforms, including reforms to generator interconnection processes, transmission planning, and transmission siting. Prior to her role at FERC, Kim was the Managing Attorney of the Clean Energy Program of Earthjustice, a public interest environmental law firm. Kim directed advocacy to accelerate the power sector’s transition to clean energy and oversaw the program’s litigation strategy at the state and federal levels. Kim also previously served as lead climate change mitigation negotiator at the U.S. State Department; Democratic Counsel at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee; and as Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resource Division.
Devlyn Tedesco
Counsel
Foley Hoag
Devlyn Tedesco represents a variety of clients in complex energy regulatory, permitting and transactional matters, and regularly practices before the New York Public Service Commission, New York Independent System Operator, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Devlyn’s experience includes representing clients in adjudicatory and rulemaking proceedings relating to transmission and generation siting and permitting, electricity and natural gas ratemaking, energy asset sales and transfers, interconnection policy, and a wide range of renewable energy and distributed generation issues. She also regularly advises clients on contractual disputes, retail and wholesale energy tariff interpretation, and the impacts of relevant regulatory and policy changes.
Devlyn previously worked in-house at a multi-disciplined engineering firm assisting energy project developers with navigating New York State regulatory and interconnection.
Chairman Emile C. Thompson
Chairman
Public Utilities Commission, District of Columbia
Emile C. Thompson was appointed to the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia by Mayor Muriel Bowser in 2021 and re-appointed as Interim Chairman on December 1, 2021. He was confirmed as Chairman on June 7, 2022.
Before the Commission, Chairman Thompson was an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. As an AUSA, he prosecuted homicides and served as a supervising Deputy Chief in the Misdemeanor Section. He has also served as a Principal Member of the D.C. Water Board of Directors since 2016. While on the Board, Chairman Thompson chaired the Human Resources and Labor Relations Committee and served on the Governance, Strategic Planning, and D.C. Retail Rates committees. Chairman Thompson began his career as a clerk for the Honorable (Ret.) Herbert B. Dixon, Jr. of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He also served in the Mayoral Administrations of Vincent Gray and Muriel Bowser.
Chairman Thompson is an active member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), representing public service commissions that regulate telecommunications, energy, and water utilities. He serves as NARUC Co-Vice Chair of the Committee on Critical Infrastructure established after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to provide state regulators a forum to analyze solutions to utility infrastructure security and delivery concerns. He is a member of the NARUC Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment, which focuses on energy efficiency, environmental protection, renewable and distributed resources, consumer protection, and low-income weatherization and assistance. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Organization of PJM States, Inc., which promotes and protects the public interest in providing reliable and reasonably priced electric service.
Chairman Thompson graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in Computer Science and minors in Math and Biology. His law degree was conferred from Wake Forest University School of Law.
Born in Washington, D.C., Chairman Thompson resides with his wife and children. He is active in the D.C. community serving as a board member of the Abramson Scholarship Foundation, and is a former board member of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington.
Elizabeth P. Trinkle
Shareholder
Wright & Talisman PC
Liz focuses her practice on electricity regulation and represents clients before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). With a passion for the complexity and ever-changing nature of the issues facing the electric industry, Liz advises clients regarding the Federal Power Act and related federal and state statutes.
Liz assists regional transmission organizations (RTOs) throughout complex FERC rulemaking proceedings and other matters. Her work with RTOs includes advising clients as they problem-solve to accommodate new and emerging technologies, with a particular focus on energy storage resources. She assists clients with drafting tariff revisions to address issues arising in RTO-operated energy, capacity, and ancillary services markets. She also advises clients on regional planning issues, including interconnection service and the drafting of related service agreements.
Immediately prior to joining Wright & Talisman, Liz served as in-house counsel to PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., where she advised clients on numerous markets and planning issues. She also has extensive experience representing investor-owned utilities and industrial energy consumers before FERC and state public utility commissions with matters such as tariff modifications, market-based rate authority, and cost allocation.
Gabe Wapner
Vice President, Business Development
Hecate Grid
Gabe is Vice President of Business Development at Hecate Grid, a leading US battery storage IPP. Gabe oversees the project development and offtake origination for Hecate Grid’s 6 GW+ pipeline. Gabe has 10+ years of project development and offtake origination across utility scale solar and standalone battery storage projects.
Prior to joining Hecate in 2013, Gabe served in several business development roles for Yingli Solar, initially managing US utility scale business development and subsequently managing the company’s expansion into Latin America. Gabe began his career as an investment banker in the Power and Utilities Group at Barclays Capital. Gabe graduated with honors from Cornell University’s Charles H. Dyson School of Business.