Mark Ahlstrom is Vice President of Renewable Energy Policy for NextEra Energy Resources and WindLogics, NextEra’s subsidiary known for meteorology, energy analytics and renewable energy integration. NextEra is North America’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. Mark is particularly interested in the integration of variable generation into power systems and electricity markets. He is actively involved at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Utility Variable-Generation Integration Group (UVIG), and many other activities across North America to support the economic and reliable use of higher levels of clean energy. Mark is currently the President of the UVIG Board of Directors.

Sara is the Director of Electrification Policy for Energy Innovation – a nonpartisan energy and climate policy firm – where she leads efforts to develop and advance policies to enable economy-wide electrification. Sara provides assistance to state and federal U.S. policymakers and other stakeholders on pathways to support the electrification and decarbonization of buildings, vehicles, industry and other sectors of the economy. Prior to joining Energy Innovation, Sara served as Vice President of Regulatory for the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), where she led IREC’s engagement on distributed energy resource regulatory policies in states across the country and supported organizational development, planning and strategy. Sara serves on the Advisory Board of Grid Lab, is the former host of the Grid Geeks podcast and the current host of Energy Innovation’s podcast, Electrify This!.

Lorenzo develops CAISO policy in the areas of market design, transmission planning, new generator interconnection, and integration of distributed energy resources. During the industry restructuring of the 1990s he worked at the California Energy Commission developing the rules for retail direct access, and before that he was a Fulbright Scholar in Indonesia working on a commercial and regulatory framework for direct foreign investment in power generation.

Mark is a principal with the Electricity Practice at Rocky Mountain Institute, where he has worked since 2008 and currently leads RMI research and collaboration efforts around the roles that distributed energy resources can play in grid planning and investment. At RMI, Mark has led cutting-edge research projects on the value that renewable energy, demand flexibility, and storage offer customers and the grid, and has advised clients including large utilities, regulatory commissions, oil majors, and clean-tech companies on distributed energy topics.

Dr. Carl Linvill is a Principal with Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) based in Davis, California. Carl focuses on power sector planning, procurement, market and regulatory reforms that facilitate low carbon futures. His current projects address renewable and distributed energy resource integration strategies, grid modernization and wholesale and retail tariff reforms. Prior to joining RAP, he was Economic/Energy Advisor to Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn, a Public Utilities Commissioner, and an academic and consulting economist. Carl received his BA in Mathematics from UC Davis, and his PhD in Economics from the UNC – Chapel Hill. Carl’s activities outside of RAP include serving on the California ISO Energy Imbalance Market Governing Body.

John Moore focuses on developing a modern, flexible, and efficient high-power electrical grid that will help accelerate renewable and clean energy use. He advocates on behalf of the Sustainable FERC Project and other environmental groups before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and regional transmission organizations. Prior to joining NRDC, Moore was a senior attorney at the Environmental Law & Policy Center in Chicago, where he coordinated clean transmission initiatives and managed ELPC’s clean energy development program.

Lisa Schwartz is deputy leader of the Electricity Markets and Policy Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She manages the energy efficiency team, utility regulation projects, and training for public utility commissions on distribution systems and planning. Previously, she was director of the Oregon Department of Energy, where earlier in her career she was a senior policy analyst. At the Oregon Public Utility Commission, she led staff work on resource planning and procurement, demand response, and distributed and renewable resources. She also was a senior associate with the Regulatory Assistance Project, providing assistance to government officials on energy issues.

Curtis is a co-founder and partner at AC Strategies, where he works with foundation and NGO clients to design and implement clean energy and climate policy strategies in the US. Curtis has nearly two decades of experience in clean energy and climate policy working for industry, government and the nonprofit sector. Prior to co-founding AC Strategies, Curtis was Vice President of Policy at Energy Foundation where he co-developed the States Program and previously led the Renewable Power program. He previously worked in the renewable energy industry, leading state legislative and regulatory affairs for a major renewable energy company, developing innovative partnerships between solar companies and utilities and advising foreign companies on US market strategy. In government, Curtis worked at the California Public Utilities Commission as an advisor and senior analyst to advance key renewable energy policies, which helped kickstart California’s globally recognized solar energy market.

Ed Smeloff leads Vote Solar’s regulatory team working to transform the electric power system to be cleaner, smarter and more durable by integrating solar power and other clean energy technologies at all scales from rooftop to utility-scale power plant. Vote Solar is involved in regulatory activities in 12 states. Before joining Vote Solar he worked for SunPower Corp. as its director of utility and power plant sales. There he was responsible for the development of more than a gigawatt of solar power plants now in operation across the United States.

Hannah Polikov is a Managing Director at Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), a national association of businesses that are making the energy we use secure, clean, and affordable. At AEE, Hannah leads public utility commission (PUC) engagement efforts, to date holding over a dozen regional and national forums for PUC commissioners and staff to discuss cutting edge advanced energy issues and best practices. The forums have been co-hosted by the Chairs of 17 state PUCs and attended by commissioners from over three dozen states. Previously, Hannah held senior energy policy roles with the State of Maryland and a member of the U.S. Congress, and practiced law at a large firm. Hannah received her BA and JD with honors from Duke University.

Bryan Hannegan is President and CEO of Holy Cross Energy, a not-for-profit, member-owned electric cooperative utility providing electricity and energy products and services to more than 42,000 customers in Western Colorado. Prior to joining Holy Cross in July 2017, Bryan was an Associate Laboratory Director at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where he co-founded the US Department of Energy’s Grid Modernization Initiative and started up the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF), a unique “distribution grid in a box” enabling utilities, entrepreneurs and consumers to work together on cleaner, more affordable and more reliable energy systems. Earlier in his career, Bryan held senior leadership roles at the Electric Power Research Institute, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.