2014 Energy Utility Basics Presenter Profiles
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Monday, October 20
Rodney Stevenson, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Rodney Stevenson established the Wisconsin Public Utility Institute in 1982 to advance understanding of public policy issues in
the electricity, gas, and telecommunications industries. Rodney is an Emeritus Professor of Business at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison and the past Chair of the Energy Analysis and Policy graduate program of the University’s Institute for
Environmental Studies. Professor Stevenson received his Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University and his B.A. in
economics from Monmouth College (Illinois).
Professor Stevenson’s research interests have focused on regulatory economics and policy, institutional economics, and
performance measurement. His most recent research involves analyses of electric utility restructuring, costing and pricing of
electric utility service, provision of energy efficiency services, and telecommunications infrastructure development. He has
authored several articles, chapters, and technical reports published in journals such as the American Economic Review,
Columbia Journal of World Business, The Electricity Journal, International Economic Review, Journal of Economic Issues, Journal
of Economics and Business, Journal of Econometrics, Journal of Productivity Analysis, Land Economics, Public Utilities Fortnightly,
Resources and Energy, and Utility Policy.
Professor Stevenson has taught courses on Public Utilities, Business and Government, Economics of Regulation, Energy
Economics, Managerial Economics, Business and the Environment, and Risk and the Environment. In addition he has lectured in
many executive development programs and for a variety of organizations, state legislatures, state and federal regulatory
agencies, and consumer and environmental groups. Internationally, Professor Stevenson has conducted training programs and
educational sessions in Japan, Egypt, Korea, the Philippines, and China.
Professor Stevenson has served as a consultant, adviser, and expert witness for numerous utilities, state and federal
regulatory agencies, legislative bodies, and consumer and environmental organizations. Prior to joining the faculty at the
University of Wisconsin, he was a member of the economics faculty of Michigan State University, taught at the University of
Maryland and was an employee of the U.S. Federal Power Commission and the U.S. Postal Rate Commission. He served several
years on the Board of Directors of the NARUC National Regulatory Research Institute and serves on the Board of Directors of
the Energy Center of Wisconsin.
David C. Boyd, Minnesota Public Service Commission
Commissioner David Boyd holds a B.A. degree with majors in biology and chemistry from St. Olaf College, a Ph.D. degree in
chemistry from the University of Minnesota, and has performed two years of post-doctoral research. Dr. Boyd was a member
of the faculty at the University of St. Thomas from 1989 to 2009 including six years as Chairman of the Chemistry Department.
Dr. Boyd has over 25 years of research experience in inorganic and materials chemistry, including significant experience in the
field of solar energy conversion (catalytic water splitting and photovoltaic devices). Other areas of inquiry include sensor
development, and the synthesis of useful conducting and semiconducting thin films.
Dr. Boyd currently is a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Board of Directors. He
serves as a member of the NARUC Committee on Electricity, Subcommittee on Clean Coal and Carbon Sequestration,
Subcommittee on Education and Research, and Chairs the Subcommittee on Nuclear Issues-Waste Disposal. He is a member of
the NRRI Board of Directors, serves as an Executive Committee Member of the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition, and in 2010
was appointed by Governor Tim Pawlenty to serve on the Midwestern Governors Association's (MGA) Carbon Capture and
Storage (CCS) Task Force.
Dr. Boyd currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Eastern Interconnection States' Planning Council (EISPC), the
Subcommittee Steering Committee (SSC) of the Eastern Interconnect Planning Collaborative (EIPC). He is a member of the
Organization of Midwest ISO States (OMS) Board of Directors and serves as Treasurer. He is also a member of the OMS
Executive Committee. He previously co-chaired the Upper Midwest Transmission Development Initiative (UMTDI).
Dr. Boyd was appointed to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission by Governor Tim Pawlenty on July 10, 2007 and was
reappointed on December 18, 2008. His term as Commissioner has included three years served as Chairman. Dr. Boyd's
current term expires January 5, 2015.
John Lorence, Wisconsin Public Service Commission
John Lorence is an Assistant General Counsel for the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. He has worked at the
Commission for almost 20 years.
Prior to joining the Commission, Mr. Lorence was a Senior Legislative Attorney at the Wisconsin Legislative Reference
Bureau. He drafted legislation relating to public utility law and other business topics.
Mr. Lorence is a 1983 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School. His undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Business
Administration from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, with majors in Transportation and Public Utilities and in
Marketing.
Flora Flygt, American Transmission Company
Flora Flygt is Strategic Planning and Policy Advisor at American Transmission Co. where she provides strategic planning and
policy advice on transmission issues and represents the Company in a variety of executive-level forums across the United
States. She has been in the electric utility business for thirty years in a variety of leadership and planning positions, including
transmission planning, business development, strategic planning, market and competitive analysis, environmental planning,
integrated resource planning, demand-side planning and long-term load forecasting. Flora led the development of ATC’s first
economically justified transmission project in MISO, which is now in service. Flora also led the development of ATC’s first
multiple-benefits projects, which have been approved as part of MISO’s initial Multi-Value Project. She has been very active in
the Eastern Interconnection Planning Collaborative, chairing the Scenario Planning Working Group and as the report
coordinator for the final project report. She has been an expert witness on transmission planning, demand-side planning, and
integrated resource planning. Prior to joining ATC, Flora was with Alliant Energy Company, Madison Gas & Electric Company
and worked as a consultant. She holds an M.S. degree in Land Resources with a Master’s certificate in Energy Analysis & Policy
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.A. degree in Economics from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Jennifer Richardson, MISO
Jennifer Richardson began her professional career at the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission as a policy analyst in the
telecommunications division in 2000. Ms. Richardson worked on numerous complex policy initiatives at the state and federal
levels before becoming the Commission’s Chief Policy and Legislative Advisor. Ms. Richardson spearheaded numerous industry
settlement agreements on behalf of the Indiana Commission that brought over $5 million in savings to consumers. In 2006, Ms.
Richardson was awarded awarded the Governor’s Service Award for Excellence in Public Service after working to implement the
state’s first comprehensive retail deregulation for telecommunications. During her tenure, she also served as the Staff
Chairperson of the Joint Board on Universal Service and the Joint Conference on Advanced Services before the FCC. Richardson
also has extensive energy experience with specialties that include rate design, service quality performance metrics and Smart
Grid standards development. In 2010, Richardson departed the Commission for the Department of Homeland Security to serve
as the Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure Planning Chief for the State of Indiana. During her time at DHS, Ms.
Richardson was deployed to the field for several nationally-declared disasters. In 2013, Ms. Richardson joined the
Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) as a policy advisor in the External Affairs Division. Jennifer holds a
Bachelor of Arts degree from Purdue University and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Indiana University.
Brian Rude, Dairyland Power Cooperative
Brian Rude is Vice President of External and Member Relations of Dairyland Power, based in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Dairyland is
a generation and transmission cooperative serving 600,000 consumers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.
Brian is responsible for government relations, community and member relations, communications, printing and graphics,
administrative services and energy efficiency. He also serves as a member of Dairyland’s Senior Management Team.
Brian has an extensive career background in politics and communications. He served on the research staff of the Iowa and
Wisconsin State Senates, and worked in the Corporate Communications Department at The Trane Company.
In 1982, Brian was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly and in 1984, to the Wisconsin State Senate. On two occasions, he
served as President of the Senate, from 1993-1996 and again in 1998. After a 17-year career in public office, in 2000 he
resigned from the Senate to begin his work at Dairyland.
He received his BA degree in history and political science from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, and his MA in public
administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Brian is active in many community activities, including serving as President-Elect of the Wisconsin Historical Society, the
President of the Norwegian-American Historical Association, and as a member of the Gundersen Health System Board and River
Bank Board.
John Sumi, Madison Gas and Electric
John Sumi is the MGE Director of Legislative Affairs. John joined MGE in 2007. As Legislative Affairs Director, John advocates for
the interests of MGE and its customers at the federal, state and local levels of government.
Prior to joining MGE, John was the Executive Director of the Customers First! Coalition (CFC). The coalition is a broad-based
alliance that MGE helped found to advocate for state policies that preserve Wisconsin’s affordable, reliable and
environmentally responsible electricity.
Before coming to CFC John pursued his interest in regulatory policy with AT&T Corporation as the State Manager for Law &
Government Affairs. While with AT&T, John helped guide the company’s Wisconsin regulatory agenda in support of AT&T’s
2003 entry into the local telephone service market.
John also has extensive past experience in State Capitol as an Executive Assistant to two State Senators. During several sessions
of the Legislature John served as the lead Senate staffer for the Legislature’s Joint Committee for Review of Administrative
Rules
Nilaksh Kothari is the General Manager of Manitowoc Public Utilities, which is located on the shore of Lake Michigan in eastcentral Wisconsin. He has more than 25 years of experience in the utility sector. MPU is the largest municipally-owned electric
utility and the sixth largest water utility in the State of Wisconsin, with total annual revenues of $80 million. The utility serves
both retail and wholesale water and electric customers. Mr. Kothari is responsible for directing all aspects of MPU’s operation,
its 90 employees, and over $350 million in assets, which features a 85 MW coal-fired generating plant, a 25.0 MW combustion
turbine facility, and a 35.0 MGD microfiltration plant.
Mr. Kothari is past president of AWWA and currently serves as a board member on the Water Research Foundation. He is also
the recipient of the AWWA George Warren Fuller Award.
Mr. Kothari received a Master’s of Science in Engineering from South Dakota State University in 1985 and a Bachelor of Science
in Civil Engineering from M.S. University in Baroda, India in 1983. He is a registered professional engineer. His professional
memberships and affiliations include the Great Lakes Utilities, American Water Works Association (AWWA), American Public
Power Association (APPA), Municipal Electric Utilities of Wisconsin (MEUW), Municipal Environmental Group – Water (MEG),
the American Society of Civil Engineers, EcoSan Foundation, Rotary and the Elks.
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Tuesday, October 21
James Blanchard, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jake Blanchard is a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is currently Chair of the
Engineering Physics Department. He received his PhD in nuclear engineering from the University of California-Los Angeles in
1988. He was selected as a Presidential Young Investigator in 1990 and as a Fellow with the UW Teaching Academy in 1995. He
received a UW Distinguished Teaching award in 2002 and the Harvey Spangler Award for Technology Enhanced Instruction in
2008.
Professor Blanchard's research interests include radiation damage in fission and fusion environments, fusion reactor design,
and nuclear microbatteries. Blanchard designs fusion and fission reactor components that are capable of withstanding extreme
thermal and radiation loads. He also conducts research directed towards the invention of nuclear microbatteries, which are
long-lived, radioisotope-powered batteries for MEMS devices. One interesting application is the development of a nuclear
powered RF transmitter that will allow these devices to communicate with each other wirelessly.
Kenneth D. Copp, American Transmission Company LLC
Ken Copp has over 40 years of experience in the electric utility business, the last 14 at the American Transmission Company. He
is currently a Strategic Technical Advisor in the planning area at ATC. Ken’s prior roles at ATC include Director positions in a
variety of areas including Engineering, Maintenance, Construction and System Operations. Prior to working at ATC Ken had 28
years of experience at Wisconsin Electric in a wide variety of positions including the transmission, generation and distribution
areas
A registered professional engineer in the state of Wisconsin, Ken is a member of IEEE Power Engineering Society and Beta
Gamma Sigma Business Honor Society. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA, both from the
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
Merlin Raab, Wisconsin Public Service Corporation
Merlin Raab has spent over thirty years with Wisconsin Public Service of Green Bay in a variety of roles related to economic
development, energy utilization and efficiency program development, and industrial customer account management. His
current responsibilities include renewable energy and energy efficiency policy.
Chuck Callies, Dairyland Power Cooperative
Chuck Callies is the Vice President of Power Delivery at Dairyland Power Cooperative. The Power Delivery division is
responsible for the planning, construction, and maintenance of Dairyland’s transmission lines, substations, telecommunications
and control systems, and the System Operations Center.
Mr. Callies has over thirty years of experience in the utility industry. Chuck is a graduate of Dakota State University with a
Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics, and an Associate of Arts Degree in Computer Science. As a former Chairman of the
North American Electric Reliability Council Telecommunications Sub-committee, he was instrumental in the development of
NERCnet, the NERC data communications network. Mr. Callies is a former President of the Siemens Customer Association, and
is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
Paul Meier, Wisconsin Energy Institute
Paul Meier is a scientist with the Wisconsin Energy Institute and has worked with industry, government and public interest
groups on energy and environmental issues since 1995. His efforts have focused extensively on the use of energy systems
modeling to support decision-making. Paul has led research efforts to evaluate energy alternatives at the national, regional, and
state levels and spanning electricity, transportation, and building energy sectors. Paul is an environmental engineer and earned
a Ph.D. from the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW - Madison.
Peter Taglia, Peter Taglia Environmental Consulting
Peter is a professional geologist who is currently working in numerous aspects of climate change mitigation with an emphasis
on electrical generation, terrestrial and geological carbon sequestration and biofuels analysis. In May of 2007, Peter was
appointed to two working groups of Governor Doyle’s Task Force on Global Warming, the electrical generation work group
(which he was also co-chair) and the technical advisory group. Peter has continued to work on climate issues as a member of
the renewable electricity, advanced coal and carbon capture advisory group of the Midwest Governors Association and on the
Wisconsin Legislative Council Special Committee on Domestic Biofuels. Peter has worked in environmental consulting and is
experienced in conducting environmental investigations, preparing environmental remediation plans and developing
environmental impact statements at superfund sites, energy facilities and power plants. Peter holds a BA in environmental
geology from the University of Montana and a MS in hydrogeology from the UW-Madison. Peter is a skilled speaker who has
given presentations on energy topics at state and national conferences and has been a guest lecturer at the UW-Madison and
other schools and at technical conferences he has organized.
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Wednesday, October 22
Steve Kihm, Energy Center of Wisconsin
Steve is a principal and chief economics at the Energy Center of Wisconsin. Steve's background in public utility regulation and
finance supports his technical and analytical work evaluating energy efficiency programs and developing, analyzing and
critiquing policy initiatives. Steve is a published author; he's written articles for the Energy Law Journal, The Electricity
Journal and Public Utilities Fortnightly, and he's written a children's book, The Lost Candy Bar. He is also a Chartered Financial
Analyst. He has an MBA in Finance and M.S. in Quantitative Analysis from UW-Madison's Graduate School of Business.
Bruce Chapman, Christensen Associates Energy Consulting
Bruce R. Chapman, M.A. (University of Wisconsin-Madison) is a Senior Economist with Christensen Associates Energy
Consulting. He specializes in the design and pricing of retail electricity pricing products that improve the efficiency of pricing
relative to traditional rates. He has managed and participated in many projects, developing such innovative products as criticalpeak pricing, real-time pricing, and fixed-bill products. He has also conducted analysis of distribution costs and undertaken load
research data development and cost-of- capital analysis. In his work with electricity pricing projects, he has led all phases of
program development: product design, implementation, and statistical evaluation of customer response. Mr. Chapman’s
assignments have also included heading cost-of-service projects in a traditional regulatory environment. Additionally, he has
supervised the design of PC-based software required for the implementation and support of innovative retail products.
Steve Braithwait, Christensen Associates Energy Consulting
Steven D. Braithwait, Ph.D. (University of California - Santa Barbara) is a Vice President. He specializes in market-based retail
electricity pricing with an emphasis on the measurement of customer price response, and the evaluation of demand response
program benefits and costs. Dr. Braithwait has also assisted clients in designing market-based service offerings including realtime pricing, critical peak pricing, and demand response programs. He has provided expert testimony before public service
commissions and arbitration panels in the areas of load forecasting and least-cost planning guidelines. He has delivered papers
at numerous industry conferences on the topics of market-based pricing, customer price response, demand response programs,
and load forecasting. Previously, Dr. Braithwait managed numerous projects in load forecasting, demand-side management and
planning at EPRI.
Dan Hansen, Christensen Associates Energy Consulting
Dan Hansen is a Vice President at Christensen Associates in Madison. He has conducted independent evaluations of revenue
decoupling mechanisms that were implemented at Portland General Electric, New Jersey Natural Gas, South Jersey Gas, and
Northwest Natural Gas. He has testified on issues related to revenue decoupling in Arizona, Connecticut, Nevada, Oregon, and
Utah; and participated in a panel discussion on revenue decoupling before the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. In
his work on revenue decoupling, his clients have included a regulator, an environmental organization, a non-profit organization
of utility investors, and an investor-owned utility.
Greg Bollom, Madison Gas and Electric
Greg is Assistant Vice President – Energy Planning with Madison Gas and Electric Company. Greg has been with MGE for 32
years. Greg’s job responsibilities include generation planning and transmission policy; electric and natural gas sales and
revenue forecasting; and electric and natural gas pricing. Greg serves on the Edison Electric Institute Retail Energy Services
Executive Advisory Group; Economic Policy Advisory Group; and the Rates and Regulatory Affairs Committee of which he is past
chairman. Greg also serves on the Advisory Committee for the Critical Consumer Issues Forum, a collaboration of state utility
commissioners, consumer advocates and electric utilities to address important consumer issues at the forefront of the energy
policy debate.
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Thursday, October 23
Richard Hackner, GDS Associates
Rich Hackner is a principal engineer and the Midwest Region Manager at GDS Associates. He has led the Midwest team at GDS
for 14 years. Rich has extensive experience providing project management and oversight of multi-million dollar energy
efficiency programs including the Focus on Energy Agribusiness Program and the Ameren Illinois ActOnEnergy Business
program. Over his 30+year career in the energy efficiency industry he has also established numerous collaborative projects and
programs that included diverse membership including local, state and federal representatives, utilities, public interest groups
and consumers. Further, he has expertise in energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy policy and technical research. Rich
has conducted numerous technical evaluation studies for commercial, residential, agricultural and industrial energy efficiency
measures. He has also designed and managed evaluations for commercial and industrial end-use metering projects, as well as,
direct load control programs. Prior to joining GDS, Rich was the Associate Director of the Energy Center of Wisconsin for ten
years. Rich’s responsibilities included overseeing ECW’s research and program areas.
His education includes a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a M.S. degree in
Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and he is a professional engineer in the state of Wisconsin.
Ryan Kroll, Mihaels Energy
Ryan M. Kroll, P.E., LEED AP, is Program Evaluation Manager and Principal for Michaels Energy. He is a registered mechanical
engineer in Minnesota and Michigan. Mr. Kroll has 10 years of engineering experience with seven years in program
evaluation. Mr. Kroll has managed impact evaluations and major M&V projects for efficiency programs run by over 40 different
utilities in 19 different states and two Canadian provinces. He is an expert in project specific measurement and verification plan
development, energy modeling and calibration, as well as M&V project management. His other talents include research and
large-scale evaluation of heating and cooling technologies. Mr. Kroll’s education includes a M.S. degree in Mechanical
Engineering from Iowa State University and a B.S. degree in Engineering from Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa.
Rebecca Larson, UW-Madison, Biological Systems Engineering
Becky Larson is an assistant professor and extension specialist in the Biological Systems Engineering Department at UWMadison focusing on biological waste issues. Becky completed her B.S, M.S., and Ph.D. in Biosystems Engineering Department
at Michigan State University. Her research and extension interests include all areas of biological waste including manure
management, handling and treatment of agricultural waste, diffuse source pollution, agricultural sustainability, and waste- toenergy technologies including biogas production from anaerobic digestion.
Richard Hasselman, Tetra Tech
Rich Hasselman, Manager, Tetra Tech, has over 15 years of experience in the renewable energy and energy efficiency
industries. Rich is currently involved with program evaluation, technology research, and resource planning projects for utility
and state clients. Past work includes program design, management, and evaluation of renewable energy and energy efficiency
programs. He has completed numerous feasibility studies for a variety of clients, including banks, federal and state
governments, and developers. These studies integrated technology, market, financial, and managerial feasibility analyses,
including sensitivity testing, and risk identification. Rich earned his MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an M.S. in
Land Resources (certificate in Energy Analysis and Policy) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a B.A in Geography
from Radford University.
Sanford Klein, UW-Madison, Mechanical Engineering
Professor Klein is the currently the Bascom Ouweneel Professor of Mechanical Engineering at University of Wisconsin –
Madison and the director of the Solar Energy Laboratory. He received his Ph.D degree in Chemical Engineering at University of
Wisconsin – Madison in 1976 and he has been on the faculty at Wisconsin since 1977, associated with the Solar Energy
Laboratory. He is the author or co-author of more than 160 publications relating to energy systems and the co-author (with
Professor Greg Nellis) of recent books in Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics published by Cambridge University Press.
Professor Klein’s current research interests are in thermodynamics, refrigeration, and solar energy applications. In addition, he
has also actively involved in the development of engineering computer tools for both instruction and research. He is the
primary author of the TRNSYS (TRaNsient SYSytem) simulation program that is widely used for solar energy system studies. He
also is the author of a finite element heat transfer program, FEHT, and the general engineering equation solving program, EES.
Professor Klein is a Fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA) and
the American Solar Energy Society (ASES).
Friday, October 24
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Alan Carroll, UW-Madison, Department of Geology
How are sedimentary basins created, and how do they evolve? What record do they provide of regional tectonics? How can
paleoclimatic signals be interpreted from their deposits? Such questions by their nature require a broad, multidisciplinary
approach, including (but not limited to) the application of clastic sedimentary facies and paleocurrent analyses, sequence
stratigraphy, sandstone petrography, geohistory analysis, and organic geochemistry. Several of my current projects currently
involve the application of stable and radiogenic isotopes to decipher sedimentary provenance, weathering histories, and age
relationships. My research integrates these techniques to help elucidate processes of basin subsidence and fill as they relate to
continental tectonics, regional paleoclimatic evolution, and petroleum exploration.
This is Dr. Carroll’s specialty. Recent research projects include lacustrine basin analysis of the Greater Green River Basin,
southwestern Wyoming,(currently funded by the Center for Oil Shale Research and Technology). Paleogene provenance study
for the Gulf of Mexico Basin (Wisconsin Source to Sink Consortium - WSSC), and projects for the Center for Oil Shale Research
and Technology (COSTAR).
In addition to a number of Departmental and University committees, he serves as an Associate Editor for the American
Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin.
Sarah Mead, Michigan Gas Utilities
Sarah Mead is the Manger of Gas Supply for Michigan Gas Utilities, a subsidiary of the Integrys Energy Group. She has been
employed in the natural gas industry for the last 13 years in a variety of positions in both the regulated utility and unregulated
marketing firm. Sarah has extensive experience in forecasting, short and long term planning and the regulatory aspects of
natural gas. In her current role as the Manager of Gas Supply Sarah is responsible for planning, acquiring and managing gas
supplies and pipeline transportation services to ensure reliable and cost competitive natural gas service to Michigan Gas
Utilities customers. Additionally she serves on the Board of Directors for Service Credit Union.
Sarah holds a bachelor degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and a Master of Business
Administration in Finance from Lakeland College.