Energy Industry Executive

Independent Consultant

Market Leader - Power

Atwell

With over 30 years of experience in engineering, consulting, and leadership, Sam is the President & CEO of Middough Inc. Middough provides major project solutions and consulting by combining the experience, expertise and reach of a large EPCM firm with the flexibility and customer focus of a local service provider. Sam leads the executive team and oversees the functional and financial performance of the company, ensuring alignment with the vision, mission, and values. Middough provides project solutions across several industries including: Chemical, Oil & Gas, Power, Refining, Metals, Agribusiness, Food, and Advanced Manufacturing.

Executive Director - Sustainability & Energy Management

Stanford University

Lincoln Bleveans has been an executive in the global energy industry for over 25 years, focused on electric power and sustainability. His experience spans the globe and the energy value chain, from start-ups and emerging technologies to independent power project (IPP) development to utility operations. He is an internationally recognized thought-leader, writer, and speaker on energy and sustainability. He is now Executive Director of Sustainability & Energy Management at Stanford University, leading mission-critical operations and world-leading innovation in sustainability, electricity, thermal energy, building energy management, water, and waste. Most recently, he was an executive at Burbank Water & Power, an innovative and high-performing electric and water utility in southern California. He is active as a mentor, advisor, and board for technology start-ups, infrastructure projects, and non-profits. Lincoln received a BA from Kenyon College, a JD from Northwestern University School of Law, and also attended Nanjing University in China and the National Outdoor Leadership School in Kenya.

Plant Director, Harrington Station

Xcel Energy

Dennis Buchanan, PE, is a Plant Director for Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS). SPS is one of 4 operating companies of Xcel Energy. Dennis has worked in the Electric Utility, Power Generation field for over 40 years. His background includes performance and plant engineering, project management, and senior management. A large portion of his career was dedicated to power plant process controls where he designed and implemented DCS retrofits throughout the SPS fleet. Currently, Dennis is the Plant Director of the Harrington/Nichols complex that consists of 3 coal fired units and 3 gas fired units. Dennis has a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech University and is a Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.

Plant Manager. Clifty Creek

Indiana-Kentucky Electric Corp.

Corporate Training Director

Exelon Nuclear

President

IEM Energy Consultants

Mr. Fassett is President and founder of IEM Energy Consultants LLC, (now part of CEIS), and has more than 39 years of broad-based experience in the power and related industries. He founded IEM in 1998 as a boutique consulting practice to provide consulting services in all aspects of power plant operations, maintenance, and management to clients worldwide. Mr. Fassett has provided services in outage planning, management and oversite, long range O&M budgeting, reliability assessments, plant staffing analysis and long-term service agreement negotiations. Prior to forming IEM, Mr. Fassett held roles of increasing responsibility with various utilities, both regulated and IPP’s, as well as petrochemical process facilities. These roles included Plant Engineer, Maintenance Engineer, Start Up Manager, Maintenance Manager and Plant Superintendent. His experience includes coal, simple and combined cycle CT’s, coal gasification and specialty chemical manufacturing. Mr. Fassett sits on the Board of Directors of the Plant Managers Institute, the Advisory Board of the Electric Power Conference, is a member of the ASME Power Committee. He has taught college classes in Energy & the Environment, Ethics in the Energy Industry, Electronics and Power Plant Operations. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Dakota State University with an emphasis in Power Plant System Design

Sr. Director Power Gen

CPS Energy

Melanie Green is a Sr. Director in Power Generation at CPS Energy, the municipally owned electric and gas company serving San Antonio, Texas – the nation’s 7th largest city – and surrounding region. A native of Missouri, Melanie graduated from the University of Missouri – Columbia with a BS-Mechanical Engineering. She has over 30 years experience in of power generation.

O&M Manager – Engineering Coronado Generating Station

Salt River Project

President

M E H & Associates, LLC

Mr. Michael Harbison is the Founder and Owner of M E H & Associates, LLC. In this capacity, he performs unit walk-downs and assessments, modifies combustion systems, reduces emissions through advanced computational modeling, assesses and tunes boilers / boiler operations. Mr. Harbison covers the full US for the power generation sector. Mr. Harbison specialized in process optimization for over twenty-five years.

Vice President Operations & Asset Management

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative

Brian Heinbaugh is the Vice President of Operations and Asset Management at ODEC, where he oversees the safe, reliable operation and maintenance of the cooperative’s generation portfolio or if you want to use most of it and leave out some of the personal info. I also attached a updated headshot. Since joining ODEC in 2015, Brian served as Plant General Manager of the Wildcat Point Generation Facility, where he played a key role in its construction, startup, and ongoing operations. With over 25 years of experience in the power generation industry, Brian has held various leadership roles across a wide range of technologies, including simple cycle, combined cycle, and coal-fired plants. He previously served as Director of Operations with GDF Suez and NAES and began his career as a nuclear plant electrician in the U.S. Navy Submarine Force. Brian holds both an M.B.A. and a Master of Science in Energy Resources Management & Policy from the University of Maryland Global Campus. A Maryland native, he is married with three children. Outside of work, he is an active volunteer in his community, coaching cross country and track & field, and supporting organizations such as the Scouts, Boys & Girls Club, and Habitat for Humanity.

Deputy Program Director

United States Energy Association (USEA)

Alex Krowka is the Deputy Program Director of USEA's Consensus Program. In this position, Alex helps manage this U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded Program to build global and domestic understanding, consensus, and cooperative action on Carbon Management Technologies. Additionally, Alex has worked with USEA’s Promoting International And Domestic Consensus On Oil And Natural Gas Program and USEA’s U.S. – East Africa Geothermal Partnership (EAGP). Alex has 11 years of experience in Energy and International Development having worked at Energetics and the International Tax and Investment Center. His past clients consisted of multiple programs and offices within DOE including: Appliance Standards, Emerging Technologies, Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), International Affairs, Residential Buildings Integration, and Zero Energy Ready Homes. Alex graduated magna cum laude from American University’s School of International Service with a B.A. in International Studies.

Training Supervisor

Omaha Public Power District (OPPD)

Mr. Kutz has over 17 years of operations and training experience obtained from working at an Ethanol plant, Oil Refinery, Gasification plant and Power Plant. Nik was hired at the Omaha Public Power District as a Plant Helper and worked his way up to a Unit Operator. Nik jumped at the opportunity to work in the Production Operations Training Department as a Training Coordinator for the Nebraska City Station and has since moved to the Production Operations Department Training Supervisor position. Some of his many responsibilities are providing Fire Brigade training to Operations Personnel as well as creating and delivering computer based training via OPPD’s Learners Management System. He currently resides in Nebraska with his wife and two children.

Director, Asset Management

Exelon Generation LLC

David Lillefloren Director, Asset Management, Exelon Generation USNA Athletic & Schlarship Programs Trustee(Executive Committee) As Director, Asset Management, David sits on the Board of Directors or acts as owner’s rep to Partnership Plants, responsible for Retired Assets, and leads Merger, Acquisition, and Divesture activities which include due diligence, and integration of new projects into the company’s overall generation fleet. Since 2013, David has managed up to 1500MW of generation assets and over $75M has been realized in revenue and savings through redevelopment/divestures of retired sites across the fleet. In 2014 to 2019, As Preferred Director, David provided Strategy and Oversite for Conergy ,a company in the solar energy industry providing project development, financing, EPC and O&M services with more than 750MW installed globally (14 Countries). In 2014-2015, David Executed Exelon’s portfolio strategy in support of PEPCO acquisition through the divestiture of generating assets, raising nearly $1.4B of after-tax sales proceeds upon closings. David also supported the project refinancing of all Exelon Generation assets in Texas for 675M. In 2011-2012, David was instrumental in the successful $7.8 B merger of Exelon and Constellation Energy. David was responsible for the development of the organization, plant processes, and Informational Technology strategy for Power Generation. In 2010 David led the Constellation Energy’s (CE’s) $365M acquisition and integration of two new gas-fired power plants (1100MW) located in Texas and the $1.1B Boston Generating Fleet (2950MW) located in Boston, MA. As integration Lead, his role included preparing Constellation facilities and employees for start-up/transition and commercial operations. David joined Constellation Energy in 2005 as a Master Black Belt (MBB) with CE’s Business Performance Improvement (BPI) Group. Instrumental in rolling out CE’s Continuous Improvement (CI) methodology to over 1000 employees as well as supporting CPG in numerous CI projects. As Corporate Director, Projects for BPI, he was responsible for 13 MBB/BB’s that led and supported CE initiatives in HR, IT, supply chain, finance, risk, security, operations, and strategic planning. Prior to joining CE, David worked for GE Consumer and Industrial-Lighting for 6 years filling roles in operations to include Quality Manager, Six Sigma Black Belt and Operations Manager. David retired in 2011 as a Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve with 20 years of service. David is a Master Black Belt with a MPA from Troy University and a BS in Mathematics from the United States Naval Academy. He is very active in the community as a Rotarian, supporting Cystic Fibrosis, and a trustee for the US Naval Academy Athletic and Scholarship Programs Foundation board. He resides in Annapolis, MD with his wife and three children.

Director

EPCE - Energy Providers Coalition for Education

Angie Lucas is the Member Engagement Manager for the Energy Providers Coalition for Education (EPCE), a non-profit national membership of energy employers, energy-related associations, labor and education providers partnering together to educate and train the energy workforce. She facilitates the partnership and manages the development and implementation of EPCE’s online education and training strategies. EPCE is a signature initiative of the Council for Adult Experiential Learning (CAEL), whose mission is to link learning and work to help working adult learners succeed. In her prior role, she gained experience in facilitating meaningful consultation between tribal leaders, federal offices and industry partners to address concerns and collect advice around the issues impacting energy and infrastructure development across Indian Country. Angie earned a bachelor’s degree and MS in Leadership Development at Saint Mary of the Woods College.

Principal Engineer

Ameren

Michael Schimmelpfennig is a Principal Engineer for Ameren Missouri in St. Louis, Missouri. He has more than 35 years experience in the design of coal fired power plant systems with emphasis in coal handling and coal dust control. In 1995, the St. Louis Chapter of the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers named him Outstanding Engineer in Industry. Michael received his BS and MS degrees in Mining Engineering from the University of Missouri - Rolla in 1980 and 1982 respectively. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Missouri and a certified Project Management Professional. He has completed numerous detailed studies associated with coal handling systems and coal dust hazards related to the utility industry, and has authored and co-authored several articles on power plant coal handling systems.

Director, Plant Operations Spurlock

East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. [EKPC]

Joe VonDerHaar has over 35 years of experience in the utility and manufacturing industries. On the utility side he has held positions in System Operations, Transmission & Distribution and Power Generation. On the manufacturing front he was a Plant Manager for a Power Transmission OEM. A common thread in both industries is the tremendous change in process and mission because of competition, new technology and evolving regulations. Being able to adapt and even welcome change is critical to success. Joe is currently the Plant Director at the Spurlock Power Station, a 4-unit, coal fired, 1500MW facility in Maysville Kentucky. He holds an engineering degree from the University of Dayton.

Senior Advisor Bus. Process Improvement

Southern California Edison, An Edison International Co.

Vice President, Sales & Marketing

Wolf Point Engineers & Contractors