Professor

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Currently professor of Mechanical Engineering at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; ASME Fellow; Awards: recipient of AIAA Energy Systems Award (2013); recipient of two best paper awards from Electric Power and ASME Power Division at 2006 conference at Atlanta one best paper award recipient from ASME Design Engineering Conference at 2000 DETC at Washington D.C. Research in energy systems, gas turbine, wind energy, and power engineering.

Energy Industry Executive

Independent Consultant

President & CEO

Middough Inc.

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.

Sr. Sales Manager

Doosan Power Services America

Rob holds a BS in Environmental Engineering from Penn State, and brings more than 20 years of experience in field and design engineering of new power generation facility installations, retrofits, business development, and EPC project negotiations. Throughout his career, he has been routinely involved in projects with capital budgets over $100M. His extensive background includes senior and international positions at Alstom Power, Babcock & Wilcox, and Doosan Babcock Energy America, LLC. Rob served as VP of the Water Environmental Assoc. of Pennsylvania and has been recognized in Metropolitan’s Who’s Who for demonstrating outstanding leadership and achievement

Managing Partner

Fire Risk Alliance LLC

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.

Senior VP of Engagement

CAEL - Council for Adult and Experiential Learning

Christine Carpenter serves as the director of 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. In this role, Christine oversees the coalition and 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. Christine also serves as CAEL's Vice President for Member Engagement and holds an MS in Organizational Leadership, Strategic Innovation and Change Management from Colorado State University and a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University.

Senior Vice President-Operations

Charah Solutions, Inc.

David Clem serves as Senior Vice President for Charah Solutions. David Clem joined Charah Solutions is 2018 with a proven history in creating and leading successful teams in a range of companies and industries including a Fortune 500 public utility firm as well as an ENR top 100 private contractor firm, building deep experience in heavy industrial projects and project services. David has a bachelor’s of science degree in Civil Engineering from Tennessee Tech University, an MBA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and has Executive Education and Leadership Program from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Texas and Southern Methodist University.

Training Director, Training Strategies and Workforce Development

EXELON NUCLEAR GENERATION

VP Business Development & Marketing

Fuel Tech, Inc.

Digitalization & PMO

Siemens

Sr. Manager, Continuous Improvement

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Heather has 20 years of experience in the electrical utility. She is a product of TVA's training program, beginning her career in instrumentation maintenance in one of the company's oldest coal fired plants. She has extensive experience in technical training development and currently serves as the leader for TVA's enterprise Continuous Improvement program. Under TVA's Performance Improvement umbrella, she also leads the non-nuclear Corrective Action Program, Human Performance Program, and the Operating Experience Program.

President

IEM Energy Consultants

Jeff Fassett, President & Co-Owner, IEM Energy Consultants, LLC Mr. Fassett is Co-owner and founder of IEM Energy Consultants LLC has more than 36 years of broad based experience in the power and related industries. He founded IEM in 1998 as a boutique consulting practice which provides 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, and plant staffing analysis. In addition, he has also been involved in the negotiations of long-term service agreements representing over 30 GW of gas and steam turbine generating capacity worldwide and has testified as an expert witness regarding proper operations and maintenance practices and procedures. Under his guidance, IEM has experienced significant growth, and now employs almost 15 consultants. 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 and coal gasification. 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, and International Gas Turbine Institute, Education Subcommittee. 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. Program Manager, Generation Services

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Sr. Director, Business Development

Riggs Distler & Company, Inc.

Over 35 years’ experience in all aspects of engineering, design, management, marketing, sales and, business development in the Power, Refinery, Materials Handling and Heavy Construction Industries. Currently Director of Business Development for Riggs Distler & Company. Riggs Distler is a recognized leader in the Mechanical, Civil, Electrical, T&D and Utility Construction industry. Prior to Riggs, other Companies associated with were Matrix and AECOM legacy companies including URS, Washington Group, Raytheon and Ebasco Services.

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.

President

Hazard Control Technologies, INC.

22 years in the fire protection

Professor. Director

University of Maryland

Ashwani Gupta is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park and also Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He received his Ph.D. and D.Sc. from Sheffield University, UK. He has co-authored three books and over 450 technical papers and edited 10 books. He is a Fellow of AIAA, ASME, SAE, and the Institute of Energy (UK). He is the recipient of AIAA Energy Systems award, and Propellants and Combustion award, the ASME George Westinghouse Gold medal award, James Harry Potter award and James Landis award, Worcester Reed Warner award, and University of Maryland President Kirwan research award and College of Engineering research award. He has also received several best paper awards from AIAA and ASME. He is an associate editor for AIAA J. Propulsion and Power, J. Applied Energy, and co-editor of the Environmental and Energy Engineering series of books published by CRC press.

Manager, Power Resources

TBA

O&M Manager – Engineering Coronado Generating Station

Salt River Project

Energy Economist

Argonne National Laboratory

Previously taught at Ohio State University and Southern Methodist University. Currently, working with DOE Fossil Energy on modeling and improving the operation and economics of baseload coal and nuclear units.

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.

Plant Manager Montrose & Sibley Stations

Evergy, Inc

Sr. Engineer

PacifiCorp

In his role as a Performance Engineer in the Generation Support group, Jeff has responsibly to oversee and support PacifiCorp’s Net Unit Heat Rate Improvement Program, update fleet heat rate coefficients, provide technical expertise and consulting services related to overall boiler/plant performance, develop and maintain Rankine Cycle, Combined Cycle and Simple Cycle performance models, provide project support to the fleet for performance related projects, and develop engineering studies and calculations in response to company directives. Prior to joining PacifiCorp, Jeff had been the Mechanical Integration Division Manager at Carotek, a Principal Engineer, Boiler Performance for Diamond Power International, Lead Mechanical Engineer for Applied Synergistics, and a Principal Engineer for Framatome Technologies. Jeff is a graduate of the University of Tulsa with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Jeff is a registered Professional Engineer in Virginia, and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Jeff currently serves on the Electric Power Conference Advisory Board and previously served on the PRB Coal Users’ Group Board of Directors. Jeff has presented at numerous industry conferences, typically as a furnace water cleaning and intelligent sootblowing subject matter expert.

Chief Technology Officer

Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc.

Dr. Carlos E. Koeneke has worked in Rotating Equipment related field for more than 35 years. He joined Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1993 and worked for the Construction Department in Takasago Machinery Works in Japan. In 2001, he was transferred to Florida where he worked for the Service and Engineering Departments. Prior to his current position, he worked 7 years for Venezuela’s petroleum holding company, in the Rotating Equipment Department. Dr. Koeneke has a Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Tokyo, and is an ASME Fellow.

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.

Lead-Environmental Programs

Omaha Public Power District (OPPD)

Bryan has been with the Omaha Public Power District for 12 years. He currently leads the Environmental Services department, which ensures environmental compliance at five fossil fuel fired facilities. Previous projects have included leading implementation efforts for the MATS rule and the Cross State Air Pollution rule. He is currently working on ensuring compliance with the 316(b) rule along with the Coal Combustion Residuals rule. Bryan received a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2005 and an M.B.A. from Bellevue University in 2012.

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.

Director of Training and Safety

Kansas Municipal Utilities

Brian Meek is the Director of Training and Safety at Kansas Municipal Utilities. Mr. Meek has over 20 years of experience in electrical generation, municipal utilities, and water management. Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering Technology, an M.B.A., and is a veteran of the United States Navy. In addition, he is currently a doctoral candidate in Leadership at Walden University.

Energy Storage Consultant

EPRI Electric Power Research Institute

I am an energy consultant in power generation, recently managing a multibillion-dollar power plant development and construction portfolio for Portland General Electric, a vertically integrated utility based in Oregon. I currently consult with EPRI on storage and PV interconnections. My expertise lies in leading and developing complex projects involving renewable (solar, wind, storage, hydrogen) and traditional energy. I recently completed, in record time, construction of a highly efficient combined cycle plant valued at $500M. EXPERTISE • leadership, • negotiating large contracts, • developing executive relationships with domestic and international vendors and • managing the construction of power plants from start to finish. PROJECTS • General Manager for PGE managing a global team responsible for engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning of large-scale power projects valued at $1.4 billion. • Director for Generation Projects at PGE, a dozen valued at $100 million. • Manager, Port Westward Project managing the development, engineering and construction of the 400 MW combined cycle plant near Clatskanie, Oregon. • Manager, Mechanical Engineering for PGE/Enron, managing a group responsible for developing, engineering, procurement and construction of large complex projects and developing advanced project management techniques including project controls. • Enron consultant for Enron India and Enron South America operations instrumental in starting two new companies: Enron Hydro Mod and PGO Coal Mod. My hands-on career started at Bechtel working as a Stress Analyst and as a Field Engineer for the Fast Flux Test Facility in Richland. I hold a Master of Science, Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle and have completed 20 units of MBA classes at Portland State University. In addition, I was selected to participate in the PGE Management Development Acceleration Program in 2010.

Safety & Health Consultant

Lightstone Generation, LLC. - Gavin Power , LLC

Jeffrey W. Mullins, CSP -- Safety & Health Supervisor American Electric Power, James M. Gavin Plant. Jeff has worked in the power industry for 20+ years in the safety & health field. He has been at the Gavin Plant for the past 12 years. He is responsible for plant safety activities for 250+ employees & 200+ contractors daily.

Director of Environmental Technologies, Licensing and Permitting

Sargent & Lundy

Wayshalee (way-shaw-lee) A. Patel works for Sargent & Lundy, a comprehensive consulting, engineering and design firm providing solutions for electric power generation. She holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Illinois-Chicago and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Illinois. Ms. Patel is an environmental technology specialist and has 10 years of experience in process design of various air quality control equipment in the power generation industry including flue gas desulphurization, selective catalytic reduction, fabric filters and activated carbon injection.

Director of Marketing NA

Siemens Gamesa

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.

Manager-Development Engineering

Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc.

Justin Schnegelberger manages the Development Department within Burns & McDonnell’s Energy Division. Mr. Schnegelberger’ s team specializes in project development beginning in the early stages of resource planning through equipment and construction contract negotiations. In this role, Justin leads a team of engineers focusing on technology evaluation and assessment, feasibility evaluation, project scoping, conceptual design, performance and technical optimization and evaluation, and economic evaluation, This includes a strong understanding of current market trends and drivers, and in particular those impacting the gas fired generation industry.

Managing Director

EnerconAmerica

Dr. Walter I. Serbetci, a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, is a power sector veteran covering both conventional and renewable energy projects. Following a 4 year tenure at NASA’s Rocket Development Program in Cleveland, he worked at the Gas Technology Institute, Sargent & Lundy and WorleyParsons, all in Chicago, designing fossil and renewable energy plants and maintaining nuclear power plants .Currently he is the Managing Director at EnerconAmerica, Chicago, which is a boutique firm in energy/power space and a repeat Contractor to the U.S. Government and the World Bank.

Vice President

IEM Energy Consultants

Rob Shepard holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineer from Mississippi State University and is licensed as a professional engineer in Kansas and Mississippi. He is a certified project manager through PMI and has more than 30 years of experience in the power industry. He founded The Energy Group, PLLC in 2006 and recently merged his company with IEM Energy Consultants, Inc. and formed IEM Energy Consultants, LLC. This new company, has greatly expanded and provides consulting services in all aspects of power plant management, operations, and maintenance to clients worldwide, with current clients ranging from the Middle East to Africa to South America, the Caribbean and Australia, which complements all of their domestic US clients. He and his wife Sue Ellen have three children, two of which are married, and a grandchild on the way.

Vice President of Safety and Resource Management

Southern Company Gas

Nick Slappy was named the Plant Manager for Plant Wansley and Plant Yates in 2017. In this role, he is responsible for leading strategic initiatives and oversight for over 2600 MW and 250 employees combined for both facilities and additional 100 contractors. He has site management of the Wansley facility that has over 4,300 MW that includes co-owner gas plants. Nick started his career with Southern Company in 1999 as a Distribution Engineer for Alabama Power. In 2002, he transitioned to Southern Company Services as an Electrical Design Engineer in the E&CS organization. He transferred to Georgia Power in 2006 holding various engineering and team leader positions before becoming the Compliance and Support Manager for Plant Bowen. While in this role, Nick was a founding member of the Georgia Power Water Research Center. Nick eventually transferred to the Engineering, Maintenance, and Planning Manager position for Plant Hammond. In 2013 he transitioned into a Regional Planning Manager role where he was responsible for contractor oversight, regional contracts, and outage planning and execution for over 7000 MW at 8 different facilities for all Alabama Power, Gulf Power and Mississippi Power Coastal plants. Nick transitioned to the O&M Manager for Plant Scherer in June 2015. In this role, he was responsible for the plant’s operations, maintenance, fuels, and engineering departments. In his career, Nick has been active in the community by serving on the Cartersville/Bartow County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Calhoun County Big Brother Big Sister Board of Directors, CGIA Board of Directors, and founded Georgia Highland’s B2B Minority Advisory Board. He has also served in several company mentoring programs and as a community sports coach. Originally from Anderson, SC, Nick holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee.

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.

Executive Director

Life Cycle Engineering Inc.

Rick Wheeler is the Executive Director of Asset Management with Life Cycle Engineering (LCE). He has a broad range of experience in the pharmaceutical, chemical, and nuclear industries. Rick is responsible for deploying new products and services to support asset management systems based on the ISO 55000 body of knowledge. Rick is a member of USTAG 251, which is responsible for the update and improvement of the ISO 55000 standards and of the GFMAM P-20 work team updating the Maintenance Framework document. Rick partners with the business development team to diagnose client opportunities and develop the optimal solution. He also provides guidance and support for the asset management reliability engineering community of practice. Prior to joining LCE, Rick managed engineering, maintenance, and automation for Elanco, a division of Eli Lilly and Company. He also held a variety of roles with Pfizer where he served as Reliability Engineer, Maintenance Manager, and later the Director of Engineering and Maintenance. Rick is a Six Sigma Green Belt and graduate of Kennedy Western University. He is also a Certified Reliability Leader (CRL) and is certified in Prosci’s Change Management methodology.

Senior Advisor Bus. Process Improvement

Southern California Edison, An Edison International Co.

Vice President, Sales & Marketing

Wolf Point Engineers & Contractors

Production Superintendent

Lubbock Power & Light

United States Energy Association (USEA)

Passed Away in 2020

Regulatory Program Manager

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc.

Professional engineer with over 37 years of experience in electric power and energy facility and utility engineering, project management, project and business development, operation, asset management, construction, strategy, regulatory management, consulting, and leadership. Experience includes investor owned electric utility, wholesale electric generation and transmission cooperative, power generation engineering firm, and full service engineering and environmental services firm.