Annual Meeting (Sep 23-25)

Ronald O. (R.O.) Nichols is president of Southern California Edison (SCE). He is responsible for external affairs, compliance, power production and procurement, and other operations. He is a member of SCE’s board of directors.

Nichols has more than 35 years of experience in the electric and water utility industry. He has been a strategic and operational advisor to utilities, state and local government, power suppliers and the financial community on complex energy and utility matters throughout the United States, particularly in the West.

Previously, Nichols was senior vice president of Regulatory Affairs and Nuclear for SCE, overseeing regulatory policy and affairs, regulatory operations and environmental affairs.

Prior to joining SCE in 2014, Nichols served for three years as General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), where he provided leadership for the utility in supplying reliable and competitively priced water and electricity while continuing to maintain and implement environmentally conscious policies and priorities.

Previously, Nichols was a managing director at the energy practice of Navigant Consulting, an international consulting organization with over 2,000 employees. From 1980 to 1997, before his position at Navigant, he was a co-founder and Senior Vice President of the energy and water utility consulting firm, Resource Management International, which was headquartered in Sacramento with offices throughout North America and in Europe and Asia. Prior to starting his energy and water utility consulting career in 1980, he held positions with the California Department of Water Resources and the California Energy Commission.

Nichols is a graduate of the University of California, Davis with a degree in agricultural economics and business management.

Mr. Vermillion has been president of Avista since January 2018 and CEO since October 1, 2019. Prior to that, he served as senior vice president of Avista and president of Avista Utilities from 2009 to 2018. He also serves as chairman of the board for Avista subsidiary Alaska Electric Light and Power Company. Mr. Vermillion joined Avista in 1985 and has held various staff and management positions. His experience covers a broad range of activities, including leadership, energy trading and marketing, risk management, scheduling, resource operations, power/transmission contracting, resource planning and coordination, regulatory issues and production cost modeling. Mr. Vermillion has served as Vice President of Energy Resources for Avista Utilities and prior to that, as President and COO for Avista Energy from February 2001 until its sale in June 2007. He currently serves as a board member for the American Gas Association (AGA) and the Avista Foundation. Mr. Vermillion formerly served on the Boards of Western Energy Institute (WEI) and Spokane County United Way and is a past chairman of the Spokane County campaign. He is a graduate of Washington State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering.

CEO, The Messina Group, Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff and President Barack Obama’s 2012 Campaign Manager

Jim Messina is arguably one of the world’s most successful political advisors. The mastermind behind President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, Jim Messina seized the reins on what Bloomberg Businessweek dubbed “the highest-wattage crash course in executive management ever undertaken”—and succeeded, earning the President another term in the White House. With the guidance of technology’s foremost leaders, Jim abandoned every step of a traditional presidential campaign and merged technology and politics in a way that was both unpredictable and unprecedented.

Jim’s strategies established the modern presidential campaign—Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt called it “the best-run campaign ever.” The American Association of Political Consultants later crowned him the Campaign Strategist of the Year (2013).

Since then he has gone on to advise Presidents and Prime Ministers on five continents including: UK’s Theresa May and David Cameron, Mexico’s Enrique Peña Nieto, Argentina’s Mauricio Macri, Italy’s Matteo Renzi and in 2016 helped Spain’s President Mariano Rajoy win a surprising re-election margin.

In 2013, Messina launched The Messina Group. In this role, Messina provides strategic consulting to businesses around the world. The firm has been involved in winning public policy campaigns on five continents. Clients include Uber, Airbnb, Google, Delta Air Lines, Hutchison Whampoa, and over 70 others.

Previously, Jim served as Deputy Chief of Staff in President Barack Obama’s White House, where he was integral to the passage of the historic health care bill, the economic stimulus act credited with saving the US economy, and the landmark repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”

Messina continues to advise and guide Democratic candidates and organizations at all levels, as well as providing insight on news outlets such as MSNBC, CNN, Bloomberg, BBC and others.

Jim serves on the boards of Organizing for Action (OFA), Virgin HyperloopOne, Google’s Advanced Technology Panel, Vectra.ai, Pillpack, Patient Safety Movement Foundation, LanzaTech, Hyp3r, the United States Soccer Foundation, and the Montana Land Reliance.

Brian D’Agostino is the Director of Fire Science & Climate Adaptation for SDG&E. As director, D’Agostino is responsible for meteorology, fire science, the Community Fire Safety Program and climate adaptation initiatives. D’Agostino joined SDG&E in 2009 and oversaw the development of SDG&E’s weather network, one of the nation’s largest and most sophisticated weather networks. D’Agostino serves as an advisor and former chair of the American Meteorological Society’s National Energy Committee and sits on several advisory committees specializing in climate adaptation and fire science. D’Agostino is a graduate of Plymouth State University with a bachelor of science in meteorology.

I joined the ENMAX Legal Services team in 2013. In June, 2018, I moved into my current role as a Director, Legal Services where I continues to act as a legal counsel to internal clients, but also manage a cross functional team of lawyers that provide expertise across the company.

I have gained over 10 years of experience in the legal field and worked at a mid-size private law firm prior to joining ENMAX. My areas of experience and practice include various matters of corporate and commercial law. I aim to provide practical, strategic and timely advice on a variety of general matters for the business including information technology issues, risk management, negotiations, and process improvements.

Outside of work I spend most of my time with my husband and two children. We love to ski, swim, hike, bike and do all things active and outdoors.

Scott has been the Damage Prevention Supervisor for NW Natural since February of 2013. He oversees a team of Damage Prevention Specialists, who perform damage investigations and gas safety and dig law training for excavators and homeowners. Scott is currently the President of the Oregon Utility Coordinating Council and the Vice Chair for the Washington State Dig Law Safety Committee. He is the President of Metro Utility Coordinating Council in Portland, the Klickitat/Skamania Utility Coordinating Council and has served on the Oregon Utility Notification Center Board of Directors representing Natural Gas Distribution. Scott also sits on the advisory board for Clackamas Community College’s Utility Workforce Readiness program. Scott has over 19 years of experience in the natural gas industry to include Construction, Engineering and Quality Assurance.

Brandon Besch has been with SCE since 2004 when he joined the company as an Electrical Engineer working on substation automation projects. Shortly after joining SCE he participated in an engineering job rotation program that gave him experience in areas such as Transmission and Interconnection Planning, Protection Engineering and ultimately Distribution Field Engineering.

In 2008, Brandon joined the Substation Construction and Maintenance organization as a Construction Project Manager working on a wide variety of capital projects that ranged from new substations, to infrastructure upgrades, to large scale substation expansions and rebuilds.

Starting in 2012 Brandon moved into leadership roles in Substation Construction, initially spending several years managing the Substation Construction Project Management group where his organization was responsible for managing hundreds of SCE’s annual substation construction and infrastructure upgrade projects. In 2016 Brandon transitioned to a new role leading Substation Construction Field Forces, where he was responsible for an organization of 175 craft personnel that perform a wide variety of construction activities on capital projects.

In January 2019 Brandon moved into the role of Principal Manager of Substation Construction where he was responsible for the Construction Management, Field Forces, Material Operations, Start-Up Engineering and Quality Control.

Most recently, Brandon was assigned to a new role in Substation Construction & Maintenance as the Principal Manager of Work Management and Technical Services, where he is responsible for the construction management, strategic planning and performance management for the organization as well as the compliance and maintenance programs and technical support of field operations.

Outside of work Brandon enjoys traveling with his wife, and taking advantage of California’s many outdoor activities like camping, hiking, backpacking, skiing, and surfing.

Jared Ellsworth joined Idaho Power in 2004 as a Distribution Planning Engineer. Jared spent time working in several different Areas at Idaho Power as a Dist. Planning Engineering before transitioning to System Planning in 2007. After a one-year temporary assignment in Grid Operations, Jared moved into his current role as a the Engineering Leader of Idaho Power’s Transmission Policy & Development group. Jared oversees Idaho Power’s Local and Regional Transmission Planning, transmission related capital projects, WECC path rating studies, and mid to long-term transmission strategy.

Jared received his BS in Electrical Engineering, and Masters of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from the University of Idaho in 2004 and 2010 and professional engineering license in 2008. Jared, and his wife, are the proud parents of two wonderful daughters (5 and 2).

Chris Noble joined Mountain Fuel in December 1988. Mountain Fuel later changed it’s name to Questar and in 2016, Questar joined Dominion Energy. Chris moved into his current role as Operations System Support Manager/Western Gas Distribution in 2017 where he oversees the High Pressure, Measurement & Control, Meter Shop, Cathodic Protection and Leak Survey.
While starting his energy career as a meter reader in Sandy City, Utah, Chris attended college studying accounting and the electrical trade. Chris also has experience as a Collector, Service Technician, Ask-A-Tech, System Integrity Technician and Cathodic Protection Technician. Chris has also had various foreman and supervisor roles.
Chris has experience remodeling and framing houses, building log homes and had the opportunity to live and work as a missionary in London, England 1986-1988. Chris also enjoys golfing and fishing and is married and has one son and two daughters.

Claire Lloyd joined Seattle City Light in 2014 as executive engineering manager of substations. Her responsibilities include substations, protection, automation, security and City Light communications systems. She is the manager responsible for the new Denny Substation, Seattle City Light’s largest substation and the first built in over 30 years. Prior to joining Seattle, Claire worked at Tacoma Power in engineering and management positions responsible for generation, hatcheries, compliance, energy management and smart technology. Claire has a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Washington. She enjoys scuba diving, skiing, hiking and running with her husband, daughter and son. Claire supports science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) development as a mentor in programs for middle and high school robotics teams.

Daniel Honeyfield joined Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) in August 2015 as a Principal Electrical Engineer. In January 2017, he was promoted into his current role as the Engineering Manager of Transmission & Distribution Maintenance Planning where he oversees the development of yearly Operation & Maintenance (O&M) and Capital plans for all SMUD-owned substations and transmission & distribution lines that ensure SMUD’s compliance with Federal & State regulations.

With over 14 years in the utility industry, Daniel’s experience combines both private business and non-profit organizations. Prior to joining SMUD, Daniel worked for the City of Riverside Public Utilities from 2007 – 2015 with increasing responsibilities. His last role there was utilities senior electric engineer where he supervised professional and technical personnel in their Electric System Planning Department. His previous employment also includes engineering roles at Jacobs Engineering from 2006 – 2007 and Verizon from 2004 – 2006. Daniel received his bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and his MBA, with emphasis in Technology Management, from the University of Phoenix. He also holds a PE license with the state of California. He is married and has two children, Leah and Nolan.

I graduated from Northern Arizona University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. After graduation I began my Engineering career working at North Star Steel Az. While at North Star Steel I worked as a Process Engineer, Reliability Engineer and Manager of the Rod Block Process. I worked at North Star Steel for 5 ½ years. I then switched to the Utility Industry and began working for Arizona Public Service (APS). I currently have worked for APS for 15 years. During my career for APS I have worked at two coal fired power plants (Cholla Power Plant and Four Corners Power Plant). I have had the opportunity to work as an Engineer, Engineering Manager and I have been a Production Manager at both Plants.

I joined Dominion Energy (then Questar Gas) in 2011 as a Customer Care representative. I was most recently in the CIS Maintenance department where I helped to maintain and to improve the customer information/billing system, working closely with programmers, system business owners and those in technical support. In late 2017, I was given the opportunity to move to my current position, as a supervisor in the Customer Service Center. I supervise a few Customer Care representatives, but my main responsibilities are over the training and Quality Assurance department. We provide support and training for policies, procedures and systems for all incoming Customer Care representatives in order to provide the best and most efficient customer service for our customers. I received a dual BA in Journalism (with an emphasis on Public Relations) and Speech Communications from the University of Nevada, Reno and received my MBA in 2014. I am married to my best friend, Dillon, and together, we have two little boys, ages 2 and 5.

I have been employed with Asplundh Construction Corp since early 2014. I started as a Planner and designed for about eighteen months under our California clients. In late 2015, I joined Asplundh’s Special Projects division which gave me the opportunity to not only plan/design, but to also travel and expand Asplundh’s Planning territory with new utility partners. In October of 2016, I was given the opportunity to manage the front-line operation of Asplundh’s Special Projects Northwest Division, which is my current role. Prior to my employment with Asplundh, I worked (interned) for Southern California Edison Company in Logistics/Scheduling and Planning departments during my Junior/Senior years in High School. Upon graduation and two years in internship, I transitioned to a full-time Program/Project Analyst position in Planning, where I spent the following two years. I departed from the Company after nearly four years. I’ve been in the industry for about eight years.

Paul Good started with Avista Utilities in 2005 as a Customer Project Coordinator in charge of designing the electric and natural gas infrastructures for commercial and residential developments in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. In 2008 he started designing re-conductor projects for the company until accepting his current role in 2010 as the Natural Gas Operations Manager in Coeur d’ Alene where he supervises the daily operations all crews and first responders in the district. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Management from Whitworth University and is married with two children.

I have been in the NERC compliance area for 7 years and have been the Manager of the NERC team for the past 4 years. Our team is charged with documenting compliance to the NERC Standards and preparing NorthWestern Energy for audits. Most recently, I was named the Manager of FERC Compliance. This is a very different area of compliance and I am excited for the opportunity to grow. I am a CPA and have an MBA and have worked in the corporate accounting world for 23 years prior.
I have been married to John, my high school sweetheart, for 30 years and have 2 children, Britt, 18 and Zach 15. I am an avid sports fan and I love to golf.

Suneel Singh joined the Southern California Gas Company in 1998. She started as a Region Associate Engineer in Gas Distribution. As a Region Associate Engineer she performed analysis on the Gas Distribution System, prepared engineering designs involving measurement and regulation, responded to emergency incidents within Technical Services. After two years, Suneel transferred to Measurement, Regulation, and Control and expanded her skills by conducting analysis to design regulator stations and meter-set-assemblies. Suneel has held positions in various departments over the years and is currently the Planning and Engineering Manager in Distribution Gas Operations. In this role, she manages the Northwest Region Capital Budget, provides leadership for the establishment of standards and specifications for pipeline systems, and components as well as policies and procedures for Company-wide compliance with State and Federal pipeline safety requirements. Furthermore, she provides engineering analysis and emergency response support for the pipeline system in Northwest Region. Suneel received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Faranak Sarbaz started her career with City of Los Angels in 1992, as an Electrical Enginner. She joined Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Water System, Projects Group in 2001. she transferred to Power System working in distribution in 2006, and was promoted as a Group Lead in Engineering Division, Major Projects. Faranak moved to Ttransmission Planning in 2008 to supervise LADWP System Planning. In April of 2018, she was promoted a Power Engineer Manager of Transmission Planning and Contracts, responsible for Long Term Transmission Assessment of High Voltage AC and DC system, and Contracts, compliance with State, City, and regulatory mandates related to Bulk Electric System, and coordinate the external Transmission Planning work for LADWP system with other utilities.
Faranak holds a Bachelor Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from CSULB, and a Master of Business Administration from USC.

I have been employed at Hydro One since 2006. I started in the field as Protection and Control Engineer where I was accountable to maintain and commission protection, control and telecom equipment. Over the years I transitioned into multiple roles and capacities including Project Manager, Change Consultant/Facilitator, Engineering Production Support Manager, Manager of Transmission Investment Capital Planning and most currently the Director of Project Delivery. Within my current role I manage a team of approximately 100 people accountable for Project Management and Outage Planning for the execution and delivery of the Transmission Stations, Transmission Lines and Distribution Stations capital portfolio within Hydro One.

Previous to joining Hydro One, I spent 5 years in the Automotive Sector designing, commissioning and launching automated robotic assembly lines for a variety of customers throughout North America.

I am a graduate from Lakehead University (Thunder Bay, ON) with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and hold a licence to practice as a Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario. I also hold a designation as a Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certificate in Organization Development.

Joe Varela joined Southwest Gas Corporation (SWG) as a college intern in 1990. After graduating from The University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering, Joe began his full-time career at SWG in Operations. In 1998, Joe became an Industrial Gas Engineer in Key Account Management. There he supported the continued use of natural gas and promoted new uses with SWG’s commercial/industrial customers. Joe has negotiated service agreements, and bypass rate agreements. In his current role as Energy Solutions manager, Joe focuses on economic development for SWG through the promotion of emerging natural gas technologies such as compressed natural gas, renewable natural gas and combined heat and power. Joe also oversees SWG’s new Utility Energy Service Contract (UESC) program that is moving the company into new areas of service that could result in significant increased margin for the company. Joe was part of a team that pursued and received approval from the Arizona Corporation Commission for a compression tariff and a renewable natural gas tariff.
Joe holds an MBA from the University of Arizona. His industry experiences combine operations, sales, regulatory, public affairs and customer management.

My career in the power industry started in 2005 as an Apprentice Lineman working for various contractors. In 2006 I continued my apprenticeship with Turlock Irrigation District where I achieved Journeyman Lineman status. As a lineman I worked on 12Kv U.G. and O.H. distribution along with 69Kv, 115Kv, and 230Kv transmission. In Spring of 2014 I was offered the position of Line Division Manager where I scheduled crews, helped re-structure our apprenticeship program, and worked with engineering to help create practical solutions for improving the reliability of the District. During the summer of 2017 I moved to Washington State to work for Snohomish County PUD as a Line Superintendent. In this role I am responsible for leading Line Crews, Servicemen, Restoration, and our Heavy Equipment & Yard Operations.
In addition to my career in the Utility Industry, I have two young boys 1 and 2 years old and we enjoy such family activities as camping and sailing.

Tiffany Urland has worked for Cascade Natural Gas for 11 years and is currently the Manager, Compliance & Operations Programs in Mount Vernon, Washington. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a Minor concentration in Psychology. Tiffany is very involved in the community, including Leadership Skagit graduate (2013) and coach (2014). She is a member of the Mount Vernon Chamber, a Past President & Board President (2014-2015) of the Mount Vernon Noon Rotary and their respective Foundation. Tiffany was a founding member of the Community and Tesoro Advisory Group (CTAG), and has served on the Board of the United Way of Skagit County since 2013 and is currently the Resource Development Chair and member of the Executive Committee. This year she will present again at the Western Energy Institute annual conference and participate in their Business Acumen Course. She enjoys running and completed her first half -marathon in 2017.

Hello my name is Leonard Huynh and I am presently the Manager for Asset Capital Programs at Enmax in Calgary, AB. I am extremely new to my present role; started Jan 8. My group is responsible for determining asset health, developing replacement and maintenance programs and oversight of the programs during execution. I am Professional Electric Engineer and I have been with ENMAX my entire 16 year career. I have extensive experience the in design and construction of Substation and Light Right Transit Systems. Prior to my present role, I was the Manager of Engineering.

I see my participation in this program as an opportunity to see how other companies operate, meet some great people and learn a few things about leaderships. I am really look forward to this opportunity.

Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my loving wife and my sometimes adorable dog. I am sports nut. I play a lot of golf and tennis in the summer and enjoy a variety of other fitness activities year round.

Lorraine is an Electrical Engineer with a Masters in Business Administration. She has been with Hydro One, an electricity transmission and distribution company, for over 13 years and is currently a Superintendent of Stations Services. In her role, she is responsible for over 100 field staff that in-service and maintain over 40 transformer stations and 300 distribution stations. She worked within several other functions within the organization including Engineering, Hydro One’s SAP implementation, Field Supervision, Technical Services, and Project Delivery where she was the Manager of Major Projects responsible for executing a $250M capital work program. In her free time she enjoys reading, playing basketball, and swimming.

Ashley McDermott leads the enterprise Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Center of Excellence for Pacific Gas & Electric Company.  Launched in June of 2017, this effort is focused on delivering technology for automation of repetitive, standardized workflows with the intention of creating capacity, company-wide, to do more of the value add work we’ll need in the future. For the year and a half prior to this role, Ashley served as Chief of Staff to PG&E’s Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of IT & Supply Chain , Karen Austin. As an employee since 2009, Ashley has held various roles in lean process improvement/affordability, project delivery, and contract negotiations throughout her time with PG&E.
 
Ashley holds dual degrees from the University of San Diego (USD), with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and a B.A. in Psychology. Ashley also was captain of USD’s Division I Women’s Soccer team.  Ashley lives in San Francisco with her husband and is most passionate about family, dry erase boards, the San Francisco Giants, and fitness.

Jenna Rowell joined Arizona Public Service in 2012 to lead a newly formed employee communications team. She moved to Community Affairs in late 2014, overseeing a team of community affairs managers based around the APS service territory to manage relationships with public officials, community leaders and non-profit partners. In January 2018 she accepted a new role as manager, media relations responsible for the company’s reputation and issues management with media outlets as well as crisis communications. Her more than 20 years’ experience in all facets of corporate communications has spanned diverse industries including copper mining, oil and gas, retail electricity (Texas) and aerospace. She has an MBA from the University of Houston and a B.S. in public relations and a B.A. in Spanish from Northern Arizona University. She is accredited by the International Association of Business Communicators and Six Sigma Green Belt certified.

Paula Yang is currently the Manager of the (Power System) Asset Management Section with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. She has over 32 years of service with LADWP, joining LADWP in 1984 after working 2 years for Bechtel Power Corporation. Paula started her career in structural design and moved through LADWP working in a variety of different organizations. She has worked in the areas of environmental licensing, power contract development, groundwater management, legislative affairs management, and corporate asset management. Paula is a licensed Civil Engineer and earned her BS in Civil Engineering and BS in Materials Science & Engineering from UC Berkeley and an MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Southern California. She is married and has two sons.

Kumar Valsala is the Department Manager for the Transmission & Civil/Structural department of T&D Division in California. His responsibilities include managerial direction, business development and leadership of the Department, working directly with the T&D Operations Manager. Engineers spread across California report to him and he is responsible for their career development and overall growth.

With a strong 13+ year career path, Kumar’s experience includes the design and analysis of HV/EHV Overhead Transmission Line projects ranging from 60-kV up to 500-kV. He has contributed to the successful completion of transmission line projects from inception to construction including the design and analysis of new transmission lines and the reconductoring of existing transmission lines utilizing the modeling program PLS-CADD, structural analysis of steel lattice towers, steel and wood poles using the programs PLS-TOWER and PLS-POLE respectively.

Kumar graduated with a Masters in Civil Engineering in 2006 from the University of Kansas and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of California.

Vijay leads the Tech, Media, Telecom (TMT) industry Cyber capabilities, assisting clients with transforming their business and IT processes to manage risk and meet their business objectives. Vijay has assisted FORTUNE 100 companies during their breach response, forensic investigation and implementing remediation capabilities. He’s actively leading development of innovative digital security solutions, leveraging analytics platform, ML / AI models, and to balance security and user experience. Vijay is assisting clients solve foundational challenges (with automation and process re-engineering) like vulnerability mgmt, access and authorizations, risk quantification and analytics, and providing insights to Board / Sr. execs, to make risk based decisions. Vijay has an MBA in Telecommunications & International Finance and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, Certified Information Security Manager, and Certified Chief Information Security Officer.