Martin Rosenberg is Editor-in-Chief of EnergyBiz magazine. EnergyBiz is a bimonthly business magazine for leaders in the new power industry. EnergyBiz is a controlled circulation publication that reaches more than 20,000 of the most influential managers, executives, legislators, regulators, lawyers and consultants who play critical roles in utilities, government, advisory firms, and supplier companies.

The editorial focus of EnergyBiz is strategic issues -- financial, technological, legal and regulatory -- facing energy executives today. Feature articles will not only cover recent events, new trends and innovative ideas, but also the people behind them.

Anthony F. Earley Jr. is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of PG&E Corporation. Earley joined PG&E in September 2011 after 17 years at Detroit-based DTE Energy, where he served as chairman and chief executive officer for 12 years, before becoming executive chairman of the board in September 2010.

Under Earley's leadership, DTE successfully navigated the largest blackout in U.S. history in 2003 and played a critical role in the revitalization efforts of its headquarters city.

As former chairman of the Edison Electric Institute, the trade association of investor utilities, Earley was directly involved in the development of national policies on energy, the environment and climate change issues. Earley also served as chair of the Nuclear Energy Institute and worked to revitalize the nuclear industry in the United States.

Earley earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics, a Master of Science degree in engineering and a law degree at Notre Dame University, where he serves on the advisory council of the College of Engineering. After graduating from Notre Dame, Earley went on to serve as an officer in the United States Navy nuclear submarine program, where he was qualified as a chief engineer officer. He joined DTE Energy as president and chief operating officer in March 1994. Prior to joining DTE Energy, Earley served in various capacities of increasing responsibility at Long Island Lighting Co., including president and chief operating officer and executive vice president and general counsel.

Earley serves on the executive committee of the Edison Electric Institute and the board of the Nuclear Energy Institute. He is on the board at Ford Motor Company and MASCO Corporation. He is also chairman of the board of Henry Ford Health Systems and serves on the listed member advisory board for the New York Stock Exchange. His community service has been recognized by readers of The Detroit News, and in 2003 he was selected as one of several Michiganians of the Year.

LeRoy Nosbaum has more than 40 years of leadership and management experience with companies supplying the utility industry with metering and communications systems, including wireless network solutions. Nosbaum joined Itron in 1996, assuming executive responsibilities in product development, manufacturing, implementation, service and marketing. He was promoted to CEO in the spring of 2000, and elected chairman of the board in the spring of 2002. He retired from his CEO post in March 2009, and returned as President and CEO in August 2011.

Before coming to Itron, Nosbaum was with Metricom Inc., a supplier of wireless data communications networking technology. Prior to his tenure with Metricom, Nosbaum held management positions with Schlumberger Ltd., for 20 years. Nosbaum holds a BS degree in electrical engineering from Valparaiso University.

Nick Akins is president and chief executive officer of American Electric Power and a member of AEP’s board of directors. Akins began his nearly 30-year tenure with the company in 1982 as an electrical engineer at Central and South West Corp. (CSW), which merged with AEP in 2000. Prior to being elected president of AEP in December 2010, he served as executive vice president - Generation from 2006-2010, responsible for all of AEP’s approximately 38,000 MW of generation resources. Akins has also served as president and chief operating officer for Southwestern Electric Power Company, as vice president – Energy Marketing Services, and as vice president – Industry Restructuring for AEP. He is vice-chairman of the Board of the Electric Power Research Institute, and a member of the boards of the National Association of Manufacturers, the Mid-Ohio Food Bank, the Greater Columbus Arts Council and the Wexner Center for the Arts. He also serves on several AEP subsidiary boards. A Louisiana native and holder of bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Louisiana Tech University in 1982 and 1986, he resides in Dublin, Ohio.

THOMAS F. FARRELL, II, 56, has been a director of Dominion since 2005.  Mr. Farrell has been chairman, president and chief executive officer of Dominion since April 2007. Mr. Farrell served as president and chief executive officer of Dominion from January 2006 to April 2007, president and chief operating officer from January 2004 to January 2006, and prior to that, executive vice president. He is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Virginia Electric and Power Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dominion, and was chairman, president and chief executive officer of CNG, a former wholly-owned subsidiary of Dominion. Mr. Farrell is a director of Altria Group, Inc. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia.

Ken Silverstein is an award-winning journalist who is the editor-in-chief of EnergyBiz Insider, a publication started by Energy Central in July 2005 and which now runs each business day. Ken has been a writer and editor for more than two decades, much of that time covering the energy industry. The Insider has garnered critical praise and earned a worldwide following.

With a background in economics and public policy, his work has been published in more than 100 periodicals. He has also been sourced in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, National Public Radio, Atlantic Monthly, and several newspapers and magazines in the United States and abroad. He is an invited speaker at a range of energy industry conferences and he has appeared on C-SPAN. He holds B.A. and M.B.A. degrees from Tulane University, and an M.A. from American University.

Aram Sogomonian has been an active member of Senior Management Teams as a Risk professional since the mid 1990s.

Aram’s current responsibilities, as Vice President of Risk Management, include taking a lead role in the risk management activities for Edison Mission Group, a subsidiary of Edison International.  He is a corporate officer, senior member of management at EMG and a member of the Risk Management Committee.

The EMG Risk Group, managed by Aram, currently focuses on three Risk areas; Risk Analytics and Data Fundamentals, Deal Review and Commercial / Risk liaison, Middle Office and Credit Risk. 

In addition to the major responsibilities covered by these groups, Aram is responsible for

coordinating the Enterprise Risk Management effort of EMG. 

Aram has been an active participant and contributor to CCRO group, since 2001, regarding:  risk metrics, compliance and reporting, capital adequacy, credit risk and operational risk.

Earlier in his career Aram was Senior Vice President and Global Head, Risk Management at Constellation Energy Group in Baltimore, Maryland; Chief Risk Officer at Pacificorp in Portland, Oregon; Vice President of Risk Management at Edison Source in Los Angeles, California.  Aram also held various risk and analytical roles at Enron in Houston, Texas and Unocal in Los Angeles, California.

Aram now lives in Hingham, MA with his wife Mary and their three children Aram Charles, Rafael and Enrico.

Doug Esamann is president of Duke Energy Indiana, the state’s largest electric utility, serving approximately 790,000 customers in 69 of Indiana’s 92 counties. He is responsible for Duke Energy’s regulatory, governmental relations, economic development and community affairs work in Indiana. He was named to his current position in November 2010.

Previously, Esamann served as senior vice president of corporate strategy for Duke Energy, a position he held since July 2009. In that role, he led the company’s strategy development and business planning efforts including load forecasting and market fundamentals.  Prior to that, he was senior vice president strategy and planning with additional responsibilities for integrated resource planning, environmental compliance planning, transactional support, customer market analytics, load research and renewable energy compliance efforts.

Immediately following the merger between Duke Energy and Cinergy in April 2006, Esamann served as group vice president of strategy and planning for Duke Energy’s U.S. Franchised Electric and Gas organization.

Prior to the merger, he served as senior vice president of energy portfolio strategy and management for Cinergy’s commercial business unit. He was responsible for fuel management, environmental risk management, generation dispatch, power purchases and sales, portfolio analytics, load forecasting, generation asset planning, demand-side management planning and environmental compliance planning.

Esamann began his employment with Public Service Indiana (predecessor of PSI Energy) in 1979. In the course of his PSI/Cinergy career, he held a variety of leadership roles, including tax manager for PSI Energy until 1994; general manager of finance and business development for Cinergy’s commercial business unit until 1999; vice president and chief financial officer of the commercial business unit until 2001; and president of PSI Energy until 2004.

Active in the community, Esamann currently serves on the boards of directors of the Indiana Energy Association, Indiana Manufacturers Association and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. He is a board member of Special Olympics Indiana, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, and the Indiana Legal Foundation. He also serves on the advisory boards of the University of Missouri Financial Research Institute and the Richard G. Lugar Center for Renewable Energy.

A native of Plainfield, Ind., Esamann earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Indiana University. He and his wife, Kimberly, have two daughters, a son and two granddaughters.

Duke Energy, one of the largest power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 4 million customers in the Carolinas and the Midwest. The company also distributes natural gas in Ohio and Kentucky. Its commercial power and international businesses operate diverse power generation assets in North America and Latin America, including a growing renewable energy portfolio. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK.

As The Energy Authority’s Vice President of Energy Trading and Chief Operating Officer, Mark Kinevan is responsible for all of TEA’s energy marketing, trading, risk management, and portfolio optimization services on behalf of its public-power members. In addition to leading these activities, he also serves as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer, with a focus on driving improved performance from TEA’s operations.

Before assuming his current position in 2005, Mr. Kinevan served as TEA’s Vice President of Risk Control and Strategic Planning for four years. Prior to joining TEA Mr. Kinevan held various leadership positions at an investor-owned utility and in the oil and gas exploration and production industry.

Mr. Kinevan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Physics from the Colorado School of Mines and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.

Guerry Waters has more than 30 years of experience in global information technology strategy, organization, architecture and business-driven IT solutions for utilities. Waters joined SPL WorldGroup in 2000 and moved with the company when it was acquired by Oracle in 2007. He currently serves as Group Vice President, Solution Strategy and Product Marketing for Oracle’s Utilities Global Business Unit. Previously, Waters was vice president of energy information strategy at META Group, where he focused on customer management, energy trading and risk management, and the alignment of information technology with energy lines of business. He has also held positions as CTO and director of technology strategy and engineering at Southern Company. 

Waters’ educational background includes concentrations in business technology and extensive course work in management, strategy development, and implementation planning. He is a frequent speaker and writer on issues surrounding the creation of enterprise-wide IT strategies and business processes that help utilities maximize operational efficiency and enhance customer satisfaction.

In his current role Joel is responsible for all IT services for Oncor, the sixth largest electric Transmission/Distribution utility in the United States.  This includes strategy, security, new systems development, production operations, and management of Oncor’s sourcing relationships with IBM and HCL.  Joel has more than 25 years of experience in the Energy, Finance and Software Industries, at Informix, ENSERCH, Deloitte & Touche, and Texas Utilities.  Austin has held a number of business – operations, IT and management consulting roles.  He currently serves as Vice President, and Chief Information officer of Oncor.   

Austin holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Business Administration from the University of Kansas and a Masters in Business from the University of Missouri in Kansas City.   

Manoj S. Chouthai was named vice president – information technology and chief information officer for PSEG Services Corporation, in December 2006.  He retains his position as chief technology officer for PSEG, which he has held since 2003.

As vice president - information technology and CIO, Mr. Chouthai is responsible for setting the IT strategy for the company, developing and implementing the IT operating model, optimizing the costs and value of IT products and services, leading IT Governance and introducing new and emerging technologies into the enterprise.

With over twenty five years of management and leadership experience, Mr. Chouthai has a broad technology background and has a track record of successfully leading organizations through periods of organizational transformation and change.

Mr. Chouthai previously served as vice president in the information systems group at Prudential Financial. Prior to that, he provided thought leadership, developed technology roadmaps, created global sourcing strategies, managed strategic alliances, and implemented governance models within several leading insurance companies and investment banks.

Mr. Chouthai received a Master of Science degree in information systems from the Graduate School of Arts and Science at New York University (NYU), and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stern School of Business at NYU. 

Martin Rosenberg is Editor-in-Chief of EnergyBiz magazine. EnergyBiz is a bimonthly business magazine for leaders in the new power industry. EnergyBiz is a controlled circulation publication that reaches more than 20,000 of the most influential managers, executives, legislators, regulators, lawyers and consultants who play critical roles in utilities, government, advisory firms, and supplier companies.

The editorial focus of EnergyBiz is strategic issues -- financial, technological, legal and regulatory -- facing energy executives today. Feature articles will not only cover recent events, new trends and innovative ideas, but also the people behind them.

Bob Johnson is chief service and information technology officer for Sprint. He is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Customer Management and Information Technology, including customer experience, customer care operations, credit/collections, telesales, solutions delivery, care and billing services, application development and architecture. He is also responsible for IT development, infrastructure operations and services, configuration management, and data and production support.

Johnson previously served as Sprint’s regional president for the Northeast, responsible for the wireline and wireless business. Before that, he was senior vice president-National Consumer Sales and Distribution.

An accomplished executive with 27 years in the telecommunications industry, Johnson joined the company (Nextel) in 1998. He brings with him a strong business background in sales, service, marketing and customer operations. Before joining Nextel, he held a number of executive positions at Bell Atlantic Mobile (Verizon), including executive vice president and chief operating officer for Telezone Corporation, a Bell Atlantic joint venture.

He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and serves as chairman of the advisory board of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. He is also a board member for the Northern Virginia Technology Council and the Service Council™ Q2 Advisory Board.

Robert S. Shapard has served as the Chairman of our Board of Directors and Chief Executive since April 2007. Mr. Shapard joined EFH Corp. in October 2005 as a strategic advisor, helping implement and execute growth and development strategies for Oncor. Between March and October 2005, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Tenet Healthcare Corporation, one of the largest for-profit hospital groups in the United States, and was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Exelon Corporation, a large electricity generator and utility operator, from 2002 to February 2005. Before joining Exelon, he was executive vice president and chief financial officer of Ultramar Diamond Shamrock, a North American refining and marketing company, since 2000. Previously, from 1998 to 2000, Mr. Shapard was CEO and managing director of TXU Australia Pty. Ltd., a subsidiary of the former TXU Corp., which owned and operated electric generation, wholesale trading, retail, and electric and gas regulated utility businesses. Mr. Shapard is also a director of Oncor Holdings and a manager of Bondco. In January 2011 he was elected chairman of the board of directors of Gridwise^® Alliance, the nation's foremost smart grid organization.

Susan Story is president and CEO of Southern Company Services. In that role, she is responsible for business performance services, information technology, human resources, supply chain management, marketing services, SouthernLINC Wireless and Southern Telecom.

Story also leads Southern Company’s efforts to coordinate activities related to “smart” technology investment and deployment, including smart grid, smart meters, and emerging technologies involving energy efficiency and customer energy choices.

Story joined Southern Company in 1982 as a nuclear power plant engineer. She has served as president and CEO of Gulf Power, executive vice president of engineering and construction services and vice president of supply chain management at Southern Company, as well as vice president of real estate and corporate services at Alabama Power.

Story serves on the Edison Foundation’s Institute for Electric Efficiency Strategy Committee, as well as the boards of directors of Alliance to Save Energy, the Center for Energy Workforce Development, Raymond James Financial, Inc., and Job Creators Alliance and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center board of advisors. 

Story has an industrial engineering degree from Auburn University, an MBA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and has completed executive education and leadership programs at Duke, Oxford and Harvard universities, as well as international business studies at Cambridge University. 

Coming soon...

Rosy Lum, Chief Analyst for TransmissionHub, has been covering the U.S. utility industry for over four years. She began her career as an energy journalist at SNL Financial, for which she established a New York news desk. She covered topics ranging from energy finance and renewable policies and incentives, to master limited partnerships and ETFs.

Thereafter, she honed her energy and utility focus at the Financial Times' dealReporter, where she covered and broke oil and gas and utility mergers and acquisitions.

Caroline Dorsa was named executive vice president and chief financial officer for Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PSEG) in April 2009. She is also the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G), and PSEG Services Corporation.

Ms. Dorsa is responsible for all financial functions, including Internal Audit Services. She also leads the Information Technology and Procurement organizations. She is a member of PSEG’s corporate executive leadership team.

Ms. Dorsa had been a Director of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG) since 2003, and a member of PSEG's Audit, Corporate Governance and Finance Committees.

Ms. Dorsa joined PSEG from Merck & Co., Inc. where she most recently served as senior vice president – global human health, strategy and integration. Immediately prior to her most recent role at Merck, Ms. Dorsa held positions as senior vice president and chief financial officer at both Avaya, Inc., and Gilead Sciences, Inc. Earlier in her career, she held a range of financial positions at Merck, including serving as vice president and treasurer of the company for over 12 years. She was also the Secretary of the Finance Committee of Merck's Board of Directors.

Prior to joining Merck, Ms. Dorsa worked for Mayor Edward Koch of the City of New York promoting economic development in midtown Manhattan.

Ms. Dorsa is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Newark Museum and a member of the Junior Achievement of New Jersey State Board of Directors in Princeton, NJ. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB), a biopharmaceutical company located in Cambridge, MA.

Ms. Dorsa holds a B.A. from Colgate University and an M.B.A from Columbia Business School.

Marc S. Gerken, P.E., has served as president and chief executive officer of American Municipal Power, Inc. (AMP) since February 2000.

Gerken began his career as a civil engineer working extensively in the public sector on infrastructure projects, including transportation, water, wastewater and storm water improvements. He served as the city engineer in the public power community of Napoleon, Ohio, and in 1995, was named the community’s city manager. In that capacity, Gerken served on the AMP Board of Trustees for four years and chaired the AMP Board committee with oversight over the construction of the 42-MW Belleville Hydroelectric Plant. He joined AMP in 1998 as vice president of business and operations.

Gerken is the immediate past chairman of the American Public Power Association Board of Directors, having served as a member of the 10-member Board Executive Committee since 2004, and as the chairman from June 2009-June 2010. Gerken previously chaired the Public Power, Inc. Board of Directors, which oversees an APPA utility services affiliate. He is a member of the organization’s CEO Climate Change Task Force, a frequent presenter at APPA meetings and a leader in public power Joint Action Agency working groups. He has testified before congressional committees and FERC technical conferences on wholesale power market issues and is a long-time member of the Transmission Access Policy Study Group (TAPS) Executive Committee. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors of the National Hydropower Association. Gerken received the APPA Harold Kramer-John Preston Personal Service Award in June 2005. He was recognized as a finalist for the Platt’s Global Energy CEO of the Year Award in December 2010.

Maria Pope serves as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Portland General Electric (PGE).  Prior to her appointment in 2009, she served on PGE’s Board of Directors.  Her responsibilities include oversight of all financial areas, risk management, rates and regulatory affairs and property/facilities.  She is also responsible for corporate performance management, focused on cost improvement initiatives tied to significant investments in technology and workforce redesign.

Maria previously served as the Chief Financial Officer of Mentor Graphics, Corp., a publicly traded software company and in senior operating and finance positions at Pope & Talbot, Inc. and Levi Strauss & Co.  In these positions, Maria oversaw finance, plant operations, sales, procurement, information technology, human resources and legal affairs.  She began her career at Morgan Stanley working on mergers and acquisitions. 

Maria serves on several U.S. and Canadian corporate boards including Premera BlueCross, where she is the lead director and chairs the goverance committee, TimberWest Forest Corp., where she chairs the audit committee and the Oregon Health Sciences University Governing Board, where she chairs the compensation committee.

Maria is a past chair of the Council of Forest Industries and the Oregon Symphony.  She is a graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and earned her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University. 

Thomas R. Voss was elected to the position of chairman of the board of directors of Ameren Corporation on April 27, 2010. He was elected president and chief executive officer of Ameren in May 2009 - titles he retained with his promotion to the position of board chairman. Mr. Voss served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Ameren from 2004 to 2009. In December 2006, he was elected to the additional position of president and chief executive officer of Ameren’s Missouri rate-regulated operations.

Prior to this appointment, he held the title of senior vice president, Generation, and president, Ameren Energy and Ameren Energy Resources. In this position, he was responsible for generation, fuels and services and related trading and marketing operations.
   
Previously, he served as senior vice president for Energy Delivery/Customer Services. In this position, Mr. Voss was responsible for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of all gas and electric delivery systems and also for all customer care activities for Ameren’s operating utility companies.

Mr. Voss began his career with Union Electric (now known as Ameren Missouri) in 1969 as a student engineer after earning a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla. After four years in the U.S. Air Force, he returned to Union Electric as an assistant engineer. From 1975-1998, he held a series of successively higher positions - moving from engineer to staff engineer, superintendent, district manager and operating manager. He was named vice president, Region Operations for AmerenCIPS (now part of Ameren Illinois) in July 1998.

Mr. Voss is also a graduate of the University of Michigan’s Public Utility Executive Program and the Westinghouse Advanced Power Systems School. In addition, in June 2005, he completed the Reactor Technology Course for Utility Executives - an intensive three-week program on nuclear technology offered through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., and the National Academy for Nuclear Training. Mr. Voss is a registered professional engineer in Missouri and Illinois.

He serves on several St. Louis area civic and arts organizations, including Civic Progress, Dance St. Louis (Chairman Emeritus) and The MUNY. Voss chairs the board of the Regional Chamber and Growth Association and also serves on several national industry boards. In November 2010, Mr. Voss was elected to the board of directors of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

He has been a champion of diversity both within and outside Ameren Corporation. 

A native of St. Louis and a graduate of St. Louis University High School, Voss and his wife Carol have three children and four grandchildren.

John W. Rowe is the chairman and chief executive officer of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation, one of the nation’s largest electric utilities. Its retail affiliates serve 5.4 million customers in Illinois and Pennsylvania, and its generation affiliate operates the largest fleet of nuclear power plants in the nation.

Rowe is the senior chief executive in the utility industry, having served in such positions since 1984. Rowe has led Exelon since its formation in 2000 through the merger of PECO Energy and the parent of Commonwealth Edison. Rowe previously held chief executive officer positions at the New England Electric System and Central Maine Power Company, served as general counsel of Consolidated Rail Corporation, and was a partner in the law firm of Isham, Lincoln & Beale. Rowe is the past chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute and the Edison Electric Institute. He was co-chairman of the National Commission on Energy Policy and serves on the Secretary of Energy’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, a panel to provide recommendations on managing used nuclear fuel and waste. He is the lead independent director of the Northern Trust Company and a member of the board of directors of Sunoco. In both 2008 and 2009, Institutional Investor named Rowe the best electric utility CEO in America.

Rowe is committed to a wide variety of civic activities, with a focus on education and diversity. He serves as chairman of the Illinois Institute of Technology and president of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. He is a former chairman of the Commercial Club of Chicago and the Chicago History Museum. He is a member of the boards of the Field Museum, the Illinois Holocaust Museum, and the Morgridge Institute for Research. Rowe and his wife, Jeanne, established the Rowe Family Charitable Trust. The Rowes and the Family Trust have founded the Rowe Professorship of Architecture and the Rowe Chair in Sustainable Energy at IIT, the Rowe Professorship in Byzantine History and the Rowe Professorship in Greek History at the University of Wisconsin, the Rowe Professorship in Virology at the Morgridge Institute and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, and the Curator of Evolutionary Biology at the Field Museum. The Trust co-founded the Rowe-Clark Math and Science Academy and the Rowe Elementary School. The Rowes serve as patrons of the Pope John Paul II parochial school on Chicago’s southwest side. Rowe is chairman of New Schools for Chicago, a nonprofit organization formed to fund charter schools in the City of Chicago, and serves on the board of the Northwestern Settlement House.

Rowe holds undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of the Coif. He has also received that university’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Rowe holds honorary doctorates from the University of Wisconsin, DePaul University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Drexel University, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Bryant College and Thomas College.

Rowe and his wife, Jeanne, reside in Chicago, as does their son, William.

Mike Smith is an Energy Central alumnus. Previously, he launched and grew Sierra Energy Group, the company's research and analysis division, and co-founded and co-chaired the Knowledge CIO Summit. For 21 years, he has led and been involved in leading research, publication, and event developments in the utility industry. Most recently, he spent two years in the utility smart-grid/IT/automation markets, working with an international integrated media-and-events company and an IT solutions provider.

Jeff is a leader in the Project Management Organization that is deploying and managing the Advanced Metering System (AMS) and Intelligent Grid (IG) for CenterPoint Energy. Within the PMO, Jeff has direct responsibility for integrated monitoring and diagnostics of the production systems, as well as planning, tracking, reporting and business process change for the deployment projects.

Previously, Jeff was Director of Land & Field Services, where he was responsible for the people, processes and technology that provide geographic information services, surveying, right-of-way management, joint use management and underground damage prevention services for the gas and electric regulated operations of CenterPoint Energy.

Jeff has 30 years of experience at CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies, and has a BS in Surveying from Purdue University and a MBA from the University of Houston.

As Assistant General Manager of Power Supply & Grid Operations, Paul Lau is responsible for overseeing the purchase and sales of SMUD’s gas and electric commodities, the reliability of the electric, transmission, and distribution systems, and SMUD’s renewable portfolio standard.  Departments under Lau’s direction include Energy Trading & Contracts, Grid Planning & Operations, Grid Assets, Power Generation, and Energy R&D.  He is currently the executive sponsor for SMUD’s deployment of advanced metering infrastructure and smart grid initiatives. 

Prior to this appointment, Lau was the Assistant General Manager of Customer, Distribution & Technology and was responsible for overseeing SMUD’s retail and technology operations including customer services, energy delivery, energy efficiency, customer renewable programs, telecommunication and enterprise business applications.

Paul has over 25 years of utility experience. His past areas of responsibility include substation design and construction, line design and construction, system protection and control, and construction standards development.

Paul is a registered professional electrical engineer in the state of California and received his bachelor’s degree in electrical power engineering from California State University, Sacramento.

Martin Rosenberg is Editor-in-Chief of EnergyBiz magazine. EnergyBiz is a bimonthly business magazine for leaders in the new power industry. EnergyBiz is a controlled circulation publication that reaches more than 20,000 of the most influential managers, executives, legislators, regulators, lawyers and consultants who play critical roles in utilities, government, advisory firms, and supplier companies.

The editorial focus of EnergyBiz is strategic issues -- financial, technological, legal and regulatory -- facing energy executives today. Feature articles will not only cover recent events, new trends and innovative ideas, but also the people behind them.

Mayor Bob Foster is a widely-respected business and community leader who was elected as the 27^th mayor of Long Beach in June 2006.  He was re-elected for a second term in June 2010.

Mayor Foster served as president of Southern California Edison before his retirement in 2006 after more than 20 years with the company.  As an Edison executive, Mayor Foster led California’s largest electric company through the 1999 energy crisis.  During Mayor Foster’s tenure, Edison developed the largest renewable, clean energy programs (solar, geothermal, biomass and wind) in the United States.

Mayor Foster began his career in public service as a staffer in the California State Senate and California Energy Commission where he established statewide energy efficiency standards that are still enforced today. 

He was appointed as the Environment Committee chair in 2008, elected to the Advisory Board in 2009 and the Board of Trustees in 2010 for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. 

Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Mayor Foster to the Board of Governors for the California Independent Systems Operators (ISO) in 2010.

Mayor Foster is a graduate of San Jose State University in public administration. Prior to his election as mayor, Mayor Foster served as a trustee to the California State University system and remains active in a number of community and public policy organizations.

Mayor Foster and his wife, Nancy, have been married for 43 years and have two grown sons and three grandchildren.  The Mayor and Mrs. Foster work to support a variety of community organizations.

U.S. Senator Byron L. Dorgan served as a Congressman and Senator for North Dakota for 30 years before retiring from the U.S. Senate in 2011. 

He served in the Senate for 18 years and was a member of Senate Leadership for 16 years, first as Assistant Democratic Floor Leader and then as Chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee.  He served on Senate Committees for Energy, Commerce, Appropriations, and was Chairman of Indian Affairs.  He was also Chairman of Senate Subcommittees on Energy and Water Appropriations, and Aviation.

While in the Senate, he was the principal author of the transmission title of the Energy Bill passed by the Senate Energy Committee in 2009 and has worked extensively on transmission issues.  He was the lead sponsor of the Electric Vehicle Deployment Act in the U.S. Senate.  He was the principal author of the first renewable fuel standard passed by the Congress and a lead sponsor on the U.S. Senate on hydrogen/fuel cell research.  He was a leading supporter of carbon capture technology for coal. As member and later Chairman of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, he worked extensively on nuclear issues.

He is a recognized leader in the fields of energy policy, economic issues, aviation policy, Indian issues, trade policy, health care and more. He is considered a compelling public speaker and one of the best debaters in the U.S. Senate.

Senator Dorgan is now active in his post Senate life teaching, speaking, consulting, writing, serving on boards and much more. 

Senator Dorgan is a Visiting Professor at two universities lecturing on energy, economic policy and political affairs.  He works part time as a Senior Policy Advisor with the Washington DC law firm Arent Fox. He is also affiliated with the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington DC think tank, working on energy issues. And he is Chairing a new program at the Aspen Institute – the Center for Native American Youth -- focusing on challenges faced by Native American children with an emphasis on teen suicide prevention.

The Senator is the author of two books. The first, a New York Times Bestseller book “Take this Job and Ship It,” and a second book released in 2009, “Reckless... How Debt, Deregulation and Dark Money Nearly Bankrupted America (And How We Can Fix It).” And he has a contract to write two more books with the first due to be published in March 2012.

Senator Dorgan has a Bachelors Degree from the University of North Dakota, and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Denver. Prior to his service in the U.S. Congress, he served as North Dakota’s State Tax Commissioner.  He is married to Kim Dorgan and has four children: Scott, Shelly (deceased), Brendon, and Haley.

Raymond L. Orbach is the founding Director of The University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute. A renowned physicist, Dr. Orbach is the driving force behind the assembly of multidisciplinary teams of researchers that take on some of the most pressing energy issues society today. The Institute’s mission is to provide Texas and the nation sound, science-based research that helps build sustainable energy security.

Prior to joining The University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Orbach served as the country’s first Undersecretary for Science in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE); he also was the director of the Office of Science at the DOE, the highest science policy administrator within the agency.

Before his service in at the DOE, Dr. Orbach was chancellor of the University of California (UC), Riverside, which recently named its science library for him.

Dr. Orbach received his undergraduate physics degree from the California Institute of Technology and his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Oxford University in 1960 and became professor of applied physics at Harvard University in 1961. He later joined the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1963, and served as the Provost of the College of Letters and Science at UCLA from 1982 to 1992.

Dr. Orbach’s research in theoretical and experimental physics has resulted in the publication of more than 240 scientific articles and papers. He has received many honors as a scholar, including two Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowships, a National Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship at Oxford University, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship at Tel Aviv University, and the Joliot Curie Professorship at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.

Dr. Orbach also has held numerous visiting professorships at universities around the world. He also is a fellow of the American Physical Society and sits on the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.