SYNAPSE ENERGY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Policy Analyst
- Principal
- Principal Associate / Education
Alice Napoleon is a policy analyst focusing on energy efficiency, energy justice, and alternative regulatory mechanisms. In her 17 years at Synapse Energy Economics, she has led major projects for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on policy interventions to improve energy equity; for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on quantifying the benefits of clean energy resources, energy efficiency potential, and low income energy efficiency efforts; and for the U.S. Department of Energy to facilitate integration of the Superior Energy Performance and 50001 Ready strategic energy management platforms into utility portfolios.
Ms. Napoleon has provided testimony and testimony assistance before public utility commissions across the United States and Canada. She developed and submitted testimony regarding low-income energy efficiency services in California, New York, Nova Scotia, and South Carolina. She provides policy analysis, drafts testimony and comments, and provides litigation support on energy efficiency design, planning, administration, and cost-effectiveness in New Jersey and Nova Scotia. She has also testified on the implementation of advanced metering infrastructure in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Working at the leading edge of alternative utility regulation, Ms. Napoleon provides ongoing expert analysis and support to Natural Resources Defense Council in the New York Reforming the Energy Vision process on matters of benefit-cost analysis, utility performance incentive mechanisms, energy efficiency targets and program design, locational benefits of clean energy resources, and planning for the transition to a decarbonized energy system. She also co-authored a seminal report on utility performance incentive mechanisms for the Western Interstate Energy Board (WIEB), and leading research on regulatory mechanisms to promote electric system resilience.
In addition to strong analytical skills, Ms. Napoleon has expertise and extensive experience facilitating collaborative stakeholder processes, including facilitating and providing technical analysis in support of demand-side resource policy working groups in Colorado, Maryland, and South Carolina.
Ms. Napoleon previously worked at Resource Insight, Inc. where she supported investigations of electric, gas, steam, and water resource issues, primarily in the context of reviews by state utility regulatory commissions. She holds an MA in Public Administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a BA in Economics from Rutgers University.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate / Education / Master of Environmental Management, Duke University
Angela Zeng joined Synapse in 2023. She conducts research and provides consulting on energy sector issues as well as conducts analysis to evaluate energy efficiency programs and policies. She has experience working as an Energy Justice Intern with Synapse and Climable, where she evaluated qualitative survey data, analyzed environmental justice data, and conducted research on renewable portfolio standards.
Prior to joining Synapse, Ms. Zeng completed her master's project on state energy efficiency cost recovery mechanisms at Duke University. The project consists of a financial model and comparison dashboard allowing users to compare how each of the cost recovery mechanisms used in North Carolina, Vermont, and Illinois differently compensates utilities and charges customers for energy efficiency investments. Ms. Zeng also worked as a Graduate Research Assistant at Duke University. She conducted statistical analyses to determine the importance of explanatory variables in predicting methane flux in costal wetlands. Additionally, Ms. Zeng worked as an Energy and Economic Analyst at Cornell University where she prepared an economic analysis of Cornell's lake source cooling facility and evaluated electricity usage and cost data.
Angela Zeng holds a BS in Environment and Sustainability from Cornell University and a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate / Education
Ariella Fuzaylov joined Synapse in 2024. She conducts research and analysis on a variety of energy sector topics. Her work aims to use data to reveal trends in and impacts of building decarbonization, energy efficiency, and clean energy. She also wrote a capstone research paper about decarbonization strategies for difficult to decarbonize commercial buildings in Boston during her internship with Climable and Synapse.
Prior to joining Synapse, Ms. Fuzaylov worked in data engineering at SSENSE in Montreal. There, she helped transition the data orchestration infrastructure to AWS, while using Python and Spark to support the legacy extract, transform, and load processes. She also provided code review and consulted on data engineering design patterns at Pedersen Quantitative Fisheries Ecology Lab.
Ms. Fuzaylov holds a BS in Computer Science and Statistics from McGill University.
Job Titles:
- Vice President
- Expert
- Vice President / Education
Bob Fagan, a Vice President at Synapse Energy Economics, is a mechanical engineer and energy economics analyst who has analyzed energy industry issues for more than 25 years. His activities focus on many aspects of the electric power industry, in particular:
Economic and technical analysis of electric supply and delivery systems
Wholesale and retail electricity provision
Energy and capacity market structures
Renewable resource alternatives, including on-shore and off-shore wind and solar PV
Assessment and implementation of energy efficiency and demand response alternatives
Mr. Fagan is expert in the complexities of, and the interrelationships between, the technical and economic dimensions of the electric power industry in the United States and Canada. His areas of focus include: wholesale energy and capacity provision under market-based and regulated structures; transmission use pricing, encompassing congestion management, losses, LMP, and alternatives; financial and physical transmission rights; and transmission asset pricing (e.g., embedded cost recovery tariffs).
His experience includes in-depth knowledge of physical transmission network characteristics; related generation dispatch/system operation functions; technical and economic attributes of generation resources; RTO and ISO tariff and market rules structures and operation; and FERC regulatory policies and initiatives, including those pertaining to RTO and ISO development and evolution. Mr. Fagan is also expert in the assessment of technical and economic dimensions of wind and solar power integration into utility power systems, and in utility demand side management and demand response impacts on the power system.
Mr. Fagan holds an MA from Boston University in energy and environmental studies and a BS from Clarkson University in mechanical engineering. He has completed additional course work in wind integration, solar engineering, regulatory and legal aspects of electric power systems, building controls, cogeneration, lighting design, and mechanical and aerospace engineering.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Founder
- Chief Executive Officer and Founder / Education
Bruce Biewald is the founder and CEO of Synapse Energy Economics. He founded Synapse in 1996 to remedy the entrenched decision-making practices that impede progress towards better energy systems in the United States. Through robust economic analysis and electric-sector modeling, he has supported client efforts to chip away at the dominance of polluting and inefficient fossil plants. From the start, Bruce has been training and cultivating a group of Synapse experts who understand what is needed to get our complex energy systems where they need to be in a climate-challenged world. Focused on the intersection of energy, economics, and the environment, Synapse provides rigorous analysis for our clients in the public interest and governmental realms. Our experts provide technical, quantitative, and policy analysis to help clients improve planning, policies, and decision-making in the energy sector. Bruce himself specializes in helping team members and clients strategize over particularly thorny issues.
Bruce brings over 30 years of consulting experience on issues of energy economics and electric industry regulation. He has coauthored more than 100 reports and has testified in more than 100 cases, including utility regulatory proceedings in 25 states, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, two Canadian provinces, before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in state and federal courts.
His many publications include studies for the Electric Power Research Institute, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Technology Assessment, the New England Governors' Conference, the New England Conference of Public Utility Commissioners, the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, the National Commission in Energy Policy, the Ozone Transport Commission, the PJM Interconnection, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Prior to founding Synapse, Bruce was employed for 15 years at Energy Systems Research Group, which later became the Tellus Institute. Rising to senior scientist and manager of the company's electricity program, he was responsible for research and consulting on all aspects of electric system planning, regulation, and restructuring.
He currently spends his time looking for new and innovative ways to disrupt bad energy and climate planning, chatting with fellow energy nerds on the Energy Nerd Show & Tell podcast, and teaching his grandkids to always question the status quo.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal
- Principal Associate / Education
Courtney Lane has more than twenty years of experience in energy policy and utility regulation. She specializes in performance-based regulation, grid modernization, benefit-cost analysis, rate and bill impacts, and review of utility distributed energy resource and electric vehicle utility filings. Ms. Lane has extensive experience providing expert witness services and has testified before the Maryland Public Service Commission, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, the Pennsylvania Public Service Commission, the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia, and the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission.
Ms. Lane has worked extensively both in the public and private sector through her time spent on state-level clean energy advocacy for environmental non-profit PennFuture, and on demand side management planning and implementation for National Grid. In this capacity, Ms. Lane has led stakeholder engagement, provided testimony, served as an expert witness, and drafted legislation on matters pertaining to energy efficiency and renewable energy. Her experience in both the private and public sectors gives her a unique perspective on tackling energy issues and analyzing policies which lie at the intersection of both business and public interests.
Ms. Lane was one of the authors of the National Standard Practice Manual for Benefit-Cost Analysis of Distributed Energy Resources and its companion guide, Methods, Tools and Resources: A Handbook for Quantifying Distributed Energy Resource Impacts for Benefit-Cost Analysis.
Ms. Lane holds a Master of Arts in Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Geography from Colgate University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Principal
- Senior Principal / Education / Master of Public Policy, the University of Michigan
Ms. Glick conducts economic analysis and writes testimony and publications that focus on a variety of issues related to electric utilities, including power plant economics, utility resource planning practices, valuation of distributed energy resources, and utility handling of coal combustion residuals waste. Ms. Glick has submitted expert testimony and comments on unit commitment practices, plant economics, utility resource needs, and solar valuation before state utility regulators in the states of Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, as well as the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. In the course of her work, she develops in-house electricity system models and performs analyses using industry-standard electricity system models including PLEXOS and EnCompass utility planning software.
Prior to joining Synapse, Ms. Glick worked at Rocky Mountain Institute as a Senior Associate on its Electricity and Energy Access programs. As a member of the Energy Access program, she developed Integrated Resource Planning modeling tools and carried out trainings for the utility and energy ministry in Rwanda on best practices for long-term resource planning in the electricity sector. As a member of the Electricity Team, she co-authored papers on valuation of Solar PV and rate design for distributed energy resources that have been cited in utility rate cases. Ms. Glick also worked to develop alternative utility business models for a major U.S. utility, led a project evaluating long-term utility resource planning trends in the United States, and led modeling work in collaboration with NextGen Climate America to evaluate the impact of a loophole in the Clean Power Plan.
Ms. Glick holds a Master of Public Policy and a Master of Science in Environmental Science from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College.
Job Titles:
- Vice President
- Expert
- Vice President / Education
Asa Hopkins, PhD, is an expert in the development and analysis of public policy and regulation regarding energy and greenhouse gas emissions, including cost-benefit analysis, stakeholder engagement, state energy strategy and planning, and utility planning. He has provided analysis and testimony supporting decision-makers in both legislative and regulatory contexts, including state utility regulation and state and federal rulemaking.
Since arriving at Synapse in 2017, Dr. Hopkins has focused on utility and demand-side issues, including demand response in Quebec, rate design in Massachusetts, and utility performance metrics in Puerto Rico, as well as multi-state analysis of strategic end-use electrification across the Northeast region.
As the Director of Energy Policy and Planning at the Vermont Department of Public Service from 2011-2016, Dr. Hopkins was responsible for development and analysis of state policy regarding renewable energy, ratepayer-funded energy efficiency, energy-related economic development, and innovative utility rates and programs. He was responsible for developing the state's Comprehensive Energy Plan and for review of utility integrated resource plans. Dr. Hopkins also directed the actions of the Planning and Energy Resources Division, including the evaluation of utility energy efficiency programs, evaluation of utility power supply contracts and costs, economic analysis of proposed energy infrastructure projects, advancement of clean energy finance tools, funding to foster key energy industries, development of standards for the energy portions of regional and town plans, analysis and tracking of state energy data, and programs advancing the strategic electrification of transportation and heating. He also served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of State Energy Officials. During his tenure, Vermont rose in the rankings on national clean energy state scorecards: ACEEE State Energy Efficiency Scorecard from 5th to 3rd and U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index from 10th to 3rd.
Prior to 2011, Dr. Hopkins was an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow in the Office of the Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy. In that role, he was the Assistant Project Director for the DOE's first Quadrennial Technology Review, responsible for ensuring that the stakeholder engagement and report-drafting processes were completed successfully. He was also the primary author of the QTR's section on building and industrial energy efficiency. Dr. Hopkins came to DOE from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he worked on economic and market analysis of appliance energy efficiency standards and led LBNL's support for the first rulemaking on small electric motors.
Dr. Hopkins holds a B.S. in Physics from Haverford College and a Masters and PhD in Physics from California Institute of Technology.
Job Titles:
- Technical Advisor
- Technical Advisor / Education
Since joining Synapse in 2011, Dr. Vitolo has focused on technical issues including avoided costs, variable resource integration and valuation, utility resource planning, and other issues that typically involve statistical analysis, computer simulation modeling, and stochastic processes. He has filed expert testimony in California, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, and Vermont, and has testified before state or municipal legislative committees in Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Dr. Vitolo has provided analysis on the value of solar or costs and benefits of distributed generation more broadly in California, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin. He has also reviewed and critiqued the numerical analysis, modeling, and decision strategies of integrated resource plans and certificates of public convenience and necessity submitted by utilities located in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Dr. Vitolo also focuses on issues for which decisions are ultimately made by publicly elected officials. He has testified before city, regional, or state elected officials in Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and Vermont. In addition, he has led projects to review and analyze municipal electric planning in Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, and Tennessee. While this work included technical analysis such as decision-making regarding capital assets, energy procurement, staffing, and public reporting, it also typically included meetings and workshops with elected officials, community leaders, advocacy and business organizations, and local print and broadcast media.
Dr. Vitolo holds a PhD in Systems Engineering from Boston University, an MSc in Financial and Industrial Mathematics from Dublin City University, and BS degrees in Economics, Computer Science, and Applied Mathematics from North Carolina State University. Dr. Vitolo also serves as an elected representative in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Tommy Vitolo is a Technical Advisor at Synapse. He has more than 11 years of professional experience as a consultant, researcher, and analyst.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate / Education
Elise Ashley joined Synapse as an Associate in the summer of 2023. She performs qualitative and quantitative research and analysis on topics around distributed energy resources, with focuses in energy efficiency and energy storage. Since joining Synapse, her work has included developing user-friendly Excel-based modeling tools around energy storage and heat pump impacts, supporting comments and analysis of distributed energy resource plans, and providing technical writing for a range of topics. She also supports the development and regular updating of U.S. EPA's AVERT, an open-access tool developed by Synapse to estimate the regional emissions and generation impacts of energy policies and programs.
Prior to joining Synapse, Ms. Ashley worked as a Manager of Development Operations at The Possible Zone, designing and establishing best practices around data management and organizational strategy. Previously, she served as a Senior Engineering Consultant at Opinion Dynamics, providing expertise in the evaluation, measurement, and verification (EM&V) of utility energy efficiency programs across the United States. More specifically, she conducted impacts across the residential and commercial sectors, verifying energy efficiency measures in lighting, hot water, weatherization, appliances, efficient products, refrigeration, and income qualifying programs, with a focus on residential heating and cooling systems. She also developed on-site data collection tools and procedures for virtual inspections of energy efficiency installations during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ms. Ashley holds a BS in in Mechanical Engineering and minor in Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate / Education
- in 2022 As a Research Associate
Ellen Carlson joined Synapse in 2022 as a Research Associate. She performs research and analysis-both quantitative and qualitative-on topics such as energy efficiency, building decarbonization, the future of natural gas, and energy justice.
Prior to joining Synapse, Ms. Carlson worked at NREL's Cold Climate Housing Research Center on the Thermalize Juneau effort, Alaska's first Thermalize campaign. There, she analyzed expected participant economic and energy outcomes from heat pump installation and facilitated campaign outreach and implementation. Other previous experience includes work on wall moisture resilience in remote Alaska and building energy simulation.
Ellen holds a B.S. in Physics and Growth and Structure of Cities from Haverford College.
Job Titles:
- Project Analyst
- Project Analyst / EDUCATION
As a project analyst, Emma Belabbes works on project management, project set-up and company analysis. Emma joined Synapse as an Executive Assistant in 2021. In her Executive Assistant role, she supported the CEO and SVP by providing comprehensive management duties such as calendar management, troubleshooting office operations, and assisting on special projects. She also served as a liaison between consultants to maintain continuous communication across teams.
Emma has previously worked as a training specialist as Whole Foods Market where she coordinated trainings across all departments. Additionally, Emma interned at the U.S Commercial Service office in Boston, where she supported the director by managing inquiries from exporters regarding trade assistance, conducting market research and handling client meetings.
Emma received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Simmons University.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal
- Principal Associate / Education
Eric Borden has over ten years of experience in the energy industry and joined Synapse in 2022. Mr. Borden leverages his experience and industry knowledge to lead projects, write reports, and provide expert testimony in multiple subject matter areas, including: ratemaking, rate design, revenue requirements, distributed generation, cost-effectiveness of demand-side resources, risk modeling, wildfire-related policies and expenditures, electric vehicles, and rate cases.
From 2015 to 2022, Mr. Borden was an Energy Expert at The Utility Reform Network (TURN) in California. There he served as an expert witness in numerous proceedings before the California Public Utilities Commission, providing in-depth analysis to inform policy recommendations on a variety of energy and regulatory issues. Prior to his role at TURN, Mr. Borden served as a Senior Energy Analyst at 4Thought Energy, where he conducted financial analyses for a distributed generation natural gas combined heat and power firm. He previously consulted at The Kenrich Group, LLC, and CRA International.
Mr. Borden has also conducted energy analysis internationally. In 2012-2013, he was awarded a fellowship from the German government to conduct research on the role of energy storage in the German energy transition and served as a German Chancellor Fellow at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Mr. Borden holds a B.S. in Finance and a B.A. in Entrepreneurship from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Master's in Public Affairs from the University of Texas in Austin.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal
- Principal Associate / Education
Erin Malone specializes in assessing energy efficiency policy, program design, and implementation. Since joining Synapse in early 2012, much of her work has focused on energy efficiency cost-effectiveness, rate and bill impacts, and best practices for energy efficiency.
While at Synapse, Ms. Malone has focused on providing ongoing support to the Cape Light Compact (Compact)-the municipal aggregator for Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. Ms. Malone supports the Compact in the development of its energy efficiency three-year plans, annual reports, cost recovery rate filings, and issue-specific technical analyses. Ms. Malone has analyzed and reported the Compact's energy efficiency data, which requires processing data from the Compact's database into tables for plans and reports and analyzing the results, preparing exhibits for the Compact's energy efficiency charge reconciliation filing, and drafting memos on key aspects of filings as needed to inform stakeholder review. Ms. Malone has also provided the Compact with policy support, which includes implementing key outcomes of Massachusetts Department of Public Utility (MA DPU) Orders, developing positions in open dockets, representing the Compact in stakeholder working groups, and providing expert testimony before the MA DPU. As part of her work for the Compact, Ms. Malone has developed numerous Excel-based models that quickly and accurately analyze data and produce consistent deliverables.
Ms. Malone has coauthored a number of studies and played a key role in developing expert testimony relating to energy efficiency best practices. These products address topics such as properly and consistently applying energy efficiency cost-effectiveness tests to account for the full benefits of energy efficiency programs, accounting for increases and decreases to customer rate and bill impacts from efficiency resources, and assessing the cost-effectiveness of distributed energy resources including solar, storage and demand response. Her previous work also includes analyzing efficiency as an alternative to purchasing a coal-fired resource, and surveying U.S. states on their cost-effectiveness practices and policies.
Prior to joining Synapse, Ms. Malone served as an economist in the Electric Power Division at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, specializing in the review of electric utilities' energy efficiency activities. Ms. Malone holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Boston College and is accredited as a LEED Green Associate.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate / Education
- in 2024 As an Associate
Ida Weiss joined Synapse in 2024 as an Associate. She performs research and analysis on energy-sector issues including energy justice, electric vehicles, building and transportation electrification, distributed energy resources, and integrated resource planning.
Previously, she worked as an air quality engineer at Epsilon Associates, where she modeled stationary and mobile air pollution sources using air dispersion software and mobile emissions estimators. She also worked on environmental justice analyses for private projects in Massachusetts and New England, using publicly available tools and data to evaluate projects' potential public health impacts. For her senior honors thesis, she collected air pollution data using a mobile air pollution lab in the Greater Boston area and analyzed spatial concentrations of black carbon and ultra-fine particulate matter using ArcGIS and Python.
Ida Weiss graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University in 2021 with a BS in Environmental Engineering and a minor in Environmental Science and Policy.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate
- Senior Associate / Education
Jackie Litynski joined Synapse in 2020 to conduct research and quantitative analysis of complex energy topics. She is a skilled modeler and has co-develop an Excel-based model to analyze the gas and electric customer rate and utility financial impacts of electrification. She uses ArcGIS and Python to efficiently analyze optimal solar siting locations. Since fall 2023, she has been leading Synapse's NEPOOL project, representing end user and alternative resources sector clients in the New England wholesale electricity market stakeholder group. Her work in wholesale markets has focused on winter reliability, market design, and asset condition projects. Ms. Litynski also analyzes the future of natural gas, emissions impacts of fossil fuel projects, and maintains and regularly updates AVERT. Her work for Synapse has included in-depth analyses of the economics of nuclear power plants and research on the effectiveness of different electric vehicle policies.
Previously, she worked as a Research Assistant for UNC Chapel Hill Assistant Professor Evan Johnson, where she used Python to analyze the proportion of renewable energy programs that directly benefit low-income individuals and disadvantaged groups. For her senior capstone project, Ms. Litynski used the modeling tool AVERT to analyze the emissions impacts in North Carolina of various clean energy policies. She also has experience building dashboards in Excel and analyzing clean energy data with GIS software.
Ms. Litynski holds a BS in Environmental Science: Quantitative Energy Systems Track and a dual major in Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Job Titles:
- Business Support Specialist
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Co - Founder & Senior Vice President of Business Management
- Co - Founder & Senior Vice President of Business Management / Education
Jean Ann Ramey is a nonprofit leader and founder of two innovative organizations designed to overcome the hurdles to a clean and equitable energy transition.
After working as an economist for the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities and analyst at Tellus Institute she co-founded Synapse Energy Economics in 1996. Synapse fills the need for smart, independent analysis with a rigor to match or exceed that of well-funded industry stakeholders. It is a leader in providing robust analysis of the electric power and natural gas sectors for public interest and governmental clients. As Senior Vice President, Jean Ann continues to guide Synapse as it helps its clients adapt to the new challenges brought by shifts toward a cleaner energy industry.
Noting a sore need for ways to bridge the gap between good technical analysis and the plain-language messaging needed to empower broader stakeholder groups, Jean Ann founded the women-run non-profit Climable in 2012. Climable is committed to raising awareness about climate issues and helping communities take action through collaboration and innovation. During her tenure as Executive Director, Jean Ann spearheaded a partnership between mission-driven consulting firms and the Green Justice Coalition, a local community collaboration. The Resilient Urban Neighborhoods-Green Justice Coalition (RUN-GJC) initiative is now successfully pioneering community-led virtual microgrids in Chelsea and Chinatown, two of Boston's environmental justice communities. In 2020 she won the Achievement Award at the annual New England Women in Energy and the Environment Gala. This work also led to her appointment to the 2022 Earthshot Prize Boston Host Committee.
Jean Ann is a natural matchmaker for environmental advocacy. Her passion for leveraging networks and resources in the name of a cleaner and more equitable world drives her work at Synapse and now as an advisor to Climable. When she is not facilitating positive change in those roles, Jean Ann can be found applying her networking skills to local community efforts, making fiber arts, and co-hosting the Energy Nerd Podcast.
Job Titles:
- Communications Director
- Communications Director / Education
Jenny Marusiak is the Communications Director at Synapse. She joined Synapse as the Marketing and Proposal Manager in 2014. She oversees the firm's proposal process from lead identification to proposal development and contracting, and also manages marketing projects and activities.
Previously, Jenny worked as deputy editor of Singapore-based eco-business.com, where she managed on-line content and wrote news articles about Asian and global sustainability issues including energy, carbon policy, corporate social responsibility, clean technology, green buildings, water and waste management and livable cities. She has interviewed and published articles about thought leaders from academia, government, and the private sector on best practices and solutions for today's most pressing environmental issues. Examples include an in-depth interview with Costa Rica's former environment minister Carlos Manuel Rodriguez on the use of environmental economics tools to stop deforestation; Q&A with Pavan Sukhdev, who led the United Nations' project on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB); an interview with Sydney, Australia mayor Clover Moore on cultivating livable cities; and interviews with numerous multi-national corporations such as Norwegian manufacturer REC Solar, efficiency experts Johnson Controls, Fuji Xerox, Autodesk, and Danish shipping firm Maersk.
Jenny's earlier work experience includes freelance writing as well as administrative work for several environmental non-profits. She worked at the Trust for Public Land in New York City on their urban program and in Boston for their major donors team. In London, she provided logistical and administrative support for a conflict resolution and consensus-building group based at a non-profit called The Environment Council.
Jenny received a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science from Columbia College at Columbia University.
Job Titles:
- Communications Associate
- Communications Associate / Education
Jill Williamson joined Synapse in February 2023. As a Communications Associate, she supports Synapse's external and internal communications, focusing on the external newsletter, staff newsletter, social media channels, company website management, and metric tracking.
Prior to joining Synapse, Jill worked as a communications and social media manager for DearTomorrow, where she supported the non-profit in designing and developing external communications. Additionally, she worked at Nancy Winship Milliken Studio as a fundraiser and administrator, supporting the studio in grant writing, conceptual development, and branding.
Jill received a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and Studio Art from the University of Vermont.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate
- Senior Associate / Education / Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical Engineering, Tulane University
Joe Hittinger, PhD, provides research, analysis, and consulting services on a variety of energy-related topics including industrial decarbonization, electricity modeling, resource planning, and legacy energy infrastructure.
Prior to joining Synapse, Dr. Hittinger worked as a Research Scientist at Sublime Systems, an MIT-founded startup that is developing a breakthrough electrochemical process for producing decarbonized cement using renewable electricity. He designed and built reactor prototypes for utilizing industrial waste as a feedstock for sustainable cement. He also developed techno-economic models in support of scaling the process from lab- and pilot-scale to commercial-scale production.
Previously, Dr. Hittinger was a Graduate Research Fellow at Tulane University, where his doctoral research focused on developing a process for upcycling plastic waste into sustainable fuels and chemicals in support of the circular economy.
Dr. Hittinger holds a B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Tulane University.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal
- Principal Associate / Education
Kenji Takahashi conducts economic, environmental, and policy analysis of energy system technologies and regulations associated with both supply- and demand-side resources. Over the past 15 years, Mr. Takahashi has assessed the design and impact of utility energy efficiency and distributed energy resources policies and programs as well as load forecasts in over 40 jurisdictions across North America for a variety of clients. These include environmental groups, municipal and state governments, and federal agencies such as U.S. EPA and U.S. DOE. On these occasions, Mr. Takahashi has provided testimony and testimony assistance before public utility commissions. Further, he has analyzed the performance, costs, benefits, and potential of clean energy measures and resources, including state-of-the-art measures such as cold climate heat pumps, thermal storage demand response, dynamic windows, deep energy retrofits, net zero energy buildings, and strategic energy management. He also assessed the potential of natural gas demand savings measures as solutions to the gas moratorium placed by Berkshire Gas company, and testified before the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities on the matter.
Another area of Mr. Takahashi's focus has been technological, resource, economic, and policy assessments of strategic electrification. This includes analyses of the northeastern region for the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, of New York State for the New York State Energy Research Development Agency, of Rhode Island for the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, and of the southwestern U.S. for the Southwest Energy Efficiency Partnership. Recently, he co-authored a report for the Natural Resource Defense Council assessing the technological, economic, and utility system impacts of building electrification in California.
Mr. Takahashi holds an MA in Urban Affairs and Public Policy with a concentration in Energy and Environmental Policy from the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware, and a BA in Law with a concentration in Public Administration from Kansai University in Osaka, Japan.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate / Education
Kyle Schultz joined Synapse in the fall of 2022. She provides support on a range of energy-sector issues including energy efficiency policy and program design, building decarbonization, alternative fuels, and utility performance incentive mechanisms. Her work includes data and policy analysis, user-friendly model development, and technical writing for a range of audiences. Since joining Synapse, she has developed excel-based models to analyze costs of heat pump adoption and customer bill impacts of changes in renewable energy policy. She has also contributed to work analyzing the pathways for building decarbonization, including alternative fuels and heat pump adoption.
Previously, she worked as a consultant for Opinion Dynamics, where she provided research and evaluation expertise for energy efficiency programs. She used the modeling tool AVERT to analyze the emissions impacts of energy efficiency programs and used COBRA to analyze and monetize the impacts of these emissions impacts on public health. She also evaluated the influence of California's state financing programs on commercial and industrial customer decisions to complete energy upgrades.
Ms. Schultz holds an MA in Energy and Environment and a BA in Earth and Environmental Science from Boston University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Technical Program Manager
- Senior Technical Program Manager / Education
Laurie Delaney acts as Senior Technical Program Manager at Synapse. She oversees talent acquisition and recruiting efforts, manages the Energy Justice Intern program, supports project and client management, and develops policies, processes, and procedures to streamline operations.
Prior to joining Synapse, Ms. Delaney worked in the field of user experience (UX) research. Most recently, she was Senior Director of User Researcher and Customer Solutions at WEVO, Inc., a fast-growing UX research SaaS startup, serving as the subject matter expert working directly with clients to design their research studies and improve their product knowledge. She also managed the day-to-day workflow of the research design and survey fielding teams and collaborated with the product and engineering teams to create impactful new features for the WEVO platform. Ms. Delaney previously worked at The Desirability Lab at Harvard University as a Senior User Experience Research & Teaching Fellow, where she managed large longitudinal human-centered design and behavioral science research projects, assisted with teaching and course design, and created a breadth of written content to share research findings, design theories, and methodologies.
Ms. Delaney earned her Master of Arts in Political Science at Northeastern University and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Bridgewater State University.
Job Titles:
- Project & Operations Accountant
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Finance and Operations
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate / Education
Aidan Glaser Schoff joined Synapse during the summer of 2023. He analyzes rate design proposals and evaluates cost of service studies. He conducts quantitative analysis of the potential impacts of differing utility regulatory models. He ensures that distributed energy resources, energy policy goals, and equity considerations are a part of his evaluation process.
Mr. Glaser Schoff previously worked at Christensen Associates as a Staff Economist working on litigation and energy issues. He conducted surveys of American and Canadian utility tariffs covering residential, industrial, and electric vehicle rates. He helped craft memos on performance-based regulation with a focus on multi-year rate plans and the use of X-factors. In addition, he conducted load impact evaluations of San Diego Gas & Electric's voluntary time-of-use and critical peak pricing rates.
Mr. Glaser Schoff holds a BA in Physics from Vassar College and an MS in Agricultural and Applied Economics with a concentration in Resource and Energy Demand Analysis from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
MS in Agricultural and Applied Economics with a concentration in Resource and Energy Demand Analysis, University of Wisconsin- Madison
BA in Physics, Vassar College
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Consulting