EIS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Foundation for Effective Markets and Governance
Job Titles:
- Director, Illinois Emergency Management Agency, USA
Alicia Tate-Nadeau was appointed by Governor JB Pritzker to serve as the Illinois Homeland Security Advisor and the Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) in January 2019. In her capacity as Illinois Homeland Security Advisory, Tate-Nadeau serves on the Executive Committee for the Governor's Homeland Security Advisor Council. She also leads the Illinois Governor's Public Safety Executive Committee and Illinois Cyber Security Executive Committee. Tate-Nadeau also serves on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's (CISA) Cybersecurity Advisory Committee, as Regional Vice President of the Homeland Security Committee for the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), the Cybersecurity Committee for the Council of Governors and is nominated for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC).
Tate-Nadeau brings more than three decades of experience in national security, emergency management, and public safety issues. Prior to this appointment, Tate-Nadeau served as Executive Director of the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications where she implemented and managed the third largest 9-1-1 call center in the nation.
Job Titles:
- Vice - President Competition and Consumer Policy, ARPI, Australia
Allan currently chairs FairerFuture.au, a for-purpose, non-profit think tank and advocacy organisation and is a member of the Australian Energy Regulator's (AER) Consumer Reference Panel. He has served as the Commonwealth Ombudsman, CEO of Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, Energywatch UK and wsa deputy chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Allan is working in partnership with the NSW Department of Customer Service to prevent or reduce cyber fraud against seniors
x Amihai Dekel Amihai had a wide International customer facing experience across multiple countries (emphasis in the US) and cultures with operations and manufacturing background. Experienced in Military, Homeland Security, Critical Infrastructures, Intelligence and Cyber. Amihai Dekel Director, BD & Sales Communications Directorate , Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd, Israel
Job Titles:
- COO, Tapestry Project, Google - X Former CEO, PJM
- Director, Technical Operations, Tapestry, X 's Moonshot for the Electric Grid, United States
x Andrew Ott I am currently a Director, Technical Operations, Tapestry, X's moonshot for the electric grid, partnering with Audrey Zibelman and her team to decarbonize the electric grid. Tapestry actively seeks partners to collaborate on learning and development, utilizing AI and machine learning capabilities to make the grid easier to visualize, plan, build and operate with the required levels of clean energy needed to meet our climate goals. As an expert in market design and power system operations, most recently, I was providing executive consulting services to energy companies worldwide prior to my role with Tapestry of the x moonshot factory. I serve as Co-Chairman of the Energy Transition Forum, an international not for profit organization that provides a venue for dialogue between C-level executive energy leaders about the key challenges and solutions to achieve a timely and responsible transition to a secure, affordable, and low-carbon global energy system. I am also a non-executive director on several corporate boards, directing companies towards success and a greener future. From 2015 through 2019, I was President and CEO of PJM Interconnection, the largest power grid in North America and the largest electricity market in the world with a transaction volume of over $50 billion annually. While serving as PJM Chief Executive I was responsible for executive oversight of all aspects of company operation, for setting the strategic direction of the company and was a member of their Board. I am an expert in electricity market design and power system operation and have testified as an executive and technical expert in the US congress and in numerous legislative and regulatory proceedings. I have extensive experience in power system engineering, transmission planning, applied mathematics, electricity market design and implementation. I am an IEEE Fellow and an Honorary Member of CIGRE. I received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Science in applied statistics from Villanova University. Andrew Ott Director, Technical Operations, Tapestry, X's moonshot for the electric grid, United States
Job Titles:
- Chief of Staff
- Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor for the Office of Cybersecurity
- Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor, CESER ( Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response ), U.S. Department of Energy
Andrew Wills is Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor for the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) at the U.S. Department of Energy. As a principal member of the CESER senior leadership team, he supports the Director of CESER in overseeing office-wide strategic planning, programmatic initiatives, communications, budget, and administrative efforts.
Prior to joining the Department, Wills was head of Federal Affairs for Invenergy, where he was Invenergy's principal liaison to all federal partners to advance Invenergy's sustainable energy mission. He also served as Director of Federal Affairs and Counsel at the American Public Power Association; Associate Attorney for standards development and corporate law for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation; Summer Associate for Duncan, Weinberg, Genzer, and Pembroke; and Law Clerk for the Georgia Transmission Corporation. Wills is 2011 magna cum laude graduate of the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia, and a 2014 cum laude graduate of the UGA School of Law.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the EIS LEADERSHIP TEAM
- President
- CEO and President EIS Council, USA
- CEO Electric Infrastructure Security Council
Avi Schnurr is CEO and President of the Electric Infrastructure Security (EIS) Council.
Mr. Schnurr has reviewed severe "Black Sky" hazards to lifeline utilities for a number of state and federal government departments and agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the National Security Council, Congress, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Homeland Security, among others. He has been a leader in development and coordination of protection strategies for critical national infrastructures, working with senior executives of the nation's largest power, water, and fuel companies, with other corporate sectors, and with key government and NGO stakeholders.
Mr. Schnurr has provided invited briefings for NATO, the European Union, Parliamentary Committees, government science advisors and energy ministries. He has reviewed U.S. defense policies for the Department of Defense, the White House Homeland Security Council, the National Academy of Sciences, Congress, NATO and a variety of other venues. Until the end of 2004, Avi Schnurr worked for Northrop Grumman's Space Technology Sector in California, where he had system responsibilities for space payloads and other advanced systems and instruments, and also managed U.S. and international defense programs. He holds a number of patents in laser and optical systems and twice received the corporate Chairman's Award for Innovation. Avi Schnurr received his M.Sc. Degree in Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor's Degree from the University of California, San Diego.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Global Project Manager
Avner Hilu is an experienced project manager with a proven track record of implementing Agile frameworks and leading cross-functional teams.
With a background in IT operations, security, and compliance, Avner brings a strong skill set to his role as a Scrum Master and Product Owner.
He is known for his commitment to delivering high-quality projects on time and within budget.
Job Titles:
- Group Resilience Improvement Manager at National Grid, UK
Ben is a multi-award winning, multi-disciplined Chartered Engineer, Fellow and experienced leader with over 14 years of experience operating at various levels across the energy industry.
Ben has a proven track record and ability to deliver new services, technology and positive transformational change for complex systems with significant levels of risk. He is passionately driven to empower people, create valuable new products and services, enable growth and sustainability at all levels.
As the Group Resilience Improvement Manager for National Grid, he works across both the UK and US to drive and enable key business outcomes linked to organisational resilience, climate adaptation, the energy transition, innovation and continuous improvement.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director and Senior Advisor, CT Energies, England
- Non - Executive Chair
Chris Train is a Non-Executive Chair South East Water and Clean Power Hydrogen (CPH2). He is a Non-Executive Director on the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) Board and he undertakes advisory work on the energy transition and is a member of the BEIS Hydrogen Advisory Council. His role on the NDA Board sees him chair the important Project and Programmes Committee which oversees a significant part of the NDA's annual budget of over £3 billion.
Chris has 39 years' experience of working in the UK energy industry, also serving for 7 years as National Grid's Networks Operations Director, where he was responsible for the real-time running of Britain's energy networks, ensuring that the country's electricity and gas needs were met 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. During this period, he also worked closely with industry and Government to implement some of the most radical changes to Britain's electricity system since privatisation, which have led to Britain's position as a world-leading producer of renewable electricity, including through offshore wind.
Having held CEO, senior project management, operations and business development roles at Cadent, National Grid, Transco and Lattice, he is a deeply experienced Executive and Board Director.
Chris has also sat on various European and international committees covering subjects such as regulation, commercial and infrastructure development.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee
Congressman Doug Lamborn is the current Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces which oversees our nation's nuclear weapons, ballistic missile defense, national security space programs, and Department of Energy national security programs, ensuring that our nation is properly prepared for any missile or nuclear attacks. He is also a member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee for Tactical Air and Land Subcommittee. In addition to his service in the House Armed Services, Congressman Lamborn is the Vice Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee where he serves as a member of the Energy and Mineral Resources, and Federal Lands subcommittees.
He has a strong record of advocating for our military and our veterans, defending the Second Amendment, and calling for immigration reform and tax reform. During his tenure in Congress, he has been a strong voice on behalf of small businesses and a consistent leader on pro-family issues. Congressman Doug Lamborn is honored to have served Colorado's Fifth Congressional District since 2006.
Rep. Doug Lamborn is in his 7th term and represents Colorado's 5th district in the center of the state including Colorado Springs. Currently, he serves on the Armed Services (Ranking Member-Readiness, Tactical & Land Forces) and Natural Resources (Water-Oceans-Wildlife, Energy & Mineral Resources) Committees.
Congressman Lamborn attended the University of Kansas as a National Merit Scholar and graduated with a journalism degree and a law degree before moving his family to Colorado Springs to practice business and real estate law. He served in the Colorado General Assembly from 1995 to 2006, in both the State House and State Senate. He and his wife Jeanie, married 43 years, have five children and four grand-children.
Job Titles:
- Chief Technology Officer
- President
- President of Advanced Fusion Systems
Curtis Birnbach is President, Chief Technology Officer, Board of Directors of Advanced Fusion Systems. Mr. Birnbach is an expert in electromagnetics, electron tubes, pulse power systems, materials science, manufacturing methods, intellectual property development, and a registered export agent. He holds 18 US Patents, 8 foreign patents and numerous patents pending. He has published papers with SPIE, IEEE, NASA, and EPRI. He has consulted and worked collaboratively with the Intelligence community, US Army, US Air Force and other industrial and non-governmental organizations.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Cyber & Infrastructure Security at Edison Electric Institute USA
- Member of InfraGard
- Members
David Batz works for Edison Electric Institute, with a renewed focus on cyber and infrastructure security for investor owned electric utilities.
Mr. Batz assists members with understanding and applying appropriate security solutions to address emerging threats and issues, including the Internet of Things (IoT). He has provided professional technology and security solutions and services for 30 years, with over 20 years of experience working with owners and operators within the energy sector.
Batz is a member of InfraGard, and serves on the SANS Advisory Board. He has served on the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection Committee (CIPC) and the CIPC-Executive Committee.
Job Titles:
- Member or Leader in a Number of State
David Miller served as FEMA's Associate Administrator for the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA), from September 2011 until his retirement in April 2015. He was responsible for the development, implementation, and execution of flood insurance and mitigation program policy.
From 2004 to 2011, Mr. Miller served as the Administrator of the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division. During his tenure, he served as the Governor's Authorized Representative for eleven President-declared major disasters, including the 2008 flooding disaster. Under Miller's leadership, Iowa was one of only a handful of states to achieve national accreditation under the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) and was one of only 12 states to have a federally approved enhanced mitigation plan. Prior to becoming the Administrator, Mr. Miller served in a number of roles including Chief of Staff, Legislative Liaison, and E911 Program Manager. He was responsible for the creation, editing, and publication of the Division's Administrative Rules and legislative efforts including Iowa's Emergency Management Assistance Compact.
Mr. Miller has served as a member or leader in a number of State and national groups, including Co-Chair of the Federal Interagency Floodplain Management Task Force; Chair of the Mitigation Framework Leadership Group; former member of the National Advisory Council; and terms as the Vice President and President of the National Emergency Management Association. He currently serves as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Resilient America Roundtable and is a Board member of the Rising Phoenix Holding Company.
With 42 years in the electric utility industry, David Roop is one of the world's most respected power industry leaders and innovators. In his position as Transmission Director for Dominion Energy, one of the largest U.S. power companies, he was responsible for the operation of all transmission assets. President of the CIGRE US National Committee, Mr. Roop is also a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and received the IEEE Power Engineering Society, 2014 Leadership in Power Award.
David Roop has also been elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering, where he helps review and guide electric industry policy for the United States.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society, United Kingdom
- Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society, United Kingdon
- Panel Chair
Alan Mendoza is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Henry Jackson Society, Britain's leading think tank fighting for the principles and alliances which keep societies free. He directs strategy for the organisation as well as acting as its main public face in mediums as diverse as the BBC, Sky, CNBC, Al-Jazeera, Bloomberg, LBC and TalkRadio. On the print side, Alan is a columnist for City AM, London's business newspaper, and has contributed to The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Sun and a host of international newspapers and magazines.
Having obtained a B.A. (Hons.) and M.Phil in history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Alan completed a Ph.D. at the same institution. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was the Parliamentary Candidate for the Conservative Party in the Brent Central Constituency for the 2015 General Election. He is also a Trustee of the President Reagan Memorial Fund Trust
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder, Cambridge Infrastructure Resilience Group ( CIRG ) Defence and Security Researcher, Rand Europe
- Founder of the Cambridge Infrastructure Resilience Group
- Founder, Cambridge Infrastructure Resilience Group ( CIRG ), United Kingdom
Dr Alexander R. E. Taylor is a Founder of the Cambridge Infrastructure Resilience Group (GIRG), a cross-disciplinary research network based at the University of Cambridge that brings scholars together with industry leaders, preparedness practitioners and policymakers to explore critical infrastructure protection. He is a social anthropologist and lecturer on the Communications programme at the University of Exeter, where his research examines the social and cultural dimensions of infrastructure security, with a focus on data centres. Formerly, he was the Marconi Fellow in the History and Science of Wireless Communication at the University of Oxford. His PhD was undertaken with the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.
Job Titles:
- Technical Director for Infrastructure Simulation
As Technical Director for Infrastructure Simulation, Dr. Anthony Bucci leads EIS Council's modeling and simulation initiatives. In particular, he is the technical lead for the development of the GINOM® large-scale multi-sector meta-simulation.
Dr. Bucci has been involved in technology development for over 25 years as a software developer, researcher, lecturer, advisor and entrepreneur. As scientific advisor and cofounder of multiple startup companies, he has directed efforts in applying cutting-edge techniques to cybersecurity, intellectual property, and life sciences research challenges. A proponent of complex systems thinking, he has worked on dozens of simulations during his career in the philanthropic, corporate, and government sectors.
Dr. Bucci earned a B.Sc. in mathematics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH (1994) and a Ph.D. in computer science from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA (2007). His Ph.D. research focused on developing theoretical understanding of problem domains in which interaction can occur - the hallmark of a complex system and the core domain addressed by GINOM.
Job Titles:
- Chief Scientist and Vice President for Policy
- Chief Scientist and Vice President for Policy EIS Council, USA
- Panel Chair
Chris Beck is the Chief Scientist and Vice President for Policy at EIS Council, where he has worked since May 2011. He is responsible for the analysis, design, and promotion of critical infrastructure resilience for widespread, long-duration power outages initiated by Black Sky threats.
Dr. Beck is a technical and policy expert in several homeland security and national defense related areas including critical infrastructure protection, cybersecurity, science and technology development, WMD prevention and protection, and emerging threat identification and mitigation. Dr. Beck served as the Subcommittee Staff Director for Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Science and Technology and was the Senior Advisor for Science and Technology for the House Committee on Homeland Security (CHS), US House of Representatives, where he worked from May 2005 to May 2011. Prior to CHS, he worked in the office of Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez for three years, beginning as a Congressional Science Fellow and then as a legislative assistant.
Before government service, Dr. Beck was a postdoctoral fellow and adjunct professor at Northeastern University. He holds a PhD in physics from Tufts University (2001) and a B.S. in physics from Montana State University (1994). He served in the Marine Corps Reserve for five years (1987 - 1992).
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder of Contguard Ltd
- Vice President for Strategic Programs, EIS, Israel
- Vice President for Strategic Programs, Is Responsible for the Development, Coordination, and Management of Several Key Programs
- Vice President, Israel Operations - Strategic Programs / United Kingdom
- Vice President, Strategic Programs
Dr. Ehud (Udi) Ganani, as Vice President for Strategic Programs, is responsible for the development, coordination, and management of several key programs: GINOM AI, BSX, Digital Transformation, EIS Academy, and EMP Consulting. All these programs are International.
Udi Ganani is a co-founder of Contguard Ltd., a global maritime container tracking startup. He is also a member of the SPECTRUM Group in Alexandria, VA and a Research Associate in ICT International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at IDC Herzliya.
Previously, Dr. Ganani served in senior management roles in a number of corporations providing high technology solutions for security applications. He was Chief Executive Officer and President of Rabintex Industries Ltd., served as CEO and chairman of TraceGuard Technologies Inc. and chairman of Bird Aerosystems Ltd. He also chaired the public advisory committee for Aerospace, Defense and Homeland Security for the Israeli Export Institute.
Prior to that, Dr. Ganani served as a senior manager in some of Israel's largest and most important aerospace companies: He served as Chief Executive Officer of Israel Military Industries, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Rafael, and headed Rafael's rocket motors development group.
Dr. Ganani holds a Doctorate of Science in Chemical Engineering from Washington University, St. Louis, MO and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel.
Job Titles:
- General Manager of the Cyber Division at the Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd
- Head of Cyber Division, Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel
- VP & General Manager, Cyber Division, Israel Aerospace Industries
Esti Peshin is General Manager of the Cyber Division at the Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. At the beginning of 2017, under Ms. Peshin's management IAI's cyber activity was expended from a Directorate to a Division. She serves also as the Director General (pro bono) of the Israeli Hi-Tech Caucus at the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. Prior to assuming these roles, Ms Peshin was the Managing Partner of ENP Solutions Ltd., a strategic management consulting firm; a Partner at Destino Ventures LLC, a private equity firm; and a Partner at Hope Ventures Ltd, a Distributor and Business Development house. Previously, Ms. Peshin was the CEO of Waterfall Security Solutions, a provider of a foolproof physical security gateway for homeland security and mission-critical installations. Before joining Waterfall, she held an Account Director position in the Lawful Interception division of Verint Systems, Inc. She served 11 years in the Israeli Defense Forces, in an elite technology unit, where she was Deputy Director.
Job Titles:
- Chief Scientist, IMoE ( Israel Ministry of Energy ), Israel
- Chief Scientist, Israel Ministry of Energy, Israel
x Dr. Gideon Friedmann Gidon is Stanford Physics Ph.D. graduate with recent years experience in the energy industry, the electricity market and energy efficiency with a strong emphasis on policy and excellent communications and leadership skills. Almost 20 years of industry experience in program management, system engineering management, and business development, with emphasis on computer vision and image processing. Worked in the energy, medical instrumentation, semiconductor metrology and biotechnology industries. In the last 15 years strong emphasis on the business and economic aspects. Experience in running a small startup with focus on business development. Experience in setting up a new development project and running it from scratch. Excellent system view and understanding of complex multi-disciplinary systems involving deep techno-economic implications. Hands-on, practically oriented with emphasis on taking the initiative and using innovation to achieve results. Dr. Gideon Friedmann Chief Scientist, IMoE (Israel Ministry of Energy), Israel
Job Titles:
- American Space Policy Expert
- Clinical Professor & Director of Space Leadership at Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University. Visiting Professor Imperial College London, USA
Greg Autry is an American space policy expert, educator, entrepreneur, and author. He is a Clinical Professor of Space Leadership, Business, and Policy at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. He serves as Chair of the Safety Working Group on the COMSTAC. He was an assistant professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship in Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Prior to that, he served as an adjunct professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. Autry served on the NASA Agency Review Team for the incoming Trump administration in 2016 and temporarily as the White House Liaison at NASA in 2017. He holds an MBA and Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine.
Job Titles:
- Head of Stakeholder Engagement, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering ( CEE ), Imperial College London
Dr Jeni Giambona is the Head of Stakeholder Engagement within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). Jeni got her Doctorate from the University of Reading and has 15+ years' experience of working in the UK higher education sector, delivering support across STEM and HAAS subjects - with a key research engagement, impact and development focus.
Job Titles:
- CEO and Senior Strategy Consultant, Astra - Terra Limited, UK
- Senior Strategy Consultant and CEO, Astra - Terra, United Kingdom
Dr. Mireille Elhajj is currently an honorary lecturer at Imperial College London. She is also a member of the International Advisory Board (IAB) of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and a program Lead on The Space Integrated Outreach program. Previously, she was a Lecturer and an "Infrastrcuture and Space Science Fellow" at the Institute of Security Science and Resilience. She has published various papers in Positioning , Navigation and Timing (PNT), Interference mitigation and novel integrity monitoring methods for various applications. her private boutique consultancy, Astra-terra Limited, is sub contractor to various projects with IC consultants in the domain of aviation, smart cities , resilience of infrastructure, transport and space.
She hold a PhD from Imperial College London where she researched the use of new GPS signal to improve accuracy for surface transport. She has an MSc in Financial Analysis and Fund Management (FAFM) from Exeter University and an MSc in Transport engineering from Imperial College London.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director of Sonecon
Paul Stockton is the managing director of Sonecon LLC, an economic and security advisory firm in Washington, DC. Before joining Sonecon, he served as the assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense and Americas' Security Affairs from May 2009 until January 2013. In that position, he was the secretary of defense's principal civilian advisor on providing defense support to FEMA and DHS during Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene, and other disasters. Dr. Stockton also served as DOD's domestic crisis manager and was responsible for Defense Critical Infrastructure Protection policies and programs. In addition, Dr. Stockton served as the executive director of the Council of Governors.
Prior to being confirmed as assistant secretary, Dr. Stockton served as a senior research scholar at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation and associate provost of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). Dr. Stockton was twice awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, DOD's highest civilian award. DHS awarded Dr. Stockton its Distinguished Public Service Medal. Dr. Stockton holds a PhD from Harvard University and a BA from Dartmouth College. He is the lead co-author of "Curbing the Market for Cyberweapons" (Yale Law & Policy Review, 2013) and numerous other studies on cybersecurity issues. Dr. Stockton is senior fellow of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and serves on the boards of Analytic Services, Inc, Idaho National Laboratory, and the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security Studies at the George Washington University.
Job Titles:
- Vice President - Transmission Dominion Energy Virginia, USA
- Vice President, Electric Transmission, Dominion Energy
Dr. R. Matthew Gardner ("Matt") is vice president- Transmission, Dominion Energy Virginia.
He is responsible for over 6,700 miles of electric transmission lines and more than 800 substation assets providing service to the company's 2.7 million customers. These responsibilities include transmission and substation planning, engineering, project development, construction, operations and maintenance, compliance and the Electric Transmission System Operations Center.
Since Gardner joined the company in 2008, he has held numerous roles in planning, operations,
maintenance, and engineering. In 2022, he was named general manager- Transmission for Dominion Energy Virginia. Gardner assumed his current post in February 2023.
Prior to joining Dominion Energy, Gardner worked with the Tennessee Valley Authority, ABB Corporate Research Switzerland, Grenoble Institute of Technology in Grenoble, France, and did event analysis consulting for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) through Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL). He previously served as a lead engineer in key projects with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and served on the Leadership Team of the North American Synchrophasor Initiative (NASPI) as a liaison to the broader research community.
Gardner is active in several industry groups, including the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE), where he serves as a senior member of its Power and Energy Society (PES); Cigré; the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI); and the North American Transmission Forum. He is also involved with a number of academic institutions and consortia, including serving as Executive Engineer in Residence at Virginia Commonwealth University, as well as advisory and advocacy roles at George Mason University, University of Tennessee (Knoxville), Virginia State University, and Virginia Tech. He has previously served on Virginia Tech's Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's Center for Ultra-Wide-Area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks as chair and vice-chair.
Gardner received his doctorate in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech, where he was a Bradley Fellow. He also holds bachelor's and master's degrees in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Managing Director, New Risk Limited
Dr Sally Leivesley is an advisor to companies and governments on catastrophic risk. She has spoken on ‘Black Hole events' in previous EIS conferences and to the Baker Institute and is a specialist in the survival of populations, governments and infrastructure under extreme threats including nuclear war, CBRNE, cyber and natural disasters. In recent years she has chaired international scientific meetings on risks of emerging nuclear weapons, Covid-19, infrastructure resilience and hazardous near-earth objects. In the Cold War she trained as a scientific advisor with the British Home Office and exercised in the civil defence bunkers under London on maintaining life and infrastructure across the UK. In Australia she was the first civilian director of a disaster recovery unit and held government appointments for reforms of emergency services and health and safety. She has been contracted on nuclear power plant incidents - TMI, Chernobyl and Fukushima. As an international media commentator for BBC World Service and other news outlets she has commentated on the Chinese spy balloon over USA nuclear missile site, uranium package at London Heathrow airport, cyber;
terrorism; aviation losses; nuclear reactor disasters; Kabul 2021 evacuation; South China Sea; Polonium-210 and Novichok poisonings, Beslan siege; Iran; DPRK; USA Presidential security abroad; Covid-19, unexplained incidents such as MH370 and chemical incidents. Dr Leivesley holds memberships with the Register of Security Engineers and Specialists, IABTI, and RUSI and has authored three international patents in materials to counter explosives and chemicals.
Job Titles:
- CEO, RE:ACT, UK
- Chief Executive RE:ACT Disaster Response, United Kingdom
Dr Toby Wicks is a geographer and humanitarian. His career has focused on introducing and applying innovations in data and technology to some of the world's biggest challenges. He is currently Chief Executive of the international disaster response NGO, RE:ACT. Prior to his current role, Toby led a transformational change programme as the Chief of Data and Analytics at UNICEF and before that he led the Management Information team at the Department for International Development (now FCDO). In previous regional humanitarian roles at UNICEF, he managed responses in the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Libya, and Yemen. Toby's early career was focused on geospatial data, including roles with the World Health Organisation, Ordnance Survey, and as a volunteer and board member with the NGO
MapAction. He holds a PhD in remote sensing and an MBA from INSEAD.
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Director &, Founder, Green Energy Association of Israel ( GEA - IL )
Eitan Parnass is the founder & Managing Director of the Green Energy Association of Israel, the main Renewables, Energy Efficiency & EV industry advocacy organization of Israel. Established in 2009 by Parnass, GEA-IL is promoting for the past 13 years the implementation of renewable electricity production and energy efficiency in Israel, using the professional energy industry knowledge & skills. One of the main objectives of GEA- IL is providing decision makers the necessary information and tools to achieve national goals and promote enabling-policy, to foster the green energy sector growth. GEA-IL was involved in the formation of the various green energy regulations, from the launch of the first Solar PV regulations (2008) and has marked many achievements since. In 2017 the Israeli RES national policy goals were adopted in legislation, setting a landmark achievement for GEA-IL activities. Since 2018 GEA-IL is also promoting the Implementation of Electric Transportation in Israel with members from the car importers and charge point operators community. GEA-IL enjoys the recognition of national and local government in Israel and represents the green energy industry in various official committees and decision-making platforms.
The holistic approach to Energy has gained GEA-IL strong bond with the Israeli Energy & Sustainability community, including NGOs, experts, public figures, aside regulators and decision-makers. Parnass is also a public pro-sustainability activist involved in numerous initiatives to promote sustainable economy in Israel and worldwide. Parnass was one of the founding architects of the Global Solar Council, launched at Paris COP21, where he served as Board Member & first Secretary of the Board (2015-2017). Parnass has also served as Board Member to various NGOs including the Israel Sustainable Energy Society (ISES), Vice President of GIREC (Israel-Germany Renewable Energy Committee), and is a notable speaker at the academy, industry, local & international conferences and seminars. Parnass was selected as CleanTech man of the year (2012) and received the Brian Medwood award (2014) and was chosen by The MARKER magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the Israeli economy of the year (2019).
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director, Construction at BEIS
- Deputy Director, Infrastructure and Construction Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, United Kingdom
- Deputy Director, Infrastructure, Construction & Rail, Department for Business & Trade, UK
Fergus is the Deputy Director, Construction at BEIS. He is responsible for delivering the Construction Sector Deal, and working to deliver a more productive and sustainable construction sector in the UK. Member of the Digital Frameworks Task Group, the i3P Strategy Board and the Network+ Strategy Board.
14:40: The unique and changing role of multinational corporations, international organizations and energy producers
Energy producers have taken a unique place in today's changing geopolitical reality. Multinational corporations and international government agencies have unique global footprints, and some are playing roles that appear to overlap those of national governments. Are energy producers, megacompanies and international agencies part of the answer for human continuity?
Frank Koza served as EIS Council's Electric Subsector Coordinator, working with leading power companies and their partners to help coordinate resilience planning for a wide range of hazard scenarios.
Prior to joining the Council in 2017, Mr. Koza was Executive Director of Infrastructure Planning at PJM, responsible for system operations and system planning and for the technical staff associated with generator interconnection and implementation of transmission enhancement. He also served as Vice Chair of the NERC Geomagnetic Disturbance Task Force, and formerly as Chair of the NERC Operating Reliability Subcommittee.
Previously, Frank Koza worked at Exelon/PECO Energy in a variety of assignments including construction of fossil and nuclear generation facilities, construction and maintenance of transmission, system planning, and system operations.
Frank is a Registered Professional Engineer, PA. He holds a BSME from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Engineering from Widener University.
Gary was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
He holds Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez Campus.
He has a Professional Certificate in Database and Open Systems Administration from the InterAmerican University - Metropolitan Campus.
Gary started working for the Puerto Rico Energy Power Authority (PREPA) in 1995 as a Generation Shift Engineer at the Energy Control Center (ECC).
He worked in multiple positions under generation and transmission operational areas, until 2017, when he was promoted as System Operations Manager. Worked at the ECC on all storms, hurricanes, and major events since 1996, including the lead for the System Operations team on the restoration process during the Aguirre Plant event (September 2016), and Hurricane Irma and María (September 1997).
Job Titles:
- Vice President
- Vice President - Transmission, Dominion
J. Kevin Curtis is vice president-Transmission, Dominion Energy Virginia. He is responsible for over 6,700 miles of electric transmission lines and more than 800 substation assets providing service to the company's 2.7 million customers. These responsibilities include transmission and substation planning, engineering, project development, construction, operations and maintenance, compliance and the Electric Transmission System Operations Center. Curtis joined the company in 1986 as an associate engineer. He held management positions in Electric Distribution in System Reliability and System Planning and became manager-Electric Transmission in 2006. He was promoted to director-Electric Transmission Planning & Marketing in 2007, and became director-Electric Transmission SOC & Planning in 2010. Curtis became director-Electric Transmission Planning & Strategic Initiatives in 2013, and vice president-Technical Solutions, Power Delivery Group in 2015. He assumed his current post in 2018. He serves on the board of the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation and the industry advisory board for the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Old Dominion University. He is a registered professional engineer in Virginia and North Carolina. Curtis received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- President
- President & CEO, North American Electric Reliability Corporation
- President and Chief Executive Officer, NERC, USA
James B. Robb assumed the role of NERC's president and chief executive officer
in April 2018. Robb oversees NERC's mission of assuring the reliability and
Now volunteeting as an advisor to the EIS Council, James G. Roche served from 2001 to 2005 as the 20th Secretary of the United States Air Force. His responsibilities as the civilian leader of the Air Force included organizing, training and equipping the Air Force to fight the nation's wars as part of a Joint and/or Coalition Team. He was responsible for over 700,000 Active, Reserve, Guard and civilian airmen, and a budget in excess of $100 billion.
Prior to his Air Force service, he was the Corporate Vice President and President of the Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector (ESSS) of the Northrop Grumman Corporation. He was the Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Electronics Sensors and Systems Division (the former Westinghouse Electronics Systems Group) from March 1996 to September 1998. The Sector was established in 1998 and combined all the electronics businesses of the Northrop Grumman Corporation. He built the business from sales of $2 billion to $3 billion, and left a backlog of $5 billion.
Prior to this, he was the Corporate Vice President and Chief Advanced Development, Planning, and Public Affairs Officer responsible for the company's Advanced Technology and Development Center, Business Strategy Group, the Washington Analysis Center, State Relations and the Public Affairs Department. He was the Chief Strategist of the firm, taking the early lead in all M&A activities. He is credited with being one of the key leaders in the development of a new business strategy that led to the Northrop Grumman of today.
He led the Transition Team responsible for merging the Northrop, Grumman, and Vought corporations, as well as the integration of the Westinghouse defense businesses. Formerly, he was the Assistant to the Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. Before July 1989, he was the Vice President and Director of the Northrop Analysis Center in Washington, D.C. (since 1984); the Center conducts policy and strategy analyses for the Corporation.
Before joining Northrop, Dr. Roche was the Democratic Staff Director of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, where he worked for Senators Scoop Jackson and Sam Nunn.
He served as the Principal Deputy Director of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff from 1981-1982. He was a senior professional staff member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1979-1981, and was an Assistant Director of the Office of Net Assessment in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1975-1979.
Dr. Roche is a retired Captain in the U.S. Navy, having commanded the USS Buchanan DDG-14. He won the Pacific Theater Arleigh Burke Fleet Trophy (1974), awarded to the commander of the most improved combat unit in the Pacific.
Dr. Roche holds a Doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in the fields of Decision Analysis and Management Control (1972). He received his Master's Degree in Operations Research, with distinction, in 1966 from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, and his Bachelor of Science Degree in English Literature in 1960 from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He has been awarded Honorary Doctorate degrees from the Illinois Institute of Technology and St. Thomas Aquinas College.
He has served on the board of advisors of a number of public policy institutions. He is the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Tech Research Corporation. He served on the Board of CADRE, an innovation institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was a member of the Secretary of Defense's Policy Board from 1989 to 1994, and the International Institute of Strategic Studies until 2012. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, and the Conquistadores Del Cielo along with many of the senior leaders of the airline and aerospace industry. He serves on the Board of the Friends of the Jewish Chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy, the Board of Advisors of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and the US Energy Security Council. He was on the Board of Visitors of St. John's College, and the Board of Visitors of the University of Maryland, as well as the Board of Visitors of the Business School at the University of Southern California. He also served on the Board of Directors of McAndrews and Forbes Worldwide, the Board of TechTeam Global, and the Board of CompuDyne. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Orbital ATK. He was a member of the North American Advisory Board for Schott, US, a leader in glass products, and was on the Advisory Board of Israel Aircraft Industries North America (IAINA) until both were disestablished. He is a member of the Annapolis Yacht Club, and the Annapolitan Club. He continues to do strategic consulting for defense and technology based firms, specifically Northrop Grumman, as well as pro bono work for the Department of Defense.
Job Titles:
- Research Geophysicist / USGS Advisor for Geomagnetic Research, USA
- Research Geophysicist in the Geomagnetism Program of the U.S. Geological Survey
John B. Lile had a long career with the Kentucky State Police where he held every rank from Trooper to Deputy Commissioner.
As a Captain, he commanded the Dry Ridge and Frankfort Post overseeing the daily operations. After receiving a Promotion to Major, he supervised the Information Services, Drug Enforcement/ Special Investigations, Professional Standards and the 8 posts in the West Operations Branches. Promoted to Lt. Colonel, he served as the Division Director for the Service, Administrative and the Operations Divisions. Lile was promoted to Colonel and served as Deputy Commissioner for Governmental Affairs where he coordinated activities with the Kentucky General Assembly. Governor Paul D. Patton appointed Lile as Deputy Secretary of the Kentucky Justice Cabinet. Lile was also appointed Director of the Kentucky Police Corps at the Department for Criminal Justice Training.
For the last ten years he has been a part time contract employee at the Franklin County Health Department as the Preparedness Coordinator.
Lile holds an undergraduate degree from Eastern Kentucky University majoring in Law Enforcement with a minor in Political Science and a Master's Degree in Public Affairs from Kentucky State University.
Brigadier General (Retired) John W. Heltzel received his military commission in the Kentucky National Guard from Eastern Kentucky University in 1979. Over his 33 year military career he commanded at the battery, battalion and regimental levels. In 2007, General Heltzel was selected to serve as the Deputy Commander/Assistant Adjutant General of Kentucky's Joint Force Headquarters where he directed the training of the Kentucky National Guard in direct support of the Homeland and Global Security Mission.
In 2006, General Heltzel assumed the position of President and Chief Operations Officer for Cyber Defenses Incorporated (CDI), an Information Assurance (IA) company. In July 2008, Governor Steve Beshear appointed General Heltzel to head the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management. During that time he led the Commonwealth's response to 10 presidentially declared disasters.
General Heltzel served as the Chairman of the Central United States Earthquake Consortium from 2009 through 2012. In 2010 and 2011, he led the planning and development for portions of the National Level Exercise focused on the natural threat of the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). General Heltzel served as a regional vice president of the National Emergency Management Association from 2009 through 2013, chairing the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) committee from 2011 through 2013.
Job Titles:
- Director, Program Planning & Operational Architecture
- US Army Corps of Engineers Officer
John Organek is a retired US Army Corps of Engineers Officer who has served a second career practicing enterprise, system and technical architecture for over 25 years in both the private and public sectors. During his two careers he has served in a wide variety of positions and assignments of increasing responsibility, with extensive experience in national-level systems.
John served in the US Army for over 23 years during which time he served in staff and command positions in the Republic of Korea and in the Republic of Vietnam, performing combat, construction and staff engineering duties.
In the private sector John has worked with The NASDAQ Stock Market, National Association of Securities Dealers, First Union Bank and The Federal Reserve, as well as with several startup companies. In the Government sector, John has been the Chief Architect for Army business systems and business architect for an ERP implementation at Department of Homeland Security. He also served as a consultant to the Riga Stock Exchange and to the Consolidated Financial Regulator in the Republic of Latvia, and conducted an evaluation of Communications-Based Train Control systems, for the Federal Transit Agency.
John received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and a Master of Science in Hydrosystems Engineering, from the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois.
Job Titles:
- Director, Office of Energy Infrastructure Security, FERC ( Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ), USA
- FERC Director of the Office of Energy Infrastructure Security
- First Director of the Office of Energy Infrastructure Security
- Session Chair
Joseph H. McClelland was appointed the first Director of the Office of Energy Infrastructure Security (OEIS) by Chairman Jon Wellinghoff in September 2012. OEIS is the new FERC office that will provide leadership, expertise and assistance to identify, communicate and seek comprehensive solutions to potential risks to FERC-jurisdictional facilities from cyber attacks and such physical threats as electromagnetic pulses.
Prior to directing OEIS, Mr. McClelland served as the first Director of the Office of Electric Reliability, which was created in 2007. He joined the Commission in 2004 as Director of the Division of Reliability within the Office of Energy Markets and Reliability.
Mr. McClelland came to the Commission with more than 20 years of experience in the electric utility industry. He began his career with Allegheny Energy Inc., holding a variety of positions in engineering, marketing, regulation and rates, and project development. Immediately prior to joining the Commission, Mr. McClelland was the General Manager of the Custer Public Power District in Broken Bow, Nebraska. Joe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
Mr. McClelland lives in Chambersburg, PA with his wife and sons.
Job Titles:
- Global Skill Leader Resilience, ARUP, UK
Juliet is the Global Resilience Skills Leader at Arup, working with a broad community of inspiring and dedicated resilience practitioners. She helps organizations understand their risks due to climate change and other shocks and stresses and achieve greater resilience of the infrastructure systems they are responsible for. She promotes a systemic approach to resilience, considering robustness, redundancy, adaptive capacity and the ability to transform where necessary. She enjoys her work's multi-disciplinary, cross-sectoral nature and seeks to deliver solutions through collaboration and integration across the system and throughout the infrastructure life cycle.
Job Titles:
- Founder, Whole System Approach & Serco
- Founder, Whole System Approach Project Leader, PROBONO H2020 Former Innovation Lead, SERCO"
- Panel Chair
Laurence Marzell leads Whole System Approach, an operationally focused research and innovation practice he founded in 2022.
Drawing upon his practical experience of leading research and innovation projects for Serco's UK & Europe division over the last decade, he has deep experience of the practical translation and exploitation of research and innovation outputs into day to day operational needs on the ground.
At Serco, Laurence led the participation in a number of EU Horizon 2020 projects in: Community policing; virtual and augmented reality training of crisis and first responders; the governance, integration and application of Earth Observation data with the wider information and intelligence mix; and resource and energy efficient renovation under the EU's Green Deal.
Laurence speaks regularly at conferences and events and is a contributor into specialist and subject matter journals and books. He sits on the Centric External Advisory Board and is an Associate Partner of Intensive Engagement, a not-for-profit organisation building stronger and more resilient communities from the grass roots up, with communities, for public safety. Laurence was a contributor and advisory board member of an EU funded consortium of an International Security Management degree course now offered by Erasmus University, Rotterdam to in excess of 15,000 students worldwide.
Laurence is a Management Consultant within Serco Consulting and Senior consultant at Serco.
Whole System Approach which is an operationally focussed research and innovation SME established this year. Drawing upon over a decade of practical experience of its founder, Laurence Marzell in leading research and innovation projects for Serco's UK & Europe division, Whole System Approach is an agile methodology to simplify and support better informed decision-making within complex and dynamic environments. It recognises that within such environments, multiple stakeholders and their many separate interests, sit side by side with a need to better understand collective risk and work collaboratively to achieve shared outcomes. Whole System Approach recognises that within such environments, everything is connected. Thus, to achieve better informed decision-making amongst multiple stakeholders in pursuit of shared outcomes, there needs to be a Combined Effect of the Collective Effort. And this needs to be conducted in a sensitive, agile, and evidence-based way. Whole System Approach does just this, to achieve practical translation and exploitation of research and innovation outputs into day-to-day operational needs on the ground. Centred around six key capability areas that sustain both the physical and human aspects of operating within complex environments, these are: Governance, People, Process, Technology, Information and Infrastructure which together, provide any organisation or system of multiple organisations needing to work together, with the building blocks for their function and operation; either as single entities or as integrated System of Systems. Whole System Approach aligns governance and operational delivery at the intersection and boundaries between organisations, whether public, private, voluntary and community, focussing on how these organisations need to come together to better understand, manage and meet their shared needs and outcomes.
Lihi joined EIS Council's leadership team in 2020, serving as the Director of Digital Transformation. She is responsible for managing all the Council's digital initiatives with the aim of building and growing the international online community, supporting new programs and initiatives. Lihi leads EIS projects related to marketing and branding, is in charge of social content, CRM implementation and the EIS academy.
x Rt Hon. Lord James Arbuthnot of Edrom The Rt. Hon. Lord James Arbuthnot, MP, Baron Arbuthnot of Edrom, became a Life Peer and a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords in 2015. Previously, he served as Chair of the UK House of Commons Defence Committee, a position he held from 2005 to 2015. From 2001 to 2005 James Arbuthnot was Shadow Secretary of State for Trade, and also a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee. Previous to this, he served as Minister of State for Defence Procurement (1995-1997) and Opposition Chief Whip (1997 -2001), after serving as a Government Whip and Parliamentary Undersecretary of State at the Department of Social Security. James Arbuthnot first entered the UK Parliament in 1987 as MP for Wanstead & Woodford and, beginning in1997, represented North East Hampshire. Rt Hon. Lord James Arbuthnot of Edrom Former Chair of the UK House of Commons Defence Committee
Job Titles:
- Chairman at National Preparedness Commission, United Kingdom
- Chairman of the National Trading Standards Board
- Member of the House of Lords Chair, National Preparedness Commission, United Kingdom
Lord Toby Harris has been Chair of the National Trading Standards Board, which is responsible for delivering national and cross-boundary consumer protection enforcement activity, since May 2013. He is also the UK Coordinator of the Electrical Infrastructure Security Council. In 2016, he conducted an Independent Review for the Mayor of London on London's Preparedness to Respond to a Terrorist Attack.
At the request of the Minister for Prisons, he led an Independent Review on the Deaths of Young People in Prison Custody. The report ("The Harris Review: Changing Prisons, Saving Lives") that was published in July 2015 and is the most substantial review of penal policy for nearly thirty years. He was also Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody that reports to the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office and the Department of Health from 2009 to 2015.
He was made a Life Peer in June 1998 and is Chair of the Labour Peers. In 2013, he chaired the House of Lords Committee on the Olympic and Paralympic Legacy. He has been a member of the Joint Committee on National Security from 2016 and previously from 2010 to 2014. He was also a member of the House of Lords Select Committee that reported on Personal Internet Security in 2007. He is Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Policing and an Officer of the Parliamentary Internet and Communications Technology Forum.
He was born in 1953 and graduated from Cambridge University in 1975, having studied Natural Sciences and Economics and where he was President of the Cambridge Union. His professional career began with four years in the Economics Division of the Bank of England. He then spent seven years at the Electricity Consumers' Council, becoming Deputy Director in 1983. In 1987, he became Director of the Association of Community Health Councils for England and Wales (the national statutory body representing patients' interests). He remained there until October 1998, when he established his own public affairs consultancy, Toby Harris Associates, which advises a number of major public and private sector bodies. He is a non-executive director of Cybersecurity Challenge UK, and a number of other companies.
He was a member of the London Assembly from May 2000 to June 2004, on which he led the Labour Group and he was the first Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA). He continued to sit on the MPA from 2004 until 2012, as the representative of the Home Secretary with a remit to oversee the national and international functions of the Metropolitan Police - primarily its role in counter-terrorism and security. He also oversaw their risk management and audit, and was the interim chair of the Audit Panel for the Metropolitan Police Service and the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime.
He was a member of Haringey Council from 1978 to 2002 and was its Leader from 1987 to 1999, having previously spent five years as Chair of Social Services. He was Chair of the Association of London Government (now London Councils), representing the 33 local authorities in London, from its formation in 1995 until 2000, and is now one of its Joint Presidents. He previously chaired the Association of London Authorities.
From 1986 to 1993, he was Chair of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities' Social Services Committee and led for local government in negotiations about the introduction of Community Care and the Children Act. He was also a member of the Executive (and later a Vice President) of the Local Government Association for a number of years. He was also a member of the Executive of the Association of Police Authorities from 2000 to 2006 and was a Vice President from 2006 until 2012.
He chairs the Wembley National Stadium Trust, was the first Chair of the Institute of Commissioning Professionals, has been a non-executive director of the London Ambulance Service, a Senior Associate of the Kings Fund, and a member of the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants. He is a former member of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director of the Governor 's Office of Emergency Services
- Director of the California Governor 's Office of Emergency Services ( Cal OES ), USA
Mark Ghilarducci serves as the Director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) within the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom. Ghilarducci was appointed January 8, 2019 by Governor Newsom to continue his service as Director, following his appointment on July 1, 2013 by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. Ghilarducci also previously served as Secretary of the California Emergency Management Agency, appointed in February 2012 by Governor Brown.
Mikael Odenberg has held various public offices since the mid 70s. He entered into Parliament after the general elections in 1991 as a Moderate MP for the Stockholm Constituency. He stayed in Parliament for 16 years..
In Parliament Mr. Odenberg served as Party Spokesman on Energy Affairs 1994 - 1998, on Labour Market Affairs 1998 - 2002 and on Ecomic Affairs 2003 - 2006. He was Parliamentary Leader for the Moderate Party 2003 - 2006 and was appointed Minister for Defence after the general elections in 2006.
After resigning on his own request from the cabinet post in 2007 the Swedish Government in 2008 appointed him as President and CEO of Affärsverket Svenska Kraftnät (Swedish National Grid) - the Swedish electricity transmission system operator (TSO). He stayed in office during nine years, until 2017.
Mr. Odenberg has been member of the Swedish Government's Crisis Management and President of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences. He also has a reserve officer training, major (res.) in the Swedish Marines.
Miranda Ballentine, now volunteering as an advisor for the EIS Council, is a senior executive with a history of success in c-suite-level leadership roles requiring adaptability and strategic decision-making to balance competing priorities.
Ms. Ballentine has a proven track record of intra-preneurship in the corporate, non-profit, and government sectors, and across multiple fields, including energy, sustainability, construction and facilities, finance, and retail. Ms. Ballentine brings two decades' experience leading high-performing, global and community-based teams, both vertically and in matrixed environments. She is skilled at both seeing the big picture and diving into details, balancing analytics with business intuition. As a leader who cares, empowers, and builds people and teams, she brings an ability to identify relationships between programs and organizations to breakdown silos and build collaborative partnerships. She has proven excellence in influencing global teams with no direct reporting authority, successfully building consensus among peers, superiors, and direct reports with collegiality and cultural sensitivity. Ms. Ballentine is also a passionate and articulate public speaker, with experience across: media, conferences, motivational talks, and classrooms.
Most recently appointed by President Obama to be the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Installations, Environment, and Energy), a 4-star civilian equivalent position, Ms. Ballentine was an integral member of the Air Force's top executive team, alongside the Secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force's 4-star Generals. She was responsible for the oversight, formulation, and execution of plans, policies, programs, and budgets for: 170 Air Force installations; a $9 billion annual energy budget; a $4.5 billion annual construction budget; environmental conservation, restoration & compliance programs for nine million acres of land, 200 miles of coast line, 600,000 acres of forestland, and 270,000 acres of wetlands; safety & occupational health for 660,000 employees; and program execution by 50,000 engineers around the world. Under her leadership, the Air Force scaled energy resiliency and created a new Office of Energy Assurance, to make mission-assurance a central tenant of every energy project. She launched the Resilient Energy Demonstration Initiative (REDI), which developed and oversaw designs for smart, cyber-secure microgrids, including a "Future Forward Operating Base." She provided war-fighting Commanders, for the first time, with visibility to strategic risk-to-mission from kinetic and cyber-attacks to the power grid, Air Force energy assets, and industrial control systems, and she oversaw energy policies for the nation's largest fleet of aircraft, facilitating efficiencies worth $1.2 Billion in savings. Ms. Ballentine garnered the trust and respect of top Air Force Generals and was awarded the Pentagon's top citation for civilian leadership.
Prior to the Air Force, Ms. Ballentine served as the Director of Sustainability for Global Renewable Energy & Sustainable Facilities at Walmart Stores, Inc. In this role, she led a team of 60+ colleagues from fifteen countries to develop strategies toward Walmart's goal to be supplied by 100% renewable energy. These programs identified over $1 billion in potential annual energy savings and 9 million metric ton of avoided GHG potential. Ms. Ballentine served as a relationship architect, successfully building dozens of NGO partnerships to minimize negative public-facing campaigns and capitalize on NGOs expertise.
Prior to the Air Force and Walmart, Ms. Ballentine was the Vice President of Investor Analysis and Chief Operating Officer at David Gardiner & Associates where she informed multi-million-dollar investment decisions by analyzing companies' off-balance sheet risks and opportunities. She has provided climate change, environmental, and sustainability strategies to Fortune 500 corporations, institutional investors, socially responsible investors, and environmental groups.
Ms. Ballentine holds a Bachelors of Science in Neuro-Psychology from Colorado State University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude, and a Masters of Business Administration from George Washington University, where she finished in the top 5% of her class.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management
Mr. David Maxwell, up to 2022, worked for Electric Infrastructure Security Council as a Sector Coordinator for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO). In this role, Mr. Maxwell ensured the NGO Sector was prepared for a major outage on the electrical grids that could last days/weeks/months.
In 2006, Maxwell was appointed Director of the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM) and State Homeland Security Advisor. He had over 38 years of service with the agency, was the designated State Coordinating Officer for twenty-four federally declared disasters and one federally declared emergency.
As Director, Maxwell chaired the Arkansas Homeland Security Executive Committee and served on the Arkansas Governor's Earthquake Advisory Council, State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), Arkansas Wireless Information Network (AWIN) Executive Committee, and Arkansas Tech Emergency Administration and Management Citizens Advisory Council.
Mr. Maxwell served at various times as the chair of the NEMA Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) Committee, Preparedness Committee and Response and Recovery Committee, as well as helping form and chairing a working group between NEMA and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). Additionally, David served on the Board of Directors of the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) and was a member of the Executive Committee of the National Governors Association (NGA) Governors Homeland Security Advisors Council for which he chaired the Catastrophic Disaster and Preparedness Committee. In 2015, David was awarded the Lacy E. Suiter Distinguished Service Award by the National Emergency Management Association. David Maxwell holds a Master's Degree in Sociology from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas with a Bachelor's Degree from Arkansas Tech University.
Job Titles:
- Head of Power System Dynamics Dept., NOGA ( Israel ISO )
x Naomi Etzion Naomi Etzion works in the Planning and Development division at NOGA - the Israeli Independent System Operator company. She worked at Israel Electric Corporation for more than 30 years, until NOGA was established by the Israeli government at 2020. Her fields of expertise are power system dynamics and transient phenomena studies, power system survivability, increasing power system efficiency under system development constrains. In this role she also analyzes system resilience after multiple component outages that can cause extensive regional blackouts, using advanced computational methods. Naomi Etzion is involved in preparing the Israeli system to massive absorption of renewable energy projects. In this context, she is in charge of the dynamic studies regarding the influence of connecting new generation units, and defines the requirements that will ensure the continuity and survivability of the future electric supply. By leading the resilience team in the planning division she is responsible for planning the electric system such it will withstand diverse events that can widely affect it. Naomi Etzion holds B.Sc. Degree and M.Sc. Degree in Electrical Engineering, both from the Technion, Haifa, Israel. Naomi Etzion Head of Power System Dynamics Dept. NOGA - Israeli Independent System Operator.
Job Titles:
- Director of Systems Integration, HS2 LTD, England
- Head of Systems Integration, HS2, England
An accomplished and internationally experienced Chartered Engineer from within the rail and metro sector with a demonstrable record of achievement on major new build and upgrade programmes. Nasser Combines expert knowledge of engineering and integration processes with advanced management capabilities to lead large multi-functional teams to deliver results. Nassar is a very resourceful, financially astute and end-user focused individual, offering strong business and technical leadership, and exceptional influencing skills
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director, Clean Energy Buyers Association ( CEBA )
- Director, Transaction Acceleration Group, CEBA, USA
x Ornella Nicolacci Ornella joins CEBA from the World Economic Forum, where she led the operations of the Platform for Accelerating Nature-Based Solutions. In this capacity, she created the structure necessary to effectively run the programs in several geographical regions and maximize impact through outcome-oriented stakeholder engagement. Prior to that, she worked to bring efficiency and compliance to the operations of Central America and the Caribbean at the Inter-American Development Bank and the Los Angeles Tourism Board. She's also worked in investment research and security services. Ornella holds an MPA from the London School of Economics and Science Po Paris, and speaks Spanish, French and Italian. Ornella Nicolacci Director, Transaction Acceleration Group, CEBA, USA
Job Titles:
- Oscar Criado Is a Senior Research Associate at the Transport Strategy Centre ( TSC ) at Imperial College London
- Senior Research Associate at the Transport Strategy Centre ( TSC ), Imperial College London
Oscar has fourteen years of professional experience as a civil engineer specialised in transport engineering, in roles related to both research and industry. Oscar joined the TSC in 2015, and since then he has focused on railway asset management and airport benchmarking. He is currently the project manager of the Railway Infrastructure Asset Management Group and co-project manager of the Airport Benchmarking Group.
Previously, Oscar worked at Network Rail, the infrastructure manager of the railway network in the United Kingdom, and at the Centre for Innovation in Transport (CENIT), a research centre at the Technical University of Catalonia, in Barcelona (Spain).
At Network Rail, Oscar was a project manager and analyst within the Strategy Group and his role focused on long term strategic planning of the British network developing capability analysis for route studies, and assisting the early stage development of infrastructure projects with railway operational analysis.
Oscar Criado is a Senior Research Associate at the Transport Strategy Centre (TSC) at Imperial College London.
Job Titles:
- President
- Managing Director, Phoenix Resilience LTD Formerly, Bank of England, UK
- President of the Electric Infrastructure Security
- Senior Technology & Operations Resilience Advisor, Expert
Paul Williams is a highly experienced Senior Technology & Operations Resilience Advisor, expert in defining operational resilience strategy that ensures alignment and underpins successful implementation. He currently operates as an Independent Contractor (via Phoenix Resilience Ltd) where he provides Board level strategy, training and advises on cyber and operational resilience, with particular focus on UK Financial Regulations.
Mr. Williams is an industry recognized thought leader in the development of operational resilience strategy. He has held a number of senior Operational Risk & Resilience positions including 8 years at the Bank of England where he established himself as a leading authority in cyber, technology, operational risk & resilience and 3rd party risk management.
Paul Williams is President of the Electric Infrastructure Security (EIS) Council. Mr Williams is a Globally recognised leader in technology and operations resilience, with exceptional experience, insight, and expertise in developing operationally robust and regulatorily compliant resilience strategies, operations, and organisations. He has leadership experience in technology and technology risk, within international banking. As well as regulatory experience including leadership of UK domestic regulation development, specialist supervision of non-financial risks, and coordination of several international initiatives. Mr Williams has participated in NATO, RUSI and various other domestic and international conferences, and is a Commissioner on the UK's National Preparedness Commission.
Mr Williams led development of operational resilience regulations in UK Financial Services, which substantively informed International Financial Services Regulations, and British Standard 65000 on organisational resilience. He has led development of public/private partnership initiatives from inception, through to delivery of robust operational frameworks, based on public/private cooperation. These include sector-wide exercising and crisis response capabilities. Mr Williams was founding chair of several cyber collaboration groups, focused on public/private collaboration on cyber threat intelligence, as well as leading a group of European Regulators to collectively author a key paper exploring the potential for systemic cyber risk and the appropriate responses. Mr Williams was founding member of the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governor's Cyber Experts Group, latterly taking on the role of co-Chair with the US Treasury Department.
During Mr Williams extensive career in Technology Infrastructure leadership, he led global technology infrastructure teams in London, USA and Asia, to deliver efficient and resilient infrastructure strategies, to satisfy divergent business demands. His career included leadership of a wide-scale infrastructure resilience delivery project with a value running to £000m's.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Partnership Engagement, North Carolina Emergency Management
- Private Sector Manager, North Carolina Div of Emerg. Mgmnt, US
Job Titles:
- Professor of Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London, England
Job Titles:
- Associate Prof Business Continuity, University College London, England
Prof. PescaroliI's research focus on complexity, cascading risk, and concurrencies applied to resilience management. Operational continuity is the way forward for managing systemic risk. Going beyond DRR and BCM.
He believes that society looks at risk exactly like an arrogant cat. And he can prove that.
Job Titles:
- Chairman in Complex Systems in the Civil, Environmental, and Geomatics Engineering Department, University College London ( UCL ), United Kingdom
- Professor
Professor Liz Varga has a chair in Complex Systems in the Civil, Environmental, and Geomatics Engineering Department, University College London (UCL). She leads the Infrastructure Systems Institute and teaches, writes, and advises globally on energy, transport, digital communications, water and waste. Her key research themes are infrastructure resilience, sustainable innovation and circularity, and decarbonisation, and uses methods such as digital twins, hybrid models, and artificial intelligence. She is a commissioner with the National Preparedness Commission and a fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Building Engineers (FCABE) and the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS). She is a director of UKCRIC Limited and coordinated the UK Collaboratorium for Research in Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC) (https://www.ukcric.com/). She is a co-investigator for the Data and Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure (https://dafni.ac.uk/) and project manager for a new international standard ISO 22372 on infrastructure resilience.
Job Titles:
- Founding Professor
- Professor
- Technical Director at Arcadis for Town Planning and Stakeholder Capability, United Kingdom
Professor Samer Bagaeen's breadth of experience lies across local government, academia, and urban planning. He identifies interdisciplinary problems and solutions in the context of climate resilience in roles across multiple sectors. He is a Technical Director with the Environmental Planning team at Arcadis, a Professor of Planning & Resilient Systems, and an elected City Council Member since 2019.
Job Titles:
- Head of the Department
- Professor in Positioning and Navigation Systems
Job Titles:
- Dean of the School of Sustainability, Reichmann University, Israel
- Dean, School of Sustainability, Reichmann University, Israel
Prof. Yoav Yair is the Dean of the School of Sustainability at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC). His main research fields include atmospheric electricity, lightning (on Earth and other planets), space weather, solar-terrestrial relations and transient luminous events (sprites).
He conducted space-based experiments from the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station and was project manager for the Israeli astronaut mission in 2003 (the MEIDEX). He is the author of several text books in the atmospheric sciences and authored (and co-) over 95 refereed papers.
Prof. Yair is also an expert on ICT and Learning Technologies, and served as head of the Center for Technology in Distance Education at the Open University of Israel (2004-2009), and Dean of Development and Learning Technologies there (2009-2012), where he supervised the testing, dissemination and research of various new technologies in higher education, with focus on video, digital books and mobile reading devices. Between 2012-2014 he headed the Israeli national Inter-University Center for Learning Technologies.
Prof. Yair is an experienced speaker, session chair and organizer of numerous professional meetings (EGU, AGU). He gives public lectures and popular radio talks on various topics in educational technology, astronomy teaching, atmospheric science and space physics.
Dr. Jeffrey Love; Research Geophysicist (modeling GIC) in the Geomagnetism Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Ranger Dorn is the Exercise Coordinator for the EIS Council and has helped with the development and delivery of EARTH EX as well as Black Sky Exercises since 2017. He is a founding member and Managing Partner with Utility Response Training Associates, LLC, providing training and exercises to utilities as well as private and public organizations throughout the US. Ranger served on Regional and National Incident Management Teams from 1997 to 2016, in the positions of Operations Section Chief, Deputy Incident Commander, and Incident Commander, responding to several incidents of national significance. Ranger is a Master Exercise Practitioner - MEP and has developed and delivered exercises from Tabletop to Full Scale nationwide, including evaluating a state response for a National Level Exercise. He has provided ICS training and course development to organizations throughout the US for FEMA, EMI, the National Sheriffs Association, the National Domestic Preparedness Coalition Inc, the US Coast Guard, several large electric, gas, and water utilities, as well as state and local government agencies. Ranger holds a Master's Degree in Public Administration as well as a BS in Fire Protection Administration.
Job Titles:
- Co - Director of the Transport Strategy Centre ( TSC ) at Imperial College London, UK
- Managing Director and Co - Director, Transport Strategy Centre, Imperial College London
Richard Anderson is the Co-Director of the Transport Strategy Centre (TSC) at Imperial College London, an applied and academic research division within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He co-directs a multi-disciplinary team, of researchers, practitioners, and consultants, specialising in the strategy, operation and management of transportation.
Richard leads the Centre's initiatives in international benchmarking, currently serving over 130 metros, railways, urban bus, light rail, airports and transport authorities globally. The Community of Metros is the most significant and long-standing of the consortia led by TSC. The annual benchmarking undertaken by the TSC is complemented by analyses of the key strategic and tactical challenges facing the industry, including recovery from COVID, financial sustainability, operational resilience and decarbonisation. The impact of the TSC's research and its application was a case study for the Faculty of Engineering's 2021 Research Excellence Framework submission, with benefits to industry measured at over £2 Billion over a 10-year period.
Richard has a unique, global knowledge of urban public transport operations and is a specialist in performance benchmarking and mass transit. The team he leads provides advice to the leaders of major transport operators worldwide. Richard combines an understanding of the commercial imperatives facing transport systems with academically rigorous research and analysis.
Job Titles:
- Chief of Staff by Chairman
- Chief of Staff, FERC ( Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ), USA
Previously, Ronan served as the Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs for Mayor Muriel Bowser in the District of Columbia. Prior to that Ronan worked as a Manager of Government Affairs for Washington Gas, and before that as Chief of Staff and Committee Director for Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie whose committee had oversight of the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia. Ronan has also practiced as a litigator both in private practice and as a prosecutor.
Ronan earned a Juris Doctor from Howard University School of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. He lives with his son in Washington, D.C.
After retiring from a varied career as an educator, Sarah took the role of assistant to the CEO of EIS Council when the organization was in its formative stages. Providing wide ranging strategic advice and focused logistical support, she helped expand the original concept to its current full range of activities.
In November 2015 Sarah was appointed by the Board of Directors as advisor for EIS Council and has continued in that role until the present time. Today, Sarah is volunteering as Strategic Advisor, addressing both the organization's expanding initiatives and program development.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Security, and Preparedness, EEI
Scott has been with EEI since 2009 when he joined the government relations department focusing on security and several emerging technology issues, including electric grid modernization, cybersecurity policy, and telecommunications priorities. He now leads EEI's security and preparedness team where he focuses on industry security and resilience initiatives, establishing collaborative partnerships between government and electric companies-and across critical infrastructure sectors-that enhance security for the energy sector.
In addition to his role at EEI, Scott also serves as the Secretary for the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC). The ESCC is the primary liaison between senior government officials and industry leaders representing all segments of the sector. This partnership is held up as a model for how critical infrastructure operators can work with government, yielding dramatic improvements in security and preparedness for the electric power sector and the nation.
In these roles, Scott has provided testimony before several state legislative and regulatory bodies, both houses of the U.S. Congress, and to the United Nations Security Council. He speaks frequently with national media, is a board member of The George Washington University's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, and has been a trusted source for policymakers on issues of critical infrastructure security, including both the Pentagon's Defense Science Board and the President's National Infrastructure Advisory Council.
Prior to joining EEI, Scott was a senior adviser to Members of Congress serving the 12th Congressional District of California, including former House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos. From 2001 to 2007, he served as an economic policy adviser to U.S. Senator Bill Nelson.
Scott received a Bachelor's Degree in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder for his undergraduate studies, and a Master's Degree from The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. He also has received continuing education in executive leadership from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. He lives on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC with his wife, two daughters, a mutt, and a not-so-Great Dane.
Job Titles:
- Technical Director for Communications Systems
- Technical Director for Communications Systems, EIS Council, USA
- Technical Director, Communications Systems, EIS Council, US
Major Scott Blevins (Retired) served nearly 30 years in the Kentucky National Guard. Scott served in the Signal corps throughout his military career and has both hands on and strategic planning experience on a wide array of military tactical and commercial communications equipment. Scott's assignments included company level command, battalion operations officer, battalion and brigade S6 officer, and communications planner and network operations manager at the Kentucky Joint Forces State Headquarters.
Scott's expertise in military communications, public safety communications, and commercial data and voice communications makes him an invaluable planner for disaster response planning. During his tenure as the Kentucky National Guard's Communications Manager, Scott was called upon to assist in planning, providing and restoring communications during numerous floods, tornadoes and other federally declared disasters to include the 2009's catastrophic statewide ice storm in Kentucky.
In 2016 Scott founded his own Information Technology consulting firm, Leveled Up Inc. to help leaders leverage technology in accomplishing their strategic goals.
Scott holds an MBA from the University of Louisville and a Bachelor of Science degree in Justice Administration from the University of Louisville.
Job Titles:
- Backend Software Developer GINOM
Sebastian Castaneda is a master in computer science, software developer, martial arts practitioner and functional programming lover.
He has worked in many different kinds of projects based on distributed systems designing and teaching functional programming. He is cloud passionate, really enjoys learning new skills and to share time, coffee and ideas with other people.
Job Titles:
- Backend Software Developer at the Project GINOM
- Backend Software Developer GINOM
Sergei is a backend software developer at the project GINOM®, large-scale multi-sector meta-simulation. Over the last 11 years he has been participating in various engineering projects, such as development of numerical methods for inverse problems and differential equations in electrical engineering, simulations of the processes in industrial machines and devices, design and development of the backend systems, including microservices and streaming applications. His primary areas of expertise are concurrent and event-driven systems, cloud computing and functional programming. Additionally, Sergei contributes to writing technical articles on programming in Scala.
He holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering.
Shandi Treloar has had a successful career in emergency management working with clients and supporting the growth of public private partnerships. In 2016 Shandi started her own emergency management consulting firm, EM Strategies, LLC. As the Principal, her goal is to empower clients and partners to build stronger emergency management programs, from recovery processes, and debris management planning to strategic comprehensive program development.
Prior to EM Strategies, Ms. Treloar was an Associate at Dewberry where she was able to gain experience across the entire spectrum of emergency management. During her time at Dewberry she supported and managed a number of federal projects, such as supporting FEMA's NRCC after Hurricane Katrina, FEMA Region IX's Catastrophic Planning, FEMA's Technical Assistance Research Contract.
During the course of her career she has been afforded the opportunity to work with some of the nation's best emergency management experts. Currently Ms. Treloar is serving as the NEMA Private Sector Committee Chair. In this position she initiated the Information Sharing Task Force through a partnership with FEMA.
Previously Ms. Treloar served as the Earthquake Early Warning System's Education and Training Private Sector Sub-committee Co-Chair. Prior to emergency management, Ms. Treloar practiced social work.
Ms. Treloar holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from the University of Portland. She also holds a Masters of Arts in Political Management as well as a Graduate Certificate in Crisis and Emergency Management both from the George Washington University.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Chairman
- Chairman of United Utilities Group Chairman of Gatwick Airport
- Chairman, Gatwick Airport Limited, United Kingdom
- Chairman, Gatwick Airport LimitedSir David Higgins, Chairman
Sir David Higgins was appointed non-executive Chairman in January 2017.
As Chief Executive of Network Rail, Sir David initiated a major reform programme focussing on transparency, value for money and accountability. Sir David also served as Chief Executive of the organisation responsible for the delivery of the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Olympic Delivery Authority, establishing the organisation and negotiating the overall budget with HM Treasury, and led the commercial negotiations for Stratford City, London & Continental Railways, and Westfield.
Sir David holds a degree in Engineering from Sydney University and a Diploma from the Securities Institute. He is also a Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Civil Engineers. He was appointed Chairman of United Utilities in January 2020.
Steve Broughall has enjoyed a 30+ year career in both the public and private sectors. He has served as an Army officer and government senior civilian executive in assignments centered on the acquisition and management of critical information technology and business systems.
Career highlights include project manager of three major defense acquisition programs (Global Combat Support System, Combat Service Support Control System, and Army Knowledge Online), director of the US Army Strategic & Advanced Computer Center (Artificial Intelligence Center), director of the US Army International Technology Center, director of the Army's Business Mission Area organization, and Chief Information Officer of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. After leaving government he served as the Executive Vice President of Government Operations for McLane Advanced Technologies, part of the McLane Group. He has also been active as a consultant for several international Fortune 100 businesses and government organizations.
His postgraduate education includes an MS from the Florida Institute of Technology, an MA from the Naval War College, an MS from National Defense University (Industrial College of the Armed Forces), and the Senior Executive Service course at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina.
He began his public service as an Infantry officer commissioned through the Northeastern University ROTC program.
He currently resides with his family in Washington, DC and Orr's Island, Maine.
Job Titles:
- Strategy and Operations Director
x Temi Afolabi Temi leads Nichols' Environment and Energy transition business with specific focus on Energy Transition, Net Zero Delivery, Nature Based Solutions & Biodiversity and Water. Providing clients with strategic support in the delivery of complex projects, providing support in the area of transformational change for clients, people and planet. This is achieved through creativity; forward systems thinking and change leadership that enables a thriving organisation and economy. Temi has a background in Mechanical Engineering, and he has led teams in the successful delivery of complex infrastructure projects. At Crossrail he provided strategic direction and intervention on Testing & Commissioning activities, to enable the effective and efficient delivery of the Crossrail Programme. He provided leadership to station, shaft and portals teams in the area of systems integration as well as leading the resolution of programme wide technical integration challenges. Temi is a forward systems thinker, a natural leader who uses his skills and leadership style to ensure positive values, culture and behaviours that delivers long term benefits and outcomes. He seats on the Royal Academy of Engineering policy, skills and education committee, he works with various communities by providing strategic guidance on community related challenges and he provides mentoring support to various organisations. Temi Afolabi Strategy and Operations Director The Nichols Group, United Kingdom
Job Titles:
- Vice Chair
- President and CEO of Terry Boston, LLC, Former CEO of PJM Interconnection, USA
Terry Boston P.E served as CEO of PJM from 2008 to 2016 and received a 2017 Presidential Appointment to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council. He was the 130th president of the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies (Thomas Edison was the 1st) and past president of GO 15, the association of the world's largest power operators. He also received the International Leadership Awards for renewable integration from both the Electricity Storage Association and the Utility Wind Integration Group. He was unanimously selected the winner of the Platts Global Energy Lifetime Achievement Award.
After serving as president and CEO of PJM since 2008, Mr. Boston retired January 1, 2016. Among his many other public service roles, he is now volunteering as an advisor for the EIS Council.
Mr. Boston is past president of the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies and past president of GO 15, association of the world's largest power grid operators. He served as a U.S. VP of CIGRE, International Council of Large Electric Systems and received the CIGRE 2016 Attwood Award.
Mr. Boston was the first chair of the North American Transmission Forum, dedicated to excellence in performance and sharing industry best practices. He also was one of the eight industry experts selected to direct the North American Electric Reliability Corporation investigation of the August 2003 Northeast/Midwest blackout.
In 2014 Mr. Boston was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest professional honors accorded an engineer. Mr. Boston was honored with the 2011 "Leadership in Power" award from the IEEE Power and Energy Society. He led PJM to win Platts Global Energy Awards in Industry Leadership 2010, Excellence in Electricity in 2012 and in December 2015 he was unanimously selected the winner of the Global Energy Life Time Achievement Award.
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Liberty Petroleum Corporation Former Member of Congress, US
Trent Franks (born June 19, 1957) is a former American politician and businessman who served as the U.S. representative for Arizona's 8th congressional district from 2003 to 2017 (numbered as the 2nd district from 2003 to 2013). He is a member of the Republican Party. During his tenure, Franks served as vice chairman of the United States Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces and chairman of the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
Job Titles:
- President
- Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ( FERC ), US
- Chairman, FERC ( Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ), USA
Willie L. Phillips was named by President Biden to be Acting Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on January 3, 2023 and is serving a Commission term that ends June 30, 2026.
He most recently served as the Chairman of the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia, named to that role in 2018. He served on the Commission since 2014. He is an experienced regulatory attorney combining nearly 20 years of legal expertise in public and private practice. He has an extensive background in the areas of public utility regulation, bulk power system reliability, and corporate governance.
Prior to being appointed to the DCPSC, Mr. Phillips served as Assistant General Counsel for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), in Washington, D.C. Before joining NERC, he also worked for two law firms, where he advised clients on energy regulatory compliance and policy matters.
Mr. Phillips has also served on the boards of several organizations, including the board of directors for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and the Organization of PJM States (OPSI). He also has served as president of the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (MACRUC), and he has held leadership roles on several advisory councils, including the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Advisory Council.
Mr. Phillips has a Juris Doctor from Howard University School of Law, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Montevallo. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and two children.
Job Titles:
- YSICONS Founder & CEO, Former SVP, CIO & CISO at Isreal Electric
- YSICONS Founder, Senior Consultant, Leading the Cyber Entrepreneurship and Business Development at the Israel Electric Corp
Yosi Shneck, YSICONS founder, senior consultant, leading the Cyber entrepreneurship and business development at the Israel Electric Corp.
Consulting Boards and C-Level management in cyber, IT & OT systems, Critical Infrastructures, and electric utilities. Active in the Cyber entrepreneurship and business development unit at IEC, including R&D, cyber products and services development, support of the IEC's cyber unit, marketing, and deployment worldwide. Leading the R&D projects and activities in the European research programs for more than ten years, including the FP7 and Horizon 2020 programs. Energy and Security Coordinator at EIS Council.
More than 49 years of experience in computer systems & technologies in utilities, including information systems, scientific applications, supper computing & communication, control systems, infrastructures & architectures, and cyber. In addition to his duties as ITC leader, he was responsible for readying the company against cyber-attack threats, including IT/OT environments. Being accountable for the cyber activity of supercritical infrastructure, Mr. Shneck is involved in many nationwide and international initiatives in this field.
His previous functions in the IEC include SVP Information and Communications and Chief Cyber Officer; Head of Information Systems and Communication Division, CIO; Member of the selection committee for an investor in the new communication infrastructure company; Head of the National Communications and Electronics unit and Deputy of the Information Systems and Teleprocessing Division; Head of R&D computer department. Head of Cybergym steering committee.
A Brooklyn native whose roots are firmly planted in her Jamaican heritage and in the neighborhood where she grew up and currently resides, the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, U.S.A., Representative Yvette D. Clarke was first elected to Congress in November 2006 and represents the 9th Congressional District of New York. Rep. Clarke is the Vice Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and is a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
Through her leadership, Congress has enacted legislation and conducted oversight on a variety of critical issues, including cybersecurity, biodefense, pandemic influenza preparedness, nuclear detection, mitigating radiological attacks, agro-terrorism, homeland security research and development, and critical infrastructure protection, including most especially protection of the U.S. electric grid.
Importantly for EIS Council, she is the Democratic U.S. Congressional Co-Chair of the EIS Summit Series, beginning with the very first Summit in 2010.