Jacob Susman

Founder & CEO, OwnEnergy

Jacob Susman is the founder of OwnEnergy and has over eight years of investing and business development experience in renewable energy. Previously, Jacob was a founding member of Goldman Sachs' Alternative Energy Investing group, where he was involved in Goldman's investment in Horizon Wind Energy and co-led a portfolio financing that was named Project Finance’s N.A. Renewable Energy Deal of the Year. Jacob previously worked as a Project Manager for the AES Corporation on a team that developed one of the largest power plants in Spain, which was named as European IPP of the Year by Euromoney. While with AES, Jacob led the company’s efforts to develop a Spanish renewable energy business, which included negotiation of over 1,000 Mega Watts of wind energy investment opportunities. Jacob holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he led a team to the finals of the Business Plan Competition with the concept for OwnEnergy. Jacob and his wife, Jodi, have a daughter and live in Brooklyn, New York. They are active in the local community and are avid skiers.

Steve Chazen

President & CFO, Occidental Petroleum Corp.

Stephen Chazen serves as President and Chief Financial Officer of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, oil and gas exploration and production company and a marketer and manufacturer of chemicals. In 1994 he joined Occidental as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development. The additional responsibilities of Chief Financial Officer were added in 1999 and he was named Senior Executive Vice President in 2004. From 1982-94 he held various positions in the investment banking division of Merrill Lynch where his last position was as Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance.

Vijay Vaitheeswaran

Award-Winning Correspondent, The Economist

He joined the staff as the London-based Latin America Correspondent in 1992. He opened its first office in that region in Mexico City, and served as bureau chief until 1997. As the magazine’s Environment & Energy Correspondent, he covered the politics, economics, business and technology involved in those topics from 1998 to 2006. His portfolio now encompasses global health, biotechnology, and innovation.

Vijay is an advisor to the Davos World Economic Forum on clean energy issues, and has served as a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is on the faculty of NYU’s Stern Business School, and has lectured at Yale, Oxford, Harvard and other leading universities. He has had the honor of addressing groups ranging from the National Governors’ Association and the Clinton Global Initiative to the World Energy Council and Google.

Vijay is a frequent commentator on NPR, in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, and at other media outlets. Both Vijay and his recent Economist special report on Innovation featured prominently in a five-hour, prime-time series on CNBC (“The Business of Global Innovation”) that aired globally during 2008.

Vijay’s latest book, “ZOOM: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future”, co-authored with Economist colleague Iain Carson, has been named a Book of the Year by the Financial Times. He is also the author of another well-received book on the future of energy, “Power to the People” (www.vijaytothepeople.com). Harvard’s John Holdren, reviewing the book in Scientific American, called it “by far the most helpful, entertaining, up-to-date and accessible treatment of the energy-economy-environment problematique available.”

Vijay’s writings have received various prizes in America and abroad. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was born in Madras, India, and grew up in Cheshire, Connecticut. He now lives in New York.

Joe Dominguez

Senior Vice President for Governmental Affairs and General Counsel, Exelon Generation

Mr. Dominguez is Senior Vice President for Governmental Affairs and General Counsel, Exelon Generation. Exelon Generation owns and operates 17 nuclear plants around the country making it the largest private owner of nuclear plants in the World. Exelon is one of the nation’s largest electric generation companies with over 32,000 MWs of installed capacity in seven states. In his role, Mr. Dominguez oversees the governmental affairs for the company as well as a staff of attorneys. During his career at Exelon, he has served as General Counsel for PECO Energy Company and as Associate General Counsel for Litigation.

Prior to joining Exelon, Mr. Dominguez was a Partner in the law firm of White and Williams, L.L.P., where he had a broad-based litigation practice counseling large and small corporations, institutions, government entities, and individuals. He is also a former Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorneys' Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where he spearheaded the investigation and prosecution of crimes ranging from money laundering to murder-for-hire. Mr. Dominguez has an undergraduate degree, with honors, in mechanical engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is a graduate of Rutgers University School of Law (High Honors), where he was named a Ralph Johnson Bunche Scholar and a Dean's Scholar.

Tucker Twitmyer

Managing Partner, Enertech Capital (Moderator)

Tucker Twitmyer, Managing Partner:  Tucker joined EnerTech in 2002 and covers the alternative energy (solar, wind, and algal fuel), oil and gas, and smart grid and energy efficiency sectors.

Prior to EnerTech, Tucker was a co-founder and Managing Director of Katalyst LLC, a private equity services firm.  Previously, Tucker was a Senior Manager at Andersen Consulting, now Accenture, in the Communications Strategy Practice. Tucker began his career in finance and IT operations with MultiServ, at the time the largest provider of material handling and recycling services to the steel industry.

Tucker currently sits on the boards of Advent Solar, Cyanagra, and OwnEnergy. He previously sat on the boards of Enerwise and FuelQuest and was an observer to Comverge and Altela. He is a member of the CleanTech Venture Network Advisory Board and the co-President of the Wharton Private Equity Partners association.

Tucker received a BA in political science from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

John A. Carson

SVP Finance, Terra-Gen Power

John A. Carson is a Senior Vice President in Finance at Terra-Gen Power. Prior to joining Terra-Gen, Mr. Carson was Senior Vice President, Renewable Energy at GE Energy Financial Services, and brings five years of experience in renewable energy transactions. Prior to joining GE in 2003, Mr. Carson was employed by Lehman Brothers where he worked in the natural resources group. Mr. Carson holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University.

Paul Holland

Managing Director, Foundation Capital

Paul's primary focus is to help early-stage start-ups go from zero to $100M in revenue and coordinates the CleanTech practice at Foundation Capital. He helped take two venture-funded software start-ups, Kana Communications (KANA), and Pure Software (RATL), public. Paul currently serves on the board of directors for Bella Pictures, CalStar Cement, Conformia, Coverity, Edge Dynamics (acquired by iMany), Ketera, Serious Materials and TuVox; and previously for Talking Blocks (acquired by Hewlett-Packard) and RouteScience (acquired by Avaya). Paul is an Advisory Board Member of Sustainable Silicon Valley. CNET's sister site, BNET, featured a video of Paul's "V.C. Funding 101" whiteboard presentation. The Weather Channel recently interviewed Paul on Forecast Earth broadcast "Green Venture Capital In Depth".

Prior to becoming a general partner at Foundation Capital, Paul was senior vice president of worldwide sales at Kana Communications, a leading supplier of Enterprise Relationship Management solutions to strategic e-businesses. Paul went on to build a team of over 350 people that secured more than 900 customers worldwide, helping Kana become one of the top ten IPOs of 1999. Before Kana, Paul was a vice president and general manager for another highly successful start-up, Pure Software, helping raise their market value from $2 million to over $1 billion in his five year tenure there. Pure had the second most successful IPO of 1995 and was later acquired by Rational Software. He began his professional career at SRI International (formerly the Stanford Research Institute).

Paul enjoys spending time with his wife Linda Yates, and their three daughters, Kylie, Devon, and Piper. In his spare time he enjoys golf, volleyball, poker, traveling (he has visited over 50 countries to date) and is building a LEED Platinum home in Portola Valley. Paul has been guest lecturer on entrepreneurship at Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business, Harvard Business School, James Madison University and the Stanford Graduate School of Engineering. He is an active advisor and supporter of Project BUILD in East Palo Alto and the Bing School at Stanford.

He received an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley; an MA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia; and a BS from James Madison University.

William D. Lese

Managing Director, Braemar Energy Ventures

Mr. Lese is a Co-founder and Managing Director of New York City based Braemar Energy Ventures, a venture capital firm that focuses exclusively on investing in early to mid stage energy technology companies primarily in the US and Canada. He has more than 24 years of research, operating and venture capital experience in the energy and environmental businesses. Prior to joining the Braemar team, Mr. Lese was a partner with Mantis Holdings, Inc., a venture capital firm focused on investing in environmental and energy efficiency companies where he concentrated on emerging technologies for converting industrial waste streams into value added products. Prior to Mantis Holdings, he was the Director of Business Development for NPS Industries, Inc., an international manufacturer of engineered equipment for the power industry. Mr. Lese’s business development activities included managing a joint venture with Consolidated Edison Co., and managing other key customer relationships. Prior to joining NPS Industries, he was one of the original employees of Sithe Energies, Inc. (an affiliate of Vivendi, SA), which became one of the world's largest independent power producers. At Sithe Energies, Mr. Lese had project and technical oversight responsibilities, including managing several power projects.

Mr. Lese has both chaired and participated on numerous panels focusing on energy technology investment opportunities and major energy issues. Mr. Lese is currently serving on the boards of Coaltek, Utility Associates , Ciris Energy , Solazyme and Renewable Energy Development, Inc. He is Chairman of the Board of Solicore . and serves as a board observer for Enerkem Fuels, Afina and Fractal Systems. He also has served on the board of directors of EnerNOC . Mr. Lese has both a B.A. in Physics and an M.S. in Energy Science from New York University.

Raj Pai

Managing Director, Global Environment Fund

Raj Pai is a Managing Director with Global Environment Fund (GEF) and is responsible for the firm's investment activities in India and South Asia with a special focus on GEF's target sectors of clean technology and alternative energy in Asia. GEF manages private equity dedicated to clean technology, emerging markets, and sustainable forestry, with approximately $1 billion in aggregate capital under management. Mr. Pai has over 17 years of professional experience spanning entrepreneurial, operational and venture investing activities. Prior to GEF, Raj was a Managing Director at CID Capital, a 27 year old investment firm that has invested over $500 million of growth and expansion stage capital under its management. Raj was responsible for successfully raising and deploying two venture stage funds, investing in over 25 companies – leading efforts in technology, life sciences and clean technology areas. He was instrumental in business development initiatives with several of his portfolio companies, particularly in the green software and clean lighting (LED) space, assisting them in navigating market opportunities along the US – India corridor. Prior to CID, he worked in consulting and in operational capacities for various Fortune 1000 technology companies globally, including British telecommunications, AT&T, Telia Mobitel and Telstra. Mr. Pai holds a Master's of Business Administration from the University of Chicago, a Master's of Computer Science from Arizona State University, and a Bachelor's of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Bombay. In 2007, he was selected as a Marshall Fellow—a fellowship awarded annually since 1982 to emerging leaders to foster and build a diverse international network in politics, government, business and the nonprofit sector.

Dharmesh Thakker

VP, Advanced Technology Ventures

Dharmesh joined ATV in 2007 as a member of the firm's Cleantech and IT infrastructure practice areas. He is actively involved in ATV’s investments in AltaRock Energy (Enhanced Geothermal), Nuventix (LED Thermal Management), and Qumu (Enterprise Video Platform).

Dharmesh brings ten years of business development, product strategy and sales experience at start-ups and high-growth public companies to assist ATV’s portfolio of early-stage companies. Previously, he was the Director of Corporate Business Development at Keynote Systems (NASDAQ: KEYN) where he supported acquisitions in the wireless and video infrastructure sectors and established alliances with H-P, Computer Associates and European VARs. He supported strategic sales efforts at key accounts and helped grow recurring annual revenues for emerging products from $0 to $20mm in two years. Previously, he was a member of the founding team at InterNetwork (acquired by FinePoint Technologies) and a Product Manager at Peakstone (acquired by Entrust, Inc.). He was part of the early strategy consulting team at Manhattan Associates (NASDAQ: MANH), and served briefly in the Investment Banking team at Thomas Weisel Partners, raising capital for US and Israeli companies.

Dharmesh received his M.B.A. from The Wharton School and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin where he received the Dean’s award for graduating in the top 1% of his class.

John Clapp

Director (Power Sector Specialist), Citigroup

Mr. Clapp joined Citi in 2004 as the Global Power Sector Specialist where he advises Citi’s power sector clients and banking teams in corporate and investment banking, project finance, and risk management on evolving industry trends, developments, risks and opportunities. Since joining Citi, Mr. Clapp has been instrumental in leading the firm’s efforts in areas including: new nuclear power development and financing, generation asset valuation for financings and M&A, transmission strategy and Transco formation, and climate change policy and modeling – including participation in the creation of the Carbon Principles. Mr. Clapp regularly travels throughout North American as well as to Europe, Latin America, and Asia to meet with Citi’s power clients and other industry leaders.

Prior to joining Citi, Mr. Clapp was an economic and management consultant at PA Consulting (formerly Putnam, Hayes, and Bartlett) where he worked with utilities, independent power producers, regulators and government officials on power industry projects in North America, Europe and Asia. As a consultant, his work focused on generation and transmission project finance, power market analysis and forecasting, competitive market design, and the analysis of power sector contracts and economic damages for litigation. Mr. Clapp is an expert at generation and transmission asset valuation and market price forecasting. He has been involved in the valuation of generation and transmission entities for the purpose of: mergers & acquisitions, project financings, debt restructurings, high yield issuances, and regulatory ratemaking in several U.S. state jurisdictions.

Mr. Clapp holds an MA from the Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) and a BA from Carleton College. He is a frequent industry speaker and has published articles in industry publications including: EEI’s Electric Perspectives, Public Utilities Fortnightly, The Electricity Journal and Corporate Renewal.

Jack Crowley

Vice President, Market Development, Exelon Generation

As Vice President – Market Development, Crowley’s responsibilities include being the primary point of contact for issues involving wholesale markets, such as PJM and ERCOT, and wholesale market rule development. His group represents Exelon at stakeholder meetings to promote competitive market development throughout the country.

Crowley has been at Exelon, formerly PECO Energy, since October, 1996. He began working at Exelon’s Power Team as a Long Term Transactor for various regions of the country, and then he advanced to Manager of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Long Term Transactions group. He was involved in the conversion of the PJM energy market to nodal market in April 1998, coordinating Power Team’s involvement in that process. Subsequently, Crowley served as Director, Wholesale Market Development reporting to the Betsy Moler (former FERC Chair) from 2003 through 2004. Upon returning to Power Team at the beginning of 2005, Crowley assumed the role of Director, Regulatory Affairs at Power Team reporting to the President. Recently, Crowley was promoted to Vice President, Market Development.

Craig Glazer

VP Federal Government Policy, PJM Interconnection

Craig Glazer serves as the Vice President--Federal Government Policy for PJM Interconnection. In this capacity, Mr. Glazer coordinates all of PJM’s regulatory and legislative policies before Congress, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions, the United States Department of Energy and other federal agencies. PJM operates the largest competitive wholesale electricity market in the world and serves over 9% of the United States population. Mr. Glazer heads PJM’s Washington, D.C. office.

Prior to coming to PJM, Mr. Glazer served as Commissioner and Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. As the longest-serving Chairman of the Ohio Commission in its history, Mr. Glazer oversaw Ohio’s move toward deregulation of its telephone, natural gas, transportation and electric industries. Mr. Glazer served as CEO of the agency which operated with over 300 employees and a budget of $25 million. He also chaired the state’s Siting Board and served as a member of the Governor’s Cabinet.

Mr. Glazer remains extremely active on national electricity issues. He frequently testified before Congress and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on development of Regional Transmission Organizations and the needs of the marketplace. Mr. Glazer served as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, Chairman of its International Relations Committee and a member of its Electricity and Energy Resources Committees. He also chaired the National Council on Competition in the Electric Industry, an interagency collaborative which brought together FERC, the state PUCs, the US Department of Energy, the US EPA and the National Council of State Legislatures. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Northeast Midwest Institute, a bipartisan research arm of the Northeast and Midwest region’s Congressional delegations.

Mr. Glazer is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Vanderbilt University School of Law.

PJM Interconnection ensures the reliability of the high-voltage electric power system serving 51 million people in all or parts of Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. PJM coordinates and directs the operation of the region’s transmission grid, which includes 6,038 substations and 56,070 miles of transmission lines; administers the world’s largest competitive wholesale electricity market; and plans regional transmission expansion improvements to maintain grid reliability and relieve congestion.

Jason A. Hicks

Managing Director, Persimmon Tree Capital Management

Jason A. Hicks is co-founder and Managing Director of Persimmon Tree Capital, a Washington, D.C. based firm which makes private investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and environmental solutions. Prior to founding Persimmon Tree Capital, Mr. Hicks was Director, Portfolio Management at The AES Corporation where he led and co-led multiple M&A and financing transactions. Mr. Hicks was also Director, Global Business Development for AES where he was responsible for analyzing acquisitions of generation and utility businesses.

Before joining AES, Mr. Hicks was Manager, Structuring and Analysis for PG&E Corporation’s National Energy Group where he was responsible for pricing and structuring complex natural gas and electricity transactions. Mr. Hicks has also served as a strategy and regulatory consultant to many clients in the power and gas sector as an Associate at McKinsey & Co., The Brattle Group, and Putnam Hayes & Bartlett.

Mr. Hicks has earned Master’s degrees in Managerial Science and Applied Economics from The Wharton School and Systems Engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, both at The University of Pennsylvania.

Matt Parsons

Engagement Manager, McKinsey & Company

Matthew Parsons is an Engagement Manager in McKinsey & Company’s Philadelphia Office, where he has extensive experience in the Electric Power and Natural Gas industry and corporate risk management. His recent experience includes:

• A corporate finance study related to the strategy articulation, startup, and funding of an energy investment firm specializing in emerging technology portfolio management
• A strategy study for several non-government organizations and industrial companies related to the economics of low carbon electric power generation
• A strategy study for a leading utility related to the identification and screening of business opportunities arising from emerging greenhouse gas regulations
• A corporate risk study related to utility sector investment in carbon capture and sequestration technologies for fossil generation plants, including technological, commodity, and infrastructure risk assessment

Prior to joining McKinsey, Matt served as a submarine officer in the U.S. Navy for 10 years, where he held various responsibilities related to the construction, operation, and maintenance of naval nuclear power plants. His experience includes three years forward-deployed in Guam as the Engineer Officer of the USS San Francisco, where he was responsible for the safe operation of the ship’s 165 MW pressurized water reactor plant as well as the training and qualification of its 67 nuclear operators.

Matt earned a B.S. in Control Systems Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1996 and an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 2002, where he was designated a Palmer Scholar.

Peter L. Harris

President, Peter L. Harris & Associates (Moderator)

Peter Harris is an expert on the development and use of communications, and the application of sophisticated political media strategies and opinion research to issue-advocacy, litigation, and reputation-management objectives. He works with corporations, trial teams, not-for-profit institutions, and individuals who are prominent in public life.

Harris develops messages to communicate important themes and complex issues to specific audiences (voters, jurors, policy makers, opinion elites) in ways that evoke the emotions and conclusions that are critical to his clients.

He has developed innovative methods to better understand voter’s beliefs and emotions, and to enhance the development of issue/candidate messaging.

He’s been a senior strategist or project director for a broad range of national and statewide communication projects and advocacy campaigns, utilizing all channels of media.

Harris has worked in the United States and more than 20 other countries; in many of these projects he managed integrated public relations and opinion research team efforts.

His work includes long-term image initiatives for corporations, trade associations, and individuals, as well as issue-oriented public policy work. He has worked extensively on issues in health care, intellectual property, tort reform, telecommunications, government regulation, and the global image of multinational corporations.

Harris has been a principal in successful political election campaigns for United States Senators or Governors in Ohio, Illinois, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, the Mayoralty of New York City, and a frequent lecturer at the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee’s training seminars for U.S. Senators, candidates, and campaign managers.

He worked in the United States Senate for 15 years, including serving as Chief of Staff to two United States Senators, and on the professional staff, (including serving as Subcommittee Democratic Staff Director) of Congressional Committees dealing with health and labor issues.

He media-trains senior corporate executives and prominent individuals for appearances on network and cable news shows, individual interviews, press conferences, speeches, political debates, and appearances before Senate and House Committees.

Paul Bessette

Partner, Morgan Lewis

Paul M. Bessette is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Energy Practice. Mr. Bessette represents nuclear utility clients in a variety of licensing, regulatory, adjudicatory, and litigation matters.

Since joining the firm in 2000, Mr. Bessette has actively participated in a number of matters involving litigation against the U.S. Government. He has had a lead role in more than 10 past and pending lawsuits filed against the government before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in connection with federal obligations to accept and remove spent nuclear fuel. Mr. Bessette also represented clients in the two largest settlements of spent fuel-related claims against the government to date. He also has provided advice to several government contractor clients on contract clause interpretation, negotiations, and financing, as well as facility security clearance issues.

Mr. Bessette has been actively involved in licensing a new generation of nuclear power plants. He represented two of the three site permit applicants who successfully obtained early site permits from the NRC for the siting of potential advanced reactors. Mr. Bessette also serves as regulatory and adjudicatory/litigation counsel for an applicant who has submitted an application to the NRC for a combined operating license for an advanced reactor.

Mr. Bessette additionally represents nuclear utilities in all aspects of their applications to renew the operating licenses of existing nuclear power plants. He currently represents a two-unit nuclear site in the Northeast on its license renewal application, and advises the client on highly contested regulatory, adjudicatory, and general litigation matters.

Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Mr. Bessette had more than 15 years of experience in the energy field as both an engineer and a manager. He worked for IES Utilities as a regulatory and engineering manager, with responsibility for implementing numerous complex regulatory programs and major plant modifications and for responding to regulatory enforcement actions. Mr. Bessette's experience also includes work as an engineer for General Electric and as a senior reactor operator certification. Previously, he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy's submarine program.

Mr. Bessette is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Maryland.

Nicholas A. Hiza

Business Developer, BP Alternative Energy North America Inc

Nicholas Hiza is a Business Developer for BP’s wind energy business based here in the U.S.

Nicholas joined BP in 2006 from the acquisition of Greenlight Energy, Inc., a Virginia-based renewable energy firm where he was responsible for project development in the Northeast.

Prior to joining Greenlight in 2005, he served as Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Atlas Renewables, Inc. where he worked on project development and resource assessment, as well as providing support services and analysis to a number of private wind development companies, universities, and non-profit organizations pursuing their own development and education activities.

Nicholas has worked on wind projects in various stages of development in nine U.S. states and Canada, and has experience in most of the major US power markets.

He earned a BA degree in Political Science and Chemistry from Williams College.