Keynote speaker

Craig Ivey
President, Consolidated Edison Company of New York (Con Edison)

Craig S. Ivey is president of Consolidated Edison Company of New York (Con Edison), a regulated utility with 14,000 employees serving New York City and most of Westchester County. The company is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric utilities, with approximately $13 billion in annual revenues and $36 billion in assets.

Ivey and his team run electric operations across the entire service area; gas operations in Manhattan, the Bronx, and parts of Queens and Westchester; and steam operations in Manhattan. They are responsible for the safety, construction, planning, design, and reliability of an electric system that presently encompasses over 129,000 miles of underground and overhead electric cable, nearly 4,300 miles of gas mains, and 105 miles of steam mains, serving over nine million New Yorkers.

Con Edison is a Dow Jones Sustainability Index company; its continuing emphasis on green initiatives to reduce carbon emissions have been recognized with commendations and awards from government agencies as well as nonprofit and private organizations, including the U.S. Department of Energy, the international Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and Innovest Strategic Value Investors.

Ivey joined Con Edison in November 2009 after serving as a senior vice president in two different roles at Dominion Virginia Power since 2006, first as an SVP of Electric Delivery, then as an SVP of Transmission and Distribution. He had risen through a succession of increasingly responsible positions at Dominion, where he developed a reputation for emphasizing safety, operational excellence and leadership.

Ivey earned his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University, and has completed executive education programs at the University of Michigan and Harvard University. In 2005, he received the Black Engineer of the Year Award for Career Achievement in Industry.

Utility speakers

Pamela J. Athon
Technical Coordinator Sr., Arizona Public Service

In her role as Technical Coordinator Sr., Pam Athon has a wide range of responsibilities related to EnergyAxis. She manages “speciality” AMI meter installations such as peak solutions, solar powered devices and repeaters; troubleshoots non-communicating gatekeepers; and programs Metercat applications. Pam performs all AMI meter testing prior to production installation—including metrology and firmware updates—and is currently working extensively with EnergyAxis LAN Mode 2 and enabling encryption on the APS system. Pam has extensive experience at APS as a Journeyman meter technician, as well as on the Billing and Collections side of the utility.

John Avdoulos
Business Development Manager, Essex Power Corporation

As the Business Development Manager for Essex Power Corporation, John Avdoulos assumed responsibility for Essex Power Corporation’s Smart Grid strategy in 2007. This entailed analyzing the distribution network and modeling a proposed Smart Grid, as well as replacing all of the utility’s meters over a three year period. The subsequent phases include a software strategy for automated monitoring of the network and additional smart devices to further enhance the goal of achieving a Smart Grid. John holds multiple degrees, is a member of the Association of Energy Engineers, and is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM)

Braulio Blanco
Operations Director, Technologias EOS

Braulio Blanco has been helping CFE implement electricity metering solutions since 1994. As operations director and partner of Tecnologias EOS since 2005, Braulio has continued that vision now in the AMI space. Tecnologias EOS is the market leader for AMI solutions in Mexico and is dedicated to providing integrated solutions as smart grid technologies evolve and expand.

Steve Catanach
Light and Power Manager, Utilities, Fort Collins, CO

Steve Catanach has worked in the electric utility industry for over 23 years, and he has worked as an electrical engineer for the past 24 years. Steve joined the City of Fort Collins in 2008. He is responsible for approximately 128 employees that provide construction and substation operations in order to supply electrical service to the citizens of Fort Collins. Steve has a B.S. degree from New Mexico State University with a focus on power engineering. Steve has worked for public utilities in Colorado, New Mexico, and for Arizona Public Service, where he served as their Customer Service and Development Leader.

Jay Heaman
Manager of Operations, Woodstock Hydro Services

As Manager of Operations for Woodstock Hydro Services, Jay Heaman takes an active role in reaching across organizational boundaries to extract the greatest value out of the utility's AMI system. Jay has 23 years of experience with the company, 12 of those years in management and leverages his technical and business experience in many areas of the utility's business. He is an active member of the local Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development committees and an active proponent of renewable energy development in Ontario.

Heather Jennings
Manager, Advanced Metering Solutions, Dominion Virginia Power

Heather Jennings has over 14 years of experience in the utility industry. Heather manages the planning, coordination and communications of all initiatives associated with the deployment of AMI for Dominion Virginia Power. She graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering and received a Masters of Business Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is also a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Chad Lynch
Information Systems Analyst, City of Ocala, FL

Chad Lynch has been with the City of Ocala Utility Services for nearly 12 years. Most of his time with the city has been dedicated to managing special projects. He recently took on the task of evaluating, implementing, and launching the City of Ocala’s Pre-paid Municipal Services Project which they dubbed “Pay As You Go”. The project was launched to the public in mid September and the city has already seen the impact it has had on its customer satisfaction, debt recovery and business practices.

Joe Noel
Supervisor – Resource Management, City of Ocala Utility Services

Joe Noel has worked for the City of Ocala, Florida for the past 11 years. He and his team are responsible for the information systems used by the utility. He currently serves as the project manager for the City's Smart Grid Vision. In October 2010 they completed the first phase of their project with the successful system wide smart meter implementation, comprised of 100% of their meters (54,000 electric and 21,000 water).

Paul Olivier
Director of Smart Grid/AMI, Entergy

Paul Olivier has worked for Entergy since 1984, holding positions as a design engineer in transmission line design and system planning, Manager of Transmission Policy, Manager of Transmission Project Development, Manager of Transmission Reliability, and Manager of Transmission Line Design. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Orleans, a Juris Doctorate degree from Loyola Law School, and an MBA degree from Tulane University.

Mark Reed
Generation and Operations Superintendent, Smart Grid Project Manager, Idaho Falls Power (IFP)

Mark Reed manages Idaho Falls Power Five Hydro-Electric Facilities, SCADA system and Communication Networks, and the Metering department. Mark has been with IFP for 16 years and has 27 years experience in all aspects of electrical power generation. Prior to his time at Idaho Falls Power, Mark served 11 years in the U.S. Naval Nuclear program.

Rob Romak
AMI Manager, Salt River Project

Rob Romak is an AMI Manager with Salt River Project (SRP), a public utility company that delivers high-value electricity and water for the community in the Phoenix metro area. His primary job responsibilities include managing and maintaining the smart meter deployment at SRP as well as planning for future AMI deployments. Prior to his current position, Rob was a Meter Shop Supervisor and a Senior Meter Engineer with SRP.

Keith J. Skelly
Sr. IT Software Engineer, Turlock CA

Keith Skelly is the Sr. IT Software Engineer and the Automated Meter Infrastructure (AMI) Project Manager for the Turlock Irrigation District (TID) which is located in central California. For over 24 years, Keith worked as a Software Engineer working on programming and process design dealing with the metering and billing processes for TID, including co-writing the District’s Customer Information System (CIS). Currently, Keith is leading the deployment of AMI meters as well as designing work processes for TID’s Customer Service Department. TID is in the third year of a four year deployment to replace 85% (approx. 74,000) of the existing electrical meters.

Raymond J. Tracey, B.A. Sc., P. Eng.
President and CEO, Essex Power Corporation

Raymond (Ray) Tracey is responsible for the development and integration of Essex Power Corporation and its three subsidiaries into successful profit driven businesses: Essex Powerlines, Essex Power Services and Essex Energy. He plays a key role in ensuring that corporate systems and business processes comply with deregulated market requirements such as wholesale and retail settlements, electronic business transactions and unbundled billing. Ray graduated from the University of Windsor with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering and is a registered Professional Engineer in Ontario.

Partner speakers

To be announced

Elster speakers

Ed Beroset
Product Manager – Electricity, Elster Metering, Canada

Ed Beroset has taken a prominent role in standards over the years – and was the Chairman of the ANSI C12.22 committee. His role as Director of Technology and Standards emphasizes Elster’s continuing commitment to the on-going standards activities throughout the industry. Ed leverages his standards leadership to serve utility interests as well as those of Elster.

Shawn Fields
VP Smart Grid, Elster EnergyICT

Shawn Fields has over 19 yrs. of experience as a results-oriented professional, mainly in the energy industry focusing on marketing and business development. As VP of Smart Grid for EnergyICT, he is responsible for industry adoption of the EIServer MDM platform to help utilities manage their data through intelligent analytics. Shawn has worked for a major IOU and for companies who deliver products and services to utilities with respect to AMI, MDM and data collection. He has in depth knowledge from generation to consumption. Shawn has been featured in publications including Electric Energy T&D, Energy Markets and has spoken at various energy events.

Michael Johnson
Program Manager for EnergyAxis Smart Grid Solutions

Michael Johnson is responsible for creation and management of system wide requirements, use case development and strategic enterprise partnerships. Prior to joining the Product Management team, Michael served as a Principal Software Engineer and Architect for 11 years within Elster. He currently represents Elster on a number of U.S. and International smart grid standards bodies including the IEC TC 57 WG14 (CIM), the Multispeak Technical Committee and Open Smart Grid (OpenSG). Michael also serves as Elster's voting representative to the NIST Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP). Before joining Elster, Michael held Software Engineering positions within the defense and telecom industries. Michael has a B.S. in Computer Science from North Carolina State University.

Carl LaPlace
Senior Product Manager, Advanced Grid Initiative

Carl LaPlace has been involved in the development and product management of power distribution automation (DA) solutions for over 25 years, working closely with utilities to understand their DA requirements. As strategic Senior Product Manager for Elster's Advanced Grid Infrastructure (AGI) initiative, Carl effectively leverages Elster solutions to meet evolving smart grid requirements for DA. Carl holds numerous related patents and has authored a number of papers. He has been directly involved in the development of DA controls and systems ranging from LTC voltage regulators, MV reclosers, DA switch sectionalizers and related DA communication protocols and system applications. He is a long time member of IEEE.

Mike Longrie
Vice President, Product Management

Michael Longrie leads the EnergyAxis Product Management team at Elster Solutions. Longrie brings both vision and experience to his leadership role in Product Management—guiding the development of strategic solution roadmaps as well as ensuring the successful release of near-term product and solution deliverables such as EnergyAxis 7.0. Longrie has performed a wide range of management roles in marketing, sales, product management and international business development. Longrie has a BS in Electrical Engineering, an MA in Economics from the University of Colorado and an MBA from the American Graduate School of International Management.

Steve Makgill
Product Manager, Multi-Utility Solutions

Steve Makgill has managed multi-utility solutions including gas and water products for EnergyAxis since 2006. He also manages the EA_Inspector field tool as well as TRACE AMR gas products. Steve has extensive experience with new product definition and introduction of technology products spending over a decade in the telecommunications industry.

Mark Munday
Chief Technology Officer, Elster Group

With more than 30 years of design engineering and executive leadership, Mark Munday is an industry visionary in state-of-the-art utility measurement, control and system technologies. Mark is known for his vision behind Elster’s EnergyAxis System, a field-proven Smart Grid solution used in residential, commercial and industrial applications. He has been instrumental in introducing industry leading security system solutions for utilities. Mark has been awarded 31 patents, including those for time-of-use (TOU) metering (demand profile and calendar of cyclic events), tamper detection, service detection, power quality monitoring systems and programmable functions. A native of Statesville, NC, Munday holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. He has completed post-graduate courses at NCSU and received business training at the Wharton Executive School (University of Pennsylvania) and the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in Durham, NC.

Ron D. Pate
VP Smart Grid Solutions

Ron Pate leads the Elster Solutions team responsible for a broad range of marketing activities such as roadmap guidance, message development, product positioning, strategic planning, capture planning, campaign development, demonstrations, as well as market and competitive research. Ron has worked with electric utilities extensively since 1989 and has worked for Westinghouse, ABB, Ohio Transformer, Grand Eagle and Elster. Throughout his twenty years in the business, Pate has been involved in the marketing and engineering development of instrument transformers, power transformers, electricity meters, and metering systems. He holds a BS Electrical Engineering with honors from North Carolina State University.

Sanjay Singh
Solutions Engineer

Sanjay Singh has worked in the AMR/AMI Industry for 11 years and started his career as the Manager for IT Services. Sanjay was responsible for the system architecture and software development of the AMI head-end and web portals at an AMI start-up company. After the company was acquired by Elster in 2008, Sanjay continued in the role of IT Manager for Elster Services. He is currently based in Phoenix, AZ and serves as the Regional Technical Expert supporting the Smart Grid sales efforts of the Elster West Region. He has a bachelor’s degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering.

Victor Sitton
Vice President, Market Management

Victor Sitton is responsible for market management activities within Elster Solutions, including solutions and marketplace strategy, competitive analysis, customer outreach programs, and sales and proposal support. Sitton was VP Product Marketing for Elster Integrated Solutions between 2006 and 2009. Sitton has over 20 years of experience with smart grid solutions and electricity metering industry. During his time with Elster, he has held multiple roles in marketing, sales, product management and business development. Sitton has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University.

Additional speakers

To be announced