Organization

Conference Chairman

Mike Marullo is Editor-in-Chief of Electric Energy T&D magazine, where he previously served as a contributing editor since 2004. He is also the owner and President/CEO of InfoNetrix LLC, a New Orleans-based market research and consulting firm focused on automation/IT as well as Managing Director/CEO and Principal Consultant for cfar International Ltd., a diversified technical market research and consulting firm he founded in 1984.

Mike holds professional memberships in AWWA (American Water Works Association), GITA (Geospatial Information & Technology Association), IEEE-PES (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-Power & Energy Society) and ISA (International Society of Automtion).

Conference Program Committee

Jon Brock is President of utility and energy advisory firm, Desert Sky Group, LLC. He formed Desert Sky Group to address the needs of the utility and energy industries, specifically the need for independence and unbiased advice in changing markets. A former co-founder and COO of UtiliPoint International, Inc., Mr. Brock has over 20 years of experience delivering advice on utility and energy markets in areas ranging from utility business design, business plan development and review, business process optimization, and business infrastructure design and deployment of AMI, distribution technology, Smart Grid, customer service, outsourcing and benchmarking. He has served on utility/energy-related boards in the member and advisory member positions and has provided testimony and audit services to state and provincial commissions related to utility technology investments. Mr. Brock holds a bachelor of science in management science/computer systems from Oklahoma State University and an MBA from the University of Tulsa. He can be reached at jbrock@desertskygroup.com.

CD Hobbs is an adjunct lecturer in economics and Senior Fellow with the Public Utility Research Center (PURC) of the University of Florida, the mission of which is to expand the body of knowledge in public utility industry structure and practices, regulation, market reform and infrastructure; teach the principles and practices that support effective utility policy, operations and regulation; and, provide ongoing professional development for industry and regulatory professionals.
CD has over 30 years of experience in the electric utility industry. After serving for 16 years in various executive roles at Portland General Electric Company in Portland, Oregon, CD was appointed Chairman, CEO and President of SPL WorldGroup, a major provider of enterprise customer management and billing software prior to its acquisition by Oracle in 2006. He later served as CEO of META Group, a widely respected global information technology research and advisory firm.
CD is a recognized energy futurist and speaker on threats, opportunities, trends and forcing functions in the energy industry. He holds a MBA–Finance from the University of Florida (1968).

Carolyn Kinsman is President of Automated Communication Links Inc., a well known, industry qualified and reputable AMI/Smart Meter Consulting firm.  ACL is one of the first AMI consulting firms in North America.  ACL Inc. continues to lead the Smart Meter industry by setting the standard in providing high quality work ethics, paired with unbiased, knowledgeable technical and strategic business consulting services solely to utilities.

An industry recognized strategist and thought leader whose background includes over 22 years in many facets of the Energy & Utilities industry  from research, to utility operations, to developing and executing on energy strategies for Global Fortune 500 clients. He is currently the Energy practice leader at Finovant Solutions, a boutique M&A and Investment Banking advisory firm.

He combines deep energy industry experience in areas such as development of alternative/Renewable energy projects, sustainability programs, Transmission & Distribution and Smart Grids, financial strategy and analysis for power grids and their operations, and business transformation strategies. Today, he also focuses on impact of energy policies within various regions of the globe  including mandates around energy conservation, environmental sustainability and integration of Renewable Energy into Demand Response programs.

Koustuv has a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering, and also a Masters degree in Electrical Power Engineering from the Energy Systems Research Center at the University of Texas at Arlington , with a specialization in the power industry.

Robert Sarfi, a partner of Boreas Group LLC, is widely recognized for his experience in delivering business vision and technology solutions to electric utilities.  Dr. Sarfi has successfully led numerous business transformation initiatives for large and mid-tier utilities across the Americas.  Prior to founding Boreas Group in 2001, Dr. Sarfi held management and leadership positions with management consulting and engineering firms.  Dr. Sarfi received a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (First Class Honours) from the Royal Military College of Canada, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo.  He is a registered professional engineer in the Province of Ontario and a member of the IEEE.  Dr. Sarfi has published and presented over forty papers related to improving T&D operations, smart grid planning, and technology benefit realization.

Glenn Tofil is a Partner with England & Company, an investment-banking boutique located in Washington, DC. Glenn has over 20 years of experience in investment banking and strategic consulting, with a particular focus in industrial and infrastructure technology markets. He has been an advisor to both public and private companies in mergers, acquisitions and financing transactions.
Since joining England & Company, Glenn has dedicated a significant amount of his time to working with companies in the utility automation market, having represented clients such as Hexagram, Advanced Metering Data Systems and Bayard/Landis + Gyr. Prior to joining England & Company, Glenn was a partner at Founders Growth Advisors and a senior banker at Wachovia/First Union Securities and EVEREN Securities. Glenn received his BA in Economics from The College of William & Mary and his MBA from the University of Chicago with concentrations in Financial Management and Accounting.

Dr. Mani Vadari serves as Battelles Vice President of Energy Infrastructure. As such, Dr. Vadari is responsible for general management and direction, a key element of Battelles Energy Technology Global Business. In this role, Dr. Vadari is responsible for maximizing programmatic and commercial returns from Battelle investments to support the increasingly robust pipeline of innovations in the Energy Infrastructure business. Dr. Vadari directs Battelles investments to build on its portfolio of DOEs National Labs and associated partnering institutions and lead the development of a major segment of Battelles commercial energy business.

Dr. Vadari has more than 20 years of experience delivering strategic solutions to the electric utility industry focusing in Transmission/Distribution (T&D) grid operations, generation operations, energy markets, and Smart Grid.

Dr. Vadari received both his Ph.D. and MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Dr. ML Chan, as Executive Advisor for Smart Grid, and Vice President of Asian Business Development of Quanta Technology, LLC, is an expert in the areas of Smart Grid and the utilization of computer and communications system technologies to deliver power system reliability, performance improvement, and optimal asset management for utilities.  He combines his power system planning and operations expertise to integrate renewable, distributed energy resources, demand responses and load management, AMI/AMR systems, Home Automation Network (HAN), feeder automation, substation automation, SCADA, asset condition monitoring, condition-based maintenance (CBM), phasor measurement unit, wide area protection and FACTS technologies into a Smart Grid vision for utilities.  The full realization of that vision is made possible when Dr. Chan guides utilities in developing and implementing enterprise IT system architecture to provide business intelligence for utility operations.  His environmental resources background since the 70s also provides with significant insight to integrate renewable resources, demand side management and efficient energy building technologies into utility operations and planning.   For more than 30 years, Dr. Chan has provided consulting services to over 70 utilities in the United States and around the world. He has published over 60 technical papers in the open literature, and has given many presentations and speeches in seminars and tutorials.  He is the Chair of IEEE Power System Planning and Implementation Committee, and a member of Executive Advisory Committee for DistrbuTECH Conferences.  He is also on the Editorial Board of IEEE Transactions on Power Systems.  Dr. Chan has SB, SM and Electrical Engineers degrees from MIT, and PhD from Cornell University.  Prior to joining Quanta Technology, he has worked with Energy Resources Company, Tetra Tech, Systems Control, Inc., Energy Management Associates, ECC, Inc., ML Consulting Group, SchlumbergerSema, and KEMA, Inc.  

George Larry Clark is Principal Engineer-Power Delivery for Alabama Power Company (APC), Birmingham, AL and supports the deployment of the Distribution SCADA, Distribution Automation and Electronic Mapboard technologies at APC, and the development of the Integrated Distribution Management System and the Smart Grid Strategy for APC and the Southern Company. Mr. Clark is Chairman of the Distribution Automation Subcommittee of the DistribuTECH Advisory Committee, Vice Chairman of the IEEE PES Distribution Automation Working Group and member of the IEEE PES Intelligent Grid Coordinating Committee.
During 42-years of employment at APC, Mr. Clarks previous assignments include responsibilities for the operation and maintenance of Transmission and Distribution substations, and for the planning, operation and maintenance of the electric distribution system. Mr. Clark was named Project Team Leader for the Distribution Automation Project in June 1989.  In 1994-99, Mr. Clark served as Project Manager for the Southern TCMS Demonstration Project. In 1999-2000, Mr. Clark served as Project Manager for the Alabama ARMS Project. In 2001, Mr. Clark was named Business Project Manager for the Distribution Electronic Mapboard (EMB) project for deployment in Alabama Powers Distribution Operations Centers.  He teaches SCADA/Distribution Automation courses for APC and is a SME for development of the Advanced Distribution SCADA Operator Training Curriculum.
Mr. Clark received a B. S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of South Alabama. Mr. Clark has published 16 papers and made 44 presentations in the areas of Distribution Automation and SCADA, is a coauthor of the book Electric Power Engineering Handbook, published by the CRC Press in 2000, and is a coauthor of the book Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution (Electric Power Engineering Handbook Second Edition), published by the CRC Press in 2007. Mr. Clark is a Senior Member of IEEE and is a registered engineer in the State of Alabama.  

Dr. Shaw is a Principal & Lead Consultant for Cyber SECurity Consulting (Baltimore, MD), specializing in industrial automation and automation security and training. Shaw has previously served as the Chief Technical Officer for SWANTECH, a manufacturer of equipment condition monitoring systems and technology and was President and founder of Hathaway Industrial Automation (originally Tate Integrated Systems) and EMC Systems, two companies involved in the design and delivery of SCADA and DCS systems for various industrial automation markets. He was also directly involved in the design of a new generation of high-security substation monitoring and automation products for the electric utility marketplace.

Shaw has over thirty (30) years of experience in computer-based data acquisition, automation and communications. Shaw was formerly an adjunct assistant professor of Computer Science in the graduate engineering department of Loyola College and has been teaching short courses and seminars for the ISA and IEEE on topics ranging from cyber security to networking technologies.

Shaw was one of the original members of the ISA (International Society of Automation) SP-88 committee and currently audits the SP-88, SP-99 and SP-100 committees. Shaw has published two books (Computer Control of BATCH Processes and Cyber Security for SCADA Systems), contributed to several others and has written dozens of articles on a wide range of automation and computer topics. He holds degrees in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Computer Science and a CISSP certification in cyber security and is a frequent speaker at technical conferences and industry trade shows.

Host Committee Members

Conference Management Committee