AFFIRM

Location and Date:

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Marvin Center - Continental Ballroom (3rd Floor)
George Washington University
800 21st St., NW
Washington, DC 20052
Metro: Foggy Bottom (Orange & Blue)
(map and driving directions)

Costs

Government Attendees

• Government Member Pre-Registered - $25
• Government Non-member Pre-Registered - $30
• Government Member Walk-in - $35 (if space is available)
• Government Non-member Walk-in - $40 (if space is available)

Industry Attendees

• Industry Member Pre-Registered - $75
• Industry Non-member Pre-Registered - $95
• Industry Member Walk-in - $95 (if space is available)
• Industry Non-member Walk-in - $125 (if space is available)

SPEAKERS
Eric Lightner, Director, Federal Smart Grid Task Force, U.S. Department of Energy
Eric Lightner has worked as a program manager for advanced technology development at the Department of Energy for the last 20 years. For 6 years he was involved in characterization, monitoring and sensor technology development for the Office of Environmental Management in support of DOE’s waste clean-up efforts. The following two years, Lightner was the program manager for research and development for the Sensors and Controls program within the Office of Industrial Technologies. Currently, Lightner is the Director of the Federal Smart Grid Task Force within the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability. The mission of the Task Force is to ensure awareness, coordination and integration of smart grid related activities both within the Department of Energy and elsewhere in the Federal government. These activities include smart grid research and development; development of smart grid standards and protocols; and the relationship of smart grid technologies to electric utility regulation, infrastructure development, system reliability and security. Lightner earned a Bachelors of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland and a Masters of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Johns Hopkins University.

Ray Palmer, Senior Energy Industry Analyst, FERC
Ray Palmer is an Energy Industry Analyst within the new Office of Energy Policy and Innovation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Previously, he headed the Energy Innovations Sector, an ad hoc group that initiated policy development on smart grid, the integration of renewables, and a national assessment of demand response. His entire career has been in the energy field, with a focus on energy efficiency, combined heat and power, renewable energy, and demand response from a business perspective. After serving as Conservation Program Administrator at Boston Edison Company, he was named Vice President, Northeast Region for Puget Energy Services, an unregulated utility affiliate. He subsequently held executive positions at Marathon Power Services Corporation, Encon Systems, Inc., Planergy, Inc., New Energy Ventures, LLC, and ECOM-ENERGY, Inc. More recently, he worked on energy programs for the Department of Veterans Affairs and at FERC as Chief, Energy Market Analysis Branch.

Palmer graduated from Princeton University, and holds Masters Degrees in Public Administration and Business Administration from Harvard University and Boston University respectively. He served in Vietnam with the 3/187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division.

Nick Sinai, Energy and Environment Director, FCC
Nick Sinai serves as the Energy and Environment Director of the Federal Communications Commission's Omnibus Broadband Initiative. Sinai leads a team exploring how broadband and advanced communications can help the nation achieve its goals of energy independence and energy efficiency.

Sinai is a former venture capitalist and entrepreneur. Most recently, he served in executive and advisory roles with two Boston area clean energy technology companies, and served as a senior advisor to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. Sinai played a key role in building the clean energy practice at Polaris Venture Partners, and subsequently served as a Principal of Tenaya Capital. He also has private equity experience at Madison Dearborn Partners. Earlier in his career, he was a senior management consultant with Cambridge Strategic Management Group, where he led teams working with large communications and media companies. He earned an M.B.A from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and an A.B. from Harvard University.

David Wollman, Leader, NIST Smart Grid team – Standards; Leader, Electrical Metrology Groups
David Wollman is one of NIST’s team leads for its smart grid project, and is a group leader in the Quantum Electrical Metrology Division and manages programs to maintain and advance the Nation’s electrical standards and metrology supporting the electric power industry. Before joining the Division, he served in several positions at NIST, including Scientific Advisor in the Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory, Program Analyst in the NIST Director's Program Office, and bench-level scientist in Boulder, CO developing advanced high-resolution microcalorimeter x-ray detectors for microanalysis and astronomy applications. Before joining NIST, Wollman received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the areas of superconducting electronics and device micro/nanofabrication. He has given numerous invited talks at international conferences, has published over 50 articles and book chapters, and holds three U.S. patents. He has received many awards, including the U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal and the NIST Applied Research Award.

MODERATOR
Amy Morris, Federal News Radio
Amy Morris is the co-anchor of Federal News Radio’s Daily Debrief on weekday afternoons on FederalNewsRadio (WFED) AM 1500, which features news and information for and about the federal government. Morris has taken an in-depth look at the "Smart Grid" - what it is and how it's being developed - in her highly touted series on WFED, "Smart Grid, Smart Future"?

Morris came to Washington in 1999 with her own equipment and a passion for reporting. She landed a job at WTOP and has been with the team ever since. She hit the ground running with her coverage of the Elian Gonzales conflict. She also covered the saga of missing intern Chandra Levy, the September 11th attacks, and the sniper shootings of October 2002, for which she won a national Murrow Award.

Before she arrived in Washington, Morris lived in Illinois where she worked for several radio and television stations. Her claim to fame in the Midwest was an investigative report that helped uncover a scandal in the Illinois Secretary of State's office, and eventually, the gubernatorial race. Former Illinois Governor George Ryan was eventually convicted of taking cash, gifts and trips in exchange for state contracts. He was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison.

In 2006, Morris was named Executive Editor and Anchor at Federal News Radio 1500 AM. As she keeps her focus on the station's news content, she also works on her afternoon program, "The Daily Debrief." She now speaks in acronyms. Occupational hazard.

Morris's hobbies are working out, refinishing old furniture, and spending time with her husband, Doug. She especially enjoys her iPods and has a rather eclectic collection of music, from funkadelic to cowpunk. Her very favorite bands are Hootie and the Blowfish, the Old 97's, and U2.

Morris grew up in a small rural town in South Carolina and is a proud University of South Carolina graduate. Despite Steve Spurrier being the head coach, she remains a passionate Gamecock supporter. Never, ever, ever disturb her when "her boys" are playing football. Seriously.

Location and Date:

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Marvin Center - Continental Ballroom (3rd Floor)
George Washington University
800 21st St., NW
Washington, DC 20052
Metro: Foggy Bottom (Orange & Blue)
(map and driving directions)

Costs

Government Attendees

• Government Member Pre-Registered - $25
• Government Non-member Pre-Registered - $30
• Government Member Walk-in - $35 (if space is available)
• Government Non-member Walk-in - $40 (if space is available)

Industry Attendees

• Industry Member Pre-Registered - $75
• Industry Non-member Pre-Registered - $95
• Industry Member Walk-in - $95 (if space is available)
• Industry Non-member Walk-in - $125 (if space is available)