Kurt Adams oversees the development of all First Wind’s projects nationwide.

Prior to joining First Wind, Mr. Adams was Chairman of the Maine Public Utilities Commission from 2005 to 2008, where he served as Maine’s primary energy regulator. As chairman, he served as a member of the New England Conference of Public Utilities Commissions, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions (NARUC), the NARUC Electricity Committee, the NARUC Competitive Procurement Committee. He was also Maine’s representative on the New England State Committee on Electricity.

Prior to his position with the Maine PUC, Mr. Adams was Governor John Baldacci’s chief legal counsel from 2003 to 2005.

Before joining the Governor’s staff, Mr. Adams was a partner in the law firm of Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson in Portland, Maine.  At Bernstein, Shur, Mr. Adams was the Vice Chairman of the firm’s energy practice.  Mr. Adams represented independent power producers in all facets of project development.  Mr. Adams represented national and international private and public sector clients on energy projects.  He also represented lenders on energy project financings.

Education and Credentials  

• Juris Doctor from the University of Maine School of Law
• M.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University
• B.A. Skidmore College

 

Antonio Benecchi is a partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and a member of the Firm's Global Energy practice. In his capacity, he regularly advises clients in the power utilities space.

He started his consulting career 15 years ago in Milan, Italy, and relocated to the US in 1999. Prior to his consulting career, he held several marketing and commercial positions in the consumer and industrial goods industry.

Antonio's expertise is in corporate strategy, strategic brand management and marketing. 

He earned a degree in business administration from the University of Parma, Italy, in 1987 and an MBA in Milan in 1991. 

 

Gary Bloom is the former vice chairman and president of Symantec Corporation, where he led the company’s line of business organizations and the company’s corporate development efforts. Bloom joined Symantec through the company’s merger with VERITAS Software. Before joining VERITAS, Bloom held senior executive positions at Oracle, where he most recently served as executive vice president. During his 14-year career at Oracle, Bloom led Oracle’s database business, worldwide marketing, support, education, and alliance organizations, and was responsible for mergers and acquisitions.

More recently, Bloom was a consultant of TPG, a leading global private investment firm. He serves on the board of directors of Taleo Corporation and BMC Software. Bloom earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, where he currently serves on the President’s Cabinet and is the chairman of the Board of the Cal Poly Foundation.

 

Gautam Chandra joined Washington Gas in 2002. In his current role, he is responsible for overseeing corporate strategy, corporate business development, and the globally outsourced delivery of the Customer Service, Information Technology, Supply Chain, and Human Resources functions within Washington Gas. In addition, he oversees all of WGL Holding's non-utility operating segments consisting of Energy Marketing and Design/Build Energy Systems.

Mr. Chandra brings broad strategy, general management and entrepreneurial expertise to Washington Gas, acquired through senior management positions in the energy and manufacturing industries. Prior to joining Washington Gas, Mr. Chandra was founder and chief executive officer of an energy company until its sale to another large energy company in 2001.

Mr. Chandra currently serves on the advisory boards of the George Mason University School of Management and the Advisory Council for the Smithsonian Institution Homespun initiative. He has served as a member of the executive council to the board of the Southern Gas Association, member of the steering committee of the Greater Washington Board of Trade's Small Business Partnership, and is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth.

Mr. Chandra holds a Master of Business Administration from the Johnson School at Cornell University and a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

He resides in Virginia with his wife and three daughters and enjoys golf, travel, reading, and is a private pilot.

 

Paul DeCotis is Vice President of Power Markets at Long Island Power Authority where he oversees strategic resource planning; fuel, energy and capacity purchases and sales; power project development and management; and participation in the region’s wholesale power markets. Prior to this Paul was Deputy Secretary for Energy in New York, serving as senior energy advisor to Governor Spitzer and Governor Paterson. Paul was also Chair of the State Energy Planning Board.

Paul previously served as Director of Energy Analysis for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority where he oversaw corporate strategy and planning, forecasting and analysis, and energy program evaluation. Prior to this, Paul was Chief of Policy at the State Energy Office. Until his appointment as Deputy Secretary, Paul was President of a management consulting business, specializing in executive and Board development, strategy, and mediation. Since 1985, he has served as an adjunct faculty member at several colleges and universities including Cornell University, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Sage Graduate School.

Paul is a member of the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC; Editorial Board member of the Energy Efficiency Journal; Executive Committee member of the New York State Reliability Council; New York’s representative to the Eastern Interconnection States Planning Council, and a member of Montclair Publishing LLC. “Who’s Who in North America” among other boards and committees. Paul has served on and chaired many professional organizations and associations and has extensive community service experience. Paul has published dozens of articles and professional papers on energy and industry matters.

Paul received his Bachelor of Arts in International Business Management from the State University College at Brockport, his Master of Arts in Economics from the University at Albany, and his Master of Business Administration in Finance from the Sage Graduate School at Russell Sage College.

 

Charles is responsible for all aspects of customer care – including meter services, meter reading, billing, energy procurement, customer contact centers, marketing and customer relationship management along with credit & remittance – for PHI’s 1.9 million customers across its three regulated (gas and electric) utilities.  PHI is one of the largest energy delivery companies in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Prior to assuming his current role Charles served as Vice President Strategic Planning and Chief Risk Officer responsible for corporate strategic planning and enterprise risk assessment and management for PHI.

He also served as Vice President – Gas Delivery for Delmarva Power responsible for engineering, construction, operations and maintenance.  Prior to that he served as PHI’s  Director – Diversity & HR Strategic Planning for (PHI), responsible for PHI’s diversity strategy, Strategic Staffing and Supplier Diversity organizations. 

Charles joined Pepco in 1989 and has held a number of positions including Manager Customer Operations Division; during which time Pepco was recognized as an industry leader in customer care.  In this capacity he helped lead Pepco to the #1 status for the JD Power and Associates "Customer Satisfaction Survey" and Pepco winning Call Center Magazine's "Best Call Center of the Year" in 2001; he was also named Call Center Magazine's "Manager of the Year". 

Charles has a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering and a MS in Applied Management both from the University of Maryland.  He is a licensed First Class Steam Engineer in the State of Maryland, a past member of the Editorial Board for Call Center Magazine, and a past member of the Diversity Best Practices Leadership Council. Presently, Charles serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Treatment Learning Center, and has served as an Adjunct Professor for the University of the District of Columbia’s School of Business. 

 

Larry Eisenstat leads Dickstein Shapiro’s Energy Practice.  He has considerable experience handling both regulatory and transactional matters, as well as litigation, antitrust, compliance and enforcement proceedings on behalf of utilities, independent power producers, marketers, financial institutions, trade associations, and large energy consumers.  He also devotes a substantial part of his time to counseling on energy policy, strategic planning, investment, and corporate reorganization matters.

Mr. Eisenstat has served as lead counsel in numerous federal and state administrative and judicial proceedings in connection with market design and restructuring, transmission and interconnection, power supply and planning, and trading and pricing issues.  He also has served as project counsel in connection with virtually all aspects of the development, financing, construction, and operation of both conventional and renewable power plants and transmission facilities throughout North America, including utility solicitations, contract disputes, market access, market power and market monitoring issues, renewable portfolio standards, power pricing and enforcement matters, and the development and operation of regional transmission organizations and independent transmission companies.

In 2009, Mr. Eisenstat was recognized by Public Utilities Fortnightly in its first-ever hotlist of “Groundbreaking Lawyers” following a survey of in-house counsel, public utility commissions, and trade associations.  Since 2005, Mr. Eisenstat has been included in Chambers USA:  America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.  In 2010, Chambers described him as “a skilled and tenacious litigator with a great depth of understanding of the independent power business, from transmission and interconnection to siting and development” and “as ‘excellent at keeping clients out of trouble, and a good bet for gloves-off litigation.’”  According to the 2009 guide, clients refer to him as “the perfect man for any negotiation or adversarial scenario…[he] understands his client’s objective and then applies his exceptional market knowledge to make it happen.”  The 2008 guide described him as “exceptionally bright and plugged-in,” and “an extremely effective advocate in the areas of public policy, project development and litigation, [who] is known for his prowess in strategic planning and FERC rulemaking proceedings.”

A prolific writer, Mr. Eisenstat writes regularly for publications such as POWER, Public Utilities Fortnightly, Electric Light & Power, North American Clean Energy, Law360, Wind Today, Legal Times, Electricity Journal, and Independent Energy.  He also is a frequent speaker at various energy industry conferences, most recently at Infocast Power Dealmaking Summit 2010, AWEA Windpower Conference & Exhibition 2010, Infocast Projects & Money Summit 2010, and Argyle Executive Forum:  Leadership in the Utilities 2009.

Mr. Eisenstat received his B.A. in political science from The University of Chicago (1982) and his J.D. from The University of Chicago Law School (1985).

 

Anthony Haines was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Toronto Hydro Corporation effective October 1, 2009. In this role Mr. Haines oversees the activities of Toronto Hydro Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiaries: Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited – the regulated ‘wires’ affiliate; and Toronto Hydro Energy Services Inc.; which operates Toronto’s street and expressway lighting system and engages in clean and green energy project management and development.

Since joining Toronto Hydro in 2005 Mr. Haines has played a key role in revitalizing the company. In 2006 he oversaw the development and Ontario Energy Board filing of a $1.2 billion strategy to modernize Toronto Hydro’s distribution system, renew its workforce and improve customer service. He has focussed on increasing workplace safety and driving Toronto Hydro’s numerous award-winning conservation programs. Under his leadership Toronto Hydro has almost completed the installation of smart meters at all customer locations, and in August it became the first utility in North America to begin the mass-billing of its customers through time-of-use rates. He is also leading the planning, development and implementation of Smart Grid technology at Toronto Hydro.

Prior to joining Toronto Hydro, Mr. Haines was the Chief Operating Officer with Hydro Ottawa Limited, and spent 15 years with Westcoast Energy Inc. in a variety of roles, including President and Chief Executive Officer for Enlogix Inc. He was also Vice-President of Strategic Planning for Union Gas, and Vice-President of Strategic Planning, Regulatory Affairs, Gas Supply and IT at Centra Gas British Columbia Inc. Mr. Haines is a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Electricity Association, the Electricity Distributors Association, and is actively involved with the Coalition of Large Distributors. Anthony is also a member of the Smart Grid Forum, which was convened by the IESO to help create the foundations for smart grid planning in Ontario.

 

Andrew Kapp serves as a Vice President with ArcLight Capital Partners, a leading private equity manager focused exclusively on the power and energy sector.  ArcLight has $6.8 billion under management in its managed private equity funds and has been an active investor in power and energy for ten years.  Since joining ArcLight nearly five years ago, Mr. Kapp has played an active role on acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures and project and corporate financings across the energy sector.  Prior to joining ArcLight, Mr. Kapp spent five years with Citi, working in asset and project financing roles structuring debt and tax equity transactions which raised more than $10 billion of capital to finance power, energy and infrastructure assets and projects worldwide.  Mr. Kapp graduated from Duke University with a degree in Economics.

 

Speaker bio coming soon...

 

Richard M. Kessel, an expert in New York energy issues, took office as President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Power Authority, the nation’s largest state-owned electric utility, on October 14, 2008.

Since joining NYPA, Mr. Kessel has been a champion in expanding the application of the Power Authority’s hydropower resources to help preserve and add private sector jobs statewide, especially in regions hard hit by the recession such as Western New York and the North Country. He is also pressing for the development of an offshore wind power project in the Great Lakes, a 100 megawatt statewide solar energy initiative, a new transmission line to allow the importation of hydropower from Canada as well as a line from New Jersey to Manhattan, and the application of smart grid technology to NYPA’s statewide system to provide greater reliability and security.

Prior to joining NYPA, Mr. Kessel served two terms as Chairman of the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) Board of Trustees. During his first term from 1989 to 1995, he was responsible for the decommissioning of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Station. His second term from 1997 to 2006 began shortly before LIPA took over the Long Island Lighting Company in 1998 and continued through the first nine years of LIPA’s operation as the nation’s third largest municipal electric utility in terms of customers served. He finished his tenure at LIPA in 2007 as its President and CEO.

Mr. Kessel helped negotiate LIPA’s acquisition of the Long Island Lighting Company, which contributed to an immediate reduction of utility rates on Long Island. He improved the reliability of Long Island’s power transmission infrastructure by successfully leading the efforts to add the Cross-Sound cable from New Haven to Shoreham, and the historic Neptune Transmission system from Sayerville, New Jersey to Nassau County, New York. Both cables added nearly 1,000 megawatts of new power resources to LIPA’s supply and linked Long Island for the first time directly to two new power pools. At the same time, he led an unprecedented effort to implement clean energy and energy efficiency strategies that have helped increase Long Island’s renewable energy resources while helping residential and commercial customers lower their energy use and bills.

Mr. Kessel began his career in public service as Executive Director of the New York State Consumer Protection Board from 1984 to 1995, where he successfully negotiated rate freeze agreements with Consolidated Edison, Niagara Mohawk, and Orange and Rockland Utilities. He was a Professor of Consumer Studies at Five Towns College from 1995 to 1997 and also served on the Board of Trustees for Nassau County Community College from 1981 to 2000, and was appointed to serve on the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority from 2000 until 2007.

Mr. Kessel attended Colgate University, received a bachelor’s degree from New York University and his master’s degree from Columbia University.

 

Sheldon brings over a decade of experience in energy finance and development to Recurrent Energy. He leads all North American project development, expansion, and origination activities. Formerly the vice president of finance at Recurrent Energy, Sheldon was instrumental in developing and negotiating the company’s existing projects, fund raising efforts, and joint venture agreements. Previously, he spent five years at Calpine, working on gas-fired power projects and power purchase agreements with large energy customers. He also worked as an investment banker for industrial and natural resource companies at Goldman Sachs, and in Accenture’s strategy consulting practice, specializing in power price forecasting and asset valuation projects for utility clients. Sheldon holds an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a BA in Economics from Kenyon College.

 

Alfredo Z Matos was named vice president – renewables and energy solutions of Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G), in January 2008. In this position he helps the utility explore new opportunities in the renewable energy and energy efficiency markets. His responsibilities include finding solar, energy efficiency and other renewable projects to help meet the New Jersey Energy Master Plan objectives.

Previously, Mr. Matos had been vice president - distribution operations and EHS of PSEG Global (Global), since 2004. He had also been vice president – distribution performance, since 2002, and general manager - strategic operations for PSEG Americas - a subsidiary of Global that focuses on Latin America, since 1997.
Mr. Matos joined PSEG in 1981 and has acquired vast experience in domestic and international electric distribution, including regional and field management responsibility in the gas and electric distribution business in New Jersey. His experience in the electric distribution business includes managing field operational resources, network planning, project management, engineering and construction. He also worked as part of the Hope Creek nuclear plant engineering team, where he gained valuable experience in nuclear plant generation start-up and control systems, between 1981 and 1985.

Mr. Matos had been with Global since 1997, after an 18-month international assignment. His experience focused on the operational due diligence processes of potential target investments, managing the takeover processes of newly acquired operating companies, and maximizing existing distribution operating performance. In 2004 he acquired asset management and P&L responsibility for the Latin American distribution businesses, and was the chief environmental, health and safety officer.

Mr. Matos is a recipient of the New Jersey Governor’s Volunteerism Award and continues to serve the community on athletic and civic boards, including serving as an elected member to the Randolph Township Board of Education, and is also a Eucharistic minister at his church. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, where he also earned Master's and Bachelor of Science degrees in electrical engineering. He also successfully completed Finance for Senior Executives at Harvard University. Mr. Matos is bilingual in English and Spanish.

 

Rob is a partner in the Transaction Services practice based in Houston.  He specializes in providing acquisition services in the energy and infrastructure industries on behalf of both corporate and financial sponsor clients.  The primary industries Rob serves include regulated electric and gas utilities, merchant power companies, midstream processing, mining, energy- related equipment and services companies, energy commodity trading, electric & gas retail marketers, transportation and infrastructure-related industrial and consumer products industries. 

In connection with providing buy and sell-side financial due diligence services, Rob assists clients with assessing the quality of reported earnings, identifying debt-like items, analyzing working capital, identifying potential purchase accounting adjustments as well as supporting working capital and purchase price adjustment mechanisms.
 
Rob has significant experience in cross-border transactions in a number of countries and has significant experience with US and IFRS.   Since joining Transaction Services in 1996, Rob has worked in PwC’s New York, Santiago, Chile and Seoul, South Korea offices.

Rob received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and is a Certified Public Accountant in New York, Texas and Virginia.

 

John is the lead partner for the Firm's US Power and Utilities Transaction Services practice, as well as a member of the Firm’s US Power and Utilities Leadership Council. He provides transaction services to PwC’s infrastructure, power and utility clients, including: merger, acquisition and divestiture financial due diligence; workout strategies; strategic planning and evaluation; financial and operations analysis; analysis of power-related contracts; assistance in contract buy-outs or buy-downs; regulatory matters; valuation of assets, contracts and business segments, and investigation and assistance in the deal process of transactions.

John has led financial due diligence teams for PwC in many of the industry's largest mergers and acquisitions and a wide variety of advisory transactions.  John also serves as a subject matter expert in the power generation industry.

With over 30 years of business and financial experience in the infrastructure, power and utilities industries, John provides an unparalleled range of services to provide sound solutions and ideas that increase value to our clients prior to, during and after the transaction.

John is a nationally recognized industry speaker and author.  Since 2001, he has been a co-author of Power Deals, PwC's global annual review of power and utility transactions and trends.
 
Mr. McConomy is a CPA and holds a BS in Accounting from the Pennsylvania State University.  He is a member of Financial Executives International, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Pennsylvania, New York and the Greater Washington Societies of Certified Public Accountants.

 

Richard Miller has been Director of the Energy Markets Policy Group at Con Edison since 2008, where his responsibilities include development of Company positions on federal energy policy issues and representation of the Company at the New York Independent System Operator and the PJM Regional Transmission Organization. From 2003 to 2008, he was an Assistant General Counsel in the Con Edison Law Department.  His principal areas of responsibility there were energy efficiency and demand response, renewable power, distributed generation, greenhouse gas regulation and the Con Edison steam system.  Previously (1998 to 2003), he was Senior Vice-President for Energy at the New York City Economic Development Corporation where he oversaw City energy policy and represented the City as an energy consumer. From 1990-1998, he worked as an energy regulatory attorney primarily representing alternative energy facility developers and energy consumers.  He is a graduate of Amherst College and New York University School of Law.  Mr. Miller was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa where he was a rural development volunteer.

 

Thad Miller joined Calpine Corporation in 2008 as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary, bringing almost 30 years of legal experience, the last 20 years in the energy industry. 

Mr. Miller began his legal career an associate and then as a partner in private practice in New York City, specializing in admiralty and commodities trading and representing financial institutions and others. 

In 1994, Mr. Miller joined Goldman Sachs & Co. as a Vice President and focused on energy commodity trading, including wholesale power. In 1999, he helped form and joined Orion Power Holdings Inc., an independent power producer backed by Goldman Sachs’ private equity arm, serving as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary and leading several asset and corporate acquisitions, the company’s IPO and ultimately the sale of the company in 2002.

In 2002, Mr. Miller became a full time consultant to TPG, a private equity firm, until 2004 when he helped TPG, KKR, Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman acquire Texas Genco, Inc., where he then served as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary until 2006 when he helped lead the sale of the company. From 2006 to 2008 he was a private investor.

Mr. Miller earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and his Juris Doctor from St. John's School of Law. He also served as an officer in the United States Coast Guard from 1973-1976.

 

Gil C. Quiniones has served as Chief Operating Officer of the New York Power Authority, the nation’s largest state-owned electric utility, since June 2008.

Mr. Quiniones is responsible for managing and monitoring the operation of the Power Authority’s

18 power plants and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines in various parts of New York State. He oversees activities in such areas as power generation and transmission; scheduling and bidding of the Authority’s generation assets into the state’s energy markets; fuel supply strategies; project development and licensing; regulatory compliance; and energy policy development.

Mr. Quiniones is a member of the Board of Directors of the Electric Power Research Institute, the electric power industry’s international research and development organization, and the incoming Chair of the Board’s Ad Hoc Committee on Energy Efficiency, Energy Storage, and Smart Grid. He is also active in the affairs of two national public power organizations, serving on the Steering Committee of the Board of the Large Public Power Council (LPPC), as Co-Chair of the LPPC’s Government Relations Task Force and as the Power Authority’s principal representative to the American Public Power Association. He previously was a member of then-Lieutenant Governor David A. Paterson’s Renewable Energy Task Force and Chair of the group’s Subcommittee on Distributed Generation.

Before joining the Power Authority staff in October 2007 as Executive Vice President of Energy Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Mr. Quiniones served for more than four years as Senior Vice President of Energy and Telecommunications for the New York City Economic Development Corporation. In that capacity, he was the city’s chief consultant on energy policy issues and established and led Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s Energy Policy Task Force, a public-private group that developed a comprehensive strategy for meeting future energy needs. He also led the development of the energy chapter of PlaNYC 2030, the city’s long-term sustainability plan. In addition, he served as Co-Chair of the New York City Telecommunications Task Force and of the city’s Telecommunications Policy Advisory Group.

He previously worked for Con Edison’s regulated and unregulated businesses for 16 years and was one of four co-founders of Con Edison Solutions, the utility’s unregulated energy services company.

Mr. Quiniones received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from De La Salle University in Manila and has completed graduate courses in engineering management and technology management at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J. He has also participated in executive education programs at the Columbia University Business School.

 

Juergen Reers is a partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and Managing Partner of Roland Berger's North American operations, including the Chicago, Detroit and New York offices.

Juergen Reers' areas of practice include energy/utilities, automotive, consumer goods, engineered products, and transportation.

In energy/utilities, he has advised leading companies on strategy, organizational development, and operational excellence.

Juergen Reers is a frequent speaker on energy related issues such as renewable strategies, e-Mobility, energy policy, energy efficiency etc. in cooperation with numerous organizations, such as Argyle, Center of Automotive Research, German-American Chamber of Commerce, National Defense University, Society of Automotive Engineers, etc. He is the co-author of a book on Green Technologies which will be published in December 2010.

Juergen Reers earned a master's degree in business administration from Westfaelische-Wilhelms University in Muenster, Germany and holds a MBA from Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles.

 

Speaker bio coming soon...

 

Robert (Bob) Rowe was named president and chief executive officer of NorthWestern Energy on August 13, 2008. Prior to joining NorthWestern, Rowe co-founded a national financial and policy consulting firm, working with many companies around the country, including in recent years NorthWestern. Rowe left the firm in order to join NorthWestern. He has 20-plus year’s energy and utility industry experience; formerly chairman and commissioner of the Montana Public Service Commission from 1993-2004, and also served as president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). He holds a Juris Doctor from University of Oregon and a bachelor of arts in history and political science from Lewis and Clark College.

 

Michael Schwartz is senior vice president of commercial policy and strategic initiatives for Duke Energy. He is responsible for identifying new strategic initiatives which can help grow the company’s regulated and commercial businesses and for developing commercial public policy to support growth. He was named to his current position in February 2009.

Schwartz has over 25 years of experience in all aspects of energy project development, project financing and structuring, technology commercialization, corporate development and strategic planning.

He joined the company in 2006 as senior vice president of Duke Energy Generation Services (DEGS). He was responsible for business and project development of major industrial power/cogeneration and non-utility generation projects, as well as commercial strategy and strategic initiatives.  

Before joining Duke Energy, Schwartz served for several years as a consultant to DEGS and Cinergy Solutions. Prior to that, he directed project development for a diversified natural gas utility, an affiliate of a private equity investor and served as senior vice president of an independent power plant producer/developer. He has also held various management positions with Conoco Inc. and Shell Oil Company and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. 

A native of New York City, Schwartz earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and received his doctorate in chemical engineering from Princeton University. 

Duke Energy, one of the largest power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 4 million customers in the Carolinas and the Midwest. The company also distributes natural gas in Ohio and Kentucky. Its commercial power and international businesses operate diverse power generation assets in North America and Latin America, including a growing renewable energy portfolio. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK.

 

John V. Veech is a Managing Director and leads Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners’ investing activities in the Americas.  With 24 years of project finance and advisory experience, John has extensive experience in both acquisitions and financings of energy, renewable energy, and power infrastructure-related assets.  The Americas investing team at MSIP has invested approximately $1.9 billion in equity, across infrastructure verticals including electric utilities, gas pipelines, ports, municipal parking and district heating and cooling systems.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners in January 2009, John spent 12 years with Lehman Brothers, most recently as a Managing Director of Lehman Brothers Global Infrastructure Partners. There, he was involved in principal investments in wind, solar and recycling projects. Prior to his principal investing role, John was head of Lehman Brothers’ Global Project Finance business from 1997 - 2007.  Under his tenure as Global Head of Project Finance, the team underwrote or placed in excess of $35 billion of capital markets project debt and received numerous “Deal of the Year” awards.

During the initial “wave” of deregulation in the U.S. power sector starting in the late 1990’s, John played a significant role in many generation asset sale processes driven by utility divestitures, as well as several major internal utility disaggregation transactions during this time period.  Several years later during the power sector “downcycle” in the early 2000’s, he was actively involved in work-outs, restructurings, and asset sales resulting from the acquisition by banks and ultimately other financial investors of generation assets.

John has spent a substantial portion of his time working on renewable/alternative energy opportunities over the past several years.  In the wind energy sector, he has completed strategic acquisitions for clients, capital raising for clients, and principal tax credit investments, including several novel equity structures. 

John has also been involved in several high profile international oil & gas project financings, including $3.8 billion aggregate bond financings for the Ras Gas II/3 LNG projects in Qatar, and the $1.1 billion financing for the Tengiz oil & gas project in Kazakhstan.  He has previously been involved in other international energy projects in Canada, Latin America and Asia.
In his Project Finance role, John has also been active in recent U.S. processes involving the privatization of government infrastructure, and the related financing structures.  John advised on public-private partnership transactions in the transport sector, including bids for toll roads, tunnels and port operators. 

Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, John was employed by Salomon Brothers from 1994 to 1997.  He was previously an attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.  John is a graduate of Boston University School of Law (JD, cum laude) and Lehigh University (BS, magna cum laude).

Mr. Veech is currently a member of the Investment Committee and the Valuation Committee of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, and serves on the Boards of Directors of Southern Star Central Corp., Chicago Parking Meters, L.L.C. and Chicago Loop Parking, L.L.C.

 

Mark Wyatt is vice president of smart grid and energy systems for Duke Energy’s U.S. Franchised Electric and Gas organization.

Wyatt has more than 29 years of experience in the information management and electric and gas utility fields.

He joined the company in July 1980 as a programmer analyst. Throughout his career, he has been instrumental in establishing and managing information technology strategy, processes and mechanisms that have allowed the information technology function at Duke Energy to support both a regulated and non-regulated business model. After a series of promotions in the information technology area, he was named director of IT for global asset development in 1998, where he established a service delivery process supporting both domestic and international information management business needs. He advanced to managing director of information management in January 2000, and was named vice president of information management for Duke Energy Generation Services in October 2001. He was named vice president of information management for Duke Energy North America in January 2003 and vice president of information technology for Duke Power in November 2003. Following the merger of Duke Energy and Cinergy in April 2006, Wyatt was named vice president of enterprise business applications. He was named to his current position in November 2009 and is the lead executive for Duke Energy’s Smart Grid program

Wyatt is a member of several advisory boards including the Computer Science Strategic Advisory Board at North Carolina State University and the Customer Services Week board of directors.

The Statesville, N.C., native earned a bachelor of science degree in computer science from North Carolina State University. Wyatt and his wife Robin live in Concord, N.C.

Duke Energy, one of the largest power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 4 million customers in the Carolinas and the Midwest. The company also distributes natural gas in Ohio and Kentucky, generates electricity in Latin America, and is a joint-venture partner in a U.S. real estate company. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK.