Agenda

David Dvorak

Director, New England CHP TAP

David is Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology and Interim Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maine.  He also serves as Director of the New England CHP Technical Assistant Partnership.

David's research interest include fuel cell applications using liquid renewable fuels, control of fuel cell power systems, high-temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cells, hydrogen production from renewable energy, innovative polymer electrolyte fuel cell membranes, renewable energy systems, and modeling of solid lubricants.  He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Maine.

John Gibson

Innovation Lab and Chief Research & Development Engineer, Avista

John Zachary Gibson is Director of Avista’s Innovation Lab and Chief Research & Development Engineer at Avista.  He leads the team that develops grid products and services for Avista’s electric and natural gas customers.

With more than 25 years of experience in the electric utility industry, Gibson is currently leading the development of a shared energy model called an eco-district, which uses a centralized plant to supply energy to multiple buildings in an area referred to as the “five smartest blocks” in Spokane, Wash. This innovative model could transform how the electric grid of the future operates and help reinvent the utility business model.

Gibson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical (BSEE) and civil engineering (BSCE), plus a Masters in Engineering Management. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Washington.

Anne Hampson

Technology Partnerships Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy

Anne Hampson currently serves as the program manager for the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) Technical Partnership programs, which support the development and validation of technologies and practices to increase the productivity and competitiveness of American manufacuturers and other large energy-using facilities. The five core programs that Ms. Hampson oversees are the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Deployment Program, Better Plants, ISO 50001, Industrial Assessment Centers, and Tecnologist in Residence.

Before joining AMO, Ms. Hampson was a resilience fellow at the Federal Energy Management Program where she focused on tool development and stakeholder outreach related to energy and water resilience. Ms. Hampson also spent over 15 years at ICF focused on distributed generation and CHP, where she led a team focused on CHP technology assessment, market potential, and regulatory/policy considerations.

Bruce Hedman

Senior Technical Advisor, DOE Deployment Program

Burce Hedman, Managing Director of Entropy Research, LLC, has 40 years of experience in energy technology research, development and commercialization, and is a recognized authority in combined heat and power (CHP) and distributed generation technologies, markets and policies.

He has worked extensively with public and private clients to analyze the opportunity for distributed generation technologies and identify regulatory and institutional hurdles to market development. He has provided technical support and strategic guidance to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Combined Heat and Power Partnership and currently serves as a senior advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy's CHP Deployment Program. He has worked with a variety of states analyzing the opportunities for and barriers to CHP and distributed generation.

Bruce is a past chair of the U.S. Combined Heat and Power Association, a USCHPA CHP Champion, and an inductee in the American Gas Association's Industrial and Commercial Hall of Flame. He was named a 2015 Champion of Energy Efficiency by ACEEE for his career-long commitment to industrial energy efficiency and CHP technology and policy, and received the 2016 CHP Champion award from the Northeast Clean Heat and Power Initiativbe for his long-standing work in CHP.

Kyle Rooney

Assistant Director, New England CHP TAP

Kyle is resident Energy Systems Engineer with the University of Maine's Advanced Manufacturing Center as well as Assistant Director for New England’s Combined Heat and Power Technical Assistance Partnership with the Department of Energy.

Kyle is a graduate of UMaine’s Mechanical Engineering Technology program with a minor in Mathematics. As a tutor and teaching assistant for Thermodynamics, Kyle worked with Combined Heat and Power here at the University as an Undergraduate Research Assistant for approximately a year before accepting his current position. He has worked for Veolia Energy on Boston’s 250 MW power generation and steam distribution system. He also has hands-on experience installing HVAC equipment in residential, commercial, and industrial sites.

Lidija Sekaric

National Business Director, Siemens

In her role as National Business Director, Lidija sets the strategic direction for Siemens business units on the topic of Distributed Energy Systems with focus on on-site energy generation, energy storage, and advanced control systems, including microgrids and virtual power plants.

Lidija has over 15 years of strategic experience in energy, semiconductor industry, and government. Prior to joining Siemens, she served in a variety of executive and advisory roles at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) where she managed a portfolio across multiple applied energy. Her experience also includes serving as Director of the DOE SunShot Initiative where she led the near and long-term US government solar program strategy. Lidija has served at the executive committee level for several organizations, including the International Energy Agency.

Lidija holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Cornell University and has been granted 30 U.S. patents.

Bill Taylor

Engineering Manager, Energy Systems Group

Bill is an Engineering Manager for Energy Systems Group’s (ESG) Federal Business Unit (FBU). His primary focus is Resiliency and New Technology Solutions. In this role Bill leads the evaluation, solution development and implementation for resiliency and advanced technology solutions for ESG customers under multiple forms of procurement.

Bill has over 35 years of engineering experience in a range of industries, but always with a focus around energy-based solutions. Before joining Energy Systems Group, Bill worked for an ESCO as the Engineering Operations Leader. In this role, Bill provided complete energy solutions to a wide range of clients, including the U.S. federal government, municipalities, school systems, universities, healthcare clients, and industrial clients. The energy solutions provided included renewable power generation, smart grid and micro-grid development, and critical infrastructure updates. Bill is the author/co-author of over 20 technical papers and holds five U.S. Patents.

Bill holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Utah and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington. Bill is a licensed Professional Engineer and a Certified Energy Manager.

Suzanne Watson

Technical Advisor, New England CHP Technical Assistance Partnership

Currently Suzanne works as one of the partners in the recently formed regional New England Combined Heat & Power Technical Assistance Partnership a resource supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and based out of the University of Maine’s Engineering School in partnership with the University of New Hampshire and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Additionally, she works in New England and nationally on multiple clean energy efforts.

Suzanne served for almost ten years as the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)’s Policy Program Director starting in 2008, where she worked with ACEEE staff and external partners to determine how ACEEE’s analysis and expertise could best be directed to create the policy opportunities needed for optimal outcomes in the interest of ever greater energy efficiency leading to a stronger national economy.

Prior to joining ACEEE in 2008, she served as the director for the Office of Innovation at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, as energy and climate policy director for the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NASCUM), a not-for-profit firm in Boston, as senior policy advisor for the Northeast-Midwest House and Senate Coalitions on Capitol Hill, and as founder and director of the Maine Environment & Energy Center (E2 Center). Suzanne has worked extensively on the linkages between energy policy, environmental quality, and economic development issues from the early nineties to today. Watson received her BA in political theory from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and was awarded a juris doctor and master of intellectual property law from Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire.