Keynote Speaker: Jon Wellinghoff Immediate past Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Jon Wellinghoff is an internationally recognized energy law attorney and clean tech energy expert. He is currently a partner at the law firm Stoel Rives LLP, and co-chair of the firm s energy team. Jon has nearly 38 years of leadership experience in federal and state energy policy, regulation, and project development. He has particular expertise in emerging clean tech energy system development, including systems for renewable energy production, smart grid, energy storage, energy efficiency, demand response, and energy infrastructure security, including cyber security. The longest serving chair of the FERC, Jon was first nominated to be a FERC Commissioner in 2006 by President George W. Bush. He was reappointed to the Commission in 2008. In March of 2009 he was named Chairman by President Barack Obama. During his FERC tenure, Jon worked to make the U.S. power grid cleaner and more efficient, integrating emerging resources such as renewable energy and demand response, including energy efficiency and local storage systems such as those in plug-in hybrid and all electric vehicles. He championed the agency's landmark Order 1000 which required grid planners and public utilities to coordinate regional power line projects and encouraged the integration of solar and wind installations. As Chairman, he also created FERC's Office of Energy Policy and Innovation, which is responsible for investigating and promoting new efficient technologies and practices in the energy sectors under FERC's jurisdiction, and oversaw development of the National Assessment of Demand Response Potential and the National Action Plan for Demand Response. Jon has written and lectured extensively on numerous subjects related to energy policy and practice, including renewable project development and renewable portfolio standards; smart grid and integration of electric vehicles and consumer appliances into the grid; demand response and distributed generation; efficient energy market structures; and development of licensing and hydrokinetic systems. Insider Real Estate Update and Forecast Session: Garrick Brown, Director of Research, Market Research Department, Cassidy Turley Garrick Brown joined Cassidy Turley in October 2010. He currently serves as the Western Region Director of Research for Cassidy Turley. Mr. Brown also acts as the National Director of Retail Research for Cassidy Turley and Terranomics (Cassidy Turley s retail division in Northern California). Garrick manages a staff of researchers throughout the Western United States and is responsible for producing the firm s analyses and forecasts for those markets; he also produces a number of Cassidy Turley s national publications focusing on the investment market and frequently authors white papers on prescient commercial real estate topics. Mr. Brown is also the editor of weekly publications; the Terranomics Retail Newsline (which is distributed weekly to over 15,000 retail real estate professionals) and the Bay Area Research Rant (which reaches over 10,000 commercial real estate professionals weekly. Garrick is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), Urban Land Institute (ULI) and NAIOP. He is a member of NAIOP s National Research Directors Committee as well as ICSC s North American Retail Research Task Force and ULI s Bay Area Product Council. In 2014 he was indicted into the Sacramento chapter of Lambda Alpha International, an invitation-only honorary society for the advancement of land economics.
Green Infrastructure and Smart, Resilient Cities Panelists: Larry Goldzband, Executive Director, BCDC Larry Goldzband has been Executive Director of BCDC since August 2012. Larry has worked for members of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, was Chief Deputy Cabinet Secretary for former Governor Pete Wilson, and was Director of the California Department of Conservation. In the private sector, he managed Pacific Gas and Electric Company s charitable contributions program for over ten years, which provided almost $20M in grants annually (mainly to northern California-based charitable organizations), and was Executive Director of the PG&E Corporation Foundation. In addition, Larry twice served as a BCDC Commissioner for a total of almost ten years. Larry received his undergraduate degree from Pomona College and his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Arrietta Chakos, Principal, Urban Resilience Strategies Arrietta Chakos is a public policy advisor on urban disaster resilience. She currently works on crisis management, community resilience policies, and multi-sectorial engagement in California cities. Her work with San Francisco, Palo Alto, and regional institutions focuses on strategies to improve disaster readiness and community resilience. She is a member of the Disasters Roundtable at the National Academies of Science and chairs the public policy committee at the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. Ms. Chakos served as the project director of the Harvard Kennedy School s Acting in Time Disaster Recovery Research Project. She was the assistant city manager in Berkeley, California, directing innovative risk mitigation initiatives, intergovernmental coordination, and multi-institutional negotiations. Mike D'Orazi, Fire Chief, City of Alameda Chief D Orazi began his career with the City of Alameda as a Firefighter in November, 1979. By 1988 he was promoted to Lieutenant, and then to Captain in 1999. As a Captain, Chief D Orazi served several years as the Fire Department Training Director and as an Acting Division Chief until his retirement July 2007. During his tenure, Chief D Orazi was very active in the community as well as the local Firefighters Association where he served as their President. In May 2011, Chief D Orazi returned to the department as the Fire Chief. He provides overall leadership and direction to the department, including overseeing administration of the department s budget, organizational planning and development, operations, and business functions.
Dan Halperin, Director, Distributed Generation, Pacific Gas and Electric Dan joined PG&E in May 2013 as Director of Distributed Generation (DG) within Customer Care. In this role, Dan oversees administration of PG&E's distributed generation programs including solar PV, solar thermal and incentives for other on-site renewable generation. Dan has over 15 years of utility and solar experience. Prior to joining PG&E, he was Senior Director of Project Finance at HelioPower, a California-based solar developer and installer. Prior to that Dan was Senior Director of Project Development and Finance at Solyndra. He began his solar career at MMA/Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, a solar finance and development company based in San Francisco. In his previous utility life, Dan worked at PG&E, initially in Regulatory Relations and later as Manager of Financial Forecasting. Prior to PG&E, Dan worked in corporate development and strategic planning for Entergy (a utility based in New Orleans). He has an MBA from Duke University and a law degree from the University of Western Australia. Moderated by Rebecca Rubin, Founder, President and CEO of Marstel-Day, LLC Ms. Rebecca R. Rubin is the Founder, President and CEO of Marstel-Day, LLC (www.marstel-day.com), a rapidly growing environmental consulting firm located in Oakland, CA and throughout the US since 2002. The company delivers successful innovations to clients in the public and private sectors in the areas of climate change risk analysis, community resilience, sustainability, and natural resource conservation planning. Marstel-Day has also been named to both INC Magazine's 500/5000 and Zweigwhite's HOTFirm list of rapidly growing firms for the past five consecutive years. In 2013, Ms. Rubin was named by the White House as a 2013 Champion of Change for Community Resilience and is currently leading a 6-region initiative in Virginia on Climate, Environment and Readiness. She chairs a Regional Chamber of Commerce Green Business Advisory Council and serves on the boards of a number of non-profit organizations including the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) which works to protect America's Wildlife Heritage; and RESOLVE, which works to builds strong, enduring solutions to environmental, social, and health challenges through collaboration. Ms. Rubin and her company have garnered awards that include the 2013 Environmental Business Journal Gold Medal for growth, the 2013 Alliance for Workplace Excellence (AWE) Eco-Leadership Award, and the Sierra Club s 2013 Living Green award.
Innovative Energy Technology and the Public Private Partnership Rob Davenport, Managing Partner, Brightpath Capital Partners Robert R. Davenport, III is Managing Partner of Brightpath Capital Partners, LP, an investment group focused on generating both economic and social value, and Chairman of Up Communications Services, LLC, an information technology and outsourced fulfillment services company. Previously, he was President and CEO of Covad International, a broadband services provider in Asia and Europe. He also served as SVP of Tele-Communications, Inc. (now Comcast) where he managed the broadband data business unit and was a member of the board of directors of Teleport Communications Group and Sprint PCS. Robert earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration from Harvard University. He also completed postgraduate work in political economy at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, as a Rotary Fellow. Bob Thronson, Vice President, Vigilent Bob is responsible for the Vigilent s strategic global partnerships. His professional focus is leading powerful technologies to broad market success. Bob has led marketing and/or business development at Genesys (recognized as the global market leader for four consecutive years), Telera (one of 2003 s top technology acquisitions, purchased by Alcatel), Centex (#4 on the INC 100, acquired by MFS), and Spectrum Services (acquired by IBM). Bob has a strong passion for the environment, and is an advisor to several early-stage clean energy generation and carbon capture technology companies. Susan Robinson, Federal Public Affairs Director, Waste Management Susan Robinson is Public Affairs Director for Waste Management. She has worked in the environmental industry for over 30 years in roles that span the public sector, a nonprofit environmental organization, consultancy, and twenty years in the private sector. Susan has worked for Waste Management since 1999, with much of her time interfacing with local governments. She has been instrumental in the company s implementation of new recycling programs on the West Coast, as well as Waste Management s 2009 transition to a natural gas fleet in the Pacific Northwest. She currently works with Waste Management s recycling, innovative technology and fleet teams, supporting the company s transformation from disposal to a materials management and renewable energy company. She is responsible for the company s public policy efforts to support this transition. Prior to working at Waste Management, Susan started her career as director of the Washington Environmental Council and then as a program manager for the City of Seattle. It was during this time that the City implemented its first curbside recycling program. This was a period of active citizen involvement around solid waste issues, and Susan s tasks at the City included staffing its citizen Solid Waste Advisory Committee and establishing the City s first multi-family recycling program.
Richard Sinkoff, Director of Environmental Programs and Planning As director of Environmental Programs and Planning, Richard Sinkoff leads the Port's efforts to ensure the highest standards of regulatory compliance and environmental performance; improve responsiveness to environmental concerns raised by the community and Port customers; increase the Port's capacity to respond to emerging environmental regulations, policies and conditions; and promote the Port's strategic alignment efforts. Most recently, Mr. Sinkoff served as the Port's environmental manager. Prior to joining the Port of Oakland in 1992, Mr. Sinkoff worked as a city planning and environmental planning consultant for cities and counties throughout Northern and Southern California. Mr. Sinkoff received his Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude from Columbia University in New York City and his master's degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley, where he majored in land use planning and urban design. In 2006, Mr. Sinkoff completed his juris doctorate from Golden Gate University School of Law. Mr. Sinkoff is also a member of the American Planning Association, the Urban Land Institute and the American Institute of Certified Planners. He is fluent in Spanish, French, Portuguese and German. Moderated by Emily Kirsch, Founder and CEO, SfunCube Emily Kirsch is Co-Founder and CEO of SfunCube, an incubator and accelerator helping solar entrepreneurs succeed. SfunCube houses over a dozen solar start-ups employing more than 145 throughout the US. Prior to becoming a solar entrepreneur, Emily worked with former advisor to President Obama, Van Jones, at the Ella Baker Center where she launched and led the Green Jobs Corps which was Oakland's first green-job training program, the Climate Action Coalition which drafted and secured passage of the nation's most ambitious Energy and Climate Action Plan, and Oakland Solar Mosaic which piloted Mosaic's crowd funding model on 4 sites in Oakland. Emily co-authored the reports Making Green Work and Creating Climate Action in Your Community. Emily is a New Leaders Council Alumni and is a 2014 Young Climate Leaders Fellow. Emily graduated with honors from San Francisco State University with a BA in Sustainable Urban Development. Emily resides in Oakland and is the proud owner of a 3.5 kw solar system.