Lazard Climate and Energy
Transition Conference 2023 Program
About the Event
Lazard’s inaugural Climate and Energy Transition Conference brings together corporate leaders, investors, policy makers, and economists, to engage in a conversation on the financial impacts, opportunities, and risks of climate change and the energy transition. The day-long event in New York City will feature a discussion on how the government is enabling the energy transition, a presentation by Lazard’s Climate Center on new research findings, commentary on Lazard’s latest Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) publication, panel discussions on how public and private markets are viewing the energy landscape, and fireside chats on the cutting edge of renewable energy and pathways to a decarbonized economy.
Agenda
Friday April 14th
9:00 AM-9:10 AM
Opening Remarks by Peter Orszag
9:10 AM-9:20 AM
Welcome by George Bilicic
Publication of Lazard’s LCOE+ (v16.0)
9:20 AM-10:00 AM
Keynote Panel: How is the U.S. Government Enabling the Energy Transition and Economic Growth?
Presented by:
• Miguel Prado, CEO of energyRe
• Mark Goodwin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Apex Clean Energy
• Susan Nickey, Executive Vice President and Chief Client Officer of HASI and Chair-Elect of American
Clean Power
• Gerry Petrella, Policy Director for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer
Moderated by:
• Joseph Aldy, Professor of the Practice of Public Policy at John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
10:00 AM-10:15 AM
Climate Center Quick Hits: Keys Findings and Themes in Climate and Energy Transition Finance
Presented by:
• Zachery Halem, Director of Lazard’s Climate Center
10:15 AM-10:45 AM
Climate Center Discussion: Keys Findings and Themes in Climate and Energy Transition Finance
Presented by:
• Joseph Aldy, Professor of the Practice of Public Policy at John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
• Patrick Bolton, Barbara and David Zalaznick Professor of Business at Columbia University
• Marcin Kacperczyk, Professor of Finance at Imperial College London
• Andrew Lo, Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor of Finance at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
Moderated by:
• Zachery Halem, Director of Lazard’s Climate Center
10:45 AM-11:00 AM
Break
11:00 AM – 11:40 AM
Panel: How Public Markets are Viewing the Energy Transition and ESG
Presented by:
• Jeff Ubben, Co-Founder and CEO of Inclusive Capital Partners
• Steve Fleishman, Managing Director and Senior Analyst at Wolfe Research
• Andre Meade, Senior Analyst at the Capital Group
Moderated by:
• Samuel Scroggins, Director at Lazard
11:40 AM- 12:20 PM
Fireside Chat: The Multisectoral Move Towards a Decarbonized World
Presented by:
• Tom Linebarger, Executive Chairman of Cummins
Moderated by:
• George Bilicic, Vice Chairman and Global Head of Power, Energy & Infrastructure at Lazard
12:20 PM- 1:20 PM
Lunch
1:20 PM- 2:00 PM
Panel: Why the World Still Needs Diverse Energy Solutions
Presented by:
• Matthew Akman, Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy and President of Power at Enbridge
• Don Moul, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Tennessee Valley Authority
• Eric Lachance, President and Chief Executive Officer of Energir
• Anthony Guzzi, CEO of EMCOR Group
Moderated by:
• Duncan Dickerson, Director at Lazard
2:00 PM- 2:40 PM
Fireside Chat: When and How: What the Future Holds for Clean Energy
Presented by:
• Michael Polsky, Founder and CEO of Invenergy
Moderated by:
• George Bilicic, Vice Chairman and Global Head of Power, Energy & Infrastructure at Lazard
2:40 PM-3:20 PM
Panel: How Private Markets are Viewing the Energy Transition and ESG
Presented by:
• David Foley, Global Head of Blackstone Energy Partners
• Keith Derman, Partner and Co-Head of Ares Infrastructure Opportunities at Ares Management
• Paul Segal, CEO of LS Power
• Angelo Acconcia, Partner at ArcLight Capital Partners
Moderated by:
• Adam Handwerker, Managing Director at Lazard
3:20 PM – 3:35 PM
Break
3:35 PM-4:15 PM
Panel: The Cutting Edge of Renewable Energy and Fuels
Presented by:
• Andrew Marsh, CEO of Plug Power
• Todd Borgmann, CEO of Calumet Specialty Products Partners
• Thomas Meth, President and CEO of Enviva
Moderated by:
• Pablo Hernandez Schmidt-Tophoff, Managing Director at Lazard
4:15 PM-4:55 PM
Panel: Is There a “Silver Bullet?”
Presented by:
• Dennis Whyte, Director of Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT
• Chris Gould, Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer of California Resources
Corporation
• Alex Hernandez, Chief Executive Officer of Talen Energy
• Alessandra Pasini, Co-Founder and President of Zhero
Moderated by:
• Barbara Burger, Senior Advisor at Lazard
4:55 PM-5:00 PM
Closing Remarks
5:00 PM-6:00 PM
Reception and Happy Hour
Speakers & Presenters
Angelo Acconcia
Partner
ArcLight
Angelo Acconcia
Partner
Mr. Acconcia joined ArcLight in 2022 and has nearly two decades of private equity and energy investing experience. Prior to joining ArcLight, he was a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, having spent over 17 years in their Private Equity Group and was one of the founding partners of their energy fund, Blackstone Energy Partners. During his time at Blackstone, Mr. Acconcia worked across a diverse set of sectors including chemicals, industrials, packaging, power, technology, telecom and upstream. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Acconcia worked at Morgan Stanley in their Global Energy and M&A group, and at CIBC in Investment Banking in Canada and Hong Kong. Mr. Acconcia holds an Honors degree in Business from Queen’s University in Canada.
Matthew Akman
EVP, Corporate Strategy and President, Power
Enbridge
Matthew Akman
EVP, Corporate Strategy and President, Power
In his role, Matthew oversees the corporate strategic planning process and all renewable power operations and development globally.
Matthew joined Enbridge in early 2016 as Head of Corporate Strategy. He also previously held responsibilities for Corporate Development, New Energy Technologies and Investor Relations.
Prior to joining Enbridge, Matthew worked primarily in banking with a focus on institutional equity research. He held Managing Director positions at CIBC World Markets and subsequently at Scotiabank. Prior to this, he worked as a manager of strategic and financial planning for Consumers Gas.
Matthew currently sits as a member of the board of directors of Tennis Canada. He holds a BA in Economics from Northwestern University, a Masters in Economics from Queens University and an MBA from the University of Toronto.
Todd Borgmann
Chief Executive Officer
Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L,P.
Todd Borgmann
Chief Executive Officer
Todd Borgmann became Chief Executive Officer of Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L,P. in May 2022. Mr. Borgmann has fifteen years of experience with Calumet, serving the company across a diverse set of management roles. In the five years preceding his current role, Mr. Borgmann served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Supply & Trading. Mr. Borgmann has also served as Calumet’s Vice President of Business Development and Director of the partnership’s White Oils and Petroleum sales. Mr. Borgmann earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame.
Keith Derman
Partner, Co-Head of Ares Infrastructure Opportunities
Ares
Keith Derman
Partner, Co-Head of Ares Infrastructure Opportunities
Mr. Derman is a Partner and Co-Head of Ares Infrastructure Opportunities. Additionally, he serves on the Ares Infrastructure Opportunities Investment Committee and the Ares Climate Infrastructure Partners Investment Committee. As the Co-Head of Infrastructure Opportunities at Ares, he oversees all aspects of strategy, origination, capital deployment and portfolio management across the infrastructure industry. In 2015, Mr. Derman joined Ares Management through the firm’s acquisition of Energy Investors Funds, where he was a Partner and had worked for 10 years. From 2002-2005, he was a Manager of Corporate Development at PSEG Power, where he focused on the acquisition and development of power generation and transmission projects as well as spending significant time in the company’s commodity trading and international businesses. In addition, Mr. Derman worked as a Senior Financial Analyst in the Acquisition and Development Group at Sunterra Corporation, a publicly traded real estate and resort company. He began his career as a Financial Analyst at Smith Barney, where he was a member of the mergers and acquisitions group. Mr. Derman is a member of the Board of Directors of a number of portfolio companies including Apex Clean Energy and Swell Energy. Mr. Derman also serves on the Board of Visitors at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Mr. Derman holds a B.A., cum laude, from Duke University in Political Science and an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School in Entrepreneurial Management.
Steve Fleishman
Managing Director and Senior Analyst
Wolfe Research
Steve Fleishman
Managing Director and Senior Analyst
Steve is a Managing Director and Senior Analyst at Wolfe Research covering the utilities, midstream and clean energy sectors. He has been ranked #1 in the Electric Utilities Sector for 15 years in the Institutional Investor All American Research Poll, and was named to the Institutional Investor Magazine Hall of Fame in 2011. He also serves on the Executive Committee of Wolfe Research.
Before joining Wolfe Research in March 2013, Steve worked as a Managing Director and Senior Utilities Analyst at Bank of America from 2009 to 2013 where he also managed their research equity portfolios and U.S. 1 List. Prior to Bank of America, Steve worked as a Portfolio Manager at hedge fund Catapult Capital Management from 2006 to 2009. From 1996 to 2006, Steve was a Managing Director and Senior Utility Analyst at Merrill Lynch and before that, he held similar roles at Dean Writer Reynolds and Kidder, Peabody.
Steve and his wife Judy live in Manhasset, NY with their three children. Steve is a 1991 graduate of Binghamton University and established The Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development in 2014.
David Foley
Senior Managing Director, Global Head of Blackstone Energy Partners
Blackstone
David Foley
Senior Managing Director, Global Head of Blackstone Energy Partners
David I. Foley is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Equity Group and Global Head of Blackstone Energy Partners. Mr. Foley is based in New York and is responsible for overseeing Blackstone’s private equity investment activities in the energy sector on a global basis. Since joining Blackstone in 1995, Mr. Foley has been responsible for building the Blackstone energy practice and has played an integral role in every energy-related private equity deal that the firm has made. Mr. Foley actively leads our investment activities and provides guidance and support to the other BEP senior investment professionals, who each have primary responsibility for specific sectors. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Foley worked with AEA Investors and prior to that he worked as a management consultant for Monitor Company. Mr. Foley serves as a member of the Board of Directors for several BEP investments, including Beacon Offshore Energy, Geosyntec, Kinetik, Olympus Energy, Rover and Transmission Developers, Inc. He also serves as the Chairman of the Columbia University Medical Center Ophthalmology Board of Advisors. Mr. Foley received a B.A. and M.A. in Economics, with honors, Phi Beta Kappa, from Northwestern University and received an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School.
Mark Goodwin
CEO
Apex Clean Energy
Mark Goodwin
CEO
Mark has spent more than twenty years of his career in the renewable energy sector. As CEO of Apex Clean Energy, Mark leads the execution of corporate strategy. Since Apex’s founding, he has built a team of more than 400 professionals focused on creating customized clean energy solutions for businesses, government, utilities, and others. With Apex’s core values as a driving force, Mark has overseen the implementation of 8 GW of wind and solar energy facilities representing $10 billion of investment. He previously served as president and COO of Apex from 2009 to 2016.
Mark serves on the board of the American Clean Power Association. From 2005 to 2009, he was a director at Horizon Wind Energy/EDPR. Prior to Horizon, Mark worked for the North American sales subsidiary of Vestas Wind Systems.
Mark is a former naval officer and helicopter pilot. He holds a BS in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Chris Gould
Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer
California Resources Corporation
Chris Gould
Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer
Chris D. Gould was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer of California Resources Corporation in June 2021.
For the past decade, Mr. Gould has served as Senior Vice President Corporate Strategy and Chief Innovation and Sustainability Officer of a Fortune 100 energy company. In this role he built and led the company’s overall climate/ESG programs, including the development of climate mitigation and adaptation transition plans. Mr. Gould also has extensive experience in energy trading, finance, strategic planning, and technology innovation focused on decarbonization. His commitment to sustainability and the environment has been reflected throughout his career, beginning with his early engineering focus on environmental remediation, his service as a trustee on the board of a global environmental conservation non-profit, and his work to commercialize innovative decarbonization technologies.
Mr. Gould holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from Penn State University and an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh.
Tony Guzzi
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
EMCOR Group, Inc.
Tony Guzzi
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Anthony (Tony) J. Guzzi is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of EMCOR Group, Inc., (NYSE: EME), a Fortune 500® leader in mechanical and electrical construction, industrial and energy infrastructure, and building services for a diverse range of businesses and government, with 2022 revenues of $11.1B and 33,000+ employees.
Prior to joining EMCOR, Tony was President of the North American Distribution and Aftermarket Division of Carrier Corporation, a manufacturer and distributor of commercial and residential HVAC and refrigeration systems and equipment and a provider of aftermarket services and components of its own products and those of other manufacturers in both the HVAC and refrigeration industry. Previously, Tony served as an engagement manager with McKinsey & Company. Tony is also Lead Director of Hubbell Incorporated.
Passionate about giving back to veterans and their families, Tony helped found the Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund. Johnny Mac’s mission is to provide educational opportunities to the children and spouses of those soldiers who either perished in combat or training defending our country.
Tony is Ranger qualified and served in the U.S. Army as a Light Infantry Captain from 1986 to 1991. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science with highest distinction from The United States Military Academy at West Point in 1986. Tony earned his MBA from Harvard Business School with distinction in 1993.
Tony enjoys spending time with his family, including two sons and a daughter. He also enjoys playing golf, and attending sporting events.
Alex Hernandez
Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director
Talen Energy Corporation and Cumulus Data
Alex Hernandez
Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director
Alejandro (“Alex”) Hernandez
Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director, Talen Energy Corporation and Cumulus Data
Alex Hernandez was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Talen Energy Corporation by the Company’s Board of Directors in 2021 after concurrently serving as President and member of the Company’s Board of Directors since 2019, and Chief Financial Officer since the Company’s acquisition and take-private transaction in 2016.
Mr. Hernandez also serves as Founder and CEO of Talen’s Cumulus Data center business, a digital infrastructure company that has developed and constructed large scale data centers directly connected to low-cost, carbon-free nuclear generation sources, including Talen’s Susquehanna nuclear power plant.
In his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of both Talen and Cumulus, Mr. Hernandez oversees all aspects of the Companies’ long-term strategy, energy transition, operations and overall performance of the wholesale power generation business and the Cumulus carbon-free renewables, battery storage and digital infrastructure platforms.
Prior to joining Talen, Mr. Hernandez served as Chief Financial Officer of TerraForm Power, Inc. (NASDAQ: TERP, ~$10 billion EV), a contracted renewable power infrastructure company. He was instrumental in the Company’s formation, IPO and in driving its growth and ultimate sale to Brookfield (NYSE: BEP). TerraForm generated total shareholder returns of over 340% in its initial 2017 sale to Brookfield and over 890% by the time of its 2020 merger with BEP.
Before creating TerraForm, Mr. Hernandez was a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, joining the firm in 2005. During his time at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Hernandez provided strategic and capital markets advice to management teams and boards of directors with a focus on the power, utilities, and midstream energy sectors. He was actively involved in building, growing, and selling several power and infrastructure platforms including Horizon Wind, First Solar, Enviva, and Talen, among others.
Mr. Hernandez serves as an Advisory Board member of BlueVoyant, an enterprise cybersecurity technology company backed by the Pritzker Organization. He also serves as a Roundtable member of the James A. Baker, III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, Houston.
Mr. Hernandez received a B.A. in Economics from Rice University (cum laude), B.S.C. London School of Economics (general course), and an MBA from Columbia University, New York.
Eric Lachance
President and CEO
Énergir
Eric Lachance
President and CEO
Mr. Éric Lachance joined Énergir in January 2017 as Vice President, Finance and was
appointed Senior Vice President, Regulatory, IT, Logistics and Chief Financial Officer on
June 1, 2018. After holding these positions in the company, he became President and
Chief Executive Officer, position he is holding since January 1 st , 2020. From February
2000 to December 2016, he held various positions at Caisse de dépôt et placement du
Québec, the last 3 years as Regional Director – Europe within its subsidiary CDPQ Paris
where he led the team responsible for ensuring the supervision and valuation of the
Caisse’s European infrastructure investment portfolio. He represented Caisse as a board
member for many portfolio companies such as Fluxys Belgium, Colonial Pipeline, Keolis
and Heathrow Airport.
Committed to the energy transition, Éric Lachance thinks of energy not as a product, but
as a service that must best meet various needs, including the need to move towards a
lower carbon economy. For Mr. Lachance, the challenges posed by the transformation of
the energy industry over the next 20 years will require creativity and flexibility.
Mr. Lachance holds a degree in business, finance and economics from McGill University
and has been a chartered financial analyst since 2000. Since January 2020, he has
been a member of the Industry / Transportation Divisional Committee under the
campaign cabinet of Centraide of Greater Montreal.
Tom Linebarger
Executive Chairman
Cummins Inc.
Tom Linebarger
Executive Chairman
Tom Linebarger was appointed as Executive Chairman of Cummins Inc. in August 2022. In this role, Tom will continue serving as Chairman of the Board.
Prior to this role, Tom served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for 10 years. Before that, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer from 2008 to 2011, Executive Vice President and President, Power Generation Business from 2003 to 2008, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2000 to 2003, and Vice President of Supply Chain Management from 1998 to 2000.
Tom was initially attracted to Cummins’ purpose-driven approach to business. That was reinforced during a summer internship at the Cummins MidRange Engine plant in Walesboro, Indiana (USA). He liked the values, the people and the business challenges he found at Cummins and decided to join full time in February 1993. Prior to Cummins, Tom was an investment analyst and investment manager at Prudential Investment Corporation, working in both Singapore and Hong Kong.
In addition to his work at Cummins, Tom is actively involved with several global and local organizations. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Harley Davidson since 2008. He is a member of the Business Roundtable (BRT), an association of chief executive officers of America’s leading companies working with government officials on crafting legislation impacting American businesses. In 2021, Tom was appointed Chair of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) and Co-Chair of the Global Hydrogen Council. Tom previously served as Chair of the U.S.-China Business Council from 2020 to 2022.
Tom grew up in California and received joint undergraduate degrees in management engineering from Claremont McKenna College and mechanical engineering from Stanford University. He later returned to Stanford University to earn a master’s degree in manufacturing systems from the School of Engineering and a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Business.
Tom and his wife, Michele, have two adult daughters, Alex and Emily, and enjoy traveling to spend time with them.
Andy Marsh
President and CEO
Plug
Andy Marsh
President and CEO
Andy Marsh joined Plug as President and CEO in April 2008. Under his guidance, Plug has become the leading provider of turnkey hydrogen solutions for the global green hydrogen economy. Mr. Marsh has established Plug as the home to the end-to-end green hydrogen ecosystem where every step of operations — from production, storage and handling, delivery, transportation and dispensing of hydrogen — is available to customers, allowing them to meet their business goals and decarbonize the economy. What was once a company behind fuel cell technology that powered material handling businesses, Mr. Marsh has positioned Plug as the green hydrogen leader powering e-mobility and stationary power applications, and providing first-class PEM electrolyzer technology.
As President and CEO, Mr. Marsh plans and directs all aspects of the company’s goals and objectives, and is focused on building a company that leverages Plug’s combination of technological expertise, talented people and focus on sales growth to continue the company’s leadership stance in the future energy economy. Under his leadership, Plug is expected to hit a record $3 billion in revenue by 2025.
Previously, Mr. Marsh was a co-founder of Valere Power, where he served as CEO and Board Member from the company’s inception in 2001 and through its sale to Eltek ASA in 2007. During his leadership, Valere grew into a profitable global operation with more than 200 employees and $90 million in revenue derived from the sale of DC power products to the telecommunications sector. Also during Mr. Marsh’s tenure, Valere Power received many awards such as the Tech Titan award as the fastest growing technology company in the Dallas Fort Worth area and the Red Herring Top 100 Innovator Award. Prior to founding Valere, he spent almost 18 years with Lucent Bell Laboratories in a variety of sales and technical management positions.
Mr. Marsh is chairman of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association and a member of the Hydrogen Council. He holds a master’s in electrical engineering from Duke University and a master’s in business administration from SMU. He has served a resource to U.S. lawmakers who have looked to him for guidance on expanding the adoption of hydrogen.
Andre Meade
Equity Investment Analyst
Capital Group
Andre Meade
Equity Investment Analyst
Andre C. Meade is an equity investment analyst at Capital Group with research responsibility for U.S. and Canadian utilities and pipelines. He has 31 years of investment experience and has been with Capital Group for 19 years. Earlier in his career at Capital, his coverage included European utilities, competitive power generators and natural-gas infrastructure companies. Prior to joining Capital, Andre was a sell-side analyst at Lazard Freres and Commerzbank Capital Markets. Before that, he was a utility industry consultant at Putnam Hayes & Bartlett and National Economic Research Associates. As an electric utility analyst at the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, Andre was involved in all aspects of electric utility regulation. He holds a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University. Andre is based in New York.
Thomas Meth
President and CEO
Enviva
Thomas Meth
President and CEO
Mr. Meth is a co-founder of Enviva, a leading global renewable energy company specializing in sustainable wood bioenergy. Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive Officer in November 2022, he held the position of President, with responsibility for the Company’s activities from the forest, through its operations and logistics, and ultimately to the customers’ discharge. Mr. Meth has led Enviva’s business development, sales and commercial customer relations teams as well as developed and oversaw the fiber procurement and sustainability teams to establish Enviva as an industry leader in environment stewardship and sustainability standards. In addition, he has had oversight over the broader plant and port operations and global public affairs initiatives.
Mr. Meth holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration in Austria as well as an M.B.A. from The Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at The University of Virginia.
Don Moul
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Tennessee Valley Authority
Don Moul
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Don Moul serves as TVA’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. With nearly 35 years of experience in all areas of power generation and operations, he possesses a strong track record of enhancing operational performance and teamwork through a disciplined and collaborative leadership approach.
With primary responsibility for TVA’s power generation, transmission, and power supply functions, Don serves in a key leadership role at TVA. With one of the nation’s most resilient, diverse generation portfolios, he leads TVA’s industry-leading efforts to provide increasingly cleaner energy.
Don also leads a number of other mission-critical areas of TVA’s business, including Safety, Integrated River System Management; Natural Resources; Environment; Supply Chain; Major Projects; Facilities Management; TVA Police and Emergency Management; and Enterprise Improvement.
In his role, Don is focused on delivering high reliability, low cost and operational excellence with safety as the highest priority. His work in directing TVA’s state-of-the- art grid modernization applies technological innovations to creating the energy system of the future that will be ideally positioned to meet emerging customer demands. In addition, Don oversees TVA’s River Forecast Center that helped prevent more than $1 billion in potential flood damage in fiscal year 2020 alone.
Throughout his career, Don has held a variety of leadership positions, primarily in nuclear divisions, with American Electric Power, Duquesne Light Company, FirstEnergy Corporation, GPU Nuclear Corporation and Public Service Electric & Gas.
Before joining TVA in June 2021, Don was executive vice president and chief nuclear officer at NextEra Energy where he was responsible for the safe and reliable operation of NextEra’s nuclear fleet and oversaw decommissioning activities at Duane Arnold Energy Center.
From 2004 to 2019, Don served in a variety of leadership roles at FirstEnergy Corporation, including leading the nuclear and fossil generation, transmission and distribution, commodity operations and environmental compliance functions. Under his leadership, the First Energy nuclear fleet achieved its best-ever outage and total-cost performance, while maintaining exemplary INPO continuous monitoring ratings in 2018.
Don also previously served as vice president for FirstEnergy Commodity Operations, focused on power production and retail supply in the PJM Markets. He also served as president of Ohio Edison and Penn Power – two of FirstEnergy’s operating companies.
Don earned a bachelor of science in nuclear engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. He also has been a senior reactor operator at multiple nuclear stations.
Susan Nickey
Executive Vice President and Chief Client Officer
Hannon Armstrong
Susan Nickey
Executive Vice President and Chief Client Officer
Susan D. Nickey
Executive Vice President and Chief Client Officer
Susan Nickey is executive vice president and chief client officer of HASI (NYSE: HASI), a leading investor in climate solutions. She joined HASI as managing director in 2014 and is responsible for leading the business development team and managing client relationships with clean energy and engineering companies to drive new and recurring programmatic investments and strategic partnerships. She also leads a team charged with advancing issues that support HASI’s clean energy thought leadership and climate policy agenda.
Prior to joining HASI, she founded and served as chief executive officer of Threshold Power. Prior to Threshold, Ms. Nickey was the chief financial officer of ACCIONA Energy North America from 2007-2010 and was a managing director of investment banking in the project finance group of Mesirow Financial before that. Previously a member of the board of directors for the American Council of Renewable Energy (ACORE) and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Ms. Nickey currently serves as chair-elect of the board of the American Clean Power Association. Ms. Nickey is a frequent speaker at renewable energy events, particularly on topics related to capital markets and financing trends for clean energy, including wind, solar, and storage.
Ms. Nickey has been recognized as one of the most influential women in the renewable energy industry by Environment+Energy’s 2021 Leader Top 100 list, A Word About Wind’s 2021 Women’s Power List and has been featured in the North American Power List 100 most influential individuals in the wind industry for five consecutive years. In 2020, she was named Woman of the Year at the Cleanie Awards. Ms. Nickey holds a Bachelor of Arts in business administration from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Science in foreign service from Georgetown University.
Alessandra Pasini
Co-Founder and President
Zhero
Alessandra Pasini
Co-Founder and President
Co-founder & President of Zhero, a new company that develops renewable energy
and green hydrogen at scale, including infrastructure and solutions to convey green
electrons / molecules from optimum production location to demand centres, and long
duration storage.
Former CEO of Storage, Chief International and Business Development Officer and
Group CFO at Snam (from 2016 to 2022).
Alessandra played a key role in Snam’s repositioning and growth into an energy
transition leader with an international footprint (including its storage activities)
through a combination of organic and inorganic growth. Established what is today
the largest Biomethane platform and the second largest energy service company in
Italy.
Led the acquisition of a 36% of De Nora from Blackstone, IPOed 1 year later at 3x
value as part of a broader effort to around hydrogen started in 2018
Prior to Snam, she was Head of Investment Banking Italy at Barclays and leading
banker at Citi before.
Gerry Petrella
Policy Director for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer
Gerry Petrella
Policy Director for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer
Gerry Petrella has worked in the United States Senate for 15 years, serving as Policy Director to Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer since 2017. In that role, he negotiated and managed major legislative efforts on behalf of the Senate Democrats, including the historic clean energy and prescription drug reform provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act.
He is an experienced policy expert and practitioner that is well respected on both sides of the aisle. When the COVID pandemic shut down the U.S. economy in 2020, he led the effort on the CARES Act, where he brokered deals on unemployment insurance, the airline rescue package, and state and local fiscal relief programs with Secretary Mnuchin. He also brokered two budget deals with the Trump Administration.
According to POLITICO, “his fingerprints are everywhere on the last Congress’s list of accomplishments: the American Rescue Plan, the CHIPS bill and the two-track infrastructure/IRA negotiation strategy.” In a statement regarding his recent departure, Leader Schumer said “none of it would have happened without him,” crediting “his drive, his intelligence, his ability to see the complete picture and put different diverse pieces of legislation together, and his 24/7 dedication.”
Gerry was born and raised on Long Island, NY and is a graduate of the Syracuse University Maxwell School. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and son. When he isn’t working on big policy issues, he enjoys rooting on his beloved New York Mets, Giants, Knicks, and Islanders.
Michael Polsky
Founder and CEO
Invenergy
Michael Polsky
Founder and CEO
With more than 35 years of experience in the energy industry, Michael Polsky is widely recognized as a pioneer and industry leader in the cogeneration and independent power industry in North America. Polsky founded Invenergy, a leading clean energy company in 2001. Previously, in 1991, Polsky founded SkyGen Energy – a developer, owner, and operator of natural gas-fueled generating plants – which was purchased by Calpine Corporation in 2001. Before forming SkyGen, Polsky co-founded and was President of Indeck Energy Services Inc. In 2002, Polsky endowed a center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business which is named after him. In 2016, Polsky was appointed by President Barack Obama as a Member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. Polsky holds an MSME Degree from Kiev Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Miguel Prado
Chief Executive Officer
energyRe
Miguel Prado
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Prado will oversee the management and expansion of the Company’s
generation and transmission assets to meet the growing demand for
reliable, resilient and responsive renewable energy solutions with domestic
sources that create economic and community benefits in American cities.
Mr. Prado joins energyRe from EDP Renewables, a global leader in the
renewable energy sector and the world’s fourth largest pro ducer of wind
energy, where he most recently served as CEO of North America. Under his
leadership, EDPR NA tripled its growth, and quadrupled the value of the
company’s publicly traded shares. Mr. Prado was a key driver of the
company’s growth to the 4th largest wind generation company in the world.
Mr. Prado managed EDPR’s 1,000 U.S. based employees, and oversaw the
company’s 8.8 GWs of renewable projects under management, more than
$11 billion of assets and a development pipeline of more than 15 GWs. As
CEO, Mr. Prado was a member of the global management committee and
oversaw corporate procurement. In his 19-year tenure with EDP renewables,
Mr. Prado also held the title of Head of Investments, Mergers and
Acquisitions investing more than $18B in signific ant acquisitions in 14
different countries.
Mr. Prado holds PhD in Business and Management from the University of
Oviedo and Bradford, UK and an Executive MBA from Instituto de Empresa,
Madrid, Spain.
Paul Segal
CEO
LS Power
Paul Segal
CEO
As CEO of LS Power, Mr. Segal oversees one of the largest independent power and transmission developers in the U.S., which has raised $49 billion in debt and equity financing to support North American infrastructure.
Previously, Mr. Segal founded hedge fund Luminus Management in 2002, where he was President and Portfolio Manager until 2011 and sold the business in 2017. Mr. Segal began his career at Smith Barney as a generalist in the mergers and acquisitions group.
Mr. Segal graduated with highest honors from the Rutgers College of Engineering with a B.S. in Bio-Chemical Engineering.
Jeff Ubben
Founder, Managing Partner and the Portfolio Manager
Inclusive Capital Partners
Jeff Ubben
Founder, Managing Partner and the Portfolio Manager
Jeffrey W. Ubben is a Founder, Managing Partner and the Portfolio Manager of Inclusive Capital Partners. Mr. Ubben is a retired Founder of ValueAct Capital. Prior to founding ValueAct Capital in 2000, Mr. Ubben was a Managing Partner at Blum Capital Partners for more than five years. Mr. Ubben is a director of Enviva Inc., Exxon Mobil Corporation, and Vistry Group PLC.
He is a former director of Fertiglobe plc, The AES Corporation, AppHarvest, Nikola Corporation, former chairman and director of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc., and a former director of several other public and private companies. In addition, Mr. Ubben serves on the boards of Duke University, the World Wildlife Fund, The Redford Center, and the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, and formerly served as Chair of the National Board of the Posse Foundation for nine years.
Mr. Ubben has a B.A. from Duke University and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Dennis Whyte
Director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dennis Whyte
Director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Dennis G. Whyte is the Hitachi America Professor of Engineering, and director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A recognized leader in fusion research, especially in the magnetic confinement of plasmas, Whyte has paved an innovative and faster path to producing fusion energy. He leads the fusion project, SPARC — a compact, high-field, net fusion energy fusion device — in collaboration with private fusion startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS). The core of the SPARC project was formed over eight years ago during a design course led by Whyte to challenge assumptions in fusion. Many of the ideas underpinning the high-field approach — including the use of HTS for high-field, demountable magnets, liquid blankets, and ARC (a fusion power plant concept) — have been conceived of or significantly advanced in his design courses. Whyte has over 350 publications, is a fellow of the American Physical Society, and has served on panels for the National Academies, the United States government, and the Royal Society. In 2018, Whyte received The Fusion Power Associates (FPA) Board of Directors Leadership Award which is given annually to individuals who have shown outstanding leadership qualities in accelerating the development of fusion. Whyte earned a B.Eng from the University of Saskatchewan, and an MS and PhD from Université du Québec.
Lazard
Joseph E. Aldy
Climate Center Senior Advisor
Harvard Kennedy School
Joseph E. Aldy
Climate Center Senior Advisor
Joseph E. Aldy is a Professor of the Practice of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, a University Fellow at Resources for the Future, a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a Senior Advisor at the Lazard Climate Center. His research focuses on climate change policy, energy policy, and regulatory policy. He also serves as the Faculty Chair of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government Regulatory Policy Program. In 2009-2010, he served as the Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Environment at the White House. Aldy previously served as a Fellow at Resources for the Future, Co-Director of the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements, Co-Director of the International Energy Workshop, and worked on the staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He earned his doctorate in economics from Harvard University and MEM and bachelor’s degrees from Duke University.
George Bilicic
Vice Chairman and Global Head of Power, Energy & Infrastructure
Lazard
George Bilicic
Vice Chairman and Global Head of Power, Energy & Infrastructure
Mr. Bilicic heads the Firm’s global efforts in power, energy and infrastructure and serves as a member of the Firm’s Global Executive Committee. Mr. Bilicic also works with clients in other industries and formerly led Lazard’s Midwest Advisory business.
As a part of leading this business, Mr. Bilicic founded and led the Firm’s global efforts in agribusiness and nutrition and remains a senior and active member of those efforts.
Mr. Bilicic’s areas of activity include mergers & acquisitions (of all types), activism and traditional takeover defense, capital structure advice, capital-raising (of all types), special committee and other board advisory roles, restructurings, long-term client advisory work (of all types), and others.
Previously, Mr. Bilicic was Group President of Sempra Energy and President and Chief Legal Officer of Sempra Energy, in each case with broad responsibilities across various Sempra businesses, legal, compliance, strategy and business development, and where he served as a member of the Board of Directors of Oncor and IEnova.
Mr. Bilicic also served as a Managing Director and Head of Infrastructure at KKR where he was responsible for initiating and leading KKR’s global infrastructure investing efforts.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Bilicic had been a Partner in the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore and a Managing Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Department at Merrill Lynch. After graduation from Georgetown University Law Center, Mr. Bilicic served in a clerkship with the Hon. Murray M. Schwartz (Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware).
Mr. Bilicic was an Articles Editor of the Law Journal at Georgetown University Law Center.
Mr. Bilicic developed a strong interest in the infrastructure area beginning at DeSales University where his senior thesis was entitled “The Federal Role in Infrastructure Revitalization,” and, among other things, recommended a national capital budget as a fiscally prudent measure to address the nation’s decaying infrastructure.
In addition to his membership on the Polaris Inc. Board of Directors, Mr. Bilicic serves on the Board of Trustees of the Mayo Clinic, the Board of Visitors of the Georgetown University Law Center and the Advisory Board of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center.
Mr. Bilicic and his wife, Laura, have four sons, William, Christopher, Henry and Peter.
DeSales University, B.A. summa cum laude
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. magna cum laude, Order of the Coif
Patrick Bolton
Climate Center Senior Advisor
Columbia University
Patrick Bolton
Climate Center Senior Advisor
Patrick Bolton is Professor of Finance at Imperial College London and senior advisor to the Lazard Climate Center. He is a past President of the American Finance Association, a Fellow of the Econometric Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. He has co-authored Contract Theory (2005) with Mathias Dewatripont and The Green Swan: Central Banking and Financial Stability in the Age of Climate Change (2020) with Morgan Despres, Luiz Pereira Da Silva, Frederic Samama, and Romain Svartzman.
Barbara Burger
Senior Advisor
Lazard
Barbara Burger
Senior Advisor
Barbra Burger, PhD., is a Senior Advisor at Lazard. Barbara is a “recent graduate” from Chevron where she ended her time as the Vice President, Innovation and President of Chevron Technology Ventures (CTV). During her career, Barbara held management positions across a number of the company’s businesses as well as a wide range of civic and industry board and advisory positions including the MIT Energy Initiative, Houston Symphony Society, Oil and Gas Climate Initiative Climate Investment LLP, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
In this new chapter, she remains focused on the big challenges in energy transition, equity, and access to education. She has been recently named to the Heliogen Board of Directors, Emerald Technology Ventures Advisory Council, Greentown Labs Board of Directors, and Advisor to Syzygy Plasmonics and Epicore Biosystems.
Barbara is a proud alumnus of the University of Rochester where she serves on the Board of Trustees and chairs the River Campus Libraries National Council. She established the Barbara J. Burger Endowed Scholarship in the Sciences and founded the Barbara J. Burger iZone, where students generate, refine, and communicate ideas for social, cultural, community, and economic impact. At Caltech, she supports graduate women in Chemistry who aim to contribute through careers beyond academia and serves on the Strategic Advisory Board for the Resnick Sustainability Institute.
Barbara holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Rochester, a doctoral degree in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and an academic honor MBA in finance from the University of California, Berkeley.
Duncan Dickerson
Director
Lazard
Duncan Dickerson
Director
Duncan Dickerson joined Lazard in 2016 as an Associate in the Global Energy Group, focused on providing advisory services to energy transition and upstream oil and gas companies. He is based in Lazard’s Los Angeles office.
Since joining the firm, he has worked on the sale of Seneca’s California Division to Quantum Energy Partners, California Resources Corporation’s restructuring, Denham backed Ursa Resources’ restructuring, Carrizo O&G and Callon Petroleum’s merger of equals, EXCO’s restructuring, Jones’ restructuring, Southwestern Energy’s strategic review, Total’s distressed purchase of Cobalt, Legacy Reserves’ corporate conversion and simplification and numerous other strategic advisory engagements.
Prior to Lazard, Duncan was an associate at Tudor Pickering & Holt, where he assisted in A&D processes including the sale of Bold Energy (EnCap) to Earthstone and the drop down of certain retail and other midstream assets from ETP to Sunoco LP, and was an analyst in the CPG group of KKR, where he assisted in the successful fundraise for the Infra IV and China II funds.
Outside of Duncan’s traditional energy coverage, he was a core team member for Lazard Growth Acquisition I, a Special Purpose Acquisition Company with $575 million in trust, and is on the Lazard IQ steering committee.
Columbia University, B.A., Rice University, M.B.A.
Zachary Halem
Director of the Climate Center
Lazard
Zachary Halem
Director of the Climate Center
Zachery Halem is the Director of Lazard’s Climate Center. In this capacity, he researches and advises clients on climate transition related matters, including climate risk quantification and mitigation, carbon abatement measures, structuring green or ESG-linked securities, and carbon offset markets. He previously served as a researcher in MIT’s Laboratory for Financial Engineering, where he employed securitization models to finance emerging sustainable and energy-efficient technologies, such as nuclear fusion.
He has also started companies in the payment processing and drone space.
He holds a B.S.E. (with high honors) in operations research and financial engineering from Princeton University, and a S.M. in operations research from MIT.
Pablo Hernandez Schmidt-Tophoff
Managing Director
Lazard
Pablo Hernandez Schmidt-Tophoff
Managing Director
Pablo Hernandez Schmidt-Tophoff joined Lazard’s North American Energy Group in 2012 and currently works in the Houston office.
Since joining Lazard, Pablo has worked on numerous domestic and cross-border advisory and restructuring assignments across the Energy and Energy Transition spectrum.
Significant transactions in the Energy Transition space include leading transactions in Sustainable Fuels across Renewable Diesel (“RD”), Renewable Natural Gas (“RNG”) and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (“SAF”), including ongoing equity raises for a dairy-based RNG provider and an RD producer, and the sale of a minority equity stake in Montana Renewables, a Calumet wholly-owned subsidiary focused on the production of RD and SAF, among others.
Significant transactions in the Downstream and Midstream sectors include assignments for Calumet, Citgo Petroleum, Hovensa (Hess/PDVSA), Motiva and Total, among others.
Offshore Drilling and Offshore Services transactions include Diamond Offshore’s Chapter 11, Edison Chouest’s liability management efforts, Expro’s Chapter 11, Tidewater’s acquisition of Troms Offshore, Chapter11 and subsequent merger with GulfMark, Valaris plc’s Chapter 11 and Vroon, among others.
EPC transactions include the sale of EnerMech (Lime Rock Partners), strategic reviews for Fluor Corporation and the resulting sale of its Government Services business (withdrawn) and the sale of Stork (ongoing), McDermott’s sale of its Tank Construction business (withdrawn) and advising the Rhone and Chatterjee Groups on their acquisition of Lummus Technology, among others.
Significant transactions in the Upstream sector include assignments for Ascent Resources, BHP Billiton, ConocoPhillips, Deep Gulf Energy, Denham Capital, First Reserve, Freeport-McMoRan, Goodrich Petroleum, Hess Energy, Pacific Rubiales/Frontera, Tecpetrol/San Faustin and Total, among others.
Prior to joining Lazard as an Associate, Pablo interned at Citadel Securities and focused on investment banking advisory services. Prior to business school, Pablo worked as an associate at UBS AG in Panama City, Panama as part of the LatAm Group. During his three years at UBS AG, he managed a book of private clients with $80-$100mm in AUM covering Colombia, Costa Rica, and Guatemala.
Pablo currently serves on the Board of Directors at Inprint, the Steering Committee for the Contemporaries at The Menil Collection, and as a member of the Steering Committee at the Lazard Foundation.
University of Texas, B.B.A. in Finance and B.A. in Economics, University of Virginia, The Darden School, MBA.
Marcin Kacperczyk
Climate Center Senior Advisor
Imperial College
Marcin Kacperczyk
Climate Center Senior Advisor
Marcin Kacperczyk is a Professor of Finance at Imperial College London and Senior Advisor at Lazard with research interests in the areas of sustainable investments, climate finance, information economics, financial intermediation, and financial stability. He is a Research Associate at the Center for Economic Policy Research, a research advisor at the European Central Bank, and the managing editor of the Review of Finance. Marcin’s work has been widely covered by media, such as CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, WSJ, FT, NYT, Business Week, U.S. News, and Washington Post. He is a past holder of the European Research Council research grant and former President of the European Finance Association.
Andrew Lo
Climate Center Senior Advisor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Andrew Lo
Climate Center Senior Advisor
Andrew W. Lo is the Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, the director of MIT’s Laboratory for Financial Engineering, a principal investigator at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and a senior advisor to Lazard’s Climate Center. His current research focuses on evolutionary models of investor behavior and bounded rationality; new funding models for biomedical innovation and fusion energy; and measuring the financial consequences of impact investing and climate change. Lo has published extensively in academic journals (see http://alo.mit.edu) and his most recent books include In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio and Adaptive Markets: Financial Evolution at the Speed of Thought. His awards include Sloan and Guggenheim Fellowships; the Paul A. Samuelson Award; the Eugene Fama Prize; the CFA Institute’s James R. Vertin Award; and awards for teaching excellence from Wharton and MIT. He received a B.A. in economics from Yale and an A.M. and Ph.D. in economics from Harvard.
Peter Orszag
CEO of Financial Advisory
Lazard
Peter Orszag
CEO of Financial Advisory
Peter R. Orszag is CEO of Financial Advisory at Lazard Freres & Co LLC, leading the firm’s advisory businesses that serve companies and governments across the globe. He was previously the firm’s Head of North American Mergers & Acquisitions and Global Co-Head of Healthcare.
In the Obama Administration, he served as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and before that as the Director of the Congressional Budget Office.
He graduated summa cum laude in economics from Princeton University and obtained a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics, which he attended as a Marshall Scholar.
Dr. Orszag is married to Bianna Golodryga of CNN.
Samuel Scroggins
Director
Lazard
Samuel Scroggins
Director
Mr. Scroggins is a Director in Lazard’s Global Power, Energy & Infrastructure Group.
Since joining Lazard, Mr. Scroggins has advised a number of global power, energy and infrastructure clients, with an emphasis on the renewable energy and energy transition sectors.
Most recently, Mr. Scroggins co-authored Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy, Levelized Cost of Storage and Levelized Cost of Hydrogen analyses.
Other representative transaction experience includes the following, among others: advisor to Tri Global Energy on its sale to Enbridge Inc., advisor to Longroad Energy on its capital raise with MEAG / Munich RE, Infratil and NZ Super Fund, advisor to New Energy Equity on its sale to Allete Inc., advisor to Pine Gate Renewables on its minority sale to, and capital raise from, Generate Capital, advisor to Southern Current Energy on its majority sale to energyRe, advisor to Blackstone on its minority acquisition of Invenergy, advisor to Swinerton Builders on the sale of its renewable energy EPC and O&M businesses to American Securities, advisor to Apex Clean Energy on its majority sale to Ares, advisor to Balanced Rock Power on its minority sale to, and capital raise from, SG Energy, advisor to Swift Current Energy on its majority sale to subsidiaries of IFM and Trafigura, advisor to Ares on the sale of the Phoenix Wind portfolio, advisor to YPF S.A. on the recapitalization and sale of a minority interest in its renewables generation subsidiary YPF EE to GE and advisor to Abengoa on its sale of a 25% stake in Atlantica Yield and formation of a global joint venture with Algonquin Power & Utilities.
Prior to joining Lazard, Mr. Scroggins was an attorney at Latham & Watkins LLP and Foley & Lardner LLP.
Prior to law, Mr. Scroggins played professional football for the Detroit Lions.
Mr. Scroggins serves on the Planning Board for the Village of Malverne, New York and was recently nominated as an Emerging Leader by the American Wind Energy Association.
West Virginia State University, B.S. in Business Administration
Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, Juris Doctor, magna cum laude