Confirmed Speakers

The Honorable Gary Locke Secretary U.S. Department of Commerce
A strong promoter of clean energy and energy efficiency, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke recently released two Department of Commerce reports, “Measuring the Green Economy,” which puts shipments and receipts of green products and services between $371 billion to $516 billion in 2007 and estimates the number of green jobs at about 1.8 million to 2.4 million; and “U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Intensities Over Time,” which shows that a large number of economic sectors have become more energy- and carbon dioxide-efficient, particularly the manufacturing sector. Locke is currently leading clean energy business development missions to China and Indonesia. Download high resolution image.

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The Honorable Steve Israel
U.S. House of Representatives
Congressman Steve Israel has
represented New York's 2nd
Congressional District since 2001
and is considered a leader on U.S.
energy security, reducing dependence on foreign oil, lowering energy costs and creating an innovative clean technology economy. He proposed and helped pass the successful "Cash for Clunkers" program and has introduced legislation to authorize loans for Property Assessed Clean Energy bonds. This financing method allows municipalities to create special tax districts in which property owners can choose to borrow the capital to finance energy-efficiency upgrades, then repay the loan over 20 years. Download high resolution image.

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Robert Cialdini, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Advisor, OPOWER
Best known for his book, Influence:
Science and Practice, and now
chief scientist at OPOWER and
president of Influence at Work,
Robert Cialdini, Ph.D., has been
researching ways to persuade
people to save energy. He
co-authored a study in 2007 that
found that giving people information
about neighborhood energy use
helped to encourage significant home energy savings. His research inspired the creation of the company OPOWER, which sells software for utilities to make smarter bills and inspire energy efficiency. Prior to OPOWER, Cialdini was the Regents' Professor of Psychology and W.P. Carey Distinguished Professor of Marketing at Arizona State University. Download high resolution image.

Mark Ginsberg
Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy (EERE)
Mark Ginsberg was appointed
by the Assistant Secretary for
Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy (EERE) to serve on the
EERE Board of Directors in 2002.
From 1997-2002, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for EERE's Office of Building Technology, State and Community Programs where he oversaw a comprehensive set of programs to make buildings, equipment and appliances more energy efficient; support state, community and low income energy programs; and pave the way for a healthy and prosperous future through high efficiency research and development, building codes and appliance standards. Prior to EERE, Mr. Ginsberg directed the Federal Energy Management Program and served as Director of the Arizona Energy Office.Download high resolution image.

The Honorable Jennifer Granholm
Governor, State of Michigan
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. Governor Granholm's comprehensive economic agenda includes growing a new alternative energy sector that will transform Michigan's rustbelt image to a greenbelt reality, help end our nation's de pendence on foreign oil, and h elp train unemployed and under-employed citizens for high-demand jobs through the No Worker Left Behind initi ative, which has enrolled more than 100,000 people since its launch in 2007. Download high resolution image.

The Honorable Jeff Merkley
U.S. Senate (Oregon)
Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley has spent his lifetime in public service and his entire career has been grounded in a simple philosophy — that each of us has a responsibility to make the community, the nation, and the planet a better place. Merkley has worked as a National Security Analyst at the Pentagon and at the Congressional Budget Office, was head of Portland Habitat for Humanity, President of the World Affairs Council of Oregon, and was a five-term member of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. As a U.S. Senator today, he is working to create green collar jobs, curb greenhouse gases that cause global warming and help preserve our planet for generations to come. Senator Merkley serves on the following committees: Health, Education, Labor and Pensions;  Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Environment and Public Works; and Budget. He holds a B.A. from Stanford and a graduate degree in Public Policy at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Download high resolution.

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David Sandalow
Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs, Department of Energy
Most recently, David Sandalow was an Energy & Environment Scholar and a Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program of the Brookings Institution. He also served as the Energy & Climate Change Working Group Chair of the Clinton Global Initiative. He is the editor of Plug-In Electric Vehicles: What Role for Washington? (Brookings Press, 2009), author of Freedom From Oil: How the Next President Can End the United States’ Oil Addiction (McGraw-Hill, 2008) and has written widely on energy and environmental policy. Previously, Mr. Sandalow served as Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment and Science; Senior Director for Environmental Affairs, National Security Council; Associate Director for the Global Environment, White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Executive Vice President, World Wildlife Fund-US.  He has a B.A. in Philosophy from Yale College and a J.D. degree from the University of Michigan Law School. Download high resolution image.

Timothy E. Wirth
President, United Nations Foundation and Better World Fund Former U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative (Colorado)
Timothy E. Wirth is President of the United Nations Foundation and Better World Fund — organizations founded in 1998 to support and strengthen the work of the U.N., especially with the environment. He began his political career as a White House Fellow under President Lyndon Johnson and was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Education in the Nixon Administration. In 1970, he successfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District from 1975-1987. In 1986, he was elected to the U.S. Senate where he focused on environmental issues, particularly global climate change and population stabilization. Senator Wirth is a member of the Energy Efficiency Forum Hall of Fame. Download high resolution image.

Mason Emnett
Associate Director of the Office of Energy Policy and Innovation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Mason Emnett is Associate Director of the Office of Energy Policy and Innovation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Office provides leadership in the development and formulation of policies and regulations to address emerging issues affecting wholesale and interstate energy markets. Mr. Emnett joined the Commission in 2006, serving as Senior Legal Advisor in the Commission’s Office of General Counsel. There he advised the Commission on legal and policy matters related to electric transmission service, wholesale power sales, electric system reliability, corporate regulation of public utilities, and enforcement proceedings. Prior to joining the Commission, Mr. Emnett was in private practice with the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP in Washington, D.C, where he represented public utilities appearing before the Commission on matters related to market design, wholesale rates, mergers and acquisitions, and regulatory compliance. Mr. Emnett is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and of the University of Texas at Arlington. Download high resolution image.

Mary Ann Wright
Vice President and Managing Director
Business Accelerator Project
Johnson Controls, Inc.
Bio

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Changing Infrastructure:
Richard Lowenthal
Founder and CEO
Coulomb Technologies
Bio

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Policy:
Robbie Diamond
Founder and President
Securing America's Future Energy
Bio

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Utility:
Thomas Reddoch, Ph.D.
Executive Director of Energy Efficiency
Electric Power Research Institute
Bio

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Vehicle:
Scott Harrison
Chief Executive Officer
Azure Dynamics
Bio

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Stephen Stokes
Vice President of Research
AMR Research, Inc.
Bio

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Rob Bernard
Chief Environmental Strategist
Microsoft

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Richard Lechner
Vice President Energy and Efficiency
IBM Corporation

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Neil McPhail
Sr. VP and General Manager
New Business Solution Group
Best Buy Company, Inc.

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