Kim Rodriquez is a passionate green advocate, with 20 years of utility experience and over a decade dedicated to demand-side management. Her leadership and strategic focus have helped grow large portfolios of energy efficiency programs ranging from small business and Low Income to large Commercial and Public Sector. She brings with her over three years’ experience participating on the CEDMC board in various roles including Treasurer and currently as Chairperson.  She has helped to craft and implement the CEDMC Strategic Plan and provides expert guidance on key topics important to our members.

Ms. Rodriguez is currently with Resource Innovations and oversees Client Delivery for the Western Region.  She oversees Resource Innovations’ growing portfolio of programs and works closely with industry partners and program administrators to identify new opportunities to innovate in the energy sector.

She holds a BA in Business Administration & Management, and an MS in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from CSU San Bernardino.

Jarred Metoyer is a Senior Principal Engineer and a Head of Department in DNV Energy Insights. In this role, he serves clients by understanding their needs and delivering solutions through directing, mentoring, and overseeing the quality of work of consultants and engineers across the West Coast. He also serves as Portfolio and Project Sponsor on several large projects and collaborates with colleagues to define analytical solutions across DNV Energy North America team of over 600 professionals with links to thousands of experts globally. Jarred’s areas of expertise include HVAC system measurement and analysis, building energy simulation, modeling and uncertainty analysis, field monitoring, and combining whole-building data analytics with engineering analyses for a range of applications. Jarred has more than 16 years of mechanical engineering experience with expertise in heat transfer and residential and commercial HVAC systems. His recent work consists of oversight of CPUC deemed EM&V, research and development of energy-use models for buildings using end-use metering and whole-building AMI data with advanced analytics, carbon-based cost-effectiveness development and decarbonization pathways, and building simulation tools. He also explores new ways DNV can reduce community and utility wildfire risk through grid and building resilience.

Sharyn Barata is the Senior Vice President for Opinion Dynamics ad has worked in a variety of positions over the past 30 years, including work as a utility employee, consultant, and business owner. She has worked for large companies (Itron, Florida Power and Light) and mid-sized companies such as Opinion Dynamics. She has served in a board capacity for the International Energy Program Evaluation Conference (IEPEC) for over a decade, and is now the President of IEPEC.  She also helped to start the now flourishing Behavior Energy and Climate Change Conference (BECC), and has played key roles in other industry organizations such as EMACS and PLMA.   Sharyn resides in Washington State, but frequently to Opinion Dynamics’ offices in Southern California and the Bay Area.

As Executive Vice President of Lincus, Hob Issa brings to bear nearly three decades of experience in mechanical engineering, project development, project management, and marketing to help utilities determine how best to address their energy needs from design through operations. He is highly proficient in business solution development, including financial analysis and management of integrated energy and mechanical construction and retrofit projects.

Hob works closely with clients to help them understand the lifecycle impact of each investment decision. By helping clients move from simple payback metrics to make more informed investment decisions around Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR), he ensures clients invest in those improvements that provide the most impactful long-term savings.

That work has included a wide range of engineering and program management roles. Among other projects, he led program design and management for the Water Infrastructure and System Efficiency™ (WISE) program, a third-party implementation program to connect city-owned and special districts water and wastewater systems throughout California with incentive programs offered by investor owned utilities. From planning and support for the competitive solicitation and contracting process, Hob was lead program manager for this process for all new third-party implemented programs. This effort led to $1 billion in RFP responses and resulted in $350 million in executed POs.

Since its inception, the WISE program has saved municipal customers millions of dollars off their electric bill. As a result of its success, the WISE program will be bid out in 2021 as a statewide program to be led by SCE.

Hob has supported a wide range of utilities and private clients in implementing innovative technology solutions to achieve significant cost savings.

Hob earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from California State Polytechnic University and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of La Verne. This combination has provided Hob an ability to address clients’ engineering needs in the context of their business priorities.

Hob is registered in California as a Professional Engineer. He is also a Lead Verifier for the California Air Resources Board and a Certified CEC Energy Auditor.

Carmen is a VP of Policy and Emerging Markets at Recurve. Carmen has spent her career in California focused on demand-side management issues. On that journey, she has had unique opportunities to pitch in on major transitions in the demand side paradigm. These included navigating the perils of the risk-reward incentive mechanism evaluation practices, supporting the integration of energy efficiency results into the statewide demand forecast to devising the initial normalized metered energy consumption regulations and now implementing as new market designs. Carmen’s professional goal has always been to help uncover and test viable solutions for a sustainable energy future. Carmen is known for her passion for utilizing data, analysis, and research to unveil the most successful
strategies for executing energy investments of all kinds. She is a committed member of the demand flexibility community and believes the future lies in continued innovation together.

Chris is the Executive VP at Energy Solutions overseeing the delivery of utility and governmental services in demand side management, distributed energy resources, building codes and appliance standards, and decarbonization. With more than 30 years of clean energy, high technology, and software industry experience, Chris has extensive domain expertise in sustainability, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. Through his California experience and having been exposed to many different regulatory environments nationwide in the past decade, Chris believes that he has some seasoned and diverse perspectives to bring to the CEDMC Board that would add meaningfully to advancing state and national initiatives supporting growth and advancement our industry in California.

Jennifer Chamberlin brings more than 18 years of expert competitive market and policy advocacy to to her work in the energy industry. Jennifer has extensive experience advocating for, developing, and analyzing market rules and procurement policy across the competitive energy industry. Her career has focused on the market rules surrounding renewable energy, demand side resources and retail access marketplaces throughout the US.

Prior joining CPower to lead market development for its Demand Response business, Jennifer served the Director of Regulatory Affairs for Johnson Controls Integrated Demand Resources business unit, as the principal of Energy Policy Advocates, Director of Regulatory and Legislative Policy for LS Power Development, Manager of Regulatory and Government Affairs for Strategic Energy and Direct Energy, Manager of Regulatory Affairs for Chevron Energy Solutions, and Manager of Market Development for PG&E Energy Services. She was previously a consultant with Barakat and Chamberlin.

My passion for building effective teams, promoting environmentally responsible business practices and supporting our commercial sector has driven my success in the energy efficiency industry. I currently oversee the design, implementation and operations of a multi-million dollar portfolio of energy efficiency programs that span across sectors, markets, technologies and program designs. My background of success in technical sales and managing enterprise accounts across vertical markets has informed my current work managing a portfolio of Statewide energy efficiency programs.

Mike Mernick is a senior vice president at ICF with over 30 years of experience in the energy industry. He leads ICF’s market development and strategic partnerships for utilities and is an expert in energy efficiency.

During his time at ICF, Mike has supported the U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Residential, Product Labeling, and Commercial and Industrial Programs; the EPA’s Clean Energy Initiative; and numerous regional, state, and utility clients. He served four terms on the Association of Energy Service Professionals (AESP) board of directors and is a past president of the Northeast Chapter. Mike’s additional key affiliations include Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA), Alliance to Save Energy, and Northeast Energy Efficiency Council.

In his early career, Mike worked as a program manager with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Craig has been with Willdan for over 10 years. He currently serves as the VP responsible for all aspects of Willdan’s delivery and profitability for energy efficiency programs across California. In his role, Craig: delegates authority and assigns responsibilities to program staff; maintains positive relationships as the primary point of contact for clients, customers, contractors, and other program stakeholders; provides leadership, management, and training to support program teamwork and employee morale; negotiates and manages contracts and changes; supervises cost reporting and invoicing; and provides oversight and assistance with program forecasting.

Abhijeet Pande brings expertise and over 20 years of experience in the fields of energy efficient design, building science research and energy policy. Mr. Pande leads TRC’s Research and Technology Commercialization group, a team that focuses on maximizing energy savings through developing holistic approaches that combine innovative energy efficiency solutions, emerging technologies, demand response, renewable energy generation, and other distributed energy resources. In this role, Mr. Pande applies his expertise to direct development of technical analyses and market studies in support of energy policy, program design, energy analysis, codes and standards enhancements, emerging technologies, evaluation, and occupant comfort research and analysis.

Mr. Pande has an MS in Building Design from Arizona State University, and is the past Chair of ASHRAE SSPC 55 and a member of the UC Berkeley Center for the Built Environment’s Industry Coalition. He is also a frequent speaker and contributor to leading industry forums/conferences such as those held by American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), and ASHRAE.

Amul Sathe is a Director in Guidehouse’s Energy, Sustainability & Infrastructure segment. Amul has nearly 15 years of industry experience in energy efficiency programs, policies, technologies, and markets as well as the water-energy nexus. He oversees all of Guidehouse’s work for the CPUC and CEC including the development of forecasting models, analytical tools, and technology and market studies. He’s led the state of California’s energy efficiency forecasting efforts for nearly a decade to inform multiple CPUC and CEC regulatory and planning processes. He’s also directs the team that provides technical support to the state’s $150M/year energy R&D program. 

Priya Sathe, a principal with the Cadmus group, has over 15 years of experience in in energy and environmental research, utility portfolio evaluations, market research, statistical analysis and project management. She has led evaluations of residential, non-residential, low-income, custom, and midstream energy efficiency programs, transportation electrification program evaluations, demand response program evaluations, survey-based research, engineering studies, cost-effectiveness analyses and market effects studies. She has managed analysis of multiple statewide residential and non-residential market share tracking and market characterization studies. Her other studies include measurement and verification of distributed energy resource programs, energy efficiency potential studies, sample design for load research, economic modeling for voluntary green pricing programs, and energy efficiency awareness studies.

Before joining Cadmus, Priya was a Principal Energy Consultant in the Consulting and Analysis division at Itron Inc.

Priya has a Master’s in Economics from the University of Southern California and a Master’s in Commerce – Business Administration from the University of Pune, India.

Ms. Ying Wang, President, and CEO of Okapi Architecture Inc., has an impressive thirty-plus year background in architectural practice, program management, energy efficiency and sustainability consulting. She is a licensed architect, LEED Fellow and holds certificates including LEED, WELL, and ISI ENV SP and Living Challenge Ambassador. She also teaches in USC Graduate Study on Sustainability.

She established Okapi Architecture Inc. more than thirteen years ago. The firm specializes in providing advanced technical advice to architecture and engineer teams and facility owners on energy efficiency and sustainability programs. Their record is extensive includes the “Statewide Savings By Design program _ sponsored by Southern California Gas”, “Zero By Design _ from Los Angeles Department Water and Power”, and “Climate Action Path for ZNE _ for all public buildings in San Diego Gas and Electrical Company”. The firm has been the sole implementor for the Savings By Design program under Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Southern California Gas Company, since 2013 and will continue until the end of 2024. The program has benefitted more than three hundred projects, saved more than thirty-six million kWh, and provided tens of millions of dollars in incentives for building owners and design teams.

Ying’s architecture practice focuses on large commercial and institutional design. She also pioneered and initiated sustainability practices for k-12 school districts. The Green School criteria she and others created has become the “design and construction standard” for K-12 new and existing facilities. She directed more than one hundred and fifty schools achieving high performance in Los Angeles City USD and San Bernardino City USD.

An advocate by heart, she is passionate about environmental issues and champions innovation in the energy technology space. She regularly outreaches to university students and design communities on subject matters that improve the built environment.

She graduated from Virginia Tech with Architecture Master Design.

Patricia Watts is President and CEO of Faith Com Inc., dba/FCI  Management (FCI). Founded in 1998, FCI is a full-service energy/water consulting company offering a broad level of expertise in energy/water efficiency services. Today, FCI is a certified, woman owned, minority, corporation, headquartered in Long Beach, CA with offices in New York and Georgia.

Ms. Watts developed her knowledge and skills from an expansive 24-year career in  the electric utility industry with Southern  California Edison. During which time she held management and supervisory positions in customer service, energy services, marketing, public affairs, and community relations. This experience allowed her to acquire an in-depth knowledge of the electric utility industry in both the regulated and deregulated environments.

Ms. Watts is very active in the community and illustrates her commitment through work on several boards in the City of Los Angeles and the State of California. She is a member of the Board of Directors and serves as the Treasurer for “Goals for Life” a non-profit organization that provides mentoring programs for at-risk students. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for Community Build, a non-profit community development organization which focuses on bringing capital investments into South Central Los Angeles. Ms. Watts is on the board of the Koreatown Youth Community Center (KYCC) as well as the California Black Chamber of Commerce. She serves as the Chair of the Minority Business Input Committee (MBEIC) which is a subcommittee of the Southern California Minority Business Development Council (SCMBDC), and is a member of the Low-Income Oversight Board (LIOB) under the CPUC.

Ms. Watts has received numerous awards for her work in the energy efficiency community. In 2012, she was awarded the Minority  Green Energy Firm of the Year, selected by the Mayor’s Office of Economic & Business Policy, MBDA City of LA; and the NAWBO-LA Leadership & Legacy Award Winner-Hall of Fame Inductee of women business owners. In 2014, FCI was named the National Minority Contractors Association-California Minority Contractor of the Year. In 2015, FCI was named the Minority Business Development Agency  Green Energy Firm of the Year. In 2016,  she was inducted into the Black Leaders Hall of Fame for Excellence in Community and Philanthropy. In 2017, she was selected as Southern California Edison’s Black History Month Energy Efficiency Champion, and named  the Black Business Association’s  Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year.

Ms. Watts majored in Business Management at the University of La Verne, California.  She attended the Minority Business Executive Program and the Advanced Minority Business Executive Program, at the Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth University. In June of 2013,  Ms. Watts was selected to attend NMSDC’s Advanced Management Education Program, Kellogg Executive Education.  Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.  In 2017, she was certified as an Energy Efficiency Practitioner.

The Council is thrilled to add the following Members-At-Large to our CEDMC Board of Directors:

• Maria Belenky, OhmConnect
• Jay Luboff, Jay Luboff Consulting
• Kate Merson, Enervee
• Michael Romeo, Franklin Energy