Gene Rodrigues is Vice President of Market Development at ICF, a global consulting and professional services provider with more than 5,000 professionals who share a passion for making a positive impact on the world and a focus on making big things possible for our clients. Prior to joining ICF, Gene spent 23 years at Southern California Edison (SCE), where he was responsible for the direction and oversight of SCE’s portfolio of Energy Efficiency, Demand Response, Low Income Energy Efficiency, Low Income Rate Assistance, California Solar Initiative and Self Generation Incentive programs.

Gene currently serves on the boards of directors of the California Efficiency + Demand Management Council and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. He is also co-chair of the Alliance to Save Energy’s Charles H. Percy Society. In 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented Gene with its first-ever Climate Leadership Award for individual leadership.

Joanne O’Neill has over 12 years of experience in the demand side management and utility industries. During this time Joanne has developed, launched and implemented numerous energy efficiency programs across residential, commercial and industrial customer segments. She has a long history of working with key market actors including manufacturers, retailers and contractors to successfully deliver these programs. In addition to energy efficiency, Joanne has led numerous product development efforts, including the design of time-of-use rate pilots and locational targeting of DSM resources for capital transmission and distribution project deferral. She has experience with portfolio regulatory submissions, testifying as an expert witness, state policy advocacy, and strategic planning processes. In her role as the Director of Programs, Joanne leads a team responsible for delivering a set of diverse, innovative and cost-effective offerings across northern and southern California in the commercial, public, industrial and agricultural sectors. She also continues to leverage her expertise in time variant rates and grid modernization to assist clients across the country. In addition to a MBA in Sustainable Business, she is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and certified in Pragmatic Marketing.

Matt O’Keefe is the North America Vice President, Opower Sales at Oracle Utilities. Matt is responsible for managing and executing the company’s sales and business development strategy in the United States and Canada. In this role, he leads a team that works with Opower’s customers throughout North America to develop and implement energy efficiency, demand response, customer engagement, and smart grid projects. He served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance from 2014-2016.

Prior to joining Opower, Matt worked at the California Energy Efficiency Industry Council where he worked with leaders of energy efficiency businesses, investor-owned utilities, and regulatory bodies to expand and stabilize the market for efficiency-focused companies. Prior to his work at the Efficiency Council, he held various positions in municipal government, non-profits, politics, and education. Matt’s work focused on the intersection of clean technology, government, and business. Matt is a former Teach For America corps member, and has degrees from UCLA and George Washington University.

Mahlon Aldridge currently leads strategy and product development activities and is responsible for Ecology Action’s strategic partnership development with top firms across the energy industry, financial sector, public agencies and multiple foundations. Mahlon has been with Ecology Action since 1993 and founded Ecology Action’s energy efficiency consulting practice. He led the team through its start-up and rapid early growth stages, which required him to be actively involved in policy engagement and proceedings before the CPUC and CEC. Mahlon served by invitation on several advisory groups and steering committees focused on driving deep, comprehensive energy efficiency for small to medium sized commercial buildings.

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.

Lauren Casentini as an energy executive, consultant and entrepreneur, has been a national leader in energy efficiency program design and management, industry policy, and stakeholder engagement for more than 30 years. While at Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), she spearheaded some of the nation’s first and most successful energy efficiency programs for the residential market. She went on to found two companies, Resource Solutions Group and Resource Innovations, to transform the industry with innovations that make resource efficiency more available, more accessible, and more affordable, for all populations. Lauren has also held key executive roles at CLEAResult, including Board member, Senior Vice President of the California and Midwest Region, and Senior Vice President of National Policy and Regulatory Relations.

Now as CEO of Resource Innovations, Lauren continues to provide strategic guidance to create programs that deliver sustainable energy savings for diverse energy industry clients and stakeholders. Lauren also remains active in influencing federal and state energy policy by serving as a speaker and panelist for energy forums and events nationwide. Lauren is a co-founder and long-time board member of the California Efficiency and Demand Management Council.

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.

Cody Coeckelenbergh has extensive experience developing and managing the implementation of energy asset strategies for energy intensive business operations on three continents. Over the last 10 years, he has worked as a consultant to help clients cost effectively establish load management practices that line up with their business objectives. This has included minimizing supply requirements, enabling load balancing and grid management controls, and integrating renewable energy generation. Cody is currently the Director of Program Services for Lincus, where he operates the Water Infrastructure System Efficiency program for water and wastewater operators in SDG&E, SCE, and PG&E territory.

Karin Corfee is a Managing Director in Navigant’s Energy practice and is based in San Francisco, California. Key areas of expertise include strategic planning, renewable energy, energy efficiency and distributed generation. She currently serves as the global leader of Navigant’s Clean Energy Programs team. The team is comprised of engineers, economists, and social scientists focused on a wide range of clean energy services. Over her 30-year career, Karen has helped develop policies and programs to facilitate increased deployment and optimization of energy efficiency and distributed energy resources (DER). Karin has conducted numerous high-profile studies examining the impacts of distributed energy resources on the grid. Studies include the California Solar Initiative (CSI) Market Transformation Studies, CSI SASH/MASH Impact Evaluation Studies, Net Energy Metering (NEM) Grandfathering Analysis, Value of Solar Analysis, DG PV T&D Impact Study, and several projects related to solar plus storage market adoption and community solar.

Prior to joining Navigant, Karin was a Vice President in charge of Markets and Regulation services at KEMA. While at KEMA, she oversaw the Renewable Energy Technical Support and PIER Technical Support contracts for the CEC, representing more than $9 M in services over six years. Strategic planning engagements include the California Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan, CAISO Five-Year Strategic Plan and the New Jersey Renewable Energy Plan.

Karin has an MS in Civil Engineering from Stanford University and a BS in Political Economy of Natural Resources from the University of California at Berkeley.

Rick Counihan is Head of Regulatory and Government Affairs at Nest Labs. Rick’s career spans more than 25 years, and most of those years were in California energy efficiency and demand response. He has held responsible positions in local, state and federal government, as well as the private sector. The latter part of Rick’s career has been in the electric industry working with utilities (Southern California Edison), research organizations (EPRI) and start-up companies (Green Mountain Energy, EnerNOC). Rick has a B.A. in Economics from Pomona College and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University. Rick has made significant contributions throughout his career and has held Director positions on the boards of the Advanced Energy Management Alliance, the Center for Resource Solutions, the Council for Sustainable Energy and the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, among others.

Terry Fry has more than 35 years of experience as an active proponent of economically efficient energy production, distribution, and use. His focus is on improving energy efficiency and creating demand response policies, programs, and technologies. Terry currently heads Cadmus’ Energy Services group, which comprises more than 250 staff members who deliver intelligent grid, distributed energy resources, and customer solutions to energy sector organizations. His expertise includes technical, economic, and policy analyses, reflected in the myriad engagements he has led on behalf of utility, governmental, and commercial client organizations worldwide.

Carmen Hendrikson has 15 years of experience in California’s energy efficiency and demand response industry, which includes previous work with EnerNOC, Ecos Consulting, and Energy and Environmental Economics (E3). At TRC, Ms. Henrikson is a strategic advisor for internal and external stakeholders across the Western U.S., and she designs and implements commercial and industrial efficiency and sustainability programs for clients across the country, including the California IOUs, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port of Long Beach. Her approach to consulting services focuses on increasing customer engagement through integrated energy efficiency, demand response, renewable technologies, and carbon reduction strategies. Additionally, Ms. Henrikson’s professional experience includes regulatory affairs and policy development, strategic and financial planning, business development and marketing, operations management, and contract negotiations. Ms. Henrikson holds a MBA and MSc in Natural Resource Policy from University of Michigan’s Erb Institute of Global Sustainable Enterprise, and a BA from Wesleyan University.

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. Kim is an experienced, proven leader who understands the value of diverse perspectives in creating a results-driven, high-performance culture where employees feel valued and supported. 

Ms. Rodriguez recently joined Nexant as Director of Utility Services, located in Southern CA. Kim oversees Nexant’s growing portfolio of programs across the State 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.