YPE SF Bay Area Clean Energy Career Expo 2023

Young Professionals in Energy (YPE) SF Bay Area was thrilled to host our 3rd annual Clean Energy Career Expo, which is a joint effort between the Scholarship Program and the Mentorship Program. The Career Expo is targeted towards college students, early career professionals, and transitioning professionals who are looking to embark or advance in a career in Clean Energy.

The 2023 Clean Energy Career Expo was generously sponsored and hosted by Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP at their beautiful San Francisco office.  The event was attended by over 100 participants and included 18 different speakers.

The first half of the event consisted of 4 career panel sessions covering different verticals, including Policy & Regulations, Engineering & Product, Project & Corporate Finance, and Business Development. The career panels dove into topics such as: How did you enter your role/field of work? What does your day-to-day look like? What skills are needed for your role? In addition, there were 2 skill-building workshops on Designing Software for Managing Distributed Energy Resources and Financial Modeling. After the end of the career panels and workshops, many attendees and speakers stayed for a networking hour with food, drinks, and good conversation.

Missed the Career Expo? Check out the recordings of the career panels and workshops, or continue reading to learn more about our speakers.

Speaker Bios & Workshop Descriptions

Career Panel: Policy & Regulations

Marc Monbouquette: Senior Manager for Policy and Government Affairs, Enphase Energy

As senior manager for policy and government affairs at Enphase Energy, Marc Monbouquette leads the company’s policy engagements related to EV charging, home electrification, and deployment of home energy management systems. Prior to Enphase, Marc served in a similar role at Enel, the multinational Italian utility company, where he focused on market access and incentives for demand response and distributed energy resources, spearheaded the passage of SB 676 (2019) in California to catalyze vehicle-grid integration market transformation, and contributed to the formation of the Vehicle Grid Integration Council, serving as its first Board President. Marc began his career at the CPUC where he led work on General Rate Cases, Rule 21 interconnection, the Smart Inverter Working Group, and Distribution Resources Planning. Marc holds a master’s degree in Energy Policy and Economics from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree in Geology from Carleton College.

Jayne Parker: Principal, Strategic Analyst, Pacific Gas and Electric

Jayne Parker is a principal analyst on the Energy Policy Analysis and Design team at Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). Her work focuses on realizing PG&E’s electric sector decarbonization goals and vision through changes in regulatory policy and commercial strategy. In prior roles at PG&E, she worked on state legislation, the distribution investment deferral framework, and PG&E’s response to the California Air Resources Board’s Scoping Plan Update. Before joining PG&E, Jayne worked at the California Public Utilities Commission for the Public Advocates Office, Tesla, and SolarCity. She has a degree in English Literature from Loyola Marymount University and a masters in Energy Policy from Johns Hopkins.

Achintya Madduri: Senior Regulatory Analyst, California Public Utilities Commission (Energy Division)

Achintya Madduri is a Senior Analyst in the Retail Rates Section of the Energy Division at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Currently, he serves as a lead analyst on the CPUC Demand Flexibility Rulemaking, an initiative aimed at promoting widespread demand flexibility through the reform of electric retail rates. Before joining the CPUC, Achintya worked as a Systems Analyst at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. During the 2018-2019 California Legislative Session, he served as a committee consultant for the California Assembly Natural Resources Committee through the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) Science Policy Fellows Program. Additionally, he spent three years as a Senior Engineer at Amber Kinetics Inc., a flywheel-based energy storage company. Achintya earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jessica Guadalupe Tovar: Energy Democracy Organizer, Local Clean Energy Alliance

Jessica Guadalupe Tovar is an Energy Democracy Organizer with the Local Clean Energy Alliance, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She grew up in housing projects near an industrial pollution corridor in East Los Angeles. The experience of cancer in her family led her to focus on preventing and reducing local industrial pollution and to advocate for policies to protect vulnerable communities. Jessica has worked for 20 years as an environmental justice and climate organizer in a variety of urban, rural, and indigenous communities throughout California and Arizona. Her focus is mentoring young organizers and building new leadership for energy democracy to fight for a just transition and bring, “Clean Power to the People!”

Workshop: Designing Software for Managing Distributed Energy Resources (DERs)

The Fermata Energy team will first provide an overview of all of the various systems that are required to create a platform for managing distributed energy resources (DERs) that generate revenue for their customers and the wide array of skills that are required to create that platform. From there, the team will discuss the balance between building a platform that can handle hundreds of thousands of customers with the objective of being first to market and capturing the early adopters. Lastly, the team will conclude with explaining the life cycle of how new markets are prototyped, productionized, and then refined for performance over time.

Jack Pfeiffer: VP of Data Science and Software at Fermata Energy

Jack is the VP of Data Science and Software at Fermata Energy, where he focuses on building reliable and scalable systems that optimize the economics of the real time operations of distributed energy resources. Jack led the algorithm development at Geli (acquired by Hanwha in 2020), where he and his team developed algorithms to support various objectives including Demand Charge Management, Energy Arbitrage, Demand Response and Frequency Regulation.

Christian Brown: Machine Learning Manager at Fermata Energy

Christian is a Machine Learning Manager at Fermata Energy, where he focuses on developing products and systems that enable electric vehicles to function as distributed energy resources. Previously, he designed and deployed data, machine learning, and operations research applications for enterprises at C3 AI and Table.ai. Christian received his MS and BS in Energy Resources Engineering from Stanford University, specializing in machine learning and optimization.

Oliver Garnett: Staff Optimization Engineer at Fermata Energy

Oliver is a Staff Optimization Engineer at Fermata Energy, where he focuses on formulating optimization models both for evaluating the market potential for bi-directional EV chargers as well as for controlling deployed assets. Oliver previously was a Managing Consultant and Model Manager for E3 where he built, updated, and used several optimization tools core to E3’s Distributed Energy Resource practice area. He also led or acted as a subject matter expert for dozens of managed charging, vehicle-grid integration, and transportation electrification projects over this time.

Career Panel: Business Development

Vince Wong: Co-founder, COO, ElectricFish

Vince Wong is Co-founder & COO at ElectricFish, a climatetech startup building distributed grid edge infrastructure to decarbonize transportation and strengthen community-scale resilience. He has 10+ years of experience translating market needs into successful product launches and strategies as an accomplished management consultant, product marketer, and second-time founder. Vince earned his MBA from Cornell Tech with a focus on entrepreneurship and his BA in International Relations from New York University. He is a co-inventor on 3 patents in the EV and energy sectors, and is a Clean Energy Leadership Institute (CELI) Fellow. Vince lives in Oakland with his cat Rocky.

Frances Palmer: Business Development Manager at PowerFlex

Frances Palmer is a Business Development Manager at PowerFlex, a national provider of renewable energy infrastructure, where she focuses on deploying large-scale EV charging infrastructure for customers across the country. Before PowerFlex, Frances worked on the Business Development team at Stem, a smart energy storage company. Frances received her Master of Science from Stanford University's Atmosphere/Energy program in 2022 and her Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2020. 

Albie Fong: Sr Director of Business Development, Erthos

Albie Fong is a Sr. Director of Business Development at Erthos, a renewable energy company offering technology solutions designed to significantly reduce the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for utility scale solar plants. In his role at Erthos, Albie is developing partnerships and obtaining project commitments to deploy Erthos' Earth Mount Solar solution. He has spent 16 years in the utility scale solar industry with roles in project development, procurement, power marketing, sales, and M&A. In 2012, Albie co-authored a book entitled "Project Development in the Solar Industry." He received his BS in Electrical Engineering from UC San Diego and started his professional career in the semiconductor industry. Albie was raised in Hayward and currently resides in Millbrae.

Karen Lee: Power Resources Manager, East Bay Community Energy

Karen Lee is known as an expert in clean energy procurement who uses her background in engineering and optimization to inform decisions that impact the value delivered to local customers. As a Power Resources Manager at East Bay Community Energy, Karen turns over every stone to originate energy and capacity deals, and collaborates with suppliers and clean energy developers to find solutions to provide the best value to EBCE's customers. Karen manages EBCE's Resource Adequacy (RA) portfolio, transactions, and compliance, and leads negotiations on long-term agreements for existing and new-build resources, including PPAs for renewable plus storage. Previously, Karen worked at Cypress Creek Renewables as a Senior Performance Engineer, supporting the development and financing of over 2.0 GW utility-scale and distributed solar and solar plus storage projects. Karen was also an engineer at Newcomb Anderson McCormick (now Willdan), managing business development, client relations, and engineering deliverables for energy efficiency and sustainability related projects.

Career Panel: Engineering & Product

Troy Hodges: Manager, Data Science, Kevala

Troy Hodges is a Data Science Manager at Kevala, where he leads the DER Modeling team creating statistical models and simulation tools to decarbonize and efficiently operate the electrical grid. He works with utilities and regulatory agencies to predict adoption of DERs, plan EV charging infrastructure and inform distribution system planning. He previously worked at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the International Renewable Energy Agency and holds a M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from Columbia University.

Dinara Ermakova: Strategy Analyst, nuclear energy startup

Dinara Ermakova is a Strategy Analyst for a nuclear energy startup. She continuously supports the activities of nuclear advocacy groups, young professionals in nuclear, and non-profit organizations with a focus on climate change to promote nuclear energy as a way to decarbonize the global economy. Dinara is a public speaker and expert in nuclear technology and policy, with a particular focus on issues related to fuel management. She earned her doctorate from UC Berkeley. Prior to that, she worked in the Nuclear Energy sector to facilitate collaboration between Spanish, Italian, German, and Russian manufacturers of equipment for nuclear power plants

Talia Arauzo: Senior Grid Innovation Engineer, Pacific Gas and Electric Company

Talia Arauzo is a civil and environmental engineer by training and an electrical engineer by practice. She is currently working at PG&E to deploy Remote Grids and reduce wildfire risk. Talia is an inquisitive, active individual with a love for adventuring and learning. She holds a B.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering and a M.S. in Systems Engineering, both from UC Berkeley.

Katlyn Meggers: Senior Application Engineer, Form Energy

Katlyn Meggers is currently a Senior Application Engineer at Form Energy, where she leads presale discussions and project development with potential customers. Prior to joining Form, Katlyn was an Energy Storage Applications Specialist at Burns & McDonnell, where she focused primarily on exploring emerging energy storage technologies. Other responsibilities included technology evaluations, feasibility studies, economic analysis, cost estimation, owners’ engineer, project management, and strategic planning related to the development of energy storage projects. Additionally, she also has experience in performing a wide range of business case evaluations to help utility clients justify and defend investment decisions for asset upgrades and resiliency initiatives. 

Workshop: Finance Modeling

Wesley Lien from NovoHydrogen will be doing a walkthrough of a pro-forma financial model, covering important parts of the model, going over key assumptions and how they flow through the model, and how sensitivities affect base case assumptions.

Wesley Lien: Director of Business Development, NovoHydrogen

Wes is a climate tech professional with over nine years of experience developing, financing, constructing and operating renewable energy facilities around the world. Prior to joining the hydrogen industry he worked at leading renewable energy developers, during which time he successfully financed and constructed close to 1,000 megawatts of wind, solar and transmission assets, at a total value of over $1 billion. Wes has spent the past two years focused on green hydrogen project development in North America, most recently at NovoHydrogen. He brings to the emerging hydrogen sector a deep skillset in power and infrastructure, and is leveraging his expertise to lead the commercial deployment of novel climate solutions to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors

Career Panel: Project & Corporate Finance

Wesley Lien: Director of Business Development, NovoHydrogen

See Wes’s bio under Finance Modeling Workshop.

Sarah Linden, Senior Project Development Manager at Lightsource BP

Sarah Linden is a senior development manager at Lightsource bp where she manages the project development process for projects in MISO, ERCOT and Tri State regions. Prior to working as a lead developer Sarah spent three years in project finance at First Solar, supporting pricing and contracting early-stage projects and asset sales for late-stage development assets. Sarah has also spent time at Apple where she structured clean energy offtake for manufacturers in Apple's supply chain.

Ryan MacDonald, Vice President at 38 Degrees North

Note: Ryan MacDonald filled in for Jake Carney.

Ryan works at 38DN as a Vice President. Previously, he was an Associate at Silicon Valley Bank on both the Venture Debt Credit Solutions and the Project Finance teams. On the Project Finance team, Ryan focused on financing utility scale, residential, and community solar transactions, and participated in financing approximately 1.5GW of transactions. Before joining Silicon Valley Bank, Ryan graduated from the University of Denver honors program as a double major in Finance / International Business with a distinction in Finance, for which he completed a capstone thesis on entrepreneurship.

Sponsor: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

 Pillsbury is an international law firm with a particular focus on the technology & life sciences, energy, financial, and real estate & construction sectors.  Recognized as one of the most innovative law firms by Financial Times and one of the top firms for client service by BTI Consulting, Pillsbury and its lawyers are highly regarded for their forward-thinking approach, their enthusiasm for collaborating across disciplines and their authoritative commercial awareness. Thank you, Pillsbury, for your generous support!

Event Photos