Current

Roger Ballentine is the President of Green Strategies Inc., where he assists clients in the energy and environmental arena with domestic and international public policy matters, marketing and business development strategies, sustainability, and capital formation. His clients include Fortune 50 corporations, early stage companies, associations and non-profit organizations. Roger served as Senior Advisor for Energy and Environmental Policy with the Kerry-Edwards Campaign and is a Senior Fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington D.C. where he works to develop cutting edge, third way approaches to public policy challenges in the areas of energy, conservation and the environment. In 2008, Roger will be a visiting professor at the Harvard Law School teaching in the area of energy and climate policy.

Background

Roger previously was a senior member of the White House staff, serving President Bill Clinton as Chairman of the White House Climate Change Task Force and Deputy Assistant to the President for Environmental Initiatives. Prior to being named Deputy Assistant to the President, Mr. Ballentine was Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, where he focused on energy and environment issues.

Prior to serving in the White House, Roger was a partner at the Washington law firm of Patton, Boggs L.L.P. and Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center. He has also served as Special Counsel to the Democratic Leadership in the House of Representatives. Mr. Ballentine has published a number of articles and opinion pieces in nationally-recognized publications and has been a frequent television and radio commentator on various matters of public interest.

Education and Memberships

Mr. Ballentine is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Connecticut and a Cum Laude graduate of the Harvard Law School. He is a member of the Connecticut, District of Columbia, and the United States Supreme Court bars. He serves on the Keystone Energy Board and the Boards of the American Council on Renewable Energy, the American Bird Conservancy, the Biomass Energy Resource Center, the International Fund for China’s Environment and the Solar Electric Light Fund.

John A. Cavalier, Managing Director, serves as Vice Chairman, Corporate and Investment Banking and as Chairman of the Global Energy Group.

Mr. Cavalier joined Credit Suisse in November 2000 when the Firm merged with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he was a Managing Director and founding member of DLJ's Power & Energy group.

Since its inception in 1990, that group focused on financing, restructuring, and mergers and acquisitions within the energy sector, which was a continuation of the work Mr. Cavalier performed at his predecessor firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert.

Mr. Cavalier also leads the Renewables Energy Group, the largest established Finance and Advisory Group to the Alternative Energy space.  The Group has played a principal role in the initial public offerings of SunPower, Suntech, REC, Cosan, Hawkeye, and financings for Airtricity, FPL Wind, and other major solar, wind and biofuel companies.

Prior to that, Mr. Cavalier served in the U.S. Army for nine years where he was an officer in the Signal Corps, and later the Judge Advocate Generals Corps. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his role as the first Senior Defense Counsel for the Northeastern United States.

Mr. Cavalier is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, the University of Illinois School of Law, and Harvard Business School.

Bio needed.

Michael Eckhart is President of the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE), co-chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE), and a member of the Steering Committee of the REN 21 global policy network. Since its formation in 2001, ACORE has grown to have over 400 organizational members; producing three major national conferences per year on renewable energy business, finance and policy; and participating in international renewable energy policy affairs. Mr. Eckhart is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative. He also works through Solar International Management, Inc. on the financing of solar energy (SolarBank), and on the development of a new international debt security called Global Development Bonds (GDB) for the financing of sustainable development in the developing countries. He has over 25 years of experience in renewable energy, power generation, high technology, and finance. Previously, he was CEO of the IPP development firm United Power Systems, Inc.; Vice President of the venture capital firm Areté Ventures, Inc.; Manager of Strategic Planning for the Power Systems Sector of General Electric Company; and a Principal of Booz, Allen & Hamilton’s energy practice. He served in the US Navy Submarine Service. He received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Bio needed.

Dr. Eng. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Pisa and Post-graduate Course (one year) at the College of Technology and Nuclear Technology (now Aston University, Birmingham, UK).

Long experience (20 years) in large nuclear projects, with EURATOM, C.E.A, AGIP NUCLEARE, NOVATOME.

Sixteen years of experience in the management of the Research and Development programs of the European Commission, six of those as Head of the Biomass Research and Development Program.

Secretary General of the European Biomass Industry Association (EUBIA) since 1996.

Awarded in 1994 with the Linnerborn Prize for his promotion effort on bionergy in Europe, in 2000 with  "World Pioneer Bioenergy Prize" at the World Renewable Energy Conference (Florence) and in 2004, through EUBIA, with the E.C. awards for "Best European Association for promotion of bioenergy in Developing Countries". Eurosolar prize in Berlin 7-01-2006 as Bioenergy Pioneer and in Rome 14 December 2004.

He is a member also of the Steering Committee of the G-8 initiative for the International Partnership on Bioenergy, and has provided a contribution to the elaboration of the G-8 white-paper.

Expert on biomass (27 years of activity), has promoted modern industrial technology and strategies for decentralized bioenergy production (relevant to rural development involving SME) and for centralized bioenergy production (relevant to industrial commercial activity).

Innovator within the bioenergy field, has developed several new concepts and projects for the EU countries and within the framework of the cooperation with third countries such as the Russian Federation, China, India, Brazil, Vietnam, Mexico.  

Long experience (19 years) in large nuclear projects, with EURATOM COMMISSARIAT ENERGIE ATOMIQUE, AGIP NUCLEARE, NOVATOME. He has many innovative patents applications in the nuclear sector, has participated and given his expertise in a number of international projects concerning the development and implementation of biomass applications (heat, electricity , biofuels bio-hydrogen and small hybrid bioethanol) city car (ECO-FLY).

He has provided a useful contribution to elaborate visions on large-scale Regional projects (LEBEN) or large-scale  bioenergy activity, like co-firing integration of bioenergy in petrochemical complexes (i.e. Maoming refinery-China) or integration of bio-H2 with natural gas-pipeline infrastructures (enrichment of Natural Gas with bio- H2 from residues).

Author of numerous books, publications and patents relating to bioenergy (new bioethanol process, biohydrogen production, sea-water desalination with biomass etc.).

In particular its professional activity on sweet-sorghum/bioethanol is related to the following to areas Establishment of the European Net-Work of sweet-sorghum for establishment of the European Net-work of sweet-sorghum for:

• Implementation of experimental trials in South Europe countries and for identification of best varieties, good agronomic practice, assessement of irrigation  water needs;
• Development of new varieties more adapted to colder North-Europe regions (Germany, Belgium, France)
• Development (soc. Pasquali) of smaller Sweet sorghum harvesting machine. Study of the new harvesting/ cane squizing machine.
• Development of Sweet Sorghum cane crushing and sugar-juice decanter pre-treatment unit;
• Construction and trials of a small bioethanol pilot-plant from sugar-juice;
• Trials of bioethanol production from Sweet Sorghum sugar-juice in a large Bioethanol plant (FRILLI-I);
• Demonstration of good-quality paper production from Sweet Sorghum bagasse by the clean ASAM process (5 ton of paper-sheets);
• Demonstration of bio-crude oil production from Sweet Sorghum bagasse (by flash-pyrolysis) and comparison with biocrude oil from sugar-cane;
• Demonstration of gasification of ~1,000 t of Sweet Sorghum bagasse in a large atmospheric Studvik Gasifier (20 MWth);
• Production of compost & biogas from sweet-sorghum residues;
• Project development of several small and large scale Sweet Sorghum projects (from 1,000 ha to 20,000 ha);
• Elaborated and signed a cooperation Programme EUBIA-CHINA for Bioethanol production from Sweet Sorghum. Similar cooperation agreement is now under preparation with India;
• Promotion of a “world-wide platform of expertise” on sweet sorghum ;
• Promotion of a world-wide programme of Sweet Sorghum “genome- sequencing” (2-3 years; ~8-10M €);
• Assistance for the establishment of elaboration of an biotechnological center of excellence (in cooperation with India) for several energy-crops enclosing sweet sorghum.
• Elaboration of a strategy for rural village complexes in China, based on Sweet Sorghum.

F. Henry "Hank" Habicht II possesses an extensive environmental and energy background in both the public and private sectors.  He currently serves as Managing Partner of SAIL Venture Partners, a leading venture capital fund investing in leading-edge clean energy, water and related technologies.

Prior to his SAIL affiliation, Mr. Habicht served as CEO of the Global Environment & Technology Foundation (GETF), where he now serves as Vice Chairman.  GETF is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation that fosters innovation in environmental management and applications of clean technology that make business and environmental sense.  He is a founding Principal of Capital E, LLC, a firm that promotes investment in new energy technology and also serves as Commissioner on the National Commission on Energy Policy.

Previously, Mr. Habicht was Senior Vice President of Safety-Kleen Corporation, a provider of industrial and recycling services to 400,000 customers with sales of over $1 billion.  Mr. Habicht's responsibilities included the three business and functional units of Corporate Development, Corporate Account sales and Environment, Health and Safety operations.  Mr. Habicht acquired or assisted in the startup of several successful businesses which helped grow sales by over $100 million.  His team also established environmental performance indicators and made dramatic improvements in all categories.

Prior to his position with Safety-Kleen, Mr. Habicht was Chief Operating Officer of U.S. EPA under Administrator William K. Reilly.  Mr. Habicht’s responsibilities included budget and program management authority for a $7 billion budget and 18,000 employees.  Direct reports included all regional, financial and program operations.  Mr. Habicht initiated quality-oriented management improvements to improve planning and integrate U.S. EPA's diverse science, policy and enforcement functions.  In addition, Mr. Habicht chaired or served on several interagency work groups concerning risk assessment, energy, transportation, trade, and technology promotion.

From 1987 to 1989 Mr. Habicht was with William D. Ruckelshaus Associates as Vice President and Counsel.  Mr. Habicht’s responsibilities included counsel for companies on environment-related operational, legal and financial issues along with assisting in development of new business ventures.  Prior to this position, Mr. Habicht was Assistant Attorney General of the United States where he directed the Land and Natural Resources Division with responsibility for all federal environmental enforcement, energy and natural resource litigation.

Mr. Habicht is a member of numerous boards and advisory councils.  He has served as a Member of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board;  and is currently on the Steering Committee of the Energy Future Coalition; Chairman of Board of Resolve, Inc.; Director of 3E Company; and as a Member of NREL National Advisory Board; and the President’s Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiation; and the Advisory Board for the National Leadership Summits for a Sustainable America.  He also serves on the Dow Chemical Corporate Environmental Advisory Council, and the  Princeton Environmental Institute and the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable Advisory Boards.

Education:  J.D., University of Virginia; A.B., Princeton University

Bio needed.

Managing America’s $1.5 billion applied science, research, development, and deployment portfolio, Karsner implements Presidential energy initiatives to confront “America’s addiction to oil” and “the serious challenge of climate change”. Successes lead Businessweek to call him “The Point Man for Bush’s Green Push”.

He bears primary responsibility for education, conservation, regulation and efficient use of energy, including building codes, appliance standards, and Energy Star, amongst others.

Previously, Karsner was a private sector energy developer and international entrepreneur on a wide range of technologies and fuel sources. He received an MA from Hong Kong University and graduated with Honors from Rice University.

Katrina Landis is the Group Vice President of BP Alternative Energy – part of one the world’s largest energy companies.  In this role, Ms. Landis manages all BP’s activities in low and zero carbon power generation.  BP Alternative Energy was launched in November 2005 and is committed to investing $8bn over the next 10 years in low carbon power including Solar, Wind, Gas-fired Power and Hydrogen Power.

BP Alternative Energy includes a major photovoltaic energy business – BP Solar; a large portfolio of early stage wind projects, with significant new capacity coming on stream in the US and in India; gas-fired power plants in Europe, the US and Asia; Hydrogen Energy a joint venture with Rio Tinto, dedicated to developing world leading industrial scale hydrogen power projects with carbon capture and storage. 

BP Alternative Energy’s business plan has the potential to avoid or eliminate 24 million tonnes of Greenhouse Gases by 2015, which is the equivalent of making a city the size of Chicago carbon free.  It has major offices in London, Madrid, Houston, Frederick (Maryland) and Singapore.

Ms Landis owned and operated a consulting company before joining the BP Group in 1992.  Within BP she has served in a variety of senior roles including Exploration and Production, Oil Supply, Trading and Mergers and Acquisitions.  Her career has included postings in the United Kingdom, Singapore and the United States.

Ms. Landis holds degrees from the University of Mary Washington and the University of Alaska in the US. 

Michael Liebreich is the Founder and CEO of New Energy Finance Limited, a specialist provider of financial information and services to investors in renewable energy, low-carbon technologies and the carbon markets. Services include the New Energy Finance Briefing, the New Energy Finance Desktop (which is the world’s largest database of clean energy investors and transactions), the New Carbon Finance Deep Dive, subscription-based streams of research, analysis and forecasting, reports and consultancy.

Michael is an experienced venture capitalist and entrepreneur who has helped build more than 25 companies. Before founding New Energy Finance early in 2004, he was UK Managing Director of a division of Groupe Arnault which invested $700m of technology venture capital. From 1995 to 1998 Michael was Deputy Managing Director of Associated Press Television and Founding Director of Sports News Television, the world’s leading wholesale provider of sports news video. At the same time he acted as non-executive director of Interactive Investor prior to its IPO on the London Stock Exchange. Before that, Michael spent 5 years with McKinsey & Company in their London office focusing on operations and finance.

Michael has a Master of Arts in Engineering with First Class Honours from the University of Cambridge, where he won the Wyatt Prize for Engineering and the Ricardo Prize for Thermodynamics. He has MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business, where he was a Harkness Fellow and Baker Scholar. Michael speaks fluent German and French, and good Spanish. From 1986 to 1993 he was a member of the British Ski Team, competing in the World Cup and in the 1992 Albertville Olympic Games.

Bio needed.

Admiral Dennis McGinn is Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Energy, Transportation and Environment Division at Battelle Memorial Institute. He first joined Battelle as Vice President for Strategic Planning in 2002, following retirement after 35 years with the U.S. Navy, during which he served as a Naval Aviator, test pilot and national security strategist. He was the first Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfare Requirements and Commander, U.S. Third Fleet in the Pacific Ocean, a role in which he greatly advanced operational innovation, the rapid prototyping of sea-based information technology and joint experimentation.

Admiral McGinn is actively engaged in national forums to highlight the close link between energy and international security. His key focus areas are the imperative for innovative government policies, improved alignment of investments with market dynamics and the effective deployment of technology to create a high quality, sustainable global environment. Admiral McGinn serves as a director on the boards of Brookhaven Science Associates and the National Conference on Citizenship. He is a senior policy advisor to the American Council on Renewable Energy and is a Senior Fellow for International Security at the Rocky Mountain Institute. He recently concluded three years of service on the National Commission on Disabled Veterans’ Benefits in Washington, DC.

Bio needed.

Dr. Antonio Pflüger is Head of the Energy Technology Collaboration Division of the International Energy Agency. In this capacity he oversees the IEA energy technology collaboration network which consists of more than 5000 experts worldwide. Prior to joining the IEA, Dr Pflüger held various positions in the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour which he joined in 1990. There, he spent two years in the Division for nuclear energy, three years as Deputy Head of Division for aerospace affairs, and on a seven-month secondment to the IEA’s energy efficiency area in 1992. He was also co-spokesperson for the Ministry from 1992-1993 and Head of the Energy and Environment Division from 1999 to 2003. He also worked on research and development projects for energy conservation and renewable energy in the Federal Ministry of Research. Since being with the IEA his division has published various books and studies on renewable energies, carbon capture and storage, clean coal, hydrogen, oil and gas resources and reserves and international technology collaboration. He holds a Doctorate in Physics.

Dan W. Reicher has over 20 years of experience in business, government and non-governmental organizations focused on energy and environmental technology, policy, finance and law. He recently joined Google where he serves as Director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives for the company’s new venture called Google.org.  Google.org has been capitalized with more than $1 billion of Google stock to make investments and advance policy in the areas of climate change and energy, global poverty, and global health. 

Prior to his recent position at Google, Mr. Reicher served as President and Co-Founder of New Energy Capital Corp., a New England-based company that develops, invests in, owns and operates renewable energy and distributed generation projects. Mr. Reicher is also a member of General Electric’s Ecomagination Advisory Board.

From 1997-2001, Mr. Reicher was Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).  As Assistant Secretary, he directed annually more than $1 billion in investments in energy research, development and deployment related to renewable energy, distributed generation and energy efficiency.  Prior to that position, Mr. Reicher was DOE Chief of Staff (1996-97), Assistant Secretary of Energy for Policy (Acting) (1995-1996), and Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Secretary (1993-1995).  He was also a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Climate Change Negotiations, Co-Chair of the U.S. Biomass Research and Development Board, and a member of the board of the government-industry Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles. After leaving the Clinton Administration in 2001 he was a consultant to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and a Visiting Fellow at the World Resources Institute.   

In 2002, Mr. Reicher became Executive Vice President of Northern Power Systems, a  venture capital-backed renewable energy and distributed generation engineering, services and technology company with installations in more than forty-five countries.  Mr. Reicher led the renewable energy sales group at Northern and also was actively involved with the company’s project finance, government relations and public affairs initiatives.   He also played a significant role in the successful sale of the company to Proton Energy Systems, a leading hydrogen company, and the simultaneous creation of Distributed Energy Systems, a new NASDAQ-listed holding company that now owns both Northern Power and Proton Energy. 

Prior to his roles at the Department of Energy and in the business community, Mr. Reicher was a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council where he focused on the federal government’s energy and nuclear programs as well as environmental law and policy issues in the former Soviet Union. He was also previously Assistant Attorney General for Environmental Protection in Massachusetts, a law clerk to a federal district court judge in Boston, a legal assistant in the Hazardous Waste Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, and a staff member of President Carter’s Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island.  

Mr. Reicher currently is co-chairman of the advisory board of the American Council on Renewable Energy and a member of the boards of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, the Keystone Center’s Energy Program, and Circus Smirkus. He was also recently a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Alternatives to Indian Point for Meeting Energy Needs. 

Mr. Reicher also recently served as an adjunct professor at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Vermont Law School. He holds a B.A. in Biology from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. He also studied at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. 

Mr. Reicher was a member of a National Geographic-sponsored expedition that was the first on record to navigate the entire 1888 mile Rio Grande and was also a member of the first group on record to kayak the Yangtze River in China.

Mr. Reicher is married to Carole Parker, who headed the Office of Pollution Prevention at the U.S. Department of Defense from 1994 to 1999.  Carole and Dan have three children and live in Norwich Vermont.  The family will be relocating to California in August 2007.

Mechtild Rothe was born in 1947 in Paderborn, North-Rhine Westphalia. Trained originally as a chemical laboratory assistant she moved on to study German and Chemistry to become a teacher. Having joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1970 she came to feel that she wanted to commit her time solely to political work. In 1984 she was elected into the European Parliament. Today, her fields of expertise are Turkey and Cyprus as well as Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. She was rapporteur of the Directive on the Promotion of Electricity produced from Renewable Energy Sources in 2001 and of the Directive on Energy End-use Efficiency and Energy Services in 2005 as well as of the own-initiative Report for Heating and Cooling from Renewable Energy Sources in 2006. In January 2007 Mechtild Rothe has been nominated Vice-President of the European Parliament.

Jodie Roussell is Chief Operating Officer of the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE), where she coordinates operations, and manages the international and policy programs. Initially as a consultant, she has worked as a member of the founding team at ACORE since its regular operations began in 2002. Previously she conducted research and planning as a strategic consultant with Solar International Management. She has worked as a market researcher with Leineweber Gmbh.’s Export Division in Germany and as an Executive Committee Member of the Japan-America Student Conference, where she coordinated bi-national round table discussions at Kyoto University, Hokkaido University and the Japanese Government’s Ministry of Health and Welfare. Ms. Roussell received her B.S. from Georgetown University in Chinese Studies. She speaks Mandarin Chinese, German, Spanish and Japanese.

Bio needed.

Dr. Sawin is a Senior Researcher and Director of the Energy and Climate Change Program at the Worldwatch Institute, an independent environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C. Her extensive writings on global renewable energy trends and policies have been featured in a variety of print and online media including Renewable Energy World, Solar Today, and WorldPower in addition to numerous Worldwatch publications. She joined Worldwatch in 2002 after earning Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where she studied energy and environmental policy. Her doctoral thesis examined the impact of government policy on the development and diffusion of renewable energy technologies, with a focus on wind power.

Bio needed.

As President of The Energy and Security Group, Ms. Siegel brings over 25 years experience in renewable energy financing, policy and technology. She has worked in over 60 countries worldwide and has extensive experience in developing and implementing renewable energy projects in Latin America, Asia and Africa in rural settings. She has served as President of the US Export Council for Renewable Energy (representing over 1600 industry members), Deputy Director of the World Bank Asia Alternative Energy Program (ASTAE), and Managing Director of the Winrock International Clean Energy Group. Ms. Siegel has a BA, Economics and a Masters in Public Administration. Ms. Siegel is proficient in French.

Bio needed.

Pat Wood, III, an energy infrastructure developer, focuses on clean, competitive power generation, independent power transmission and natural gas facilities.  He also is an independent director of SunPower (NASQAQ: SPWR), a solar technology company based in San Jose, and of Quanta Services (NYSE: PWR), a network construction firm based in Houston.  He is the North American Advisory Board Chairman for Airtricity, an international wind energy firm, and is a business development partner with Hunt Transmission Services.  He has also served as a director for Texas Genco, a competitive power generator.

Wood is the immediate past Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, independent regulator of the nation's interstate pipeline and wholesale electric power industries. During his four years at the FERC, Wood led the response to the 2000-2001 California energy crisis, the bankruptcy of Enron, the significant rise in fuel prices and the 2003 Northeastern power blackout. While doing so, he promoted infrastructure development and well-ordered competitive energy markets.

From 1995 to 2001, Wood chaired the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which led successful efforts to introduce competition and deregulation to the retail electric power and telecommunications industries. The restructured Texas electric market is considered to be the most robustly competitive power market in the country.  Under 1999 state legislation promoted by then-Governor George W. Bush, Mr. Wood and his fellow commissioners developed the Texas Renewable Portfolio Standard, which has led to over 3,300 MW of new wind energy in Texas, now the national leader in wind energy. 

Wood has also been an attorney with the Baker & Botts law firm in Washington, D.C. and an associate project engineer with Arco Indonesia in Jakarta. He has a B.S. in civil engineering from Texas A&M University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.  He is active with the Houston World Affairs Council and Cub Scouts.  

Wood and his wife Kathleen have four young boys and live in Houston.