Agenda
Note: Subject to change. Additional speakers to be annonced

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

8:00 – 9:00
Check in and Continental Breakfast

9:00 – 9:30
Keynote Fireside: Grid of the Future – Market Drivers, Trends, Challenges & Opportunities
- Lisa Ann Pinkerton, CEO, Technica, and Vice Chairwoman, Women in Cleantech and Sustainability
- Additional Panelist TBA

9:30 – 10:30
Regulatory & Policy Evolution for Optimizing Grid Modernization
- Chris Villarreal, President of Plugged In Strategies
- Ted Ko, Executive Director, Energy Policy Design Institue

10.30 – 11.00
Networking Coffee Break

11.00 – 11.30
Transmission Resilience, Substation Strategies & Distribution Network Modernization
- Dr. Babak Enayati, VP of Grid Integration, Nexamp

11.30 – 12.00
Utility-Proven Roadmap to Great Electric Reliability and Excellent Customer Satisfaction
- Paul Gogan — Director, Electric Distribution Asset Management at WEC Energy Group

12.00 – 1.00
Lunch

1.00 – 2.15
Balancing Hazard Mitigation with Customer Rates & Reliability: The Role of Active Grid Response
- Jessie Calderon, Director of Regulatory Affairs & Policy, Gridware
- Ryan Patzer, Wildfire Mitigation Implementation Lead, FortisAlberta
- Richard Saporito, Engineer, Advanced Grid Solutions, DLC
- Additional panelist TBA

2.15 – 2.45
Networking Coffee Break

2.45 – 4.00
Emerging Enabling Smart Grid Technologies for Grid Modernization
- Goutam Ghatak — Strategic Partner / Smart-Grid Innovation Leader, KPMG
- Sai Shetty, Senior Energy Associate, The Brattle Group
- Laura Manz, Principal and Owner, L J Manz Consulting

4.00 – 4.15
Break

4.15 – 4.45
Ensuring Grid Reliability & System Resilience
- Aaron Snyder — Director of Grid Technology Consulting, EnerNex

4:45 – 6:30
Networking Reception

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

9:00 – 9:30
DER, Inverter-Based Resources & Load Flexibility
- Julieta Giraldez — Director of Integrated Grid Planning, Electric Power Engineers

9.30 – 10.00
Speed to Capacity: Unlocking More from Your Existing Distribution Grid
- Charles Murray, CEO and co-founder of Switched Source

10.00 – 10.30
TOPIC TBA
- Shishir Shenkar, General Manager, Digital Solutions Division, Mitsubishi Electric

10.30 – 11.00
Networking Coffee Break

11.00 – 12.00
Microgrids & Local Resilience Systems
- Dr. Mahmoud Kabalan, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and the Founding Director of the Center for Microgrid Research at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.
- Additional Panelists TBA

12.00 – 1.00
Lunch

1.00 – 2.15
Energy Storage Advances and Integration
- Brendan Miller, Principal Energy Storage Engineer at Westwood
- Additional Panelists TBA

2.15 – 2.45
Networking Coffee Break

2.45 – 4.00
Data, Digitalization, AI & Advanced Analytics in the Evolving Grid
- Paul DeCotis, Senior Partner - Utilities, West Monroe
- Julien Debard – Director, Industry Solutions (Energy & Utilities), Databricks
- Glen Sartain — Managing Director, Sai Partners