Reflow 2022: Virtual PowerClerk Conference

In her role as a Customer Success Manager Team Lead at Clean Power Research, Kristen works to support customer implementation of CPR’s data products. Whether you need solar resource assessment reports for utility-scale PV project finance or rooftop PV production estimates across an entire territory, Kristen and her team are there to make sure you are getting maximum value from your CPR products and services. Kristen started as a Customer Success Manager at CPR in 2019 after graduating from the University of North Carolina with a B.S. in Environmental Science.

As an Energy Systems Researcher at Clean Power Research, Brittany works to identify challenges and design software solutions that help simplify complex energy decisions.

In previous roles at Clean Power Research, Brittany worked closely with the WattPlan team to provide data and expertise on electric rates, solar crediting and electric vehicles.  Prior to joining Clean Power Research, Brittany worked with a biofuels start up, Sundrop Fuels. Brittany holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. 

Gerhard Walker is the Manger for Advanced Forecasting and Modelling, System Planning at Eversource. In this role he leads a team of engineers and data scientists to evaluate the impacts of electrification policies on distribution and transmission systems.

Previously, Mr. Walker was the Director for Product Management at Opus One Solutions, a Canadian Utility Software supplier, where he led the scaling up of software solutions and successful customer acquisitions including HECO, SCE, Ameren, as well as expansions into the UK and Germany.

Mr. Walker began his career in 2013 at the Netze BW, Germany’s third largest DSO, leading research and development efforts into probabilistic forecasting, advanced system planning, and EV – grid integration topics. While at the Netze BW, Mr. Walker was in charge of federal regulatory efforts positioning DSO’s with the automotive industry on charge specifications and load management as well as being responsible for ELT coordination across all subsidiaries on GridMod topics. Subsequently, Mr. Walker joined GE Current as the Director for Grid Solutions in Boston, USA, to develop distribution use cases for virtual power plant aggregation of DERs.

Mr. Walker holds a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering with a Thesis focused on probabilistic modelling of electric vehicle adoption rate forecasting and power flows from the University of Stuttgart, Germany.

Sophia Zhang is the Senior Data Scientist for Advanced Forecasting and Modelling, System Planning at Eversource. She develops large scale electrification forecasts and evaluates impacts from electric vehicles, solar, and distributed energy sources.

Previously, Sophia was a consulting engineer in the Canadian oil and energy sector for 10 years, where she optimized operations for multinational companies by building simulations for efficient engineering design.

Sophia’s passion for big data led her to a pursue a Masters in Data Analytics in Boston; in her data science fellowship she applied novel machine learning algorithms to predict electric vehicle adoption. Sophia seeks to deliver innovative solutions at the intersection data science, business analytics, and engineering.

Scott Smith is the President of Integral Analytics, responsible for the company's long-term product strategy and overseeing the development of new business opportunities, partnerships, and team growth.  Since 2005, 40+ domestic and international electric utilities rely on Integral Analytics software to plan, value, monitor, operate and capitalize distribution systems and smart grid programs.

Previously, Scott was director of product development at Integral Analytics, responsible for developing new software products and supporting advanced load forecasting and distribution system impact projects at 30+ electric utilities, including: Nashville Electric Service, Pacific Gas and Electric, Fortis BC, Kansas City Power and Light, Duke Energy, Seattle City Light, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas and Electric, CenterPoint, Hawaiian Electric Company, Entergy, Northern Virginia Electric Co-Op, PacifiCorp, Avista Utilities, Central Hudson, Iberdrola, Xcel Energy, Salt River Project.

Scott started his career with Integral Analytics as a research analyst and lead software developer for the spatial electric load forecasting and power systems analysis software, LoadSEER.  LoadSEER was first implemented for utilities in 2008. It has since been deployed to 15+ large utility companies nationwide.

Jeff Ressler is Chief Executive Officer of Clean Power Research. In his more than ten years at the company, he has overseen the inception of the SolarAnywhere® and WattPlan® software families, and grown PowerClerk® from a nascent, online incentive processing tool into a powerful, general purpose energy program automation solution. A software industry veteran, he has a track record of delivering highly available cloud-based solutions to customers as well as deep experience building effective functional teams across engineering, product management, sales, marketing, business development, support and operations.

Jeff’s career includes stints at both Oracle and Disney in addition to more than 10 years at Microsoft. During his tenure at Microsoft, Jeff served as Director of Product Management for Exchange Server and Lead Product Manager for SQL Server, among other roles. For more than two years, he was the speech manager for Bill Gates, who was Microsoft’s Chairman and Chief Software Architect at the time. Jeff holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.

Learn more about Jeff in his own words in this Suncast interview with Nico Johnson, “From Redmond to the Sun: Why Jeff Ressler Left Microsoft to Focus on Clean Energy.”

As the vice president of engineering at Clean Power Research, Carlos Brito heads the engineering teams responsible for developing the company’s software services and managing the respective operational aspects.

Carlos’ interest in clean energy is driven by his belief in the energy transformation, where renewables and energy technologies play a key role in achieving a more sustainable future. Carlos is a big fan of electric vehicles, and like several of his teammates, drives one to work every day.

Prior to joining Clean Power Research, Carlos spent time as a founding member of an early-stage startup. Most of his professional experience comes from developing enterprise and consumer software products at Microsoft, where he worked for 15 years. While at Microsoft, Carlos lead development teams working on multiple releases of Microsoft Outlook® and the Windows® operating system. Carlos holds a degree in Computer Science from the Faculty of Science and Technology, New University of Lisbon, Portugal.