Battcon Speakers

Director of Training

American Power Systems LLC (a Deka DC Services subsidiary)

Curtis Ashton has 27+ years of experience in the battery/power industry. He has been involved with Battcon for about 2/3 of that time. In addition, he served a term on IEEE RevCom, is the former vice-chair of ATIS-STEP, the former vice-president of the IEEE PELS Intelec Executive Committee (TC7), and is the present IEEE PES ESSB chair. He is also an NFPA member, and has a patent to his name dealing with line-powering of fiber networks. He has been published numerous times in many publications, and has presented at many conferences, along with being a primary author of a few IEEE standards.

Technology Solutions Leader

Cellwatch

Chris Belcher works with consulting firms and standards bodies to establish best practices for battery monitoring and battery maintenance in general. Works with end-users to develop processes and procedures for ensuring pro-active battery maintenance programs to extend the life of their battery assets. Facilitates courses focused on helping customers identify at-risk containers within their battery systems. Assists in channel management and development of new market verticals. Aids in product design and development.

Senior Director, Stored Energy Development

Stryten Energy

Dr. Brian Berland currently serves as the Senior Director, Stored Energy Development at Stryten Energy in charge of vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) products. He has spent the last 25 years developing and commercializing clean energy technologies with a focus on Batteries--Portable Power to Grid Scale Storage Systems, Electrochromic Window Films, Fuel Cells, Separation Membranes, Environmental Barrier Coatings and Energy Harvesting Devices. During this time, he has held various roles all focused on directing Corporate R&D and Product Development with a focus on solving business and technical challenges to transition technology from initial invention and feasibility demonstration through the transition into commercialization. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a Ph.D. in chemistry.

Sales and Marketing

C&C Power Inc.

Paul Blake has been in the battery industry and with C&C Power for 20 years. Paul has been involved with sales, product development, and testing of a wide variety of products. He has experience in testing and applications with many types of batteries including lead acid, lithium ion, sodium ion, nickel zinc, and nickel cadmium. Paul is a proud holder of multiple patents in the sphere of battery technology and battery safety.

Vice President Technology

TPI

William (Bill) Cantor is the Vice President of Technology for TPI. He has earned a BS degree from Pennsylvania State University and an MS degree in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Bill has 26 years of experience in the battery industry. He was inducted into the Battcon Hall of Fame in 2014. Additionally, Mr. Cantor has been the chair of the IEEE 1188 working group since 1995 and is a member of the IEEE ESSB Committee of the Power and Energy Society since 1992. He is also the past Chair of this organization and a member of SCC-18, where he represents IEEE on NFPA 70, NFPA 70B and NFPA 855 technical committees. He is also a Assistant Teaching Professor in the Information Sciences and Technology Department at Pennsylvania State University and is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE).

President

TPI

Tom Cantor is the President of TPI. He earned his BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire, and has over 40 years of experience in the battery industry.

Senior Program Manager, NERC/SERC Reliability

Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority tacarpenter@tva.gov Tom Carpenter provides Governance and Oversight for compliance to NERC/SERC reliability standards at a large electrical utility. He has over 35 years of experience in the electrical power industry and is a Senior Member of the IEEE, including membership in the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and IEEE Standards Association (SA). Tom has a BSEE and is a licensed electrician and licensed professional engineer. He serves as the treasurer of the IEEE Energy Storage & Stationary Battery (ESSB) Committee, is a former Principal Member of the NFPA 70E Technical Committee, and is a certified high and low voltage electrical safety trainer.

Senior Director of the Energy Solutions Division

Hollingsworth & Vose

Shreyas Chakravarti is the Senior Director of the Energy Solutions Division at Hollingsworth & Vose, where he leads the strategic direction of H&V's Energy Solutions business. Shreyas has been involved in the Energy Solutions business for the last 2.5 years. Shreyas has been with H&V for almost seven years. Prior to Energy Solutions, Shreyas was involved in the engine & industrial filtration business for about 4.5 years. Prior to H&V, Shreyas spent 16 years in the Plastics business starting with General Electric and continuing with Sabic. Shreyas has a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas, Austin and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Product Engineer/Data Analyst

Philadelphia Scientific

Siu-yee Ching has worked at Philadelphia Scientific for 5 years since graduating in 2018 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. She worked as a product engineer and tested products in VRLAs in their Catalyst Products department for 3 years. She currently works in their Electronic Products department as a product design engineer and business analyst, interfacing with software developers and customers. Siu-yee recently completed her M.S. in Engineering and Technology Management and is heavily involved in web-based product development for the management, maintenance, and monitoring of motive power lead-acid batteries. Siu-yee is the vice-chair of the Energy Storage subcommittee within the IEEE Energy Storage and Stationary Battery Committee (ESSB). She is also the chair of the ESSB's 1679.1 Characterization of Lithium-Based Batteries working group.

Co-Founder

Battery Research and Testing, Inc.

Pete has over 40 years in the stationary battery service industry, with all being directly involved with stationary battery services only. He is a Co-Founder of Battery Research and Testing Inc., which is the oldest independent stationary battery service company in the US. He was the first person from an independent battery service company to join the IEEE battery Working Group which is now named the PES-ESSB Committee, and served continuously on that group for over 32 years. He was the lead on the Battery Research and Testing team that developed the procedures which evolved into the IOVR+™ process. Those procedures withstood the "test of time" and are explained in the IEEE 1188a2014 standard. Through the years he has presented papers and research result reports at numerous professional conferences to include INTELEC, BATTCON, and INFOBATT as well as published in numerous print and online publications. In 2009 Pete was the recipient of the Battcon Hall of Fame Award, for leadership and contributions to the Stationary Battery Industry.

Director – Safety Products

H2scan

Jeff Donato has over 28 years of technical, sales, and management experience in the industrial battery industry and is the current Sales Director of Safety Products for H2scan. He has sold and represented leading battery manufacturers and compliance products in the data center, utility and telecommunications applications. Jeff is an active member of the IEEE standards committee and is the current chair of working group 1578 and is a member of several other IEEE working groups. He also presents standby power system Environmental Health & Safety training to engineering, architect, and OEM manufacturing firms and delivers stationary battery room solutions training to end-users and specifying engineers.

Manager, New Product Hardware and Software Design

C&C Power Inc.

William has been with C&C Power for 21 years. Prior to joining C&C Power, William was a Senior Engineering Manager at Rockwell International, Switching Systems Division. William was a key designer of digital switching systems and supervised a staff of over 40 Engineers. At C&C Power, William developed the C&C Power Thermal Runaway protection Batt-Safe product along with other AC and DC power distribution products. William has been granted 39 patents covering both elecom switching and AC/DC power monitoring, and distribution products.

Director, Network Infrastructure Solutions

Ericsson

Ernie Gallo has over 37 years in the telecommunications and safety industry. Currently serves as Chair or Vice Chair in several IEEE and ATIS committees. Representative on the National Electrical Code. Author and presenter at the Outside Plant Show, Fiber to the Home Show, Telemanagement World, Globecomm, Member UL Industry Group for UL497 – Electrical Protectors and Verizon Symposium. Previous member of US Delegation to IEC standards for Surge Protective Devices. Member UL Industry Group for UL497 – Electrical Protectors. Ernie has written over 30 Telcordia Generic Requirements Documents. Received Certificate of Appreciation from the Federal Communications Commission, for work in increasing equipment reliability. Received ATIS Award for Leadership in Standards Development.

Consultant

Specialized Electrical Safety Services

Lloyd B. Gordon graduated from Texas Tech University in 1983 with a PhD in Electrical Engineering. He started his research career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE), conducting research in topics of pulsed power engineering, plasma physics and dielectric engineering from 1981 to 1986. From 1986 to 1991 he was in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Auburn University, and from 1991 to 1998 was in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. From 1998 to 2021 he was at Los Alamos National Laboratory (DOE), managing the electrical safety program. Dr. Gordon has 25 years of experience in experimental high-energy research, 50 years of experience as an educator and trainer, and has focused his efforts on R&D electrical safety over the past 30 years. He has lectured to and trained over 100,000 scientists and engineers throughout DOE, DOD, NASA, and industry over the past 35 years in R&D Electrical Safety. Dr. Gordon is a member of the NFPA 70E Chapter 3 task group, is chair emeritus for the DOE's Energy Facility Contractors Operating Group (EFCOG), and is a member of the IEEE 1584, Guide to Arc Flash Calculations. In addition, he is serving on five battery standards study groups and chairs a study group for a proposed IEEE Electrical Risk Assessment Standard. Dr. Gordon is owner of Specialized Electrical Safety Services, LLC. Dr. Gordon is a senior life member of IEEE and has been a member for 52 years.

Lead Engineer/Program Manager

Duke Energy

Jeff Gruseck is an Electrical Engineer, licensed Professional Engineer with >35 years in design, applications, plant engineering, and project management. Broad range of experience with primary focus in electrical power and controls. Currently serving as Program Manager for several NERC Standards, and Fleet Expert and Designated Technical Authority for Stationary Batteries and DC Systems within Duke Energy Generation.

President and CTO

SENS

William Kaewert is President and CTO of Colorado-based Stored Energy Systems LLC (SENS), a developer and manufacturer of DC power systems and electrical power conversion technologies. He received his AB in history from Dartmouth College and MBA from Boston University. Bill has served as a director of several boards including of economic development and industry associations, and is contributing to the development of IEEE standard 2685. Bill is a director of the Foundation for Resilient Societies, a NH-based non-profit that significantly influences government processes, industry action, and community preparedness to assure the security and recoverability of the electric grid and supporting infrastructures.

Director of Utility Market

EnerySys

John Kim has been in the battery industry for 30 plus years. Currently, John is a Director of Utility Market at EnerSys. He has written numerous papers and presented at many industry-related conferences including Battcon, Doble, Eurobat, Intelec, Infobatt, and IEEE chapter meetings. His battery background includes Engineering (technical support, R&D, project management, and manufacturing), Sales, and Technical Marketing. He is also knowledgeable in battery selection, specification writing, maintenance, and troubleshooting.

Senior Electrical Engineer

Test Products Inc (TPI)

Sam Kountz is a senior engineer at Test Products Inc (TPI), with a decade of experience in the battery industry. Sam graduated from Penn State in 2012 with a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and immediately began his career with TPI. During this time, he has performed numerous onsite evaluations of power systems for the telecommunications, UPS, and electrical utility industries. In addition to his field work, Sam also works out of TPI's test lab where he performs extensive product evaluations of batteries and other power equipment.

Senior Product Manager, Data Center Solutions

ZincFive

Dan Lambert has over 30 years of commercial and industrial electrical experience and has worked with AC and DC power systems since 1983, with a primary focus on mission-critical power systems. Dan has experience in the Electrical industry from the perspectives of an Electrician, Service Technician, Service Manager, Systems Engineer, and Product Manager. Working with stationary battery systems since 1985, he has worked with many battery chemistries and has contributed to large scale energy storage analysis projects, as well as testing other storage systems. Dan is currently a member of the IEEE Power and Energy Society serving as the chairperson for the IEEE Energy Storage and Stationary Battery Committee's IEEE 1679.4 Alkaline Chemistries Working Group.

Global Business Manager, Energy Storage

CSA Group

Jody Leber is an accomplished International Compliance Professional with 29 years of experience in all aspects of Product Testing with the last 15 years dedicated to the Energy Storage sector. Prior to joining CSA Group, he was the Global Battery and Accumulator Technical Manager for a major Testing, Inspection and Certification Organization for 9 years. In addition, he is an Experienced Subject Matter Expert in international regulatory affairs specifically focused in the renewable energy market.

Managing Engineer

Exponent, Inc.

Sneha Lele is a Managing Engineer in the Electrical and Computer Engineering practice at Exponent, Inc. At Exponent, she is extensively involved in battery related analyses, root cause investigations and testing of products for accelerated ageing of batteries and other electronic components. Her expertise is in design and quality reviews of household and commercial products, automotive electronics and industrial systems with a focus on system safety and reliability. Dr. Lele received her PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Western Ontario, Canada. Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Lele also worked at Siemens (India), Advanced Micro Devices (Canada) and ADVA Optical Networking (U.S.A.).

Principal Engineer

Southern Company

Jose Marrero Graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering specializing in power and electro-magnetic. He has spent 40+ years in the power generating industry specializing in energy storage stationary application and power electronics industry. He has worked in nuclear, fossil, gas, biofuel, hydro, and renewables power generation. His accomplishment includes being a retired Chief Electrician's Mate, a journeymen electrician, a trainer; he has spoken to many industry groups thoughtout North America and published in numerous conferences and publications. He has held several leadership positions and is active working on numerous standards at the IEEE ESSB. He is a principal member on the NFPA 855 committee as well as a IEEE senior member and AEE life member. In 2021 Jose was the recipient of the Battcon Hall of Fame Award, for leadership and contributions to the Stationary Battery Industry.

Application Engineer

Megger

David Martinez is an Application Engineer at Megger in the Dallas, Texas office. He studied at The University of Texas at Arlington, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering as well as a minor in Business Administration. David has been with Megger about a year now, focusing on substation maintenance and testing, with an emphasis on battery testing and low voltage circuit breakers.

President

Dan McMenamin and Associates, Inc.

Dan McMenamin enjoys 56 years in the telecommunications industry, 36 years with Verizon Communications and 20 as an independent consultant. His background includes network equipment engineering and maintenance engineering posts covering a gamut of technologies including analog and digital switching systems, transport and radio/microwave systems, cellular systems, data centers, power systems and grounding. Dan has served on both national and international standards teams and is a member of the Lightning Protection Institute (LPI), National Fire Protection Association and a Senior Member of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

Principal Engineer Technical Support Group

Megger

Volney Naranjo joined the Technical Support Group at Megger in 2011 as an Applications Engineer focusing on the products for transformer, low-voltage and high-voltage circuit breakers, batteries, and power quality testing. He participates in the IEEE Energy Storage and Stationary Battery committee and has published articles in conferences such as TechCon, PowerTest, TSDOS, BattCon, and EIC as well as technical magazines. Volney received his BSEE from Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. After graduation, he worked in the areas of electrical design and testing and commissioning of power systems as a field engineer and project manager.

Vice President Engineering

Primax Technologies Inc.

Co-founder Primax Technologies Inc. in 1993. He received his bachelor degree in electrical engineering from University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières, Quebec in 1987. He is the chairman of the IEEE946 and 1375 working group and active member of many IEEE Stationary Battery Committee working groups. He also acted as a member of the new Canadian Electrical Code section 64 subcommittee renewable energy.

Director of Mission Critical Solutions

M.C. Dean, Inc.

George Navarro is currently the Director of Mission Critical Solutions at M.C. Dean. A UPS and power electronics subject matter expert with over 30 years of experience, George has extended the application of the conventional UPS to perform behind-the-meter grid ancillary services including frequency regulation and demand charge management. His battery energy storage knowledge includes lead-acid, Ni Zn, Li Ion, and flow batteries. More recently George developed an energy storage inverter system in support of electric vehicle charging stations where he acquired strong knowledge in IEEE1547, UL9540, and UL1741SA standards governing the application and certification testing of grid interactive inverters. George holds a Bachelor's in Engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology and an MBA from Monmouth University.

Sr Principal Engineer for Energy Storage

Comcast

Mike Nispel has been in the industrial battery field for over 30 years and has worked for major battery manufacturers in varied aspects of battery manufacturing, engineering and marketing. He has experience in lead-acid and lithium batteries as well as the related fields of grid storage, renewables and battery monitoring. He holds a BS and an MS degree in Chemical Engineering and is an active member in the IEEE/PES Battery Standards Committee.

Technical Services Manager

Exponential Power

Mike O'Brien is the Technical Services Manager for Exponential Power. He is an IEEE Senior Member and an NFPA Certified Electrical Safety Compliance Professional. He is a member of the IEEE ESSB, (Energy Storage, Stationary Battery) committee and a member of several Standards Working Groups. He has over 40 years of experience in the electrical field and is a Veteran of the USAF. He is a former U.S. Air Force "Master Instructor" and has developed and conducted numerous courses and seminars on Uninterruptible Power Systems, DC Power Systems, and Stationary Battery Systems. Additionally, he has authored and presented a number of technical papers. Mike has been with Exponential Power, (formerly Nolan Power Group), for the past 31 years. He is a senior instructor at the Battery Academy and a voting member of the IEEE Standards Association.

Vice President

Concentric, LLC

A graduate of Colgate University in 1978, Carey O'Donnell has spent most of his professional career in power electronics and power infrastructure, focused on the telecom, utility, and industrial sectors. He has held Senior Sales and Executive Management positions throughout his career, with major corporations like Emerson Electric Co., Liebert Corporation, Oneac Corp. (Chloride), C&D Technologies, Inc., and Invensys plc. He has an extensive background and success in the formulation and implementation of sales and marketing strategies, with a solid track record in the penetration and growth of new market segments. Carey was a co-founder of The Cactus Integration Group, a telecommunications technology deployment company, that was sold to Invensys, plc in 2000 for $30 Million. Carey was a co-founder and principal at Mesa Technical Associates, a turn-key solutions provider focused on power infrastructure applications for the telecommunications, utility, and energy storage sectors. Mesa was sold in May of 2022 to The Onpoint Group, and is now an operating company under Concentric, LLC. Carey was an instructor for almost 20 years at Temple University, Fox School of Business, teaching MIS at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Principal Associate

Carrann Associates, LLC

For over 40 years, George Pedersen has been involved in the design, installation, commissioning, and operation of both communications and secure power systems on four of the seven continents. In recent years, his focus has been on improving battery reliability through data analysis and management. Although he officially retired 2015, he has continued his efforts with training and mentoring services through his own company, Carrann Associates, LLC.

Manager Electric T&D Services

Dominion Energy

Michael W. Powell is a manager of Electric T&D Services with Dominion Energy. He has an associates degree in engineering technology from Rappahannock Community College. His 40-year career at Dominion has focused primarily on substation equipment, and he is currently responsible for Dominion's Electric Transmission Maintenance Compliance program, Substation Equipment Monitoring program, and substation electrical equipment Enterprise Asset Management.

Grid Energy Storage Researcher

Sandia National Laboratories

David Rosewater is a grid energy storage researcher at the Sandia National Laboratories. He received a B.S. and an M.S. in electrical engineering from Montana Tech of the University of Montana, as well as a PhD in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a professional engineering license in the state of New Mexico and currently chairs the IEEE P2686 working group developing a recommended practice for design and configuration of battery management systems in energy storage applications. David is the chair of the IEEE PES Energy Storage Applications and Technologies (EESAT) conference. He has been cited more than 250 times for his work in battery system integration and safety. Fundamentally, David's scientific career has focused on organizing people and the careful design of interfaces between batteries, other technologies, and the people who depend on both.

Network Engineer

Ericsson Inc.

Randy Schubert has over 27 years telecommunications and information technology consulting experience that includes hundreds of engagements working at customer sites in response to service-affecting disasters. Disasters range from fires, floods, and contamination events to equipment installation errors. His background in telecom hardware includes product qualification testing, root-cause failure analysis, and participating and/or facilitating industry standards for stationary battery systems and network equipment. He participates in industry technical committees, including NFPA-855, 110, 75, and 72, as well as IEEE ESS working groups. Randy holds a B.S. in electrical engineering and an M.S. in environmental engineering.

Independent Consultant

CGS and Associates

Chris Searles has a distinguished professional career engaged in the DC power systems and stationary battery industry for the past 40 years. He has held several key technical and management positions for divisions of Northern Telecom, ITT Power Systems and EnerSys as well as North American director of business development with BAE Batteries USA. He currently serves as an independent consultant with special codes and standards responsibilities for Sandia National Laboratories. Chris was inducted into the Battcon Hall of Fame in 2018 and is a past chair of the IEEE Energy Storage and Stationary Battery (ESSB) Committee. He currently serves as the Co-Chair of the IEEE Safety Codes Working Group within the IEEE ESSB Committee and serves on their Administration Committee. He is an IEEE Life member and serves on of the IEEE IAS/IEEE PES JTCC that represents IEEE positions to various NFPA safety standards committees. He recently served as Chair of the IEEE EESAT Conference 2022 which was formerly a part of the annual US DOE Storage Peer Review conferences. He also serves as lead co-editor of the DOE ES Safety Collaborative report published several times a year to over 3000 people interested in energy storage safety codes development.

Research Associate

Cardiff University

Konstantinos Stamatis is an Electrical Engineer currently employed by Cardiff University as a research associate and as the manager of the Decarbonising Transport through electrification Network+, he is also a member of the advanced high voltage engineering research centre as well as the electric vehicle centre of Excellence. He has designed and build the battery testing facilities of Cardiff University with his research focused on battery performance in extreme conditions, repurposing EV batteries, state of health characterisation, asset management, substation batteries and V2G applications. He is also lecturing Master level battery courses in the University and has supervised more than 15 students.

Energy Storage Sales - International

MK Battery International

Charlie started with MK Battery back in 2002 with experience in Telecommunications, UPS, Medical Equipment and Renewable Energy Storage. At MK Battery, Charlie oversees business across a variety of industries in Latin America and Caribbean countries. With this role, he is responsible for business development and supporting MK customers in those areas. He is a trusted technical advisor to MK customers and coworkers alike. Charlie leverages his years of experience with advanced grid training from SEI. He is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian.

Project Engineer II

Honeywell Process Solutions, Energy Storage

Rachel Wood is an Electrical Engineer with nearly 10 years of experience in the stationary battery industry. Her expertise includes design and operation of large data centers as well as commercial/industrial and grid-scale battery energy storage systems. Currently, she is a Project Engineer in Honeywell's BESS Center of Excellence. Since 2020 she has been a member of IEEE PES Energy Storage and Stationary Battery Committee, where she serves as Secretary of the P2962 Lithium-Ion Battery Installation, Operation & Maintenance working group.

Manager, Technical Support Engineering, Reserve Power Division

East Penn Manufacturing

Brian has been with East Penn Manufacturing for 15 years and currently serves as the manager for their engineering technical support group in the Reserve Power division. He has a BS degree in chemical engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He is a member of the Battcon Technical Committee, has participated in the IEEE Stationary Battery Committee and presented at the 7x24 Exchange data center conference.