Keynote Speakers
-

Kate Ringness
Former Senior Advisor to the Secretary at the Department of Energy
-

Dr. Seth Darling
Chief Science and Technology Officer at Argonne National Laboratory
-
Jen Zhao
Chief Operating Officer – Investment Banking – at Marathon Capital
Panel 1: The Future of Clean Hydrogen
-

Rodrigo Sanchez
U.S. Hydrogen Chief of Staff at Deloitte
-
Akshay Thakur
Chief Executive Officer of Blackcurrant Inc.
-

Fabrice Bonvoisin
Chief Executive Officer at H2 Power
-

Dr. Julia Lane
Assistant Vice President For Science at the University of Chicago
Panel 2: Critical Materials & Supply Chains
-

Dr. Braeton Smith
Principal Energy Economist at Argonne National Laboratory
-

Batchimeg Ganbaatar
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Nomadic Venture Partners
-

Dr. Jennifer Dunn
Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University
-

Ian Wiese
Founder, President, & CTO at Metcovery
Panel 3: Nuclear Present & Future: Fission & Fusion
-

Mark Nelson
Managing Director and Founder of Radiant Energy Group
-

Dr. Sami Syed
Business Development Manager at Enercon Services
-

Dr. Vivian Lee
Head of Department (In-Vessel Consumables) at Tokamak Energy
-

Dr. Juan Collar
Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago and The Enrico Fermi Institute
Panel 4: Energy Transition in the Global South
-

Hong Zhang Durandal
Head of Business Development at RioNadi Energy and Co-Founder of Energy Hunters
-

Kaushik Deb
UChicago Energy Policy Institute India Executive Director
-

Reine Rambert
Senior Manager of U.S Relations and Corporate Impact at Invenergy
-

Amir Rajani
Harris MPP' 25 Candidate
Panel 5: Decarbonizing The Built Environment
-

Steph O'Connor
City of Chicago Department of Housing Project Manager
-

Sam Assefa
California Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation Director
-

Michael Thuis
Midwest Regional Director at The Carbon League
-

Dr. Ashish Sharma
Climate and Urban Sustainability Lead at the Discovery Partners Institute
Panel 6: Grid Reliability: Infrastracture & Policy
-

Daniel J. Foley
Manager at Grid Reformation, Former Innovation Leader at Cordelio Power, Former CEO of Glidepath Power Solutions, & Former CEO of ACCIONA North America
-
Ann McCabe
Illinois Commerce Commission Commissioner, PJM Board Member
-

Jordan Berman-Cutler
Director of Government Affairs at Invenergy
-

John Birge
Hobart W. Williams Distinguished Service Professor of Operations Management at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Panel 7: Financing The Energy Transition
-

Veronica Hume
Project M&A Senior Manager at RWE Clean Energy, WRISE Chicago President
-

Drew Harwood
Director of Finance at Hectate Grid
-

Lisa Wright
Director at Marathon Capital
-

Jacqueline Kerns
Deputy Director of Alternative Investments at Illinois State Treasurer
-

Sumedh Wargantiwar
Booth MBA’ 26 Candidate
Panel 8: Electric Vehicles: Decarbonizing Transportation
-

Brian Tolliver
Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Banyon Power Co.
-

John Katsoudas
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Influit Energy
-

Jack Cruikshank
Electric Vehicle Policy Advisor at the Illinois EPA
-

Chhavi Dhingra
Senior Manager at WSB