Executive Speakers Confirmed to Present in April

Jason Allen is senior vice president of on-site generation, technical services and renewables operations for Duke Energy’s Commercial Businesses organization. In this role, he has oversight of the on-site generation business, as well as the engineering and technical services groups for Duke Energy Generation Services (DEGS). In addition, he is responsible for the operations of Duke Energy’s renewable energy business.

DEGS is a leader in developing innovative renewable energy solutions, including wind, solar and biopower projects. DEGS also builds, owns and operates electric generation and other utility services for large energy consumers, municipalities, utilities and industrial facilities throughout the U.S.

Prior to taking on his current position in December 2010, Allen served as vice president of operations for Duke Energy Generation Services. He supported the growth of Duke Energy’s renewable energy portfolio and worked to develop the company’s wind operation program.

Allen has held a variety of leadership roles with increasing responsibility. His 20-year career, spanning Cincinnati Gas & Electric, Cinergy Corp., Cinergy Solutions and Duke Energy, includes experience in the areas of power plant operations and maintenance, engineering, gas cogeneration, wholesale power scheduling, IT operations, forecasting and budgeting, and contract negotiations.

He joined Cincinnati Gas & Electric in 1990 as an electrical engineering co-op at the Zimmer Generating Station in Ohio. He has served as production team group leader at the Beckjord and East Bend generating stations, plant manager of the South Houston Green Power facility for Cinergy Solutions, and as a region general manager for the wind energy business at DEGS.

Allen has served as a member of the board of directors and chairman of the Building Committee for the Texas City-La Marque Chamber of Commerce. In 2006, the chamber also named him Director of the Year.

The Lima, Ohio, native earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a master’s degree from Northwestern University.

Allen and his wife, Julia, have two sons and a daughter.

Duke Energy, one of the largest power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 4 million customers in the Carolinas and the Midwest. The company also distributes natural gas in Ohio and Kentucky. Its commercial power and international businesses operate diverse power generation assets in North America and Latin America, including a growing renewable energy portfolio. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK.

Mr. Perez joined WCV in February 2010 and is based in the Chicago office. He is responsible for managing power plant operations with a focus on the technical aspects of operations and maintenance. The position is directly responsible for power plant operation performance and setting out strategies surrounding the ongoing operations and maintenance of WCV’s fleet. Mr. Perez has 20 years of experience in the operations and maintenance of electric generating plants for both independent power companies and investor-owned utilities including Invenergy, PP&L and Constellation. Prior to joining Wind Capital, he held the position of Director of O&M at Invenergy LLC, managing over 4,200MW’s in renewable and fossil fuel.

Mr. Perez holds his MBA from Purdue University, earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Management from Calumet College of St. Joseph. Mr. Perez’s wind experience includes managing 13 wind farms encompassing over 2,200MW’s as Director of O&M at Invenergy, LLC. Four wind farms operated under five year O&M contract services through OEM providers. The remaining wind farms were managed through Invenergy Services, LLC in which Mr. Perez was responsible for fleet O&M

Ross has been in the power generation business since 1987, beginning his career in the gas turbine combined cycle sector with Destec Energy where he performed detailed design and engineering activities, and later progressed to the Project Engineer and Asset Manager role for several large multinational CCGT installations. In 1998 Ross went to work with Enron International in the operations and maintenance group and remained with the company thru 2004 when he left to join enXco.

Ross holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University and a Masters of Business Administration from Houston Baptist University.

With experience in developing access and safety solutions in the power generation, refining, structural steel and commercial high rise markets, Clint has managed large outages and turnarounds as well as the design and installation of permanently installed façade maintenance equipment. Formerly responsible for revenue and profit realization for Spider’s 10 west-region locations, Clint is focused now on developing temporary suspended access solutions for the wind energy generation market.

Dr. Crowther is a specialist in wind turbine the wind turbine drivetrain.

He holds a PhD in the field of dynamics of rotating machinery and has authored many papers in this area.  Dr. Crowther is the VP of engineering for the Romax US Wind Technical Center in Boulder, Colorado.  He develops the companies business and coordinates projects in drivetrain engineering for turbine OEM's, gearbox manufacturers, research organizations and wind farms.  Romax Technology is a world leader in the drivetrain and supports the turbine owners with gearbox improvements, root cause analysis, machine condition monitoring and inspections.

With over 20 years’ experience in insurance and engineering roles, Chris Cioni, GCube Senior Vice President of Technical Services and Claims is responsible for evaluating emerging technical risk, identifying services to mitigate loss, and managing the claims operation. Previously, Mr. Cioni spent 9 years as the Utility Operations Manager for the University of California, Davis campus, responsible for 115 kV/12 kV high voltage distribution, landfill gas and gas turbine power generation, emergency power systems, steam generation and distribution, district cooling, SCADA systems, and electricity and natural gas procurement.

Prior to joining UC Davis, Mr. Cioni spent 10 years with Hartford Steam Boiler Insurance as their Underwriting Director for western region Power Generation accounts, representing the largest investor owned utilities in the west, as well as many municipal and merchant power generation insureds.

Mr. Cioni began his career at sea as a marine engineer for Reynolds Aluminum, after graduating with an engineering degree from the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point. Mr. Cioni received an MBA from the University of California, Davis, a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from CSU Sacramento, and registration as a Professional Engineer (Mechanical) in California.

Justin Voss joined Global Risk Consultants (GRC) in 2007 and currently holds the position of Managing Consultant – Power Generation. Mr. Voss has over 18 years’ experience evaluating Highly Protected Risks (HPR) in the Power Generation Industry and has held positions at engineering based insurance companies such as The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company and FM Global.

GRC is an independent, full-service risk control/property loss prevention company that provides “unbundled” risk control programs as an alternative to the traditional bundled insurance type of programs. As a Managing Consultant, Mr. Voss is responsible for the development and implementation of GRC’s industry accepted loss control practices for the Power Generation Industry which includes the rapidly growing area of renewable energy.

Justin began his career in the US Navy as a Nuclear Machinist Mate 1st Class (SS) serving aboard Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarines.

Mr. Kramak’s previous experience at General Electric and Intertek has given him a global view of the renewable energy business and the inherent financial and technical risks associated with the equipment used in renewable energy power production.