Financing US Power Conference

Mr. Giordano leads the Blackrock Climate Infrastructure team's investment strategy and organizational management initiatives. He has led investment strategies across the Americas and APAC since the launch of the Renewable Power platform in 2011. He has more than 20 years of investment experience.

Previously, he was one of the original members of Babcock & Brown's North American infrastructure team, where he closed $4 billion of renewable transactions and was on the North American Infrastructure Fund Investment Committee. Mr. Giordano's extensive energy industry experience includes his work at FPL Energy (now NextEra), where he developed and acquired operating and development power assets and played a vital role in the first non-registered 144A bond offering for a portfolio of wind assets. Mr. Giordano was formerly the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) Board of Directors, and he served as a member of the Board of Directors for the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

Ms. Harris was appointed president and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) on April 7, 2021. Before becoming president, she served as acting president and CEO since June 2020. During her tenure at NYSERDA, she has held executive, technical, and policy positions, including Vice President of Large-Scale Renewables. She has held public and private sector leadership roles advancing clean energy projects and engineering companies for over 20 years.

Ms. Harris has overseen the State’s nation-leading advancement of renewable resources under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and Clean Energy Standard. She has also spearheaded the strategic development of New York’s offshore wind resource, including the execution of the State’s offshore wind master plan. She was instrumental in advancing and implementing the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act, which is modernizing the siting of large-scale renewable energy projects across New York. Ms. Harris is co-chair of the New York State Climate Action Council, a 22-member committee preparing a Scoping Plan to achieve the State’s bold clean energy and climate agenda.

Ahmad is the Resource Planning Manager with Platte River Power Authority, a community-owned wholesale power supplier to Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont, and Loveland. His responsibilities include planning to implement Platte River’s Resource Diversification Policy. This policy calls for 100% noncarbon, financially sustainable, environmentally responsible, and reliable electricity supply by 2030. Masood holds a Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology and has over two decades of global experience in the electric power business. Before joining Platte River, he worked with two large Southeastern utilities: Virginia Power and the Southern Company. His overseas experience includes working in the energy sectors of Saudi Arabia, Brazil, the UK, Turkey, and Pakistan.

Omar Aoun is Vice President of Sales at Energy Vault, responsible for the sales strategy and execution in support of Energy Vault’s mission to accelerate the decarbonization of our planet through the development of sustainable and economical energy storage technologies.

Omar has 25 years of experience in the energy sector spent with General Electric, SunEdison, Samsung, and Energy Vault, spanning various power generation segments, including conventional, renewable, and energy storage. Before Energy Vault, Omar spent seven years growing the energy storage business for Samsung SDI in the Americas, where he led the commercial team and the realization of multi GWh of project deployments through close collaboration with utilities and IPPs in the space.

Based in the firm’s New York office, Mr. Arencibia is a senior management team member primarily responsible for transaction origination, due diligence, and execution. He joined Axium Infrastructure in 2012 and has over 25 years of experience in financial advisory and infrastructure project finance. Before joining Axium Infrastructure, Paulo joined the Energy & Infrastructure Banking team at BNP Paribas in New York, where he executed multiple greenfield project finance transactions for natural gas-fired and renewable energy projects. Paulo was also responsible for building BNP Paribas’ transportation and PPP platform in the United States and Canada.

Paulo began his career in London with Citigroup, where he focused on financial advisory and debt structuring and placement to support the development of large-scale energy and water facilities in Europe and the Middle East. Fluent in English and Spanish, Paulo holds a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from Tufts University, an MA in Development Economics from the Fletcher School, and an MBA from Instituto de Empresa (Madrid, Spain), where he was a Fulbright Scholar.

As Vice President of Wholesale Market Development, Mr. Berg manages Constellation’s wholesale policy development and advocacy in all competitive wholesale markets in which Constellation is engaged, including PJM, ISO New England, ERCOT, SPP, MISO, and NYISO, to ensure outcomes that align with Constellation’s business strategy. Mr. Berg works closely with the various business units within Constellation to understand the needs of the Corporation and how to shape market policies to further Constellation’s clean, reliable, and affordable electricity goals. He has worked in the electric power industry for 31 years and, in that time, developed an understanding of market dynamics in both regulated and deregulated energy markets. Mr. Berg holds a BA in Business Administration from Lenoir-Rhyne University and an MA in Applied Economics from the University of Central Florida, College of Business.

Mr. Bond joined Rothesay in 2022 and is responsible for investments in the infrastructure sector. Before joining Rothesay, he worked at Nomura, Bank of America, and General Electric. He started his career in strategy consulting in London.

Mr. DeAngelis is a Partner and co-leads the firm’s Sustainable Infrastructure investment efforts. He brings over 20 years of experience to the firm and is a member of the Investment and Valuation Committees. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Endeavor Energy, Ceiba Energy, Greenleaf Power, and subsidiaries of Rio Energy. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of Themis Energy.

Justin is a member of Drexel University’s Alumni Board of Governors and the Advancement Committee for Mount Saint Mary Academy and is taking part in Columbia University’s World Projects Initiative. He is a member of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Advisory Council and the Advisory Council for NASP-USAID Investment Partnership for “Mobilizing Institutional Investors to Develop Africa’s Infrastructure.”

Mr. Demas is Senior Managing Director and Head of Americas, Green Investment Group, within Macquarie Asset Management. He re-joined Macquarie from Stonepeak Partners, where he led the firm’s America’s renewable energy and energy transition investment activities. Before Stonepeak, Mr. Demas spearheaded and led Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners in the Americas. Before CIP, he was a senior member of Macquarie Capital’s renewable energy principal and investment and advisory team. He spent the early part of his career at Good Energies, one of the first dedicated clean technology venture funds. He began his career at Lazard as a founding member of its Clean Technology and Renewable Energy advisory business.

Andrew Engblom is the senior managing editor for Power & Renewables at S&P Global Commodity Insights. He has over 20 years of experience covering energy markets, including power trading, utility financials, energy policy, and renewable energy supply chains. He leads a team of reporters and editors covering North America and Europe's power and renewable energy markets for S&P Capital IQ Pro.

Ms. Ermilate is an explorer in the global hydrogen economy and sustainability advocate with over 20 years of experience in the financial sector. Focus on energy, infrastructure, and new energies in several capacities (M&A, debt advisory, project finance, acquisition finance). Currently, she leads the ING Energy team for the Americas, based in New York.

Mr. Frangules is a senior vice president at S&P Global, leading a team of 350 colleagues focused on research and consulting in Natural Gas, Power (including Renewables), and Climate across the globe. Leverage expertise, technology, and data science across downstream energy businesses to help drive client growth, performance, and efficiency. Previously, he led IHS Markit’s Gas, Power, and Energy Futures and Upstream Oil and Gas consulting businesses. Mr. Frangules has been with S&P Global and a predecessor company since 2002. Before joining S&P Global, he was co-founder of Excelergy Corp., a software & internet service company focused on the intersection of the internet and deregulating energy.

Mr. Freebairn is S&P Global Commodity Insights associate editorial director for global nuclear power and head of uranium pricing. He has been the editor for the group's flagship publication, Nucleonics Week, since 2012. He heads a team of editors and reporters based in Washington, Houston, and London, covering nuclear fuel markets and nuclear energy policy and operations. Major publications have quoted him on nuclear fuel, uranium markets, and new nuclear plant development and construction.

Mr. Gardett is an executive director for S&P Global Commodity Insights and is part of a dedicated research team that provides integrated climate and cleantech advisory research to the financial sector. He has over 20 years of experience in energy and commodities markets as a journalist, analyst, entrepreneur, and executive. His work at S&P Global Commodity Insights focuses on the energy transition and cleantech, including solar, wind, hydrogen, batteries, and storage.

Todd Giardinelli is a managing director and co-head of the global power, utilities, and renewables group at Morgan Stanley. Mr Giardinelli has an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and graduated cum laude from Kenyon College with Distinction in English.

Mr. Giuffre has 20 years of energy industry experience, with deep expertise in wholesale power markets. His team delivers strategic analyses and insights to retain clients, producing biannual long-term power market outlooks. Mr. Giuffre has provided insights to corporate boards and senior management on capacity markets, power sector investment trends, market fundamentals, and energy policy. He joined S&P Global through its acquisition of IHS Markit. Before joining IHS Markit, Mr. Giuffre was a research economist at the Beacon Hill Institute, specializing in regulatory policy issues, including tax incentives for renewable energy. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Massachusetts and a master’s degree from Suffolk University, United States.

Mr. Gorman is a Research Scientist in the Electricity Markets and Policy Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he focuses on integrating variable generation into the electric power system, the economics of distributed energy resources, and the application of energy storage within electricity networks. He has published his research in Applied Energy, Energy Policy, and Energy Economics, among other journals. He has spoken in front of FERC and at the ACP Clean Power annual meeting, the Energy Systems and Integration Group Technical Symposium, and the United States Association of Energy Economists. A guest on multiple podcasts, he has also been featured in industry publications such as Green Tech Media and Utility Dive.

Ms. Hommes is a Partner, Private Equity at Apollo. For over 15 years, she has invested in businesses in and around the energy sector. At Apollo, Hommes focuses on industrial companies and technologies enabling the energy transition. She currently serves on the board of directors of Celeros Flow Technology and Infrastructure Networks. She previously served on the board of directors of Spartan Acquisition Corp. II. This publicly traded, special purpose acquisition company merged with Sunlight Financial and Spartan Acquisition Corp. III, which merged with Allego. She was also a founding steering committee member of Apollo Women Empower (AWE), Apollo’s women’s network, and co-led the initiative for several years.

Ms. Irwin is a director in the Financial and Capital Markets group at S&P Global Commodity Insights, part of a dedicated research team that provides integrated climate and cleantech advisory research to the financial sector. Her work focuses on cleantech (solar, wind, hydrogen, batteries, and storage) and the broader energy transition, including changes in financial flows and regulations in response to shifts in global energy markets. She has more than a decade of experience in energy and commodities markets as a journalist and analyst in both the public and private sectors in the US, Russia, and China.

Mr. Kapp is a Partner and Managing Director within Carlyle’s Infrastructure Group. Before joining Carlyle in 2022, he spent eight years at JPMorgan Asset Management, where he served as a Managing Director and an investment lead for the Infrastructure Investments Fund. Throughout his tenure, Mr. Kapp sourced, led, and sponsored significant new investments and was responsible for building, combining, and optimizing platform companies within the portfolio. Before joining JPMorgan Asset Management in 2014, Mr. Kapp spent seven years as an investor with ArcLight Capital Partners, focusing on investments in power, energy, and related infrastructure, and five years with Citi in structured finance roles within Asset Finance and Infrastructure and Energy Finance.

Mr. Kranenburg is Vice President of Strategy and Policy at Eversource Energy, where he is responsible for long-term clean energy and growth strategy and policies along with the transportation electrification and battery storage initiatives. Previously, he was with IHS Markit, advising the top electric utilities and power sector owners/operators and suppliers globally on sector transformation, investment, and operations. In his innovation and technology role, he led the application of data analytics to power sector data and information. Earlier, Mr. Kranenburg was at the Edison Electric Institute, where he led strategy for the electric industry in supply and taxation. He was instrumental in the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the making permanent of the Bush-era tax cuts on dividends. He had also led development in wireless telecommunications at Siemens and researched and published in high-temperature superconductors, high-performance electric drive systems, and high-frequency telecommunications.

Mr. Lark advises clients on M&A transactions, focusing on energy, utilities, and digital infrastructure. He represents infrastructure funds, utilities, and other investors in public and private company mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, equity investments, and debt and hybrid securities issuances, among other transactions. Fritz has experience advising clients in transactions across various sectors, including energy, power and utilities, insurance, financial services, manufacturing, chemicals, and technology. Additionally, Fritz advises clients on corporate governance and disclosure issues under the federal securities laws and exchange rules and general corporate matters.

Mr. Lester, a Research Analyst on the North American Power team, specializes in nuclear energy and interconnection costs of new generators. Before joining S&P Global, he analyzed European energy markets while working at the Technical University of Denmark. Lester focused on decarbonization policies, alternative transport fuels, and emerging technologies. He holds a B.S. from the University of Pittsburgh in Mechanical Engineering and a M.S. in Sustainable Energy from the Technical University of Denmark.

Mr. Melmed is a Mergers & Acquisitions/Private Equity corporate partner based in New York. He is Co-Chair of King & Spalding’s Global Private Equity/M&A practice with over 25 years of experience and is currently serving on the Policy Committee, the firm’s governing and management group. He represents private equity funds, pension plans, sovereigns, family offices, hedge funds, corporate clients, and investment banks regarding U.S. and international M&A, private equity, and complex corporate transactions. He has extensive M&A and PE experience across many sectors, including in the energy, power, infrastructure, financial services, media, telecommunications, fiber, telecom, technology, life sciences, health care, pharma, and real estate/REIT sectors, and has extensive SPAC M&A experience. He is also the Co-Chair of the firm’s Global Energy Power & Infrastructure practice, leads the Canada practice, and co-leads their Energy Transition practice. Mr. Melmed is also consistently recognized as a leading renewable energy lawyer in the U.S. by Legal 500 U.S. and has one of the most active renewable energy/clean tech and infra Private Equity and M&A practices in the country.

Mr. Morton brings over twenty-five years of experience in emerging markets, climate finance, and economic and environmental policy. Throughout his career, he has been at the forefront of designing and structuring some of the most innovative platforms and investment vehicles to mobilize private capital flows into climate-related sectors in fast-growing global markets. In the Biden Administration, Mr. Morton served as the U.S. Treasury Department’s and Secretary Yellen’s inaugural Climate Counselor, managing and coordinating a historically ambitious set of policies and priorities. He served as the President’s White House Senior Director for Energy and Climate Change during the Obama Administration. He was previously the Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (now the US DFC). Outside Government, he was Managing Director of Economic Policy at The Pew Charitable Trusts and a private equity investor with the Global Environment Fund. Mr. Morton began his career as a strategy consultant with Mercer and the World Bank, managing environmental infrastructure projects in the former Soviet Union.

Mr. Mudd is a Director in Bank of America’s Global Sustainable Finance Group (GSFG), where he is an Innovation team member. The Innovation team leads Bank of America’s capital deployment into new clean energy and sustainable infrastructure asset classes, including hydrogen, carbon markets, sustainable aviation fuels, waste-to-energy, water infrastructure, and sustainable agriculture and aquaculture. Before his role in Global Sustainable Finance, he was an equity portfolio manager for BofA Global Research’s Portfolio team.

Ms. Powers has over 29 years of experience in the wholesale and retail electricity markets, power generation, and energy consulting fields, with considerable expertise in wholesale electric market operations and analysis, transmission system planning and operations, generation asset sales and acquisitions, asset valuation, wholesale and retail energy planning and procurement, and power plant operations. She has experience in executing regulated and unregulated fossil and renewable generation asset sale transactions in regulatory analysis, policy development, due diligence analyses, energy market assessment, and business unit strategy. With her significant experience preparing market assessments and forecasts, Ms. Powers has advised several clients on procuring competitive electricity in deregulated markets by developing strategic procurement strategies, preparing solicitation packages, evaluating supply and service proposals, and negotiating contracts with retail energy suppliers.

Mr. Roloff joined LS Power in 2003 and serves on the Investment Team responsible for project and acquisition financing and divesture activities for the Firm, including new and existing investments, greenfield businesses, including contracted and merchant thermal and renewable generation, and high voltage transmission facilities. Mr. Roloff began his career as an Analyst with Luminus Management, investing in distressed power generation facilities and helping spur the formation of LS Power Equity Advisors.

Mark Rutledge is involved with investments in energy transition, renewable energy, and sustainability sectors. Since joining Blackstone Credit, he has analyzed debt, mezzanine, distressed, and private equity investments across various industries. Before joining Blackstone Credit, he worked as an analyst at Credit Suisse's London Office in the Mergers and Acquisitions and the Leverage Finance Origination and Restructuring teams between 2008 and 2010. Mr. Rutledge received an Honors Business Administration degree with Distinction and Dean Honors from The Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario. He serves on the board of directors of Ion Solar.

Mr. Saxena is responsible for supervising Lotus Infrastructure Partners’ investment program and strategy, as well as overall management of the Firm. He sits on the Investment Committee and the boards of all portfolio companies. Mr. Saxena is also responsible for developing and managing the investment team. In addition, he maintains responsibilities for origination, structuring, execution, monitoring, and exiting investments across the portfolio. Throughout his career, Mr. Saxena has led the acquisition and development of numerous power generation and transmission projects and midstream and downstream assets in North America, with an aggregate enterprise value of more than $13 billion.

Mr. Schaefer is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Guggenheim's Power, Utilities & Renewables team covering electric and gas utility and renewable energy accounts for Guggenheim Securities. He brings extensive expertise in energy-related mergers, acquisitions, and financing to Guggenheim, developed over 27 years in the financial services industry. Mr. Schaefer has completed approximately $60 billion of strategic advisory assignments and over $30 billion of lead-managed financings. In addition to his role at Guggenheim Securities, Mr. Schaefer is active in many industry organizations. He serves on the Board of Directors for the United States Nuclear Industry Council (USNIC). Recently, he served on a Board with the Department of Energy (DOE) to determine the awardees of $4 billion of grants through the DOE's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP).

Mr. Sell serves as Chief Executive Officer of X-energy. He has deep professional expertise across many sectors of the international and U.S. energy industry developed through his service in senior-level positions in the private sector and government. Sell joined X-energy as CEO in January 2019 and has led the company through dramatic transformation and growth in product development investment, U.S. government funding awards, private capital raised, and customer commitments.

From 2008-2018, Clay was the President of Hunt Energy Horizons, LLC, the renewable energy subsidiary of Hunt Consolidated, Inc., a multinational energy, real estate, and investment corporation controlled by the Ray L. Hunt family of Dallas. Previously, Clay held positions for 14 years in the U.S. government, as Deputy Secretary of Energy in the George W. Bush Administration from 2005-2008, as a Special Assistant to the President from 2003-2005, and in senior staff positions in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Mr. Sondey serves as the Chief Executive Officer of REV Renewables. Formed by LS Power in 2021, REV is one of the largest independent energy storage and renewable energy companies in the United States. Before REV, Mr. Sondey served as Senior Managing Director of Private Equity at LS Power. He was responsible for investments in energy-related public securities and commodities, led several acquisitions, and was a member of the broader investment committee.

Previously, Mr. Sondey was a Managing Director in BofA Merrill Lynch’s Global Energy and Power Investment Banking Group. Before BofA Merrill Lynch, Mr. Sondey was Vice President of Finance for PSEG Power, where he led finance activities and executed several asset mergers and acquisitions and development transactions. Mr. Sondey began his career as an early member of J. Makowski Associates, a developer of electric power generation projects.

Dr. Stein is the Director of the Nuclear Energy Innovation program at the Breakthrough Institute. He focuses on nuclear energy's technology, policy, risk, and economics. He also studies complex interdisciplinary systems and decision-making in risk, resilience, and clean energy systems.

He has spent sixteen years in the energy sector as a researcher and consultant. The Electric Power Research Institute has published him; he has also presented to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and contributed to many high-profile projects, including the first-ever license application for an advanced nuclear reactor in the U.S. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University where his research focused on changing the paradigm for emergency preparedness and response for nuclear facilities. Before studying at Carnegie Mellon, he completed an MBA from IUP and studied Mechanical Engineering and Nuclear Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.

Tracy Stoddard is a Vice President of Business Development at Acciona based in Parque Empresarial El Carralero, Madrid. Previously, Tracy was a Director, Origination at Algonquin Power & Utilities and held positions at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Suncor. Tracy received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alberta and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Calgary.

Mr. Taylor is the co-founder and CEO of REsurety. Since founding REsurety in 2012 to commercialize research he conducted at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, he has built a rapidly growing company, gained institutional financing, and attracted top-notch talent, advisors, and directors. Under his stewardship, REsurety has amassed contracts supporting more than 7,000 MW of renewable energy generation capacity and counts many of the U.S. — if not the world’s — largest companies as customers and partners. Mr. Taylor holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where he was named an Edward Tuck Scholar (awarded for academic achievement) and recipient of the Lt. Walter Jacobs Memorial Prize, awarded for intellectual leadership. He also holds Bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Biology from the University of Virginia.

Mr. Walker is a Nuclear Physicist and was the project lead and manager for constructing the new Rolls-Royce Nuclear Chemical Plant; he was the UK Subject Matter Expert for the UK Nuclear Material Recovery Capabilities and was the technical project manager for building the UK reactor core manufacturing facilities. Mr. Walker was also seconded to Rolls Royce, where he modeled configurations of RR’s Zero-Power reactor to inform confidence limits for the UK’s successor submarine’s mechanical design and worked for the Rolls-Royce Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics Engineering team investigating reactor channel thermal performance to inform new reactor designs and support the safety case for reactors in current class submarines. Mr. Walker’s professional engineering experience includes nuclear reactors, mines, submarines, chemical plants, factories, mine processing facilities, infrastructure, automotive machinery, and testing rigs. Mr. Walker is also a Director of Ares Strategic Mining Inc.

Xizhou Zhou is a vice president in the Climate & Sustainability Group at S&P Global Commodity Insights and leads the company's power and renewables practice globally. He has expertise in power and renewable market fundamentals analysis and forecasting, power market design and policy analysis, renewable energy business models, and company strategies, among other areas. Zhou previously headed the firm's Power, Gas, Coal, and Renewables practice in Asia Pacific while based in Beijing, where he significantly expanded the group's research and consulting coverage across the region with new teams established in Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Delhi, Penang, and Brisbane. He began his career at S&P Global through one of its predecessor companies, Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), as part of its Emerging Markets and Global Power groups in Cambridge, Massachusetts.