AWEA - American Wind Energy Association

Victor Abate is vice president of GE Energy's Renewables business, a leading global provider of wind and solar energy products and support services. He assumed this position in November 2005, and he is based Schenectady, New York.

GE Energy is one of the world's leading suppliers of renewable energy technology. With manufacturing and assembly facilities in Germany, Spain, China, Canada and the United States, the company's current renewable product portfolio includes 1.5 and 2.5 megawatt wind turbines and solar electric power systems for on and off grid applications. The company's renewable installed base also exceeds 17 GW.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Abate was vice president of technology for GE Energy's power-generation segment, which includes gas, steam, wind, solar and hydro-turbine generators, gasification technologies and integrated gasification combined cycle.

Mr. Abate began his GE career in 1990 and has held several management roles in engineering, services, production and quality. In 1996, he led the large turbine generator business as the quality leader and was soon appointed general manager of generator technology. In 1999, Mr. Abate assumed responsibility in leading the gas turbine volume ramp in GE's power generation segment and in late 2000, he was appointed general manager of steam turbine technology. Mr. Abate became an officer of GE in 2003.

Prior to joining GE, Mr. Abate worked for Allied Signal and Zurn Industries and was responsible for mechanical drive technology and new product development.

Originally from Williamstown, Massachusetts, Mr. Abate holds bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Union College respectively, he also holds an M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Gabriel Alonso is both the Chief Executive Officer of EDP Renewables North America LLC. He also serves on the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Board of Directors.

Gabriel Alonso has been working in the wind energy industry for over 11 years in several countries in Europe, North America and North Africa. Gabriel most recently served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for EDP Renewables North America, Formerly known as Horizon Wind Energy, responsible for overseeing development, engineering, construction, energy management, procurement and operations and maintenance. Before he became COO, he led EDP Renewables  North America's Development Team as Chief Development Officer (CDO), increasing EDP Renewables North America's pipeline and prospects from 15.3 gigawatts (GW) to 20.8 GW in less than a year. Before his promotion to CDO, Gabriel joined EDP in early 2007 as Managing Director for North America, where he led EDP's entrance into the United States renewables arena..

Prior to Gabriel's involvement with EDP Renewables North America, he served in several executive roles with Gamesa in Europe and in the United States, where he was responsible for the establishment, organization, management and development of Gamesa's wind energy projects in South Europe, through its affiliates in Portugal, France, Italy and Greece. In addition, while at Gamesa, he led the acquisition of Minnesota-based wind energy developer Navitas Energy Inc. and was named CEO and concurrently appointed Executive Director of Gamesa Energy USA, leading Gamesa's wind development in the U.S.

Gabriel holds a law degree and a Master of Science degree in economics, each from the University of Deusto in Spain, and has completed an Advanced Management Program at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business - Chicago Executive Institute.

John DiDonato is Vice President of Development for NextEra Energy Resources, LLC. The company owns and operates North America's largest portfolio of wind generation projects, generating over 7.500 net megawatts at 76 facilities in 17 US states and Canada. Since 2000, John has developed and acquired over 3,200 MW of generation projects for NextEra Energy. He has led development and negotiated the power purchase agreements for wind projects in the central US totaling over 2,600 MW and the 680 MW Calhoun Energy Center, a gas fired simple cycle facility located in Oxford, Alabama. These projects represent a total investment of over $4 billion in electric generation assets utilizing wind and clean natural gas technologies.

John joined NextEra Energy in 1996 as International Tax Manager. In 2000, he joined NextEra Energy's Business Development Team, and since then he has been involved with myriad energy development projects throughout the United States. He and his team are currently responsible for the development and acquisition of wind energy facilities in the Central United States. Previously, he was with Sensormatic Electronics Corporation; a security company based in Boca Raton, Florida. While at Sensormatic, he worked in their London office on international tax matters.

A native of Northeastern Ohio, John holds a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting from Kent State University. He earned a Masters degree in Accounting and Tax from Florida Atlantic University. He is married and lives with his wife and two children in Lake Worth, Florida.

David Flitterman is Chairman, North America of Gamesa Technology Corporation, one of the world's leading wind turbine manufacturers and wind farm developers. Building his career in finance and investment banking, he has held senior management positions in several firms in the US, Spain, the United Kingdom and Brazil, including having been Managing Director of Bankers Trust Company and Deutsche Bank..

Mr. Flitterman spearheads the reinforcement of Gamesa's business activities in the United States, which include turbine manufacturing and supply, operations and maintenance services, and the development and sale of wind farms. He also leads the expanding exports into Central America and North American territories beyond the United States.

David holds an MA and a BA (Hons) in Engineering and Economics from Oxford University (UK). He is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese and proficient in French and Italian.

Doug Fredrickson is an Executive Vice President for Blattner Energy. Mr. Fredrickson's 35 plus years of civil construction experience progressed through heavy equipment operator, Site Manager, Civil/Structural Estimator, Project Manager, Civil Division Director and Market Sector Leader VP. As the Executive Vice President for Blattner Energy, Doug focuses on aligning all operational activities including business development, client engagement, project procurement & fulfillment, personnel development and increasing the company's financial performance.

Doug earned his Industrial Management degree from Bemidji State University and started with Blattner Energy formally known as D.H. Blattner and Sons. Over the years, his experiences have included Heavy/Civil and Power projects across the US, Mexico, and Canada. During his tenure at Blattner he has had the opportunity to seek out and develop new market opportunities with success. His current position allows him the opportunity to assist other leaders in furthering Blattner's great history by continuing to develop and hone our capabilities to deliver complex projects for our customers.

John is President & CEO, BP Wind Energy. BP Wind Energy is a principal owner and operator of wind power facilities with interests in eight operating wind farms. BP Wind Energy has a gross generating capacity of more than 1,200 megawatts (MW), enough to provide electricity for a city the size of Washington DC. BP Wind Energy is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has offices in Charlottesville, Virginia and Oakland, California.

John joined BP in 2000 where he held a number of executive roles in Integrated Supply and Trading and was appointed as Chief Operating Officer IST Europe and Africa in 2003. As Chief Operating Officer he led a diverse team of 600 people across London, Europe, Africa and Russia trading crude and fuel products. In 2007 he was appointed as Global Head of IST Strategy, Planning and Performance. In 2008 he moved to the Alternative Energy business segment as was appointed as Investment Manager leading a team to source and assess new investment opportunities.

Prior to BP, John joined the graduate programme of Mobil Oil. Co. Ltd. In 1985 and spent time in Lubricants Marketing and Sales and was appointed Head of manufacturing and Supply UK running a Lube Blending Plant in 1995. In 1998 he moved to Singapore as Mobil's Sourcing Director responsible for executing strategic sourcing agreements and supply chain management, in service of Mobil's exploration activity in Indonesia, Fuels and Lubes Marketing across Asia Pacific.

John holds a BSc in Industrial Technology and Management from Bradford University, United Kingdom and has attended executive leadership programmes with the Dialogos group, Massachusetts and at the Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.

Tristan Grimbert joined enXco – an EDF EN Company, in late 2004 as President and Chief Operating Officer. He leads the company in developing large scale renewable energy projects across the United States from the Escondido, California Corporate & Development Office. He was appointed CEO in July 2008 and CEO of EDF EN Canada in the fall of 2008.

enXco is an established leader in wind-energy with more than 22 years of experience, and proudly represents the industry as North America's leading 3rd party provider of Operations & Maintenance Services.

Under Mr. Grimbert's leadership, enXco has enjoyed significant growth; multiplying nearly ten times the number of megawatts built per year, expanding geographically throughout the US, Canada and Mexico and making strides into emerging technologies including PV solar generation. In addition, the company's employee base has tripled.

enXco is a pioneer in tax benefit structuring in the wind industry. The company successfully developed and financed the first ever project through wind tax in the US – The Chanarambie Project. Since then, enXco has utilized wind tax to finance three other projects. Additionally during this time, enXco developed, financed, and constructed the largest wind project in the state of Minnesota – The Fenton Project. The $350 million project is comprised of 137 GE 1.5 wind turbines with an output of 205.5 MW. In November 2008, enXco secured financing for its 150 MW Shiloh II project during some of the most challenging and turbulent times in the financial sector.

Mr. Grimbert's career began in sales and international consultancy. He is a graduate of Institut National Agronomique Paris Grignon and holds a management degree from Insead. He spent seven years prior to enXco as President and CEO of Mensi SA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of EDF, specializing in the development, manufacturing and sales of 3D scanners and 3D point clouds CAD processing software.

Mr. Grimbert lives in the San Diego area with his family.

Ned Hall is President of AES North America, President of AES Wind Generation and Executive Vice President of The AES Corporation. Ned joined AES in 1988 as a Project Manager and has held a variety of development and operating roles for AES, including assignments in the USA, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

In 1993, he moved to Hong Kong where he served as the EVP for the AES China Generating Company. He moved back to the States in 1997 and was responsible for business development in North America. From 2000 to 2003, he was Group Manager responsible for operations and business development in the South Eastern US, the Bahamas and Central America, and transitioned to the mid-Atlantic, Puerto Rico and Mexico. In 2003 he relocated to Arlington to focus on Global Business Development where he led the company's wind efforts as President of AES Wind Generation. In June 2008, he became President of North America.

He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Massachusetts.

Ned holds a BSME degree from Tufts University and an MBA in Finance/ Operations Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

The vice president of Wind Development for Edison Mission Energy (EME), Randolph P. Mann is among the leaders of efforts to implement EME's ambitious growth strategy in the wind energy sector.  He has played a key role in establishing EME as one of the leading wind developers and owners in the U.S., including participating in project origination and development, wind turbine procurement, project financing, negotiation of joint-development agreements, and strategic partnering arrangements.  He was named a vice president in 2007.
Mann joined Edison Capital, an EME affiliate, in 1995 and played a lead role in a number of energy and infrastructure investments.  Prior to that, he spent three years as
assistant vice president for project financing with the Kansallis Banking Group and three years with the New York Stock Exchange in economic research.
Mann earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Sloan School at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Martin Mugica is the senior executive and has strategic responsibility for leading the overall development of Iberdrola Renewables' renewable energy businesses in the US and Canada. This includes the company's major presence as a vertically-integrated wind development, operations and power sales business; as well as its biomass and solar development work.

Martin has more than 14 years of engineering and business development experience. He joined Iberdrola Spain in 2002 as Director of Business Development, and had overall responsibility for the growth of Iberdrola in Spain and internationally. He played a key role in opening new offices in Moscow, Russia and Doha, Qatar, as part of Iberdrola's alternative energy development efforts.

Prior to joining Iberdrola Spain, Martin was employed by Intesca Uhde Industrial, S.A. first as Commercial Service Engineer and then as Commercial Director.

He holds a Superior Technical Engineering degree from Universidad Pontifica de Comillas in Spain, and a Master of Business Economics and Management degree from University of Navarra, Spain.

Stefan was appointed in early 2008 as President of DMI Industries, a leading North American manufacturer of wind turbine towers with facilities in North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Ontario. He leads the organization from the corporate offices in Fargo, North Dakota.

Before coming to DMI, Stefan spent some 25 years with Swiss/Swedish engineering group ABB in Europe and North America, servicing industries such as aerospace, general manufacturing, and automotive. During his tenure, Stefan held positions in project management, business development, sales management, and general management. Most recently, and prior to taking the helm at DMI, he served as Vice President of ABB's North American Robotics Division.

Stefan has a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering and an Executive MBA in International Business Management. In addition to being a member of the AWEA Leadership Council, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Wind Energy Association.

Michael Polsky is the founder, President and CEO of Invenergy. Invenergy specializes in developing and owning various power generation reserves with an emphasis on renewable resources. With nearly 30 years of experience in the energy industry, he is widely recognized as a pioneer and an industry leader in the cogeneration and independent power industry in North America.

Prior to forming Invenergy in 2001, Polsky founded SkyGen Energy, in 1991, where he built one of the most successful teams in the independent energy industry. In 2001, SkyGen was purchased by Calpine Corporation. In connection with the sale, Polsky was appointed to Calpine's Board of Directors and became a senior executive at Calpine in addition to continuing in his role as CEO of SkyGen. Prior to forming SkyGen, he co-founded and was President of Indeck Energy Services Inc., where he led the development and financing of one of the first portfolios of independent power generating assets. Prior to forming Indeck Energy Services, Polsky held various positions at Fluor Engineers, Brown Boveri Turbomachinery and Bechtel Power Corporation. Because of his education, experience and expertise, he writes and lectures regularly on industry topics.

In 2002, Polsky endowed a center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, which is named after him.

Polsky currently chairs the Entrepreneurship Advisory Board, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. In addition, he serves on the Boards of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) Chicago, Council of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, CEO Council for the United States Olympic Committee and the World Resources Institute. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Economic Club of Chicago, Standard Club of Chicago and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations.

Polsky holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a MSME degree from Kiev Polytechnic Institute.

Susan Reilly has been in the renewable energy industry for over fifteen years.  She has been Deputy CEO of RES Group and a member of the RES Holdings Board since January 2010 and is CEO of RES Americas and President of RES Canada.
Before joining RES Group, she spent 13 years with Scottish Power/Iberdrola, holding a number of senior positions including Strategy Director, and had responsibility for the development of the Renewable Energy business in Scottish Power. She also spent some time as Executive VP of PacifiCorp Holdings, a US regulated energy business, and was Executive VP for Iberdrola Renewables USA.  Prior to that her early career was in Principal Investment, within corporate, banking, and private equity environments in both the US and UK. 
Ms. Reilly holds a BA in Economics and Accountancy and qualified as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse Coopers.

Steve Trenholm is Chief Executive Officer of E.ON. Climate & Renewables North America (EC&R NA). Mr. Trenholm joined EC&R NA in October 2007 through its acquisition of Airtricity's North American operations, where he served as Senior Vice President of Constructions and Operations.

Within four years, Mr. Trenholm helped Airtricity grow its North American business to an enterprise value of $1.4 billion when acquired by E.ON in 2007. By the end of 2009, EC&R NA had built over 1,720 MW of wind generation, which is currently operating in Texas, Pennsylvania, and New York.

EC&R is a unit of E.ON AG, the world's largest investor owned utility, and is responsible for all of E.ON's renewable energy and carbon market activity. EC&R currently manages and operates a 3 GW renewable global portfolio of onshore wind, offshore wind, biomass, biogas, mini-hydro, and solar plants.

Steve Trenholm has more than 30 years of experience in the energy industry with extensive experience in project development, mergers and acquisitions. He also has significant skills and experience in the areas of due diligence, asset valuation, business and strategic planning, business process reengineering, and organization effectiveness experience.

Steve is a member of the AWEA Leadership Council. He holds a B.Sc. in General Sciences and M.Sc. in Radiation Biology from Oregon State University and an MBA from Northwestern University.

Gregory Wetstone is Vice President for Government Affairs at Terra-Gen Power. With more than 830 Megawatts of wind, solar and geothermal generating capacity, Terra-Gen is one of the nation's leading renewable energy companies and is the only company with utility scale electricity production from all three major renewable sources. Greg came to Terra-Gen in April 2009 from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), where he served as Director of Public and Government Affairs. In his two years at AWEA, Greg played a central role in national legislative debates over energy and tax policy. Prior to joining AWEA, Greg served as Director of Advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). He worked at NRDC for more than a decade, building the organization's legislative program as its first legislative director.

Before 1995, Greg was Chief Environment Counsel at the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Health and Environment Subcommittee. In his 12 years at the Committee, he played a key role in negotiating and drafting a number of important environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1986, the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act. Prior to joining the Committee staff, Greg was Director of the Air and Water Pollution Program at the Environmental Law Institute, where he co-authored a desk reference on pollution law (Air and Water Pollution Law 1980, revised ed. 1982) and a groundbreaking book on the acid rain problem (Acid Rain in Europe and North America, 1983).

Greg has written and spoken widely on energy policy and environmental issues. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Atlanta Constitution, the Miami Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Diego Union Tribune and other newspapers and magazines across the nation. Greg's commentary has also been carried on the ABC Nightly News, the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, NBC World News Tonight, CNN, and National Public Radio. In 1997, Greg was profiled by Outside Magazine as one of the most effective players influencing environmental policy in the nation's capital. Greg has a B.S. in biology from Florida State University (1975) and a J.D. from the Duke University School of Law (1978).

Martha Wyrsch, President of Vestas Americas, is responsible for ensuring the successful strategic development and continued growth of Vestas' activities in the United States and Canada.

Wyrsch, who began her tenure June 15, 2009, leads all commercial and operational activities of the business from the company's North American headquarters in Portland, Oregon. This includes the sales, marketing, construction, and service and maintenance of wind power plants in the United States and Canada.

She has 20 years experience in the North American Energy sector, primarily in the oil and gas industries. Prior to Vestas, Wyrsch served as President and CEO for Spectra Energy Transmission - the largest division of Spectra Energy Corp. - a Houston-based Fortune 500 natural gas infrastructure company. She also was President and CEO for Duke Energy Gas Transmission (2005-2007), responsible for natural gas transmission, storage and distribution organizations in the United States and Canada as well as natural-gas gathering, processing and liquid sales businesses in Canada.

Wyrsch served as Group Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for the Duke Energy Corporation (2004-2005), one of the largest U.S. utilities. She oversaw legal affairs, government relations and relevant compliance activities. She also worked in various senior legal roles for Duke Energy between 1999 and 2004. Prior to Duke Energy, Wyrsch held a variety of management, legal and legislative positions.

At Spectra Energy, she served on both the parent Board of Directors and chaired the boards of two publicly traded partnerships - one in the United States and the other in Canada. She also was on the executive committees for both Spectra Energy and Duke Energy.

Wyrsch is a current member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, has been a Trustee - Institute for Environment & Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming, and was Vice Chair of Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and Chair for its corresponding Climate Change Task Force.

A native of Laramie, Wyoming, Wyrsch received a law degree from George Washington University and bachelor's degree from the University of Wyoming. She also completed the Harvard Business School advanced management program.

Wyrsch and her husband have one son and one daughter.