For the last two years, Will has served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Savant Systems, Inc. – a global leader in smart home, intelligent lighting and energy solutions for consumers, businesses, and more. He leads the prototyping and R&D with new technologies, protocols, and platforms to develop and enhance the award-winning software and solution architecture for the Savant Power System. A pioneer in the field of energy automation, Will owns three patents in flexible load management, intelligent circuit breakers and a smart light switch/thermostat for energy management and control and was part of the founding cohort and the former CTO of Racepoint Energy, the start-up that created the power management technology used in the Savant Power System. Racepoint was launched in 2016 and was acquired by Savant in 2021. In total, Will has more than 17 years of experience researching, developing, and bringing emergent computer science techniques and theories to domains that have traditionally struggled to adopt them. This includes time spent in academia while earning his Ph.D. in computer science with a specialization in Digital Signal Processing (DSP), energy management and high-performance computing from Oregon State University. While there, Will worked for four years to expand his expertise to new applications in vehicle autonomy, while continuing his work with the U.S. Navy as a principal investigator. In the context of vehicle autonomy, he developed a model for automatic, power aware, task scheduling within these vehicles. Will was an early adopter of the Swift programming language, and within a month of the release of its source code as open source, he had ported it to run on, and compile for, ARM systems running Linux. Prior to that, Will was funded for six years by the U.S. Navy to develop novel tools and techniques that allow the use of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and other accelerators in high-performance acoustic and Digital Signals Processing (DSP) applications. The result was Distributed OpenCL, a platform for end users to scale their applications over many systems comprised of several GPUs.

Jeff Gleeson is the Chief Product Officer for Renew Home, where he leads the product and design teams focused on bringing energy to life for partners and consumers. Prior to joining Renew Home, Jeff served as product lead for home energy and security subscription services at Google Nest, where he helped grow the energy business with products like Nest Renew and Rush Hour Rewards. Before Google, he led PG&E’s Customer Energy Solutions Team.

As the Managing Director of New Ventures for Southern Company, Robin Lanier leads a team focused on identifying and accelerating the adoption of emerging energy solutions and business strategies. As part of this role, Lanier is responsible for managing Southern Company's investment in Energy Impact Partners, which provides access to early-stage companies developing technology or business model innovations of strategic relevance to the energy and utilities industry. These efforts are critical to support delivery of clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy to our customers and positions the Company to make a meaningful impact on the future of energy. Lanier has a diverse background in energy and has served in roles of increasing responsibility across Southern Company. She began her professional career at Georgia Power as a distribution engineer, focused on complex customer projects in a high growth area. Lanier then moved into the renewable development organization where she designed and implemented Requests for Proposals, Power Purchase Agreements, and Interconnection Agreements for renewable energy projects. Next, Lanier moved into a leadership role in environmental affairs, where she was responsible for the development of Georgia Power’s environmental compliance strategy and capital budgets for the Company’s electric generation fleet as well as coordinating the Company’s environmental regulatory activities. Most recently, Lanier lead the development and execution of Southern Company Gas’ renewable fuel strategy. In this role, Lanier led the team responsible for developing and implementing first-of-a-kind renewable gas programs, as well as renewable gas project development and asset management efforts. A graduate of the University of Georgia, Lanier holds an Agricultural Engineering degree in Structures and Structural Systems. She has an Engineering In-Training license in Georgia and is a Certified Energy Manager through the Association of Energy Engineers. Lanier has a strong track record of engagement and leadership in the community. She has served on numerous boards and community programs, including the Atlanta Audubon Society board, the Young Professionals board for Atlanta Children’s Shelter, Leadership Walton, Women in Engineering Mentoring Program, Youth Leadership Columbia County and United Way.

Jim Nye, CTO, NRG

Astrid Atkinson is CEO and Co-Founder of Camus, a grid orchestration software platform for electric utilities. Astrid built her career on managing complex, distributed systems. Before founding Camus, she spent 15 years at Google in systems reliability, most recently as Senior Director of Software Engineering. She led the development of Google’s global web-serving platform and the common, performant, scalable set of infrastructure frameworks which now power all of Google’s major product lines. A respected expert on the clean energy transition, Astrid is frequently quoted in top energy and climate publications. She serves on the Gridwise Alliance’s Board of Directors and speaks globally as a thought leader on distributed systems and reliability engineering.

Sofia Berrada is Head of strategy at SWTCH Energy, a leading EV charging company with over 17,000+ chargers deployed across North America. SWTCH is on a mission to build an innovative, efficient and integrated EV charging experience across multi-family and commercial buildings. Sofia leads a dynamic strategy team developing unique partnerships with utilities and key energy sector stakeholders. Prior to SWTCH, Sofia was a Partner at BCG focused on the Power and Cleantech sector, and previously worked as an engineer at Électricité de France. Sofia holds an MBA from Harvard University and a Master of Engineering from l’École des Mines de Paris

Kerri Carnes, Director, Customer to Grid Solutions, APS - Arizona Public Service

Beth Crouchet, Director, Energy Markets & Resource Planning, Budderfly, Inc.

Julian Durand, SVP Product Management & CSO, Intertrust

Dan is an accomplished and experienced energy industry professional responsible for product development at ConnectDER. As ConnectDER's VP of Product, Dan oversees all product lines, product validation, and maintains relationships with NRTLs and standards bodies. Prior to joining ConnectDER, Dan held senior leadership positions at Exelon Utilities where he oversaw smart meter engineering, operations, and analytics for the PHI brands (Atlantic City Electric, Delmarva Power, and Pepco) across NJ, DE, MD, & DC. Dan has over 20 years of experience in the energy space and has worked extensively with utilities across the US as chair of AEIC / EEI committees. Dan is a member of the NEMA Grid Sector Leadership committee and technical committee member for ANSI and UL standards in the energy space. Dan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania with a minor in Mathematics, and a Masters in Energy & Environmental Policy degree from the University of Delaware. Dan has family roots in Philadelphia and firsthand experience working in the energy space as he grew up working in a family business focused on residential electrical work. Dan is excited to help lead the energy transformation with new technology, standards, and policy as the energy industry moves to electrification.

Christopher is responsible for driving the connected and controls strategy for the Rheem Global Water business. As Director Connected Products & Ecosystems, Christopher also leads the transformation within Rheem around grid connected products and digital solutions for both Rheem Air and Water Divisions. Prior to Rheem, Christopher worked for United Technology Corporation in several divisions. He has had roles overseeing the development of products in wireless security and intelligent building solutions. Christopher's experience has led him to spearhead projects which change the way people interact with everyday products in homes and building.

Wilmann Gomez, Director of Product, Smart Communities, SmartRent

Jonathan F. Hastings is an accomplished cross-functional leader with over 15 years of experience in electrical engineering and business development. Currently serving as the Director of Innovation and Solution Architect for the Home and Distribution Division at Schneider Electric, Jonathan oversees innovation strategy and manages programs to align with business outcomes. His expertise lies in analyzing technical market insights and leading global solution architecture for Home Energy Management Solutions (HEMS).

Barry has been in the Energy & Utility space for more than 15-years, having worked for Itron, Landis&Gyr and an Australian utility called Ausgrid (formerly Energy Australia) before joining the SmartThings team a little under 2-years ago. He leads a team of Product Management and Business Development professionals, who are responsible for the SmartThings Energy application in the U.S. market. The SmartThings Services team is focused on consumer engagement, home energy management and net zero homes via both the Utility and Builder channels.

Lon Huber serves as senior vice president of pricing and customer solutions for Duke Energy. In this role, he oversees key customer functions spanning economic development, rate design, wholesale contracts, large customer accounts, load analytics, and regulatory enablement. Prior to joining Duke Energy, Lon worked with state utility commissions, clean technology companies, and consumer advocates on tackling some of the most critical challenges facing the electricity industry. Lon has received numerous awards for his creative solutions, including awards from Public Utilities Fortnightly, the top honor from the Energy Storage Association as well as Utility Dive’s Innovator of the Year award.

John Hughes is the Chief Engineer for residential controls at Trane Technologies. John's responsibilities in this role include innovation, process improvement, mentoring, technical capability building, and sustainment. John is active in the Air Conditioning Heating and Refrigeration Institute Demand Response Task Force (AHRI 1380). As Chair of the Home Connectivity Alliance Technical Workgroup, John is leading the integration between 13 major appliance brands to improve user experience and help consumers make smarter choices about energy usage. Since 2014, John has held various roles at Trane, including Controls Systems Engineering Manager, and Home Controls Engineering Manager. Prior to working for Trane, John worked for L-3 Communications and Southwest Research Institute as a Project Engineer, Systems Engineer, and Radio Frequency Design Engineer.

Lisa is a seasoned energy sector professional with over 20 years of experience in energy efficiency, sustainability and client success. Currently, the Senior Manager of the ecobee Energy team. She has a passion for helping energy partners create and implement impactful energy programs that deliver exceptional customer experiences through ecobee's Smart Thermostats. Lisa's expertise in smart thermostat technologies focuses on enhancing home efficiency and helping Utility partners engage consumers with innovative energy solutions.

Mac Keller, Manager, Resilience - Research & Industry Strategy, SEPA – Smart Electric Power Alliance

Dr. Wacks has been a pioneer in establishing the home systems industry and a management advisor to 150 clients worldwide. His business spans home and building systems, utility customer services, and digital entertainment networks (including HDTV and IPTV). Clients seek his help to locate strategic business partners, financing, and new customers. He also provides due-diligence for investors and expert witness services for litigants. Please visit www.kenwacks.com for information about clients and projects. He was appointed by the United States Department of Energy to the 13-member GridWise Architecture Council to develop smart grid strategies for reliable and efficient distribution of electricity. The Consumer Electronics Association chose Dr. Wacks to chair the international committee (ISO/IEC) establishing world standards for home and building systems and energy management. In addition, he has written American National Standards in home automation. Dr. Wacks chairs the Editorial Advisory Board of the CABA magazine iHomes & Buildings (available at www.caba.org) and is a featured contributor under the byline “Ken Wacks’Perspectives.” Dr. Wacks received his Ph.D. from MIT as a Hertz Fellow and studied at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Amith Kota is the Global Chief Technology Officer of Landis+Gyr, an industry leader in integrated energy management solutions and cutting-edge smart grid technologies. In his role Amith is responsible for all aspects of Technology, product, strategy, development, and solutions offered by Landis+Gyr. Prior to his current role, he was the Vice President of Software & Services and CIO, where he was responsible for the strategic growth and management of software, cloud and services businesses that support Landis+Gyr’s long-term vision to be a trusted utilities digital and technology partner. Amith has more than 25 years’ experience delivering digital change with leading-edge products and services to help customers achieve business value faster and work more effectively in the future. Prior to joining Landis+Gyr, he served as the Chief Enterprise Architect/CTO and Global Head of Emerging Technologies at Gulfstream Aerospace, A General Dynamics company, where he was accountable for global enterprise strategy, architecture, and innovation to create new revenue channels and optimize business profitability through technology innovations. Earlier in his career, Amith held various leadership positions at Progressive Insurance and startups across sales, delivery, and business IT organizations responsible for digital customer experience, Omni-channel engagement, and business systems. Amith is a board member of Advanced Energy United, has served in multiple non-profit boards championing clean energy. Amith is a member of various industry and CIO boards, a selective group of digital leaders from the most forward-looking companies. He holds a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and an Executive Certificate in Innovation and Strategy from the Case Western Reserve University.

Chris plays an integral role in several key initiatives for the Alliance, from recruiting and supporting new and expanding ecosystems, to providing technical expertise and guidance in our marketing and developer programs. Chris also represents the Alliance as guest speaker in key market segment events and speaking engagements. With a background in embedded systems, wireless, and developer community, Chris has been working at Zigbee companies since 2004, most recently in the Iris program at Lowe’s.

Tray Leslie serves as the Electric Transportation Manager for Georgia Power Company. In this role, Tray leads the team responsible for Georgia Power’s electric transportation strategy and execution to deploy infrastructure across Georgia. This includes a portfolio of customer offerings that focus on reducing obstacles for Georgia Power customers ready to integrate electric transportation technologies into their daily lives and business operations. In the community, Tray serves on the Because One Matters Board of Directors. He is a graduate of Leadership Rockdale, Leadership Toombs-Montgomery, Leadership Barrow, Leadership Gwinnett, Glance Gwinnet Leadership Program, the Georgia Academy for Economic Development, and McKinsey Leadership Academy. A native of Stone Mountain, GA, Tray received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Alabama A&M University, a Master of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, as well as his MBA from Mercer University. Tray currently resides in Lawrenceville, GA.

Dai Lin is the VP of Product at UtilityAPI, where she leads the vertical responsible for product design and development, market strategy, and analytics. UtilityAPI is a data access platform focused on ensuring open, equitable, and efficient access to customer data to accelerate the clean energy transition. Concurrently, Dai advises climate tech startups as a coach at Elemental Impact and previously at RMI's Third Derivative accelerator. As a MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) Society of Energy fellow through MIT’s System Design and Management program, Dai worked on low-carbon solutions with Shell TechWorks, the Hewlett Foundation, and MIT’s Office of Sustainability. Prior to her career pivot, Dai developed augmented reality and education technology products at startups in New York City and Shanghai. She has taught in East Harlem with Citizen Schools, South Africa on a Fulbright, and Azerbaijan as a Peace Corps volunteer. She is a dropout of the Harvard Kennedy School where she researched data privacy & cybersecurity, opioids, and water policy.

Jarrod Maddox is the Director of Product Development and Energy Innovation for Vistra Corp’s Energy Transition Solutions team. Vistra Corp is a leading integrated retail electricity and power generation company managing multiple retail energy brands across the U.S. deregulated markets and includes the flagship brand TXU Energy. Jarrod’s team focuses on taking complex energy ideas in the Solar, EV and Demand Flexibility space and transforming them into simple, consumer friendly products. This allows customers to make smart energy choices like charging cars during off peak hours (e.g., TXU Energy’s Free EV Miles product) or enrolling their connected devices in demand response (e.g., TXU Energy’s Connected Conservation program). Jarrod holds a BBA in Economics from Baylor University.

Daren Mancini, Chief Commercial Officer, Mara Holdings

Meghan McConomy is an experienced marketing professional with a proven track record in go-to-market strategy, partner marketing, business development, and product innovation in the energy industry. She is currently Vice President of NRG Consumer Brand Strategy, having served in successive roles at NRG since 2013. Meghan’s tenure at NRG has led to her current role, leading a team that develops the brand strategy for NRG’s consumer brands. This includes understanding the consumer mindset and trends, assessing the competitive landscape, defining customer segment targets, and mapping toward future growth opportunities for NRG Consumer. She also works closely across teams to ensure the consumer brands deliver a seamless customer experience while achieving key business metrics. Prior to NRG, Meghan received her M.B.A. from Emory University in Atlanta. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia. When not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, attending sporting events (mostly Little League and youth soccer), volunteering, and planning new outdoor adventures.

Jason McGrade, as Deputy Director of SECC plays a key role in producing SECC's research reports and consumer education materials. Prior to joining SECC, Jason served most recently as a Senior Program Manager for Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives. In this role, he drove strategic planning efforts, produced events and webinars, as well as leading market research and IT initiatives. He considers himself a lifelong learner and is always on the lookout for delicious local specialties when traveling.

As a co-founder of SkyBell, Desiree plays a crucial role in steering the company’s strategic operations. Celebrating SkyBell’s 10 years in business in June 2023, Desiree has overseen the professional installation of over 2 Million Video Doorbells through the security industry. Desiree expertly leads SkyBell’s supply chain management and contract manufacturing, while overseeing the development and launch of SkyBell Connect, the company’s proprietary back-office system that overseas all deployed devices. Additionally, in her capacity as SkyBell’s Chief Operating Officer, Desiree focuses on nurturing existing customer relationships, steering Customer Support, and supervising Order Fulfillment. Before setting the foundation for SkyBell, Desiree served as Chief Operating Officer at Location Based Technologies, a firm renowned for its GPS tracking solutions.

Michael Norbeck leads the business development function for Grid Services at Enphase Energy, where he builds strategic partnerships and commercial transactions through which portfolios of distributed solar, battery and other customer-connected resources can deliver value as electric grid planning and operational assets. Michael began working in energy over 15 years ago, with positions in state and federal government focused on issues including retail electricity market deregulation and energy infrastructure management. At Pacific Gas and Electric, he managed integration of Distributed Energy Resources portfolios into wholesale markets, as well as utility procurement of DER products and services. Most recently prior to joining Enphase, he led business development for Grid Services at Sunrun, the largest residential solar and battery installer in the US.

Mr. Oberholzer’s primary responsibility at Resideo is to manage the utility and business aspects of the Resideo Grid Services business and the two-dozen utility load management programs it supports. As one of the platform’s inventers, he has been instrumental in driving it from inception in 2010 to an industry leading DERMS for residential energy products by focusing on data, analytics, and automated intelligence. Mr. Oberholzer is responsible for all aspects of service delivery to our utility customers and the profit and loss of the business overall. Before founding this business in 2010, Mr. Oberholzer spent the previous decade + in technical and business management in the telecommunications industry – primarily at Verizon Wireless. Prior to that, Mr. Oberholzer was a Naval Flight Officer in the U.S. Navy making several overseas deployments to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa flying the S-3B Viking off the USS America and deploying airborne national security sensors worldwide for the National Security Agency. Mr. Oberholzer was also honored to be a White House Social Aide.

Hrag Ohannessian, SVP of Global Sales, Home Automation, Security & Hospitality, Universal Electronics, Inc.

A seasoned executive with more than 20 years of experience in energy, renewables, IoT and SaaS. He has scaled companies with a focus on making a profitable impact around the use and management of energy. Previous to joining LG, Wannie was SVP of Business and Corporate development at Bidgely, a global AI powered SaaS provider focused in energy analytics delivering partnerships with Itron, Salesforce and Snowflake. Prior to Bidgely, he was CEO of Zen Ecosystems, a leading provider of energy management solutions to the SMB market, leading to a successful exit in 2023 and SVP of Business and Corporate development at Inspire Energy, leading to a successful exit in 2021.

Chris Rauscher, JD, is the Head of Grid Services & Virtual Power Plants at Sunrun. He leads the business unit responsible for originating and operating distributed power plant programs and contracts across the country. He and his team aggregate tens of thousands of customers and hundreds of Megawatts to provide peak reduction, capacity, and demand response, among other utility services. Chris joined Sunrun in 2015 and was previously Senior Director of Market Development & Policy, where he led new business policy and regulatory work with a focus on market entry and development of Sunrun’s EV and electrification business as well as storage, virtual power plants, and wholesale markets. Prior to joining Sunrun, Chris was an energy policy advisor in the US Senate where he worked on a diverse issue set, with a particular focus on DERs. Chris has been on various political campaigns and involved in a number of startup businesses. Chris serves on various boards, including the Efficiency Maine Trust, and was the founding board president of the Puerto Rico Solar and Energy Storage Association.

Gomathi Sadhasivan is Vice President – Energy Systems at DNV Energy North America and part of its regional leadership team. She fosters trusted partnerships and helps clients navigate the energy transition. She brings to bear 30 years of experience studying customers to provide nuanced insights on energy efficiency, load flexibility, EVs, rates, digital services, solar, storage, and home automation. This includes a focus on low-income customers, rural customers, seniors, and other disadvantaged communities ensuring that the transition to clean energy benefits all. She is Chair of the Board of Directors for the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative. She is a Guest Lecturer at Willamette University and the Northwest Public Power Association, teaching Customer Engagement to rising utility leaders. She holds an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School and graduate degrees in Mathematics & Statistics from Michigan Technological University and the University of Mumbai.

Svetlin Todorov, CEO, Shelly USA

Chris leads the Rainforest Automation team to deliver innovative solutions to its customers that exceed their expectations. With over 20 years of experience in technical and management roles in semiconductors, software, and hardware, across the networking and energy fields, Chris brings a technology and customer-centric view to solving the problems we all face with the transition to electrification.

Paul has nearly 20 years of experience in the technology and utility sectors. Since joining Powerley as its first employee in 2015, Paul has been pivotal in the company's growth, establishing himself as a subject matter expert in the energy space. He has successfully launched multiple products that drive energy efficiency and consumer engagement and has been a thought leader in the industry, contributing to SEPA, Energy STAR, and the Institute for Electric Innovation (IEI). He also serves on the board of the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC). Before Powerley, he led marketing intelligence at Organic, Inc., where he developed advanced analytics solutions and drove performance across multiple verticals, including hospitality, CPG, and automotive. He has a strong track record of building strategic partnerships with utility companies and operationalizing businesses for growth. Paul holds both a BA in Economics and an MBA in Strategy and Marketing from the University of Michigan.

Josh is the Founder and CEO of ThinkLabs AI, a specialized AI development and deployment company developing AI agents electrical grid planning and operations, with a mission to empower critical infrastructure towards energy autonomy and sustainability. Josh brings over 20 years of experience in cleantech, including utility grid modernization, solar, storage, microgrids, hydrogen, and DERMS. Josh was formerly founder and CEO of Opus One Solutions, rated #1 Grid DERMS by Guidehouse, and General Manager of Grid Orchestration at General Electric.

Vera has been leading partnerships for a decade in the technology industry with companies like Lyft and Facebook. Most recently, she led business development and operations for Andy Rubin at Simple Things. After her experience building smart home devices at Simple Things, she joined Leap to focus on climate and energy. Vera currently leads all partnership efforts for Leap in their Smart Buildings and Devices vertical.

Joe Zhou is a technology executive with twenty-five years of experience in applying information technology for business transformations. He is a thought-leader in the utility industry, driving technology standards and innovations for the digital utility of the future. Having worked on consulting and systems integration projects with over thirty-five different utilities, he has gained a comprehensive understanding of the utility businesses from people, process, data, and technology perspectives. Mr. Zhou leads the Digital Advisory team of Black & Veatch Global Advisory.

Beth Crouchet, Director, Energy Markets & Resource Planning, Budderfly, Inc.

Shri Joshi is currently vice president of the Industrial and Infrastructure segment at Infineon Technologies. Shri is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution. Previously, he was senior director of marketing for the division. Shri has over two decades of product marketing and management experience in Energy, Power, and Wireless communications. In his free time, he enjoys spending time motorcycling. He is trained as an Engineer with management education

Lindsey joined Austin Energy in 2013 and is currently the Demand Response and Technical Services Manager. She leads a team of demand response professionals and engineers to meet Austin Energy's Resource Generation Goal of 270 MW in demand response by 2035. She oversees commercial and residential demand response programs and the Resiliency as a Service offering. Over the years she has also overseen and helped deploy Austin Energy’s suite of customer facing EV programs including Power Partners EV, a managed charging program for residential and City of Austin fleet charging stations, EV360, a residential subscription rate for off-peak EV charging, and a fast-growing growing public charging network now at over 1,500 ports. Prior to joining Austin Energy, Lindsey was an Associate Environmental Planner at the City of Austin's Watershed Protection Department and a teacher based in Shanghai, China. Lindsey is an early EV adopter, white-paper author, and a frequently requested industry speaker.

Daniel Richmond is the Senior Manager of EV and Solar Product Development for Green Mountain Energy. He is passionate (nay, evangelical!) about helping customers get solar panels on their roofs and EVs in their driveways, and has been working with EVs, renewables, and solar since 2011 (which is when he drove his first electric car). Originally from the Washington, DC area, he moved to Houston in 2004 to go to Rice, where he initially got into renewable energy and energy efficiency by writing a business plan for an Energy Services Company. Since then, he’s gotten his MBA from Tulane University (which he paid for partially by selling LED light bulbs) and now lives in Katy with his wife and two daughters (ages 8 and 6).

Raiford Smith is the principal consultant for Avalon Energy Consulting, advising companies on data center infrastructure, analytics, energy efficiency, and transmission/distribution. Raiford began his career as a unionized call center clerk at Savannah Electric and Power Company and has spent over three decades since then in the electric, natural gas, and high-tech industries. Prior to his role at AES, Raiford led Google’s global energy, water and wastewater, economic and community development, and supply planning teams, managing over $1.2Bn OpEx and $15Bn CapEx budgets to help Google transition from 100% renewable energy to 24x7 carbon free energy. Additionally, he led the product and UX functions at Tapestry, Google X’s moonshot for the electric grid. Prior to his work at Google, Raiford held a wide variety of roles at other energy companies, including AES, CPS Energy, Duke Energy, Entergy, and the Southern Company. He has led initiatives that contributed hundreds of millions of dollars of recurring EBITDA, grew customer engagement, and improved service reliability through new customer products and services, analytics, smart grid, and distributed energy resources. His career has spanned a very diverse set of roles in legal, mergers and acquisitions, energy trading, transmission & distribution, product management, regulatory, information technology, and customer support. Raiford graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, earned an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia, earned a JD from the Charlotte School of Law, and received a business analytics certificate from Harvard University’s Business Analytics Program. Raiford is a licensed attorney (North Carolina), holds multiple patents for distributed computing at the grid edge, and has published numerous papers on the future of the electric industry, energy regulatory economics, and energy-related technology.

Ashton joined Parks Associates with over 15 years experience in sales, business development, account management and sponsorship sales within the hotel and sports industries. She is now part of the business development team managing event sponsorships and custom marketing services. Ashton graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BA in Business Administration and concentration in Marketing. After working for Four Seasons Resorts for nearly 10 years, Ashton spent the next seven years working with PGA TOUR pro golfers and their corporate sponsors/partners before joining Parks Associates.

INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness. Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches. Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.

Daniel is responsible for smart home research involving market trend analysis, competitor and positioning assessments, technology evaluations, and forecasts of relevant industry metrics. Daniel is a market research industry veteran with 13 years of experience across multiple research types such as shopper insights, brand equity and brand health tracking, and customer experience. Daniel has also conducted research across multiple sectors such as consumer packaged goods, consumer electronics, specialty retail, and transportation, travel, and hospitality. Daniel has a BA in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington, with specializations in Research and Evaluation, Diversity, and Family and Gender Studies.

INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services. Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute. Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.

Jason Paris joined Parks Associates as an analyst studying international telephone, cable, and satellite providers and is now a member of the business development team. Jason graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in psychology and government. After working for the Texas House of Representatives, Jason spent the previous seven years in New York City working with portable and enterprise healthcare technologies.

Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries. Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape. Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.