Guidehouse
Hector Artze is a partner in Guidehouse's global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure segment. He assists clients with crafting their smart grid strategy and leveraging the integration of new and existing technologies to transform businesses and organizations. With a professional career that spans more than twenty-two years in the electric utility field, his expertise includes contract negotiations, process improvement, asset management, distribution operations, emergency restoration processes, evaluation and implementation of information technologies for electric utilities, major accounts management, government contracting, energy conservation, quality improvement, and construction services.
Mike Bianco is a partner in Guidehouse's global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure segment. He brings more than twenty-six years of combined experience in information and operational technology strategy, engineering, program planning, systems integration, and consulting experience with a variety of industries including energy and utilities, semiconductor manufacturing, banking and investment, and city and state government. His innovative technology solutions and consulting services have supported utilities in their move to the digital grid and in tackling grid modernization strategy and implementation, transformational program planning and delivery, IT/OT systems integration, telecommunications engineering and build, grid security and compliance, and grid operations analytics.
Dan Bradley is a partner in Guidehouse's global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure segment, working across the utility, investor, and manufacturing sectors. His most notable recent work centers on his role as director-in-charge of REV Connect, where he is helping the State of New York advance its Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) goals through a first-of-its-kind program that facilitates partnerships between innovative companies and utilities. He has authored dozens of articles on emerging energy markets and technologies and has spoken at numerous industry events. In 2019, he was recognized by Consulting Magazine as one of the Top 25 Consultants.
Margot Everett is a director in Guidehouse's global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure segment. She is an industry leader in developing modern utility pricing solutions, helping clients transform their pricing structures to improve transparency, promote new technologies, and maintain cost-based economic principles. She has nearly thirty-five years of experience in energy policy and market issues, analytics, and strategy, with expertise in electric and gas rate design, cost allocation, load forecasting and research, and market, credit, and enterprise risk management.
Derek Jones is a director in Guidehouse's global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure segment with more than fifteen years of experience in the transportation and energy sectors. His multi-disciplinary expertise includes a deep knowledge of transportation and distributed energy resource market ecosystems, U.S. regulatory and policy environments, and program design and implementation. He manages market assessment, adoption forecasting, load research, business case analysis, regulatory strategy, and program implementation.
Michelle Fay is a partner in Guidehouse's global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure segment, supporting clients as they implement transformational programs. She brings more than twenty years of experience in planning and delivering complex and innovative programs for utilities. Her expertise includes program and project management, organizational change management, account management, process and performance improvement, grid modernization, energy efficiency, and analytics. She has led several grid modernization programs, managing and overseeing strategic program management offices, with a focus on realization of benefits and reduced risk.
Dan Hahn leads Guidehouse's Energy Providers practice within the company's global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure segment. As a partner, he oversees a global team of industry and key account professionals that collaborate with utilities and energy companies, providing a broad set of strategy and transformation solutions as they navigate the energy transition. With 25 years of industry experience, he supports clients transform across multiple industry sectors in the areas of operations, digital, strategy,
and technology.
Robyn Link is a director in Guide-house's Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure segment where she leads the Utility Commercial & Industrial solution. With more than seventeen years of experience, her focus is to successfully drive, accelerate, and deliver organic growth for both established and early-stage businesses within the energy sector. She has partnered with over eighty utility companies in North America to create and deliver new, transformational load management and customer engagement solutions that drive results and resolve significant business challenges for utilities.
Chris Luras is a partner in Guidehouse's global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure segment. With over seventeen years of energy industry experience, he leads the Risk, Compliance, and Security solution, working with utilities on all aspects of NERC reliability and security compliance, cyber and physical security, risk management, and resiliency. Specifically, he leads the development, management, and execution of tools and services aimed at cyber security, security compliance, risk management, internal controls, and process and program improvement within the energy sector.
Danielle Vitoff is an associate director in Guidehouse's global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure segment. She supports companies, cities, and utilities in developing low-carbon strategies, including greenhouse gas footprinting, target development, risk and opportunity assessments, and implementation support. She is a LEED Advanced Professional and a TRUE Advisor.
Ted Walker is a partner in Guidehouse's global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure segment and key leader in the strategy, policy, and regulations team. He has over twenty years' experience working with and for premier energy companies to develop and plan for strategies that diverge from their "business as usual" mindset. His content focus areas include distributed energy resources, alternative transportation fuels (including electric vehicles), non-commodity products and services, digital customer transformation, innovation strategy, emerging technologies, and M&A. He has authored and contributed to several thought leadership pieces, analyzing various aspects of the utilities industry.
Karen Wilson is a partner in Guidehouse's global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure segment and the leader of the Public Sector and NGOs practice. She guides government agencies in improving their services to customers and citizens by reducing risk, optimizing assets, and achieving results that stand up to scrutiny. She provides services to the U.S. Departments of Transportation, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, NASA, the GSA and other federal agencies, NGOs, and other governments. As a certified facilitator, she is also passionate about strategically charting courses to help teams and individuals succeed.
David Workman is a director in Guidehouse's global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure segment, specializing in assisting his clients with data through analytics solutions, including governance, architecture, design, automation, reporting, data visualization, and analytics to drive operational insights and strategic business objectives. He has significant experience with data strategy, business intelligence, and business process transformation across a range of industries with a utility focus. His experience also includes the development of full lifecycle implementations for a comprehensive suite of data improvement solutions.
What impact will ESG have on the utility enterprise over the next decade? How can the industry more effectively meet evolving societal, shareholder, and board expectations? What tangible steps can utilities take today?
Ted Walker: Utilities can leverage ESG to evolve in two different but related ways:
As strong ESG-focused enterprises to investors and regulators, and as ESG partners to meet the changing demands of their customers and communities.
Shareholders and company boards are demanding that utilities adopt strong ESG positioning across the organization. Guidehouse research has shown that investor-owned utilities with strong ESG plans and roadmaps have higher, and in some cases more stable, valuations than those that do not. An ESG strategy will need to build tangible enterprise value; utilities with ESG plans that are merely window dressing will be highly discounted.
Utilities are trailing commercial and industrial as well as municipality, university, school, and hospital customers in developing ESG plans. By positioning themselves as partners in ESG, utilities can work with these customers to develop and provide more optimized solutions.