39 th Annual Meeting Peppermill Resort Spa Casino, Reno, Nevada, USA September 20 23, 2015 Opening Session Capri Ballroom Monday, September 21 8:00 am 12:00 noon Speaker Biographies
Paul Thomsen Director of Nevada Governor s Office of Energy Paul Thomsen was appointed Director of the Nevada Governor s Office of Energy by Governor Brian Sandoval in 2013. In this role, he is responsible for directing, managing, and overseeing energy policy development, as well as the daily operations, legislative relations, and staff activities of the office. From 2005 to 2013, he was Director of Policy and Business Development for Ormat Technologies, where he directed Ormat s federal, state, and local legislative, regulatory, and strategic public relations programs and geothermal project development in the United States. Prior to Ormat, he worked for the law firm of Lionel Sawyer and Collins, United States Senator Harry Reid, and United States Senator Richard Bryan. He previously held a number of positions, including President of the Board of Directors of the Geothermal Energy Association, Chairman of the United States Clean Heat and Power Association, President of the Nevada Geothermal Council, and industry expert for the U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Program Blue Ribbon Panel. He has served on the boards of the Economic Development Authority of Nevada, Nevada Mining Association, Nevada Lung Association, and AVA Ballet. Thomsen earned a Bachelor s Degree in Political Science and a Master s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Nevada, Reno. Richard Perry Nevada Division of Minerals Rich Perry joined the Division of Minerals as Administrator in 2013. His career includes numerous operating and technical assignments in the mining, water resources and geothermal industries. Prior to his appointment at the Division of Minerals, he worked for the Nevada State Engineer in eastern Nevada. Rich served as Vice President of North American Operations for Newmont Mining Company from 2001 2005, and as the start up general manager for Newmont s Batu Hijau copper mine in Indonesia. Rich is a graduate of the Mackay School of Mines at the University of Nevada, Reno. Jack McGinley Executive of Regulatory and Legislative Strategy, NV Energy Jack McGinley is the Executive of Regulatory and Legislative Strategy for NV Energy. Jack graduated from the University of Nevada Reno and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Jack has worked for NV Energy for over 30 years where he has held various management positions in various areas of the company including Renewable Energy Development, Resource Planning, Supply Side Engineering, Demand Side Management, Power Contracts, Research and Development and Strategic Planning. Jack has negotiated many of the NV Energy s renewable energy purchase power contracts and was the project manager on the company s first renewable energy project, a waste heat recovery project located just outside of Las Vegas.
Isaac Angel CEO, Ormat Isaac Angel commenced serving as an officer of the Company on April 1, 2014, and assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer as of July 1, 2014. From 1999 to 2006, he served in various positions at Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd., including as its President and CEO. After the acquisition of Lipman by VeriFone in 2006, Mr. Angel served as Executive Vice President, Global Operations of VeriFone from 2006 to 2008. From 2008 to 2009, Mr. Angel served as Executive Chairman of LeadCom Integrated Solutions Ltd. Since 2008, Mr. Angel has served as a director of Frutarom Industries Ltd., and from 2012 until 2013 he served as a director of Retalix Ltd. James Kluesener Vice President geothermal Region, Calpine Corporation Jim Kluesener has served as Vice President for Calpine s Geothermal Region since July of 2014. He has worked with Calpine since 2011, serving in various leadership roles at The Geysers Geothermal project. Mr. Kluesener came to Calpine as Director of Project Management. In this role, he assisted with a major employee reorganization effort and led a project to upgrade aging process control systems at the fifteen power plants at The Geysers. He subsequently had operational responsibility for the eastern eight power plants, followed by the western seven power plants before assuming full operational responsibility for the region. Prior to joining Calpine, Mr. Kluesener worked in the Paper Industry for 20 years. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Davis. Dennis Gilles CEO and Director, U.S. Geothermal Dennis Gilles is the Chief Executive Officer for US Geothermal Inc., a position he has held since April of 2013. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for US Geothermal, and has served in that capacity for the past 4 years. Dennis has over 28 years of experience in the geothermal energy industry. Prior to his positions at US Geothermal, Dennis worked for Calpine Corporation for 23 years and held the position of Senior Vice President responsible for management of all Calpine geothermal interests, including heading up The Geysers, the world s largest geothermal field. Dennis is a currently serving as a member of our GRC Board of Directors, and sits on the GRC Executive Board. He has served on the GRC Board for 13 years. Dennis also served for 10 years as the Chairman of the Board of the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA), actively involved in advancing legislation to stimulate growth in the geothermal industry. Dennis is knowledgeable in all aspects of geothermal power plants and steam fields, and throughout his career he has been active in improving the geothermal knowledge and interest of the public and those in the government. Dennis holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Pepperdine University, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly
Terry Page Western US Director Regulatory Affairs and Innovation, ENEL Terry is the Western US Director Regulatory Affairs and Innovation for Enel Green Power North America (EGP NA). He has been with Enel for the last four years; in his role at Enel he is responsible for the governmental and regulatory requirements associated with development of new and expansion of existing Geothermal and Solar projects in the Western US. Most recently at EGP NA, he supported the Nevada development of the Stillwater Geo PV CSP hybrid project, the Utah development of the Cove Fort Geo project and negotiated leases in California for future Geothermal projects. Terry is based in San Diego California.. Prior to Enel Terry spent previous 10 years developing energy projects in the West, and prior to that 15 years as the Director of Regulatory Operations at the Nevada Public Utilities Commission. Terry received Master of Science in finance from The American College; and a Bachelor of Science from The University of the State of New York. He serves as the Secretary Treasurer, is member of the Executive Committee and is Chairman of the Western Issues Committee for the Geothermal Energy Association, (GEA). Liz Johnson Geothermal Officer, CDOGG Elizabeth Johnson is the Geothermal Officer for the California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources. She has been regulating geothermal wells in California for 28 years. She supervises three state offices in California: El Centro, Santa Rosa, and Sacramento. Elizabeth is a registered geologist who received her Master of Science Degree in Geology from California State University, Northridge and her Bachelor of Science Degree in Geology from Brigham Young University. Rick Allis Director, Utah Geological Survey Rick Allis has been evaluating geothermal resource potential for more than 30 years. Recent projects include screening high heat flow regions in the Great Basin of the western U.S. for stratigraphic reservoirs, and he has just started working with many colleagues on the geothermal characteristics of the Milford, Utah site as part of the Department of Energy s FORGE initiative. Rick has been Director of the Utah Geological Survey for 15 years. Prior to that he worked for the Energy and Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah for three years, and in the first part of his career he was based at Wairakei, New Zealand working for what is now known as GNS Science. He has evaluated geothermal prospects in many countries around the western margin of the Pacific. He has a PhD in geophysics from the University of Toronto, Canada.
James Faulds NBMG Director/Nevada State Geologist / Professor, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG), University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) Dr. James E. Faulds, Dr. Faulds is the Nevada State Geologist, Director of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG), and Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). NBMG is a research and public service unit of UNR and is the state geological survey of Nevada. Faulds is a structural geologist with 30 years of experience working on the structural framework of the western U.S. and over 10 years of experience assessing the structural settings of geothermal systems. He has been with UNR and NBMG since 1997, first as Professor and then serving as NBMG Director since 2012. He earned his B.S. at the University of Montana, M.S. at the University of Arizona, and Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico. He has studied crustal deformation in many parts of the world, including much of the western U.S. and western Turkey. His research has focused on how fault systems initiate and evolve through time. In recent years, he has been analyzing geothermal systems in the western U.S. and elsewhere. He recently completed a catalogue of the characteristic settings of >400 geothermal systems in the Great Basin region and is now working on generating a detailed geothermal potential map for much of this region. By characterizing the favorable settings for geothermal activity and utilizing innovative technologies, such as 3D modeling, his research has contributed to developing more successful exploration strategies for geothermal systems. He has published over 100 papers and dozens of geologic maps on extensional and strike slip tectonics and the structural controls on geothermal activity. He has also taught courses in structural geology, tectonics, geothermal exploration, and field geology, while serving as advisor for more than 25 graduate students Lauren Boyd EGS Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy Lauren W. Boyd is the Program Manager of the Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) program at the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. In this role, Lauren oversees all activities related to EGS including technology roadmapping, strategic planning, and project execution of a broad research, development and demonstration portfolio with the goal of creating a reproducible technical pathway to cost competitive power from EGS in the United States. Lauren also leads the Office s flagship initiative, the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE), which focuses on EGS validation, optimization and replicability at scale. Lauren holds an M.S. in Geology from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.A. in Geology from Vassar College, and was a Presidential Management Fellow.