Dan Violette is a Senior Advisor at Tierra Resource Consultants.  He is a recognized industry leader in the areas of demand-side management and distributed energy resources (energy efficiency, demand response, electric vehicles, renewables and storage).  He has led a number of overall integrated supply-side/demand-side resource planning assignments for utilities and collaborative processes, and he is currently working on operational/performance risk assessments of utility distribution systems and DER investments.  Dr. Violette has authored guidebooks and protocols on DSM evaluation for California (the DR Impact Protocols), EPRI, NARUC, the International Energy Agency, and OECD.  He has managed projects on innovative pricing, customer end-use technologies, monitoring and verification for demand-side activities, and provided regulatory support on these topics including testimony in over a dozen jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada. His work in the area of evaluation includes authoring the chapter on “Net Savings Estimation: Theory and Practice” and the chapter on “Persistence and Other Issues” for the DOE’s Uniform Methods Project (UMP).  

Dr. Violette served three elected terms as the Chair of the Association of Energy Services Professionals (AESP) and two terms as the Vice Chair of the Peak Load Management Alliance (PLMA).  He currently is a member of the DER Advisory Council at the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA). He has over 200 papers in journals, books, and conference proceedings and has been a keynote speaker at industry events.  Dr. Violette was a founder and CEO of Summit Blue Consulting prior to its acquisition by Navigant Consulting.  After the acquisition, he served as a Managing Director in Navigant’s Energy Practice for 9 years. Other positions included senior executive positions at EDS Management Consultants and Hagler Bailly, Inc.  He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Colorado where he was awarded highest honors in the fields of econometrics and industrial organization.

Mark has 34 years of experience in the energy industry, including 17 years in the utility sector and 20 years in sustainable building and community design, construction and operations. He excels at implementing transformational energy efficiency, renewable energy, and carbon reduction strategies.

More recently, Mark served as the chief sustainability executive for the largest energy services firm in North America where he managed internal corporate sustainability initiatives and developed cost-effective, carbon neutral roadmaps for clients.

Mark consulted on 70 MSF of high-performance buildings and developed 40 MW of solar energy systems. He directed LEED certification for 80 projects, trained over 6,000 professionals in sustainable design, construction, and operations, led two successful sustainability consultancies, and addressed over 100 worldwide audiences.

At the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Mark managed $20 million of collaborative R&D in energy efficient building technology and served as EPRI’s e-Business Strategic Alliance Manager. He also held many leadership roles at Arizona Public Service Company (APS), where he directed the development of the world-renowned APS Environmental Showcase Home.

Mark currently serves on the Industrial Advisory Board for Arizona State University’s Professional Science Master’s degree program in Solar Energy Engineering & Commercialization. In 2017 Mark was named a Top 50 Energy Manager in North America by Business Sector Media’s Energy Manager Today Magazine

Floyd Keneipp brings 32 years of experience in developing and managing complex engineering projects and business solutions.  Since 1999, he has worked on the technical, programmatic, and regulatory application of distributed energy resources (DER).  For the past several years, he has focused on developing integrated approaches to scale DER implementation at the community and utility levels, including optimizing the impacts on fuel consumption (buildings and transportation), grid reliability, and economic development.  He has been a founding member of several consulting firms, including Tierra and Summit Blue Consulting (acquired by Navigant Consulting Inc. in 2010) where he served as the impact evaluation practice area lead.  Floyd’s engineering and management knowledge is enhanced by his prior work as a project developer for several large energy service companies where he engaged in all aspects of project development, from inception through financing, design, construction, and commissioning of final installations.  During this time, Floyd also founded and operated the Industrial Lighting Company, a design/build firm that installed energy efficiency projects in the commercial and industrial markets.  Prior to entering the energy services industry, he was a licensed professional engineer (Industrial) implementing manufacturing systems and refining management processes to improve cost, quality, and production efficiencies  in the aerospace, consumer products, and commercial semiconductor markets.

Nick Snyder is a Consultant with Tierra.  His work focuses on strategic planning for local governments and utilities regarding the design, implementation, and financing of distributed energy resource (DER) programs in a rapidly changing policy, technology, and financial market.  His experience includes analysis of financing for energy efficiency, distributed generation and load management; technical and market assessments of DER technologies; evaluation, measurement and verification of energy efficiency programs; incremental cost and tariff analysis; and modeling.  Nick also has a deep understanding of the current barriers and opportunities facing local governments from his position on the Contra Costa County Sustainability Commission.  Before joining Tierra, Nick interned in the Energy Division of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), where he supported local government programs and regional initiatives, including Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs), Regional Energy Networks (RENs), and Local Government Partnerships (LGPs).

Natalie Mezaki is a Senior Analyst with Tierra Resource Consultants.  Before joining Tierra, she worked for local governments in the Bay Area on climate change mitigation and adaptation programs. Building energy efficiency projects and greenhouse gas inventories made up the bulk of this work, along with developing energy efficiency program outreach strategies for the East Bay Energy Watch (EBEW) joint powers authority.  At Tierra Natalie evaluates and researches a variety of statewide and local government energy projects. Her experience includes collection and analysis of citywide carbon emissions data, creating feasibility studies for solar energy projects, designing microgrid systems for rural communities, as well as conducting extensive public outreach and event organizing, developing funding models for building efficiency upgrades, analyzing financing opportunities for non-profit organizations, and using econometric analysis to assess pollution data in environmental justice communities. Additionally, Natalie drafted and supported the passage of citywide proclamations, researched and developed model requests for proposals (RFP) for municipal facilities upgrades, and produced vehicle and environmental purchasing policy best practice guides.  Natalie’s professional and academic history includes a deep interest in environmental justice that inspires the desire to contribute to communities experiencing the consequences of climate change and undergoing the transition to clean energy.

Arthur Huynh is an Analyst with Tierra Resource Consultants.  Prior to working at Tierra, he interned at Barnes Solar where he gained field experience and researched clean energy programs, including incentive structures and applications.  Arthur’s work at Tierra provides analysis and support for a variety of distributed energy resources projects, including energy efficiency, renewable generation, demand response, energy storage, and electrification of transportation. Additionally, he performs technical and market research as well as technological assessments and analysis. His experience as an engineer includes energy systems, distributed energy resource integration, distributed generation, power flow, energy efficiency, and renewable technologies. Furthermore, he is experienced in a variety of computer sciences such as MatLab, Python, Java, R, AutoCAD, data visualization, and computational data analysis. Arthur also has an extensive understanding of the social and environmental impacts of climate change.

Matthew Joyce has nearly 20 years of demand side management experience, including strategic advising, market assessment, utility portfolio and program design, process impact evaluation, and customer experience and behavior studies.  Much of his present work focuses on distributed energy resources, electrification, and on utility program and portfolio optimization, helping utilities adapt to changing and increasingly complex market demands driven by new technologies, customer choices and new regulatory requirements.

From 2011-2015 Matthew was lead process evaluator on 30 evaluations for Duke Energy’s residential and commercial EE and DR programs in the utility’s five-state territory.  His expertise covers EM&V framework development, research and sampling design, database and literature reviews, surveys and focus groups; interviews with management, vendors, trade allies, and customers; and in-depth reviews of marketing effectiveness, enrollment practices, customer service, trade ally and vendor implementation, rebate and other business processes; and adherence to codes and standards.

As the research director at E Source (2000-2011), he managed and performed consulting projects for hundreds of IOUs and municipal utilities, cooperatives, local, state and federal agencies, and C&I customers. He oversaw dozens of qualitative and quantitative research projects, including technology assessments, program design, process improvement studies, and best in class benchmarking of all aspects of utility performance.

Matthew’s work appears in 70 energy-related publications, as well as in 16 books and dozens of national magazines, newspapers, and online outlets. He is also an accomplished speaker with over 150 speaking, training, and facilitation engagements on his resume. Prior joining the energy industry, he worked for Stanford University and the University of California.

Mike Yim has extensive experience analyzing the economic and energy-driven impacts of Demand Side Management (DSM) programs implemented within a broad range of market sectors.  He has leveraged this cross-cutting exposure to construct pragmatic and cost-effective deployment strategies for DSM programs with a focus on integrating the design, implementation, and evaluation phases of the program life cycle.

More recently, he has continued to facilitate the transformation of the broader energy industry with an emphasis on Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Planning, along with the characterization of Grid Reliability and Resiliency (GR&R) impacts of conservative initiatives.

Eric Shum is a registered professional engineer with substantial experience working across energy efficiency and demand side management projects.  His expertise includes complex engineering analysis for conventional and emerging technologies, equipment survival and building stock modeling, field measurement and verification, building and process level equipment and controls inspection, market characterization and assessment, codes and standards impact analysis, utility portfolio assessments, cost research and valuation, and big data interpretation and management.

Eric is heavily engaged in developing data inputs for the residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural sectors, at both at the measure and sector-end use levels nationally. He is currently serving as a contract analyst to the Regional Technical Forum (RTF) providing scientific advisory and modeling services to the Northwest Power & Conservation Council (NWPCC).

Michelle is a marketing specialist for Tierra.  She is a successful sales, marketing and event management professional with over 18 years’ advertising, sales and marketing experience.    Michelle’s experience includes marketing, public relations, recruiting, event planning, and web development. 

As an account manager for an ad agency in Austin, Texas, Michelle supported Dell and several Austin businesses.  She then moved to Sports Illustrated Magazine in San Francisco, CA and worked with the advertising director.  SI’s clients included Adidas, Nike, Apple and Levi.  Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Rachel Insley supports the ENERGY STAR Homes program for Arizona Public Service (APS) by managing the program incentive payment process to ensure goals are met and guidelines are compliant. Processing up to 800 homes monthly, Rachel reviews 100% of the lots in the database for accuracy, confirming third-party data and verifying all data to matches program requirements.

Rachel tracks, coordinates and implements solutions for user software issues with the development team. She provides documentation to determine root cause and audits solutions after deployment. She also provides technical support to the builders and provider/raters in addition to the software vendor by actively being involved in the development of the database. Rachel is instrumental with new rollouts, testing, debugging, user interface design and stabilization to ensure customer satisfaction. In addition, she assists with the creation energy cost brochures and other marketing materials for the program.

Alima Silverman, is an architect with dual licenses in California and Colorado.  She has extensive experience in green building and energy-efficient building design and construction. Alima has been a designer, project manager and project architect for over 30 years on various building types including schools, offices, retail, fitness centers, multi-family and single family housing. She has conducted field investigations, inspections, and data collection of energy efficiency measures as part of utility’s DSM program evaluation projects.

Alima’s current project work includes codes and standards reviews, building assessments, cost studies, and emerging technology research. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Architecture from the University of Colorado, Denver. She is a LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP) and a Master Green Building Professional (MGBP).

Gavin Hastings has extensive experience in the design and implementation of utility-scale residential energy efficiency programming. Since 2009, Mr. Hastings has designed managed the award winning Home Performance with ENERGY STAR and ENERGY STAR Homes programs for Arizona Public Service. Over the last year, he has served as a champion in the advancement of BPI 2100 and BPI 2200 Standards (known as HPXML).

Collaborating with stakeholders across the country, the APS Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program launched the first open software market utilizing HPXML with multiple software vendors in late 2013. Gavin continues to assist in the expansion of data standardization and the advancement of next-generation program measurement and tracking, coordinating directly with multiple states in their adoption of these standards.

In addition to his work at APS, Gavin serves on a number of industry efforts to aid in the advancement of residential energy efficiency. In 2012, along with Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP), he founded the Southwest Home Performance collaborative, bringing together residential retrofit programs throughout the Southwest. He also currently serves on the SEE Action Residential Retrofit Working Group and the DOE Home Performance Working Group. Gavin was recently elected to the Board of Directors for the Building Performance Institute.

Marshall Keneipp is a registered professional engineer with over 34 years of energy industry experience in the development, implementation and evaluation of utility energy service programs. His primary areas of expertise include end-use technology performance and application, energy use modeling and measurement, market assessment and marketing strategy development, product and service development, and performance measurement and evaluation of energy programs.

Marshall’s most recent work has focused on developing innovative approaches to program evaluation and the design and implementation of new products and services in residential and commercial applications. He is currently engaged in developing innovative funding mechanisms for local government sustainability efforts.

Tom Hines is an energy efficiency expert with over 20 years of experience in Demand Side Management (DSM) program design, implementation, and evaluation. He has successfully designed and managed multiple award-winning energy efficiency programs, including the Arizona Public Service (APS) ENERGY STAR Homes program and the APS Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program. Throughout his career, Tom has worked closely with industry stakeholders (including builders, contractors, Realtors, lenders, raters and other trade allies), to drive market transformation. He has testified extensively during public utility commission proceedings and is a public spokesperson for energy efficiency related topics.

Most recently, Tom has served as a strategic advisor on the design and development of APS’ entire portfolio of DSM programs – working with program managers, implementation contractors, and evaluators to explore opportunities for reducing costs, maximizing cost effectiveness, and otherwise optimizing the APS portfolio of DSM programs.

Tom also serves as a board member of the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA), an organization devoted to advancing building science and energy efficient building practices.