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).

Nicholas Snyder’s experience includes analyzing data and presenting implementation recommendations to local government agencies, non-profits, and the insurance industry.

His most recent consulting assignment at Tierra was supporting the design and development of an innovative local government sustainability financing platform.  This project included building incremental cost curves for commercial energy efficiency measures, utility tariff analysis, and supporting the QA/QC of building energy modeling.  Before joining Tierra, he interned in the energy division of the California Public Utilities Commission. His internship involved supporting utility-local government energy efficiency partnership programs (Energy Watch Programs), Regional Energy Networks (RENs) and Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) through analysis of program budgets, and performance metrics.

He currently sits on Contra Costa County’s Sustainability Commission, advising county staff and the board of supervisors on effective implementation of their Climate Action Plan.  Nicholas holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Saint Mary’s College of California.

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.

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).

Kate Piscopo’s background includes quantifying greenhouse gas emissions and evaluating the environmental impact of energy and infrastructure projects.  She also brings significant experience with life cycle assessment.  Kate has worked on projects in renewable energy, including biofuels, electric vehicle batteries, biomass combined heat and power systems, and hybrid energy systems.  Kate earned her Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley.

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.

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.

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.

Floyd Keneipp is a registered professional engineer with over 30 years of experience in developing technical and business requirements for complex engineering projects. He develops strategic energy plans for governments, non-profits, and private clients throughout California. He has an extensive background in originating and developing specific energy efficiency projects for clients, including identifying and acquiring incentive funds. He has a broad range of experience in measure analysis and documentation, potential modeling, market characterization and assessment, and program impact and process evaluation.

Most recently, Floyd managed the development of an innovative energy project funding and financing platform for use by local governments.  He also lead the 2011 and 2013 IOU service territory potential and goals studies which were used in the portfolio goals setting decisions used by the California Public Utilities Commission for the years 2013-2015.

Floyd’s engineering and management knowledge is supported by his prior experience as the owner of the Industrial Lighting company, a design/build firm. Prior to entering the energy services industry in 2000, Floyd worked with manufacturing companies as an industrial engineer, implementing manufacturing systems and refining management processes designed to improve cost, quality, and production metrics. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Montana State University and a Master’s degree in Finance and Marketing from the University of San Diego.

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.

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.