When: December 19, 2024, 11-12:15 EST

Brigadier General (ret) Robert Spalding, Founder and CEO, SEPMRE, USA

US Air Force Brigadier General (ret) Robert Spalding is the founder and CEO of SEMPRE, the only technology company created to connect, protect and secure what matters most: information and communication vital to critical infrastructure. Rob is a former White House National Security Council senior director for strategic planning, serving in senior positions of strategy and diplomacy within the Defense and State Departments for more than 26 years. His innovation while serving in the White House has led to a reset in national security and public policy regarding telecommunications in the US as well as globally. Rob is the author of two books, “STEALTH WAR: How China took over while America’s elites slept” and “War Without Rules.”

Oleksandr Kharchenko, EIRCenter Managing Director, Ukraine

Oleksandr Kharchenko is an energy expert with over 20 years of professional experience. His expertise encompasses all energy sectors, Government Relations, International Relations, and project management.

Oleksandr has successfully led numerous significant international projects, including: Nord Stream 2 Sanctions: Oleksandr played a crucial role in the international advocacy and strategy development to implement sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, emphasizing the project’s geopolitical and energy security implications.

ENTSO-E Synchronization: He was instrumental in the project for the synchronization of Ukraine’s energy system with the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), ensuring the stability and integration of Ukraine’s power grid with the European energy network.

Oleksandr has collaborated with the UNDP and World Bank on energy projects, developed strategies for centralized heating and power projects in Ukraine, coordinated gas supply diversification plans, and contributed to energy independence initiatives as well as led numerous researches in the energy industry in both Ukraine and internationally. He is also a recognized author at the Atlantic Council.

Deema Khunda, Engineer at National Grid’s Resilience & Crisis Management Group, Chief Risk Officer (CERO), General Counsel , UK

Deema works in the resilience and crisis management team at National grid responding to events that impact viability of the network and enhancing organisational resilience. Her previous roles at National grid include working as environment and sustainability engineer focused on leading initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and working as a Safety engineer in Europe’s largest LNG terminal in Isle of Grain. She holds a PhD in carbon capture awarded jointly from Warwick University and Monash University. She is a published author in plasma technology, her research was presented in global conferences on use of plasma for carbon capture and utilization. Deema is an associate member of Institute of Chemical Engineers, Royal Society of Chemistry, and Institute of Gas Engineers & Managers. She is passionate about empowering women & early career engineers, an active member of the Warwick Women in Engineering Society, shortlisted nominee for gender equality award by Athena Swan Group at University of Warwick.

Dr. Greg Autry, Associate Provost for Space Commercialization & Strategy at UCF. Visiting Prof Imperial College London, Author: Red Moon Rising & A New Entrepreneurial Dynamic, USA

Greg Autry is an American space policy expert, educator, entrepreneur, and author.

He worked as a Clinical Professor of Space Leadership, Business, and Policy at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. He serves as Chair of the Safety Working Group on the COMSTAC. He was an assistant professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship in Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Prior to that, he served as an adjunct professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. Autry served on the NASA Agency Review Team for the incoming Trump administration in 2016 and temporarily as the White House Liaison at NASA in 2017.

He holds an MBA and Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine.

Dr. Chris Beck as Co-Facilitator and EMP Panelist-SME, EIS Council, USA

Chris Beck is the Chief Scientist and Vice President for Policy at EIS Council, where he has worked since May 2011. He is responsible for the analysis, design, and promotion of critical infrastructure resilience for widespread, long-duration power outages initiated by Black Sky threats.

Dr. Beck is a technical and policy expert in several homeland security and national defense related areas including critical infrastructure protection, cybersecurity, science and technology development, WMD prevention and protection, and emerging threat identification and mitigation. Dr. Beck served as the Subcommittee Staff Director for Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Science and Technology and was the Senior Advisor for Science and Technology for the House Committee on Homeland Security (CHS), US House of Representatives, where he worked from May 2005 to May 2011. Prior to CHS, he worked in the office of Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez for three years, beginning as a Congressional Science Fellow and then as a legislative assistant.

Before government service, Dr. Beck was a postdoctoral fellow and adjunct professor at Northeastern University. He holds a PhD in physics from Tufts University (2001) and a B.S. in physics from Montana State University (1994). He served in the Marine Corps Reserve for five years (1987 – 1992).

Avi Schnurr, CEO - EIS Council, Israel

Avi Schnurr is the CEO of the Electric Infrastructure Security (EIS) Council.
Mr. Schnurr has reviewed severe “Black Sky” hazards to lifeline utilities for a number of state and federal government departments and agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the National Security Council, Congress, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Homeland Security, among others.

He has been a leader in development and coordination of protection strategies for critical national infrastructures, working with senior executives of the nation’s largest power, water, and fuel companies, with other corporate sectors, and with key government and NGO stakeholders.

Mr. Schnurr has provided invited briefings for NATO, the European Union, Parliamentary Committees, government science advisors and energy ministries. He has reviewed U.S. defense policies for the Department of Defense, the White House Homeland Security Council, the National Academy of Sciences, Congress, NATO and a variety of other venues.

Until the end of 2004, Avi Schnurr worked for Northrop Grumman’s Space Technology Sector in California, where he had system responsibilities for space payloads and other advanced systems and instruments, and also managed U.S. and international defense programs.

He holds a number of patents in laser and optical systems and twice received the corporate Chairman’s Award for Innovation. Avi Schnurr received his M.Sc. Degree in Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California, San Diego.

Lihi Rotem Ganani, Director of Digital Transformation, EIS Council, Spain

Lihi joined EIS Council’s leadership team in 2020, serving as the Director of Digital Transformation. She is responsible for managing all the Council’s digital initiatives with the aim of building and growing the international online community, supporting new programs and initiatives. Lihi leads EIS projects related to marketing and branding, is in charge of social content, CRM implementation and the EIS academy.

While living in Madrid, Spain, Lihi worked at the IE Business School, one of the world’s top business schools. With a skill for creating partnerships and focusing on innovation, she was involved in organizing yearly programs, designing the startup Lab – a startup acceleration program and the Business Impact Lab – an open innovation program. She ran “Challenge weeks”, one week Design Thinking programs with leading corporates and built a marketplace involving SMEs, corporates, and students for innovation-related consulting projects focused on growth.
In Israel, Lihi served as a judicial advisor in the Israeli circuit court and worked for boutique law firms. Lihi holds a BA in Business, an LLB in Law, a Master of Laws (LLM), and an MA in Digital Transformation and Innovation Leadership.

Ranger Dorn, Exercise Director - EIS Council, USA

Ranger Dorn is the Exercise Program Director for the EIS Council and has helped with the development and delivery of EARTH EX as well as Black Sky Exercises since 2017. He is a founding member and Managing Partner with Utility Response Training Associates, LLC, providing training and exercises to utilities as well as private and public organizations throughout the US. Ranger served on Regional and National Incident Management Teams from 1997 to 2016 in the positions of Operations Section Chief, Deputy Incident Commander, and Incident Commander, responding to several incidents of national significance. Ranger is a Master Exercise Practitioner – MEP and has developed and delivered exercises from Tabletop to Full Scale nationwide. He has provided ICS training and course development to organizations throughout the US for FEMA, EMI, the National Sheriffs Association, the National Domestic Preparedness Coalition Inc., the US Coast Guard, several large electric, gas, and water utilities, as well as state and local government agencies.

Scott Blevins, Technical Director for Communications Systems, EIS Council, USA

Major Scott Blevins (Retired) served nearly 30 years in the Kentucky National Guard. Scott served in the Signal corps throughout his military career and has both hands on and strategic planning experience on a wide array of military tactical and commercial communications equipment. Scott’s assignments included company level command, battalion operations officer, battalion and brigade S6 officer, and communications planner and network operations manager at the Kentucky Joint Forces State Headquarters.
Scott’s expertise in military communications, public safety communications, and commercial data and voice communications makes him an invaluable planner for disaster response planning. During his tenure as the Kentucky National Guard’s Communications Manager, Scott was called upon to assist in planning, providing and restoring communications during numerous floods, tornadoes and other federally declared disasters to include the 2009’s catastrophic statewide ice storm in Kentucky.
In 2016 Scott founded his own Information Technology consulting firm, Leveled Up Inc. to help leaders leverage technology in accomplishing their strategic goals.
Scott holds an MBA from the University of Louisville and a Bachelor of Science degree in Justice Administration from the University of Louisville.

Lourdes Yadira Gutierrez, Operations Branch Director, Incident Management Assistance Team at FEMA, USA

Since 2019, Lourdes has served as the Mission Assignment Manager within the Operations Section of FEMA’s National Incident Management Assistance Team- White. As one of only three full-time Type 1 National IMATs within the agency, Lourdes is solely responsible for managing all Mission Assignments during deployments to the most catastrophic disasters in the nation.

Throughout her twenty-year career in the federal government, Lourdes has deployed as a reservist to over fifteen federally-declared disasters on behalf of FEMA, trained Social Security Administration legal staff at Hearing Offices nationwide on new business process’, supported executive leadership teams across various federal agencies, and has been recognized numerous times as a top performing employee.

John Twitchell, Power Systems Engineering Lead at EIS, USA

John Twitchell is a former electric utility executive and a power systems engineer with extensive experience in the management of major electric utility functions. This experience includes power systems operations, resource and transmission planning, fuels purchasing, environmental permitting and compliance, power plant and transmission systems design, construction, and maintenance. He has been involved in electric reliability organizations at senior management levels responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance with NERC standards and evaluation of electric grid reliability. Electric system reliability and the strategic development of cost effective power supply plans have been important components of his career. He is a registered professional engineer, with a degree in electrical engineering and a master’s of business administration degree.