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 CEO and President 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.
Prior to joining the Council, Lihi conducted industry analysis and data strategy projects for FANS-LEAGUE, an Israeli mobile gaming start-up.
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.