THE RESILIENT
RENEWABLE ELECTRIC
PLANET (R2eP) CONFERENCE

Dr Chris Beck

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).

Scott Blevins

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.

Dr. Ehud (Udi) Ganani

Dr. Ehud (Udi) Ganani, as Vice President for Strategic Programs, is responsible for the development, coordination, and management of several key programs: GINOM AI, BSX, Digital Transformation, EIS Academy, and EMP Consulting. All these programs are International.

Udi Ganani is a co-founder of Contguard Ltd., a global maritime container tracking startup. He is also a member of the SPECTRUM Group in Alexandria, VA and a Research Associate in ICT International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at IDC Herzliya.

Previously, Dr. Ganani served in senior management roles in a number of corporations providing high technology solutions for security applications. He was Chief Executive Officer and President of Rabintex Industries Ltd., served as CEO and chairman of TraceGuard Technologies Inc. and chairman of Bird Aerosystems Ltd. He also chaired the public advisory committee for Aerospace, Defense and Homeland Security for the Israeli Export Institute.
Prior to that, Dr. Ganani served as a senior manager in some of Israel’s largest and most important aerospace companies: He served as Chief Executive Officer of Israel Military Industries, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Rafael, and headed Rafael’s rocket motors development group.
Dr. Ganani holds a Doctorate of Science in Chemical Engineering from Washington University, St. Louis, MO and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel.

Lihi Rotem Ganani

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

Avi Schnurr

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.

Manny Cancel

Manny Cancel assumed the role as NERC senior vice president and chief executive officer of the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC) in January 2020. He is responsible for the management and oversight of the E-ISAC and leading security operations and information sharing, threat intelligence and analysis, and stakeholder engagement initiatives designed to protect critical electricity infrastructure in North America. Mr. Cancel also serves as the E-ISAC’s key representative to important constituencies, such as the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC), government partners, and key industry groups and leads the E-ISAC’s strategic planning initiatives. Prior to joining NERC, Mr. Cancel served as Con Edison’s chief information officer (CIO) leading all aspects of information technology, including cyber security initiatives. In this capacity, he also supported various industry initiatives, serving as chair of the sector’s Cyber Mutual Assistance Program and supporting the Member Executive Committee (MEC), an advisory group formed out of the ESCC that provides guidance to the E-ISAC.
Prior to assuming the role of CIO at Con Edison, Mr. Cancel held various roles over his 39-year career, including leadership roles in operations, customer service, audit, and information technology.
Mr. Cancel earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Baruch College and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Johnson School at Cornell University.

Scott Aaronson

Scott leads EEI's security and preparedness team where he focuses on industry security and resilience initiatives, establishing collaborative partnerships between government and electric companies—and across critical infrastructure sectors—that enhance security for the energy sector.
In addition to his role at EEI, Scott also serves as the Secretary for the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC). The ESCC is the primary liaison between senior government officials and industry leaders representing all segments of the sector. This partnership is held up as a model for how critical infrastructure operators can work with government, yielding dramatic improvements in security and preparedness for the electric power sector and the nation.
In these roles, Scott has provided testimony before several state legislative and regulatory bodies, both houses of the U.S. Congress, and to the United Nations Security Council. He speaks frequently with national media and has been a trusted source for policymakers on issues of critical infrastructure security, including both the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board and the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory
Council. Prior to joining EEI, Scott was a senior adviser to Members of Congress serving the 12th Congressional District of California, including former House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos. From 2001 to
2007, he served as an economic policy adviser to U.S. Senator Bill Nelson.
Scott received a Bachelor's Degree in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder for his undergraduate studies, and a Master's Degree from The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. He also has received continuing education in executive leadership from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He lives on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC with his
wife, two daughters, and a not-so-Great Dane.

Laurence Marzell

Laurence Marzell leads Whole System Approach, an operationally focused research and innovation practice he founded in 2022.

Drawing upon his practical experience of leading research and innovation projects for Serco’s UK & Europe division over the last decade, he has deep experience of the practical translation and exploitation of research and innovation outputs into day to day operational needs on the ground.

At Serco, Laurence led the participation in a number of EU Horizon 2020 projects in: Community policing; virtual and augmented reality training of crisis and first responders; the governance, integration and application of Earth Observation data with the wider information and intelligence mix; and resource and energy efficient renovation under the EU’s Green Deal.

Laurence speaks regularly at conferences and events and is a contributor into specialist and subject matter journals and books. He sits on the Centric External Advisory Board and is an Associate Partner of Intensive Engagement, a not-for-profit organisation building stronger and more resilient communities from the grass roots up, with communities, for public safety. Laurence was a contributor and advisory board member of an EU funded consortium of an International Security Management degree course now offered by Erasmus University, Rotterdam to in excess of 15,000 students worldwide.

Mark Lauby

Mark G. Lauby is senior vice president and chief engineer at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Mr. Lauby joined NERC in January 2007 and has held a number of positions, including vice president and director of Standards and vice president and director of Reliability Assessments and Performance Analysis.

In 2012, Mr. Lauby was elected to the North American Energy Standards Board and was appointed to the Department of Energy’s Electric Advisory Committee by the Secretary of Energy in 2014. Mr. Lauby has served as chair and is a life member of the International Electricity Research Exchange, and served as chair of a number of IEEE working groups. From 1999 to 2007, Mr. Lauby was appointed as a member of the Board of Excellent Energy International Co., LTD, an energy service company based in Thailand. He has been recognized for his technical achievements in many technical associations, including the 1992 IEEE Walter Fee Young Engineer of the Year Award. He was named a Fellow by IEEE in November 2011 for “leadership in the development and application of techniques for bulk power system reliability,” and in 2014, Mr. Lauby was awarded the IEEE Power and Energy Society’s Roy Billinton Power System Reliability Award. In 2020, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) elected Mr. Lauby as a member, citing his development and application of techniques for electric grid reliability analysis.

Prior to joining NERC, Mr. Lauby worked for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for 20 years, holding a number of senior positions, including: director, Power Delivery and Markets; managing director, Asia, EPRI International; and manager, Power System Engineering in the Power System Planning and Operations Program. Mr. Lauby began his electric industry career in 1979 at the Mid-Continent Area Power Pool in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His responsibilities included transmission planning, power system reliability assessment and probabilistic evaluation.
Mr. Lauby is the author of more than 100 technical papers on the subjects of power system reliability, expert systems, transmission system planning, and power system numerical analysis techniques. Mr. Lauby served as chair and is a life member of the International Electricity Research Exchange and served as chair of a number of IEEE working groups. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. In addition, Mr. Lauby attended the London Business School Accelerated Development Program as well as the Executive Leadership Program at Harvard Business School.

Paul Williams

Paul Williams is a highly experienced Senior Technology & Operations Resilience Advisor, expert in defining operational resilience strategy that ensures alignment and underpins successful implementation. He currently operates as an Independent Contractor (via Phoenix Resilience Ltd) where he provides Board level strategy, training and advises on cyber and operational resilience, with particular focus on UK Financial Regulations.

Mr. Williams is an industry recognized thought leader in the development of operational resilience strategy. He has held a number of senior Operational Risk & Resilience positions including 8 years at the Bank of England where he established himself as a leading authority in cyber, technology, operational risk & resilience and 3rd party risk management.

Kevin Curtis

J. Kevin Curtis, P.E., Executive Vice President, Quanta Technology, a subsidiary of Quanta Services, a Fortune 300 company. Kevin has developed a broad knowledge of the energy industry through his extensive career. He worked over 36 years at Dominion Energy where he held leadership positions in a variety of areas in transmission, substation, and distribution. Most notably, these included planning, engineering, reliability, project development, construction, operations, maintenance, compliance and renewable energy interconnections. His most recent utility assignment at Dominion was VP – Electric Transmission where he was responsible for a multi-billion dollar business unit, overseeing all aspects of the transmission and substation functions for the company. He also has a thorough understanding of the RTO process having been an integral transmission owner in the PJM RTO.

Curtis received his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a registered Professional Engineer in North Carolina and Virginia.

Paul Stockton

Paul Stockton is the managing director of Sonecon LLC, an economic and security advisory firm in Washington, DC. Before joining Sonecon, he served as the assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs from May 2009 until January 2013. In that position, he was the secretary of defense’s principal civilian advisor on providing defense support to FEMA and DHS during Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene, and other disasters. Dr. Stockton also served as DOD’s domestic crisis manager and was responsible for Defense Critical Infrastructure Protection policies and programs. In addition, Dr. Stockton served as the executive director of the Council of Governors.

Prior to being confirmed as assistant secretary, Dr. Stockton served as a senior research scholar at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and associate provost of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). Dr. Stockton was twice awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, DOD’s highest civilian award. DHS awarded Dr. Stockton its Distinguished Public Service Medal. Dr. Stockton holds a PhD from Harvard University and a BA from Dartmouth College. He is the lead co-author of “Curbing the Market for Cyberweapons” (Yale Law & Policy Review, 2013) and numerous other studies on cybersecurity issues. Dr. Stockton is senior fellow of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and serves on the boards of Analytic Services, Inc, Idaho National Laboratory, and the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security Studies at the George Washington University.

Stephen M. DeFrank

Chairman Stephen M. DeFrank was nominated by Governor Wolf on September 20, 2022, and confirmed by the Senate on October 19, 2022. He was appointed as Chairman on August 30, 2023, by Governor Josh Shapiro. His term expires on April 1, 2025.

Prior to joining the PaPUC, the Chairman was a principal in the government relations practice at Buchannan Ingersoll & Rooney. He also spent 24 years in state government, primarily in the state Senate, serving in several roles with Senate leadership, including Chief of Staff for two members, Special Assistant for Policy to the Democratic Leader, and Democratic Executive Director of the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee. As Committee Director, the Chairman developed policy initiatives impacting the utility sector, including the creation of the Distribution System Improvement Charge (DSIC), authorization of Transportation Network Companies, and modernizing the Public Utility Code relative to energy, water, wastewater and telecommunications.

Chairman DeFrank resides in Harrisburg with his family.

Wanda Reder

Wanda Reder is President and CEO of Grid-X Partners, LLC which she founded in 2018 as a woman-owned provider of strategic management consulting and engineering services for electric utility clients. Earlier she was the Chief Strategy Officer at S&C Electric Company and has held leadership positions at two major investor-owned utilities. Her pioneering work has led to smart grid deployments and wind, solar energy, and utility-scale battery storage integration into traditional utility systems. Inducted into the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 2016 and an IEEE Fellow, Reder was recognized with the 2014 IEEE Richard M. Emerson Award for her leadership in the IEEE Smart Grid program and in the continued growth of IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES), including the creation of its Scholarship Fund program. Reder was the first woman president of PES memorialized by the endowed “IEEE PES Wanda Reder Pioneer in Power Award” created to promote excellency and diversity in the electric utility industry. Wanda is the recipient of the SDSU Distinguished Engineer Award and serves on the Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council. She is also the Chair of the US Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee, a Board Member for Technical Diagnostic Services, recently chaired the NAE PEER Election Committee for Section 6 and serves on the NAE Finance Committee.

Jason Regg

Experienced leader with a demonstrated history of working in the utilities industry. Skilled in Power Transmission, Communication, Conflict Resolution, Organizational Leadership, and Operating Budgets. Strong leader with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) focused in Environmental Biology from University of North Alabama.