Wednesday, October 8
Time
Session Title & Description
Speaker
Location
8:00 AM - 8:30 AM
Registration & Breakfast
Palm Garden
8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
Morning Dialogue
Evolving Priorities Across Utility CVC's: Balancing Strategic Intent With Market Shifts
Kristian Bodek - Director, Investments, National Grid Partners
Palm Garden
9:00 AM - 9:45 AM
Networking & Breakfast (cont.)
1-1 Meetings Available to Book
Palm Garden
10:00 AM - 10:50 AM
Welcome, Opening Remarks & Morning Keynote
Steve Smith - Chief Strategy & Regulation Officer, National Grid, President, National Grid Partners
Melissa Lott - Partner General Manager, Energy Technologies, Microsoft
Main Keynote Hall
10:50 AM - 11:35 AM
Plenary Panel
Leading Through Transformation: How Utility CEO's Are Balancing Innovation With Reliability
Moderator:
Julia Hamm - Partner, The Ad Hoc Group, Inc., Board Member, Puget Sound Energy
Speakers:
Sally Librera - President, National Grid New York
Main Keynote Hall
11:35 AM - 12:20 PM
Plenary Panel
Grid Meets Gigawatts: What the Data Center Industry Needs From Utilities, and What Comes Next
Moderator:
Geoffrey Bailey - VP, Corporate Strategy, Oncor
Speakers:
Varun Sivaram - CEO and Founder, Emerald AI
Will Conkling - Head of Data Center Energy, Americas and EMEA, Google
Amit Narayan - CEO and Co-Founder, GridCARE
Main Keynote Hall
12:20 PM - 1:30 PM
Networking & Lunch
1-1 Meetings Available To Book
Palm Garden
1:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Utility-Startup Presentations
Grid Technologies: Unlocking Hidden Infrastructure Capacity for Rising Energy Demands
Karthik Rao - Vice President, Client Success, Linevision
Jason Huang - CEO, TS Conductor
Breakout Room 1-4
1:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Utility-Startup Presentations
AI-Powered Grid Expansion: Transforming Infrastructure Planning and Construction
Matt Crye - President, Urbint
Mark Esguerra - Director, Transmission and Substation Engineering, Southern California Edison
Dana Small - Vice President of Safety, Training and Environmental, Exelon Corporate
Breakout Room 1-4
1:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Utility-Startup Presentations
Smarter Grid Security: Next-Generation Tools Against Physical and Cyber Threats
Breakout Room 1-4
1:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Utility-Startup Presentations
Collaborative Pathways to Net Zero: Next-Generation Decarbonization Solutions
Tony Pan - CEO, Modern Hydrogen
Steve Oldham - CEO, Captura
Lionel Ribiero - Manager, Carbon Removal, Equinor
Tyler Hardin - Executive Director, Strategy & Product Solutions, NextEra Energy Resources
Breakout Room 1-4
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM
Networking Break
1-1 Meetings Available To Book
Palm Garden
2:45 PM - 3:45 PM
Workshop
Modernizing the Grid: Enabling Flexibility for Resilient Energy Systems
John Franklin - VP Asset Strategy, New England Electric, National Grid
Nick Watson - Director, Commercial & Customer Strategy, National Grid
Shinjini Menon - Senior Vice President, System Planning & Engineering, Southern California Edison
Breakout Room 1-4
2:45 PM - 3:45 PM
Workshop
From Hard Hats to Robots: Innovation in Utility Construction
Moderator:
Natasha Deschene - VP, National Grid
Speakers:
Aki Manda - Venture Manager, Kajima
Ricardo da Silva - VP of Strategic Operations, New York Power Authority (NYPA)
Deise Yumi Asami - New Growth Business, Maximo Founder, AES
Breakout Room 1-4
2:45 PM - 3:45 PM
Workshop
Integrated Energy Planning: Utility-Collaboration Models That Drive Progress
Showcase presenter:
Marc-Andre Goyette - VP, Strategy and Regulation Affairs, Énergir
Moderator:
Sonia Brown - Group Head of Strategy, National Grid
Speakers:
Renault-François Lortie - VP, Customers and Gas Supply, Énergir
Heather Rock - Sr. Director, Strategy, PG&E
Raghu Sudhakara - VP, Distributed Resources Integration, ConEd
Walter Fromm - VP, Asset Management and Engineering, National Grid
Breakout Room 1-4
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM
Networking Break
1-1 Meetings Available To Book
Palm Garden
4:45 PM - 5:30 PM
Afternoon Panel
How Utility CIO's Are Leading the Digital Transformation and Integrating AI
Moderator:
Talvis Love - Chief Information & Digital Officer, National Grid
Speakers:
Richard Donaldson - Chief Information Officer, Duke Energy Corporation
Martin Christensen - Chief Digital & Information Officer, CenterPoint Energy
Hema Sundaram - Division Chief Information Officer, Portland General Electric
Ajay Waghray - Chief Information Officer, PG&E
Main Keynote Hall
5:30 PM - 6 PM
Afternoon Keynote & Closing Remarks
Speakers:
Ethan Zindler - Head of Country and Policy Research, BloombergNEF
Main Keynote Hall
6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
NGA Member Dinner, By Invitation Only
Off Site
Thursday, October 9
Time
Session Title & Description
Speaker
Location
8:00 AM - 8:30 AM
Networking & Breakfast
Palm Garden
8:30 AM - 8:45 AM
Welcome & Day Two Opening Remarks
Main Keynote Hall
8:45 AM - 9:30 AM
Panel
How Stanford, MIT & Harvard Are Shaping the Next Wave of Grid Innovation
Moderator:
Liang Min - Managing Director, Bitts & Watts Initiative, Precourt Institute for Energy
Speakers:
Priya Donti - Associate Professor, MIT, Co-Founder, Climate Change AI
Ram Rajagopal - Associate Professor, Stanford, Co-Director, Bitts & Watts
Le Xie - Professor, Harvard
Main Keynote Hall
9:30 AM - 10:15 AM
Panel
From Lab to Grid: Navigating the Utility-Startup Partnership in the Age of AI
Moderator:
Gabriel Scheer - Senior Director of Innovation, Elemental Impact
Speakers:
David Aronoff - Chairman and Managing Partner, MCJ
Main Keynote Hall
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
NGA Member-Only Workshop
Capturing Value from Utility Innovation Activities: Live Discussion
NGA 2026 Planning
Main Keynote Hall
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
NGA Member-Only Site Visit
VEIR Superconductor Technologies
Available for up to 15 people. If interested in joining, please contact [email protected]
VEIR Headquarters
