Wednesday, October 8
Time
Session Title & Description
Speakers
Location
8:00 AM - 8:30 AM
Registration and Breakfast
Palm Garden
8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
Morning Dialogue
Evolving priorities across utility CVC's: balancing strategic intent with market shifts
Moderator:
Kristian Bodek - Director, Investments, National Grid Partners
Speakers:
Shounok Sinha - Managing Director, Constellation Technology Ventures
Byron Kelly - Principal, NextEra Energy Investments
John Alvarado - Principal, Venture Investments, Edison International
Palm Garden
9:00 AM - 9:45 AM
Networking and Breakfast (cont.)
1:1 Meetings
Palm Garden and Harbor View
10:00 AM - 10:10 AM
Welcome
Oli Barrett - Master of Ceremonies
Gerard Kelly - Vice President, Innovation & Venture Acceleration, National Grid Partners
Aaron Panzer - Head of Venture Acceleration, National Grid Partners
Main Keynote Hall
10:10 AM - 10:25 AM
Opening Remarks
Steve Smith - Chief Strategy & Regulation Officer, National Grid; President, National Grid Partners
Main Keynote Hall
10:25 AM - 10:50 AM
Morning Keynote
Melissa Lott - Partner General Manager, Energy Technologies, Microsoft
Main Keynote Hall
10:50 AM - 11:35 AM
Plenary Panel
Leading through transformation: how utility executives 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
Sunny Elebua - Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer, Exelon Corporation
Paul Chodak - Chief Operating Officer, Eversource Energy
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 - Vice President Corporate Strategy, Oncor
Speakers:
Varun Sivaram - Chief Executive Officer & Founder, Emerald AI
Will Conkling - Head of Data Center Energy, Americas and EMEA, Google
Amit Narayan - Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, GridCARE
Dado Slezak - Executive Vice President, Utility Innovation, QTS Data Centers
Main Keynote Hall
12:20 PM - 1:30 PM
Networking and Lunch
1:1 Meetings
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 - Chief Executive Officer, TS Conductor
Enrique Bosch - Director of Innovation, Avangrid
Natasha Deschene - Vice President, Electric Asset Management & Engineering, National Grid
Harbor View
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 Corporation
Jeremy Suard - Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Exodigo
Salon J/Salon K
1:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Utility-Startup Presentations
Smarter grid security: next-generation tools against physical and cyber threats
Azum Ali - Vice President, Customer Success & Transformation, AiDASH
Bert Stewart - Manager, Vegetation S, National Grid
Joe O’Donnell - Chief Strategy Officer, Cyolo
Salon H/Salon I
1:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Utility-Startup Presentations
Collaborative pathways to net zero: next-generation decarbonization solutions
Tony Pan - Chief Executive Officer, Modern Hydrogen
Christene Banda - Chief Operating Officer, Captura
Lionel Ribeiro - Manager, Carbon Removal, Equinor
Tyler Hardin - Executive Director, Strategy & Product Solutions, NextEra Energy Resources
Quincy/Haymarket
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM
Networking Break
1:1 Meetings
Palm Garden and Harbor View
2:45 PM - 3:45 PM
Panel and Workshop
Modernizing the grid: enabling flexibility for resilient energy systems
Moderator:
Nick Watson - Director, Commercial & Customer Strategy, National Grid
Speakers:
John Franklin - Vice President, Asset Strategy, New England Electric, National Grid
Shinjini Menon - Senior Vice President, System Planning & Engineering, Southern California Edison
Andrew Hoffman - Chief Development Officer, Leap
Robin Lanier - Managing Director, Grid Strategy & Solutions, Georgia Power
Harbor View
2:45 PM - 3:45 PM
Panel and Workshop
From hard hats to robots: innovation in utility construction
Moderator:
Natasha Deschene - Vice President, Electric Asset Management & Engineering, National Grid
Speakers:
Aki Manda - Venture Manager, Kajima
Ricardo da Silva - Vice President of Strategic Operations, New York Power Authority (NYPA)
Ian Black - Chief Operating Officer, Sensat
Aron Patrick - Head of R&D, PPL Corporation
Quincy/Haymarket
2:45 PM - 3:45 PM
Panel and Workshop
Integrated energy planning: utility-collaboration models that drive progress
Moderator:
Sonia Brown - Group Head of Strategy, National Grid
Showcase Presenter:
Marc-Andre Goyette - Vice President, Strategy, Finance, and Regulation Affairs, Énergir
Speakers:
Renault-François Lortie - Vice President Customers and Gas Supply, Énergir
Heather Rock - Senior Director, Strategy, PG&E
Raghu Sudhakara - Vice President, Distributed Resources Integration, ConEdison
Walter Fromm - Vice President, Gas Asset Management and Engineering, National Grid
Salon J/Salon K
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM
Networking Break
1:1 Meetings
Palm Garden and Harbor View
4:45 PM - 5:30 PM
Afternoon Panel
How utility CIOs are leading the digital transformation and integrating AI
Moderator:
Jonathan Silver - Non-Executive Director, National Grid; Chair, Global Sustainability Platform, Apollo Global Management
Speakers:
Richard Donaldson - Chief Information Officer, Duke Energy Corporation
Talvis Love - Chief Information & Digital Officer, National Grid
Nelly Jefferson - Chief Information Officer, Avangrid
Main Keynote Hall
5:30 PM - 5:55 PM
Afternoon Fireside Chat
Moderator:
Ben Wilson - President, National Grid Ventures
Speaker:
Nora Mead Brownell - Founding Partner, Espy Energy Solutions
Main Keynote Hall
5:50 PM - 6:20 PM
Afternoon Keynote
Spencer Glendon - Founder, Probable Futures
Main Keynote Hall
6:20 PM – 6:25 PM
Closing Remarks
Oli Barrett - Master of Ceremonies
Gerard Kelly - Vice President, Innovation & Venture Acceleration
Aaron Panzer - Head of Venture Acceleration, National Grid Partners
Main Keynote Hall
6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
NGA Member Dinner, By Invitation Only
Off Site
Thursday, October 9
Time
Session Title & Description
Location
8:00 AM - 8:40 AM
Networking and Breakfast
Palm Garden
8:45 AM - 9:30 AM
Academia Session
How Stanford, MIT and Harvard are shaping the next wave of grid innovation
Moderator:
Gerard Kelly - Vice President of Innovation, National Grid Partners
Speakers:
Priya Donti - Associate Professor, MIT, Co-Founder, Climate Change AI
Le Xie - Gordon McKay Professor of Electrical Engineering, Co-director, Power and AI Initiative, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Liang Min - Managing Director of Stanford Bits & Watts Initiative at Stanford University, Co-founder, GridCARE, Inc.
Main Keynote Hall
9:30 AM - 10:15 AM
Accelerator Session
From lab to grid: navigating the utility-startup partnership journey in the age of unprecedented load growth
Moderator:
Shun Sakaguchi - Manager, NextGrid Alliance, National Grid Partners
Speakers:
Gabriel Scheer - Senior Director of Investments & Innovation, Elemental Impact
Melissa DeValles - Senior Vice President of North America, Energy Dome
Ryan Rutledge - Executive Director, Joules Accelerator
Main Keynote Hall
10:15 AM
End of NGA Summit Plenary Sessions
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
NGA Member-Only Workshop
Capturing value from utility innovation activities: live discussion (NGA 2026 planning)
Harbor View
