Summer Ferreira, Ph.D.
Manager of the Resilient Energy and Distributed Systems Integration (REDSI) department, Sandia National Laboratories
Dr. Summer Ferreira is the Manager of the Resilient Energy and Distributed Systems Integration (REDSI) department within the Electric Grid Security group at Sandia National Laboratories. Since 2019, she has led REDSI in addressing the critical need for resilient energy solutions at the grid edge, leveraging the diverse expertise of her team in resilience valuation, electric system modeling, and grid edge device evaluation. In her role, Dr. Ferreira has served as the program manager for Sandia’s initiatives supporting various Department of Energy (DOE) program offices, including the Grid Deployment Office, Puerto Rico Energy Recovery, Energy Transitions Initiative, Solar Energy Technology Office Systems Integration, Office of Electricity Microgrids, and the Vehicle Technologies Office Grid Integration.
In addition to overseeing REDSI, Summer manages the Distributed Energy Technologies Laboratory at Sandia. Prior to her current position, she led the Energy Storage Analysis Laboratory (ESAL) in support of the DOE Office of Electricity program and directed safety thrust activities for the Department of Energy Storage System (ESS) program from 2011 to 2019. In this role, she engaged with stakeholders in energy storage through the ESS Safety (ESS-S) Working Group.
Dr. Ferreira earned her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Materials Engineering from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
Ritesh Singh
Utility Management Senior Director for Global Markets at Tetra Tech
As Utility Management Senior Director for Global Markets at Tetra Tech, Mr. Singh leads the utility management and sector reform practice across clients and geographies. He specializes in energy sector reform and restructuring, utility commercialization, regulatory and policy advocacy, due diligence and transactions, renewable project development and smart grid initiatives. He has worked in more than fifteen countries across North America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Co-chair
Alexandre Nassif, Ph.D.
Power System and Energy Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Alexandre Nassif joined the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in June 2024 where he leads or support resilience efforts in jurisdictions such as Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and in several countries in central America. He also supports nationwide DOE efforts related to grid modernization and transmission planning. Prior to joining PNNL, he built a career working for three major utilities in North America and supporting system expansion. He holds a PhD degree from the University of Alberta, Canada, is a Senior Member of IEEE, and holds editorial positions in the IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery and in the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems. He was the general chair of the 2023 PES ISGT-LA.
Co-chair
Jess B. Kincaid
Principal Research Analyst at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Jess B. Kincaid is a Principal Research Analyst at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where her work navigates emerging energy resiliency and security challenges using multidisciplinary legal and technical approaches. She joined PNNL after serving multiple roles at Bonneville Power Administration including Director of Technology Innovation and Manager of Energy Efficiency Programs.
Jess holds a Juris Doctor with a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law from Lewis and Clark Law School as well as undergraduate degrees in political science and energy management. She is an Association of Energy Engineers Certified Energy Manager and a member of the Oregon State Bar.
Co-chair
Raymond Byrne, Ph.D.
Manager of the Energy Storage Technology & Systems department at Sandia National Laboratories
Ray Byrne is manager of the Energy Storage Technology & Systems department at Sandia National Laboratories where he has been employed since 1989. Prior serving as manager, he was a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff. He completed a B.S. in electrical engineering at the University of Virginia, an M.S. in electrical engineering at the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the University of New Mexico. He also completed an M.S. in financial mathematics (financial engineering) at the University of Chicago. Awards include the IEEE Third Millennium Medal, Time Magazine invention of the year in robotics in 2001, as well as the Prize paper award at the 2016 IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting for a paper on maximizing revenue from energy storage in grid applications. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, and Sigma Xi. He was elevated to IEEE Fellow in 2017 for contributions to miniature robotics and grid integration of energy storage. He serves as an ABET program evaluator for IEEE and is a member of the IEEE Committee on Engineering Accreditation Activities (CEAA). He is a board member of Sigma Xi, the scientific research honor society.
Co-chair
Danielle Sass Byrnett
Senior Director of the Center for Partnerships & Innovation (CPI) at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC)
Danielle Sass Byrnett is Senior Director of the Center for Partnerships & Innovation (CPI) at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). She leads this technical assistance team focused on identifying emerging challenges and connecting the 54 state public utility commissions with expertise and strategies to navigate their complex decision-making. NARUC CPI builds relationships, develops resources, and delivers training in areas ranging from energy efficiency and distributed energy resources to comprehensive electricity planning to natural gas infrastructure, cybersecurity, and more. Ms. Sass Byrnett joined NARUC after nearly 15 years at the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and in consulting roles where she supported other state energy policy makers with their clean energy strategies. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Swarthmore College.
Co-chair
Will McNamara
Grid Energy Storage Policy Analyst for Sandia National Laboratories
Will McNamara serves as Grid Energy Storage Policy Analyst for Sandia National Laboratories with a focus on energy storage policy development at the federal and state levels. Will has spent his entire 30-year career in the energy and utilities industry with a concentration on regulatory and legislative policy. He has served as a lobbyist in California and has represented major utilities across the U.S. in numerous jurisdictions in proceedings pertaining to integrated resource planning, procurement, cost recovery, rate design, and the development of policymaking best practices. Will’s areas of subject matter expertise, in addition to LDES policy, include distributed energy resources, AMI/smart grid, renewables, and competitive retail markets.
Will also serves as the Principal Investigator for the Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) National Consortium, representing Sandia National Laboratories as the lead lab for this effort. The LDES National Consortium is a DOE-funded initiative through which stakeholders across the LDES ecosystem can convene to identify barriers, determine potential synergies, and collaboratively develop and implement strategies necessary to achieve LDES technology commercialization within the next decade.
Masood Parvania, Ph.D.
Director, Utah Smart Energy Laboratory at the University of Utah, and Founder and President at Grid Elevated
Masood Parvania is the Roger P. Webb Endowed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Director of Utah Smart Energy Laboratory and the NSF WIRED Global Center at the University of Utah. He is also the Founder and President of the Energy AI company, Grid Elevated, that specializes on developing and commercializing AI technology for reliable and efficient power grid operation.