ThinkEquity's 1st Annual Grid Modernization Symposium
July 14, 2010
The Princeton Club
15 West 43rd Street
New York, NY
Panelists
Active Power, Inc. — Martin Olsen, Vice President, Global Channels and Business Development
Martin Olsen currently serves as vice president of Global Channels and Business Development for Active Power, Inc., a leading manufacturer of critical power solutions for mission critical operations. Prior to joining Active Power, Olsen served as director of the Data Center Group for Wright Line LLC. Prior to this, Olsen led the product marketing and business development charter for APC, a Schneider-Electric Company in Munich, Singapore and the US
A holder of two U.S. patents, Olsen is a seasoned professional in the computer room and datacenter infrastructure markets with more than 13 years of global marketing, product development and business development experience. He has conducted extensive research in computer room and datacenter power/cooling infrastructure and his research, white papers and interviews have regularly been featured in Computerworld, Information Week, Consulting Specifying Engineer and other top tier industry publications. A regular speaker at some of the more prominent domestic and international tradeshows and events, Olsen has presented on containerized power/cooling infrastructure; datacenter power/cooling inefficiencies; datacenter power quality and reliability; modular power and cooling; and datacenter thermal runaway.
A member of several well-respected professional organizations, Olsen is involved with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), AFCOM, the Building Industry Consulting Service International (BICSI) and 7x24 Exchange. He is also a certified Six Sigma Green Belt.
Olsen received his bachelor's of Science in Marketing from the International Business College at Kolding, Denmark. He also earned diplomas in Logistics and International Business Law from the International Business College at Kolding, Denmark.
Stratus Energy Group — Paul Hudson, Founder & Principal
Paul Hudson, founder and principal of the Stratus Energy Group (www.stratusenergy.com), currently consults for a variety of energy related interests, preferring to focus on innovative, high growth start-ups.
Prior to entering private practice, Hudson was a gubernatorial appointee to the three-member Public Utility Commission of Texas, serving from August 2003 until September of 2008. During that tenure he served four years as Chairman of the Commission. During his tenure, among a variety of accomplishments, Hudson is proudest that the Public Utility Commission:
- Successfully navigated the Texas State Agency "Sunset" process;
- Approved the construction of over $9 billion dollars worth of transmission lines, including a $5 billion dollar build-out to serve Competitive Renewable Energy Zones;
- Finalized the ERCOT transition to fully competitive retail electric rates;
- Opened the electric distribution network to potential broadband over powerline deployment;
- Finalized stranded cost rulings of over $5 billion dollars;
- Began the approval process for state-wide adoption of Advanced Metering
- Stabilized the wholesale electric market by focusing on and finalizing administrative rules on market power, market design, competitive safeguards, market monitoring and resource adequacy (including a unique energy only market design) that have led to a current ERCOT interconnection queue of 155,000MW of new generation;
- Opened the monopoly electric transmission system to competitors;
- Also during his tenure, Texas became the national leader in installed wind generation.
Prior to his Public Utility Commission appointment, Hudson served sequentially as Director of Policy, Deputy Director of Policy, and Policy Director for Business/Regulatory Policy in the Office of the Governor.
He has also served as Advisor to Commissioner Brett Perlman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas and as a member of the Policy development staff under former PUCT and FERC Chair Pat Wood.
Hudson has served on the boards of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the Clean Coal Technology Council, the FERC/NARUC Collaborative on Demand Response, and the Western Governor's Association Working Group on Cross-Border Energy Issues.
Hudson is a past winner (2009) of the American Wind Energy Association National State Leadership award for his work on the Texas Competitive Renewable Energy Zones.
Hudson currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Center for the Commercialization of Electricity Technology, a broad-based 25-member organization committed to advancing energy technology (www.electrictechnologycenter.com), as an independent member of the board of directors for privately held CLEAResult Consulting (an energy efficiency implementation company) and on the State Advisory Council for the Galvin Electricity Initiative (http://galvinpower.org/).
Hudson earned a Bachelor's degree from the University of Texas and received a Master's degree from Arizona State University. He lives in Austin, with his wife Shannon, and his three children.
Tantalus Systems Corp. — John Haylock, Chief Financial Officer
John has experience throughout the debt and equity spectrum of the capital markets and has worked with a range of companies within the energy sector, from start-ups to multi-billion dollar organizations. Prior to joining Tantalus in 2002, he spent 12 years in corporate and investment banking with the Bank of Montreal group of companies and has served as Vice President at BMO Nesbitt Burns. John holds bachelor degrees in Mathematics and Chemical Engineering and obtained an MBA from the University of Western Ontario.
