The Climate Champions

Congressman Mike Levin, representing California's 49th, which includes North County San Diego and South Orange County, combating climate change, protecting our natural resources, and capitalizing on the economic benefits of a sustainable energy future.

Damien Quentin, Head of Strategy for Engineered Intelligence. Built by power engineers, ENGIN™ unifies real-time asset data into a holistic view so utilities can make smarter, faster, and more strategic decisions about risk, reliability, and ROI.

Jane Chen, CEO & cofounder, StepWise, enabling people to control and profit from their energy use by making it easier, faster, and more affordable for homeowners to electrify, removing the barrier of costly and time consuming electric panel upgrades.

Charles Murray, CEO at Switch Source, discussing Phase-EQ capability to unlock hidden capacity in existing distribution systems, defer infrastructure upgrades, improve voltage stability, and create more flexibility during switching and restoration events.

Kaitlyn Albertoli, CEO & Co-Founder, Buzz Solutions and Tom Lenzen, Infrastructure Industry Team Specialist for Imagery and Remote Sensing, Esri, engage in an in-depth conversation on how to use asset management to drive resiliency across an aging grid.

Special DistribuTECH Episode, including 20% Discount Code, in all caps, D26CMTINV . Catch live episodes of The Climate Champions from the floor of DistribuTECH where I'll be interviewing Jane Chen & John McDonald in San Diego on February 3rd and 4th, 2026!

Rick Cutter, President of the non-profit August Palm Creative, leading the development of media projects that make a difference, focusing on climate change education. Look for his first film - The Grid Unplugged - in early 2026.

Dr. Mani Vadari, President, Modern Grid Solutions, is an IEEE Life Fellow and electric industry visionary delivering next gen solutions for 35+ years. He teaches future students @ multiple universities and published two popular books on the future grid.

Franklin Jones, CEO and Founder, B-Line Urban Delivery, solving the challenges of the “last mile” of a distribution network, reducing congestion, supporting local food producers, and developing green collar job opportunities.

Talieh Zargar, Co-founder & CTO, GridWrap: Resilient Grid Hardening Solutions for the Electric Grid. When it comes to electric infrastructure, she can rebuild it. She has the technology. She can make it better, stronger, and do it faster with no outage.

Richard McIndoe, Executive Chairman, Edge Zero. From coal to a net zero goal, enabling more solar, more EVs, and more reliability for customers.

Rinaldo Brutoco, Founding President, World Business Academy & Founding President & CEO of H2 Clipper, Co-Founder & Board, JUST Capital, and served with many non-profits including the Gorbachev Foundation, National Peace Academy, and the Chopra Foundation.

Maria Robinson, Inaugural Director of the United States Department of Energy Grid Deployment Office. Special annual "HOT SEAT" edition of The Climate Champions, recorded live in Washington DC at GridWise Alliance's gridCONNEXT Conference on December 10th.

Joshua Goldman, Senior Director of Sales, eMobility, ABM Industries. 25+ years experience in over 50 configurations of electric and hybrid heavy-duty buses, trucks and Vans. Proterra, Autocar Truck, Volta Trucks, and more!

April Bolduc, President of S Curve Strategies, helping states, counties, school districts and utilities across the U.S. go EV by developing regional transportation electrification strategies. The result: more EVs, cleaner freeways and neighborhoods.

Elizabeth Cook, Vice President of Technical Strategy at The Association of Edison Illuminating Companies and the host of the Grid Mod Pod, a podcast featuring conversations with electric power executives and experts about the future of the electric grid.

Gunars Valkirs, CEO of Maui Ku'ia Estate Chocolate. My #1 favorite chocolate of all time! And it's green! Will dark brown, but... powered by an off-grid microgrid supplying over 99% renewable energy.

Whit Fulton, CEO, ConnectDER. Focused on enabling anyone to connect solar panels or EV chargers to their home in minutes, at a fraction of the typical time and cost, with no electrical upgrade required. Recorded LIVE at DistribuTECH International.

Gene Rodrigues, Assistant Secretary of Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, Leading the Office of Electricity for the United States of America. Recorded Live consuming Hot Ones level hot sauces at The GridWise Alliance's annual gridCONNEXT conference!

Congressman Mike Levin is serving his third term as California's 49th District representative. He's a member of both the House Committee on Natural Resources and Veterans’ Affairs, where he's Ranking Member on the Economic Opportunity Subcommittee.

Carolina Ortega, Vice President of Sustainability at Milestone Environmental Services, the largest independent energy waste sequestration company in the United States, helping customers sequester almost 3 million metric tons of CO2 since 2014.

Peak Load Management Association Webinar: Jenny Roehm, Sr. Manager, Utility Solutions, Schneider Electric; Michael Brown, Dir., Energy Services, NV Energy; Ross Malme, President & CEO, Malme Energy Consulting; Judy Knight, Chief Development Office, PLMA

Kim Getgen, Founder and CEO, Innovation Force, a serial entrepreneur delivering a SaaS platform that drives innovation by providing visibility through metrics, increased teamwork, and improved performance, while eliminating analysis/paralysis.

Mark Gabriel, President and CEO, United Power; Chair of the Board of Directors, GridWise Alliance; Award-winning author of Visions for a Sustainable Energy Future; Former CEO, WAPA; and led the EPRI Electricity Sector Framework for the Future effort.

Greg Hale, co-founder and principal, The Catskill Project. Also, Senior Advisor for Energy Efficiency Markets and Finance, NYSERDA. The Catskill Project is a carbon-neutral/ passive house community being developed in the Catskills, about 2 hours from NYC.