Richard L. Carlson, Ph.D., Managing Consultant

Richard L. Carlson, Ph.D., has 30 years of experience as a consultant, software developer, and research economist on a wide range of energy and environmental economic issues. Dr. Carlson is a national leader in wholesale market design and game theory, portfolio risk measurement, integrated resource planning, econometrics, and pricing. Dr. Carlson has applied advanced mathematical and financial principles to real option valuation techniques applicable to conventional and renewable resources. Previously, Dr. Carlson was product manager for Ventyx where he was responsible for planning and risk management software development. Dr. Carlson has performed independent market price analyses in support of power plant financings and the auction of purchased power agreements. He has testified before state and provincial regulatory commissions on diverse matters.

Dr. Carlson received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Resource Economics from the University of Wisconsin, and a B.S. (with distinction) from Washington State University. Prior to joining LAI in 2008, he worked for Ventyx (and its predecessor companies, Global Energy Decisions and Henwood Energy), most recently as Vice President of New Solutions. Prior to Ventyx, Dr. Carlson was a consultant at The Goodman Group, Ltd. and Economics Plus, Inc., an assistant professor at Queens College in New York, and a research associate at Washington University.

John J. Elder, P.E., Manager - Power Systems & Market Design

John J. Elder has 40 years of experience in the power industry. Mr. Elder supervises LAI's production simulation and transmission load flow modeling efforts to derive forward locational energy prices. Mr. Elder is an authority on technical operating and performance issues related to thermal and nuclear power plants. He has performed analyses of transmission pricing and access reforms under various ISO Open Access Transmission tariffs. On behalf of utilities, state regulatory commissions and investors, he has performed engineering economic evaluations and performance assessments. Mr. Elder has extensive technical and supervisory expertise in thermodynamic performance and heat balances for fossil fuel power plants, fluid systems design, technology assessment, and steam cycle optimization. He has provided ongoing technical support to the LAI wholesale power procurement team regarding congestion patterns, the derivation of commercial benchmarks, and the value of financial transmission rights.

Before joining LAI in 1994, Mr. Elder worked for at Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation as Principal Mechanical Engineer. Mr. Elder received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a registered professional engineer in Massachusetts.

Philip L. Curlett, P.E., Manager - Energy Systems Engineering

Phil L. Curlett has 37 years of experience in the energy industry with a broad background in engineering, development, and financing of generation facilities and infrastructure projects. Mr. Curlett has conducted technical performance and project financial analyses for developers, lenders, and power purchasers, as well as for utilities and state regulatory commissions. He has also developed RFPs and managed bid evaluations for purchased power and EPC solicitations. He has been active in many aspects of utility deregulation and privatization of infrastructure services in North America and several developing countries. Mr. Curlett is a leading expert in energy systems modeling and assessment. He has been responsible for steady-state and transient flow pipeline hydraulic models used on behalf of ISOs to determine regional infrastructure capability. He has performed financial analyses regarding retirement decisions and the entry of conventional and renewable resources.

Prior to joining LAI in 2000, Mr. Curlett was a Project Development Manager at Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation where he also held positions in the Heat Balance, Technical Studies, and Advanced Technologies groups. Mr. Curlett received a combined B.A. and B.S. degree in Economics and Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell University. He holds an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell and an M.B.A. from Babson College, and is a registered professional engineer in Massachusetts.

Michael C. Lints, P.E., Ph.D., Manager - Power Technology

Michael C. Lints, Ph.D. has 25 years of experience in energy technology assessment, operational analysis, and applying advanced modeling techniques related to wholesale power procurement and resource optimization. Dr. Lints' expertise includes a variety of fossil power generation technologies, in particular, advanced turbine designs, waste coal, conventional coal, and biomass, as well as heat transfer, plant O&M standards, and engineering economics. Dr. Lints has formulated mathematical models to account for the price effects attributable to merchant exit, volatility, and plant optionality. He has applied decision risk analysis to LAI’s litigation support services as well as mixed integer linear programming techniques to optimize competitive power procurements. He has conducted pipeline network pressure / flow simulations and optimization analyses of regional gas pipeline delivery capability and bulk power security. Dr. Lints has submitted expert testimony before state regulatory commissions.

Prior to joining LAI in 1990, Dr. Lints was President of Rochester Engineering. He is a registered professional engineer in New York. Dr. Lints holds a B.S. and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Sara Wilmer, Executive Consultant

Sara Wilmer has ten years of applied expertise in the energy industry, specializing in chemical engineering, power generation, and pipeline simulation modeling. Ms. Wilmer has been responsible for the design and implementation of website security and bidder communication protocols associated with LAI's procurement oversight responsibilities. Ms. Wilmer has also been an integral part of various procurement efforts culminating in the selection of conventional generation projects. On behalf of various ISOs, she has developed flow balance models as well as steady-steate and transient flow models of interstate pipelines and storage facilities regarding network adequacy under postulated gas- or electric-side contingencies. She has advised ISO-NE on onshore and offshore wind development potential. On diverse commercial matters for planning and procurement matters, Ms. Wilmer provides advanced quantitative support.

Prior to joining LAI in 2000, Ms. Wilmer provided legislative and policy analysis support for the Northeast-Midwest Coalition Congressional and Senate staff. She received her B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Edward K. Tsikirayi, Executive Consultant

Edward K. Tsikirayi has 19 years of bulk power planning and operations experience, including transmission-constrained reliability assessments and production simulation analysis. He utilizes LAI's suite of chronological simulation and transmission load flow models to conduct resource adequacy assessments, energy price forecasts, and load / optimal power flow analysis. Mr. Tsikirayi has been responsible for wholesale power procurement oversight regarding standard service products, as well as physical and financial products related to renewable energy, conventional resources, and risk management products. He has conducted multi-regional and inter-market price forecasts. On behalf of electric utilities and state regulatory commissions, he has evaluated the need for new transmission projects, and has advised LAI’s clients on diverse matters related to capacity deliverability rights, and firm / non-firm transmission withdrawal / injection rights. Mr. Tsikirayi has extensive experience with various RTOs’ Open Access Transmission tariffs.

Prior to joining LAI in 2003, Mr. Tsikirayi was Lead Engineer for Power Supply and Reliability Planning for ISO-NE where he performed reliability assessments. He was active in ISO-NE's Regional Transmission Expansion Planning Process. He has also worked as Principal Engineer for the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority where he represented the utility on the Southern African Power Pool’s Generation Planning Working Group. Mr. Tsikirayi received his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute.

Boris L. Shapiro, Ph.D., Executive Consultant

Boris L. Shapiro, Ph.D., has over 30 years of experience in the energy industry, including power plant design and performance, power system planning and operations, and market design. He has international consulting and domestic regulatory experience providing technical and commercial advice to state utility regulatory commissions, electric utilities, and ISOs. Dr. Shapiro has provided expert witness testimony before FERC, and before state commissions on various matters related to the economic, reliability and environmental impacts associated with new resources, including demand response and energy efficiency resources. Dr. Shapiro supervises LAI’s forward capacity market modeling effort and analytical framework for non-transmission alternative resources’ evaluation, including DR/EE.

Prior to joining LAI in 2007, Dr. Shapiro worked for the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities and for PA Consulting Group. He received his M. S. degree in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, and a Ph. D. in Electric Power from the Russian Electric Power Research Institute.

Diane A. Rigos, Ph.D., Executive Consultant

Diane A. Rigos, Ph.D., has 20 years of scientific expertise in the area of physical chemistry that has been applied to renewable energy, in particular, onshore and offshore wind as well as photovoltaics. She has also been responsible for safety assessment of proposed LNG projects, as well as the chemistry applied to gas interchangeability requirements. Dr. Rigos has advised ISO-NE on wind development potential, as well as state regulatory commissions and wind project developers on diverse matters pertaining to wind production profiles, variability, intermittency effects, and economics. Dr. Rigos is an integral part of LAI’s wholesale power procurement efforts, providing technical support through the use of fundamental simulation models to derive congestion patterns and benchmark prices. She has been responsible for the determination of environmental impacts associated with long term procurements that result in new generation or attrition effects. Dr. Rigos headed up the ISO-NE Phase I and Phase II wind studies and was responsible for the treatment of solar, onshore and offshore wind resources for the Maryland Public Service Commission.

Prior to joining LAI in 2005, Dr. Rigos was Chair and Associate Professor of Chemistry at Merrimack College. In addition, Dr. Rigos was a Principal Scientist at Physical Sciences Inc. Dr. Rigos received a B.A. in Chemistry from Cornell University, a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. from Northeastern University.

Edward A. McGee, P.E

Edward A. McGee, an associate of LAI, has an extensive international background in gas supply, transportation, and distribution, as well as in the energy, chemical, and process industries. Mr. McGee has been an integral part of LAI's steady-state and transient flow pipeline modeling efforts performed for various ISOs in the greater Northeast. Mr. McGee has developed and applied quantitative planning and management techniques, including computer-based simulation and optimization models. He has advised numerous gas utilities and petrochemical companies on energy planning, acquisitions, and operations.

Mr. McGee was previously a Vice President/Director at Stone & Webster Management Consultants, Inc. and a Business Development Manager at Stone & Webster Engineering Corp. responsible for chemical and refining complexes. He also has worked for W. R. Grace and AMOCO Oil. He received his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, and both his B.S and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. Mr. McGee is a licensed professional engineer in Indiana and is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the Institute of Management Sciences.

Thomas M. Halleran

Thomas M. Halleran, an associate of LAI, is a senior transmission planner / operator / engineer with 40 years of transmission related industry experience. He was formerly the Manager of Substation and Transmission Engineering and the Chief System Operator for Con Edison where he was responsible for the transmission, generation, and steam systems. Mr. Halleran has extensive knowledge of the New York transmission system and has helped implement new market design and local reliability rules the ISOs in the Northeast. He has applied his operational expertise to current inter-market coordination issues for the reliability-constrained scheduling of bulk power flows. He has testified at FERC on behalf of Con Edison.

Mr. Halleran has held many positions at Con Edison. He received his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Manhattan College and an M.B.A. from Fordham University. He is a senior member of the IEEE and serves on or participates in NYISO and ISO-NE business and market committees, including as Chairman of the NYISO System Operations Advisory Subcommittee.

William R. Luthern

William. R. Luthern, an associate of LAI, has been a senior gas industry executive with a variety of planning, operations, marketing, and regulatory experience. He was responsible for liquid natural gas, propane production and storage operations for three operating utilities, as well as for the gas system control centers, propane plants, meter stations, pressure control, and distribution facilities. He has helped LAI clients with FERC storage regulation, gas interchangeability, and LNG terminal siting issues.

Mr. Luthern was previously Vice President of Keyspan Energy, the largest distributor in the Northeast. Mr. Luthern was a Director of the New England-Canada Business Council and the Business Advisory Council to Massachusetts and Nova Scotia, and served on other state and regional committees, including as Chairman of the Northeast Power Coordinating Council. He received his B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University, and his M.B.A. from Suffolk University.

Matthew J. DeCourcey, Senior Consultant

Matthew J. DeCourcey has expertise in economics and financial analysis, including wholesale market design. On behalf of utilities, state regulatory commissions, and investors, Mr. DeCourcey has provided quantitative assistance regarding the structure and dynamics of regional capacity markets in PJM, NYISO, ISO-NE and MISO. He has evaluated the merit of risk management strategies, and conducted many financial analyses related to entry / exit, asset optimization and regulatory incentives. Mr. DeCourcey is an integral part of LAI’s procurement oversight responsibilities throughout the U.S.

Prior to joining LAI in 2004, Mr. DeCourcey worked for SmartEnergy, Inc., an energy services company operating in the New York and PJM markets. Mr. DeCourcey holds a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Alex J. Mattfolk, Assistant Consultant

Alex J. Mattfolk provides quantitative support on diverse matters pertaining to wholesale market design, valuation, and the development of renewable resources. He has been an integral part of LAI’s litigation support efforts on matters pertaining to merger induced operating impacts, socio-economic benefits, and resource planning.

Mr. Mattfolk received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed a minor in economics. His coursework included Energy Decisions, Markets, and Policies and Sustainability.