Richard L. Levitan, President & Principal

Richard L. Levitan leads the firm's advisory services in the areas of power plant valuation, contract restructuring, wholesale power procurement, and transportation management. He advises regulatory commissions on diverse matters pertaining to resource planning and procurement. Mr. Levitan has 32 years of industry experience in finance, regulation, and wholesale market analysis. He has managed gas pipeline adequacy and storage deliverability studies for PJM, NYISO, ISO-NE, the ISO of Ontario and NERC, as well as for utilities, pipelines, and storage companies. Mr. Levitan has testified many times at FERC and before state and provincial regulatory commissions.

Prior to forming LAI, Mr. Levitan was a Vice President of Stone &Webster Management Consultants, Inc., and Manager of the Boston office.  Prior to joining Stone & Webster in 1980, Mr. Levitan was a Rate Economist at Pacific Gas & Electric Company. Mr. Levitan holds a B.A. degree from Cornell University and a Masters degree from Harvard University where he specialized in Energy Economics.

John R. Bitler, Vice President & Principal

John R. Bitler has over 35 years of experience in the energy industry encompassing a wide range of fuel, power and emissions control issues. Mr. Bitler advises utilities, power generators, state regulatory agencies, and end-users regarding fuel market trends, procurement administration, gas supply and infrastructure developments, and emission control costs. He is responsible for LAI’s fuel market analysis and forecasting activities. Mr. Bitler has directed wholesale power solicitations and auctions on behalf of utilities and state agencies with responsibilities for procuring energy, capacity and renewable energy credits. He has been responsible for administering the procurement process, developing RFPs and related documentation, and evaluating bids. Mr. Bitler has submitted expert testimony before the FERC, the ICC and state regulatory commissions throughout the U.S. on behalf of utilities and industrial end-users regarding power and fuel contract restructuring, fuel conversion issues, emissions control costs, and generation asset values.

Prior to joining LAI in 1992, Mr. Bitler was President of Environmental Catalyst Consultants, Inc., where he was responsible for assessments of catalytic emissions control processes.  He worked previously at Stone & Webster Management Consultants as an Executive Consultant and as Director of Commercial Development at InterNorth, Inc.  He also held positions with U.S. Steel Corporation and the U.S. Bureau of Mines.  Mr. Bitler holds a B.S. degree in Mineral Economics from The Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. degree from The University of Pittsburgh in Mining Engineering.

Seth G. Parker, Vice President & Principal

Seth G. Parker is an economics and financial manager with over 30 years of experience in market design, price forecasting, credit and collateral issues, and the development, analysis, valuation, and financing of power and infrastructure projects. Among his assignments, Mr. Parker assisted the NYISO and generators with the Spot Capacity Market (demand curve) mechanism and advised PJM generation owners on the Reliability Pricing Model, and participated in FERC technical conferences for both matters. He has testified before state commissions on procurement, resource planning, generation, and wind development issues. Prior to joining LAI, Mr. Parker advised overseas government agencies with privatization matters and conducted due diligence in support of over $6 billion of domestic and overseas project debt for lenders, investment banks, the World Bank, and other multilateral agencies. He is a frequent speaker on project financing and capacity markets, and has provided expert witness testimony before FERC, in state and federal courts, and before regulatory agencies.

Prior to joining LAI, Mr. Parker was Vice President of Stone & Webster Management Consultants responsible for due diligence reviews.  He has also worked at two project development firms, J. Makowski Associates and ThermoElectron Energy Systems, and in the Treasurer’s Office at Pacific Gas & Electric.  Mr. Parker received a Sc.B. from Brown University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School, and has completed additional coursework in gas turbine technology and in geopolitics at the Kennedy School, Harvard University.

Ellen G. Cool, Ph.D., Vice President & Principal

Ellen G. Cool, Ph.D., has 25 years of consulting experience in the energy and environmental industries. She has advised clients on competitive procurement options for wholesale power supply, including project financed DC transmission projects, natural gas-fired plants, and renewable generation projects. Dr. Cool has extensive expertise in environmental compliance strategies, siting and permitting of generation and transmission projects, and the net environmental impact of new and repowered generation projects. She has advised institutional and industrial end users on cogeneration development and has performed financial analyses for contract restructuring efforts, pipeline route options, and the acquisition of deregulated energy service companies. Dr. Cool facilitated a stakeholder working group in Connecticut regarding the use of Long Island Sound for DC transmission and interstate pipelines. She participated in LIPA’s Selection Committees which resulted in the commercialization of the Caithness Energy Center and the Neptune Cable projects. Since 2006, she has managed LAI’s engagement on behalf of the Connecticut DPUC providing oversight of CL&P’s and UI’s competitive auctions for wholesale power to serve the utilities’ Standard Service loads. She also led LAI’s efforts as the Prosecutorial arm of the DPUC for the competitive procurement of new peaking generation for Connecticut. She testifies regularly before the state commission on the wholesale power market and the conduct of these procurements.

Prior to joining LAI, Dr. Cool was a principal at Harding Lawson Associates, formerly ABB Environmental Services, responsible for the northeast regional offices.  She has also worked in mining and mineral exploration in the western U.S.  She received her A.B. from Harvard University and her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Washington.