Please note your affiliation and years of experience in the energy and/or environmental field.

I am Managing Director of Energy Markets, Analysis, and Standards at the American Gas Association. I began my work in the energy and environmental field 15 years ago within the Global Environmental Politics program within the School of International Service at American University. Before AGA, I was worked with the Fuels and Technology team at ICF on a range of natural gas and propane market modeling, analyses, and climate-related projects. Today, I work with a team at AGA to advance market and policy research and stakeholder engagement to support the Association’s outreach to advance the awareness of the vital role that natural gas utilities serve in meeting the needs of a clean energy economy.

Any particular achievement/interest in energy/environment you would like to mention?

One accomplishment I was proud of in 2019 and 2020 was the advancement of AGA’s commitments to address climate change. In January 2020, AGA released a Position Statement on Climate Change. It included a set of collective commitments from AGA and the natural gas utility industry to contribute to a significantly lower-carbon energy economy. I’ve been proud of our team’s work in advancing and operationalizing these commitments by developing analytics and policy considerations for the role of natural gas and natural gas infrastructure to achieve greenhouse gas emissions reductions.  This work has and will continue to require careful analysis and stakeholder engagement across several issue areas, including energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, renewable gases, reliability and resilience, the potential of advanced natural gas technologies, and building energy codes and standards.

In your opinion, what are important issues facing the energy industry nowadays?

How we produce and use energy is changing so quickly. One of the primary drivers of this change is concern about the environment and climate change. Unfortunately, in the public debate about reducing emissions, in some cases, the opportunities to achieve reductions through innovation across the natural gas industry are sometimes dismissed. I’m working to address this challenge. We need good analysis and new perspectives to inform the policy discussion about the role and the value of gas and gas infrastructure in creating a safe, reliable, affordable, vibrant, and significantly lower-carbon energy economy.

How long have you been a member of NCAC? Any particular NCAC memory you would like to share with us?

I have been a member of NCAC for ten years. Although I’m afraid I am finding it challenging to pick one memory among the many. I will say I always enjoy the annual dinners, especially the terrific speakers and getting to see everyone. I’m looking forward to the next one!