Board of Directors
The CESA Board of Directors is composed of individuals from leading energy storage companies in California, the United States, and the world.
The variety of companies on the Board reflects the wide array of energy storage applications and technologies participating in the California market and bringing value to the electric grid.
Board Chair
Renae Steichen, Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs
Renae is the Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs for REV Renewables, leading California storage policy and ISO/RTO markets policy activities. She has 15 years of experience in the clean energy industry with public and private organizations in California and across the country.
Vice Chair
David Stripling, Director of Business Development
David Stripling has 14 years of experience in the renewable energy industry plus an additional 5 years experience developing over $125M of infrastructure. Most recently he was Director of Utility Scale Development for Sunrise Energy Ventures, where he secured awards for over 165MWs of PV in 12 months. Prior to this role, he was head of Product Marketing for Stem, where he owned the offer strategy and pricing for over 150MWHs of storage. David built the core of his experience in energy storage as Director of Product Management for Storage at NEXTracker, where he developed and deployed over 50MWH of stationary storage across the US, Canada and China. In 2013, David led Corporate Development at Soligent, and launched the Solar Engine, a value-added financial services program which deployed PV in 5 States. He has an MBA from the Presidio Graduate School, where he distinguished himself as Jesse Fink Fellow, Richard M. Grey Fellow, and Hult Finalist. David also completed his BA in Classics from the University of Texas at Austin. He enjoys being outdoors, fly fishing, and playing music with his friends.
Secretary
Chris Devon, Director of Energy Market Policy
Chris Devon leads Terra-Gen's organized energy market policy and regulatory coverage. As Director of Energy Market Policy for Terra-Gen, Chris works closely with scheduling and portfolio management and development groups to support growth strategies and advocate for competitive wholesale energy market policies. Chris has experience developing policy for storage and hybrid resource market participation and represents Terra-Gen on industry trade associations. Prior to joining Terra-Gen, Chris held roles with Customized Energy Solutions, the California ISO, and the Michigan Public Service Commission.
Governance Chair
Dan Patry, Senior Manager, State Government Affairs
Dan Patry is a legislative, regulatory and market development expert with over 14 years of experience in the energy sector developing strategies to secure positive commercial, strategic and policy outcomes. Dan currently oversees political strategy and policy development for AES Clean Energy in California.
Treasurer
Cathleen Colbert, Director, CAISO Market Policy
Cathleen Colbert is the Director of CAISO Market Policy for Vistra Corp. in the West advocating for capacity, energy, and ancillary service market policies that seek to improve the function and efficiency of the markets administered by the California Public Utility Commission, California Independent System Operator (CAISO) and the Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM). Ms. Colbert brings over a decade of experience in wholesale energy market oversight, design, and operations to her advocacy for competitive markets. Prior to Vistra, she served as a Regulatory Affairs Manager at NRG Energy supporting its PJM distributed energy resources fleet and its West generation fleet. Ms. Colbert began her work in the Western markets at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission analyzing allegations of market manipulation and then at the CAISO where she successfully designed up to 35 day-ahead and real-time market enhancements. Ms. Colbert’s expertise includes energy market participation and market power mitigation rules, operationalizing ancillary services, planning and procurement of capacity markets, gas-electric coordination, and opportunities and challenges due to the growth of energy storage. Ms. Colbert earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from Chatham University and a Masters of Science in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
Board Member
Ray Morquecho, Manager, Government Affairs
Ray Morquecho is the Government Affairs Manager at Arevon where he tracks and influences state policy developments, including legislative and regulatory activity, across Arevon's national portfolio. Ray earned his Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine and has over 20 years of experience working for and with elected officials, government agencies, political campaigns, and trade associations in various roles including Chief of Staff and Senior Director of Policy.
Board Member
Suzanne Leta, Vice President, Policy and Advocacy, Americas
Suzanne Leta serves as the VP of Policy and Advocacy, Americas, at Fluence. Throughout her career in renewable energy, she has led initiatives in federal, state, local, and international public policy advocacy, public relations, business strategy, and project development. She also has more than 15 years of experience serving on the board or as an advisor to various trade associations and non-profit organizations.
Board Member
Curt Hildebrand, Senior Vice President, Commercial Affairs
Curt Hildebrand brings over 35 years of experience and leadership in the independent power and renewable energy industries. Mr. Hildebrand has served in a wide array of highly productive management roles in project development, power sales & marketing, project finance, government & regulatory affairs and business development.
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Board Member
Jennifer Burke, Head of Energy Storage Market Strategy and Market Development
Jennifer Burke leads Lockheed Martin’s energy storage market strategy and market development. Lockheed Martin is currently commercializing a proprietary long-duration, flexible, flow battery designed to enable resilient, reliable, and renewably powered electric grids. Jennifer has over 20 years of experience advancing, advising, and investing in innovative energy and climate tech companies, ranging from early-stage start-ups to multi-billion dollar companies. She holds a BA from Middlebury College and an MBA from MIT.
Board Member
Sarah Garcia, Executive Director, Regulatory West for NextEra Energy Resources
Sarah Garcia is Executive Director of Regulatory West for NextEra Energy Resources. Ms. Garcia works closely with origination, development, energy storage, and transmission teams and leads the development and implementation of the company's regulatory strategy and policy advocacy at the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the broader western region. Prior to joining NextEra in 2024, Sarah held roles with the CAISO.
Board Member
Misty Blizzard, Director of Commercial Optimization, Trading & Transmission
Misty Blizzard is the director of Southern Power’s commercial optimization, trading, and transmission department. She oversees a team responsible for administration and compliance of power purchase agreements covering a 12.5 GW generating fleet comprised of wind, solar, battery storage, natural gas, and fuel cells. Additionally, her team is actively engaged in power markets across the United States and is responsible for optimizing revenue through PPA optimization, market interaction, hedging, and trading portfolio length.
Blizzard has previous experience in finance, resource planning, project development, structuring, asset management, and acquisitions. In addition, she spent several years in plant operations.
Board Member
Andy Schwartz, Senior Policy Advisor
Board Member
Grant McDaniel, Director of Hybrid Engineering & Director of Market Services
Grant has over 30 years of power generation experience with Wellhead, General Electric, and Stewart & Stevenson. As the Director of Hybrid Engineering, Grant oversees the sales and product development of Wellhead’s integrated energy storage / gas hybrid product line. Grant was a key leader of the Wellhead/GE Electric Gas Turbine (EGT®) hybrid development team and holds multiple patents for simple-cycle and combined-cycle Hybrid EGT® control methodologies. As the Director of Market Services - Wellhead Power eXchange, Grant oversees the market services including RA sales, daily CAISO market sales and scheduling coordination as well as the remote operation of Wellhead’s gas, energy storage, and energy storage hybrid fleet.
At-Large Board Member
Paul Hayes, FPE, VP of Energy Infrastructure
Paul Hayes is a Civil and Fire Protection Engineer, licensed in over 35 states, with a career span of over 30 years. He has been a principal engineer managing unique hazard asset protection fire companies for the industrial and power markets. His expertise in risk hazard evaluation, mitigation technologies, and developing critical safety systems for Lithium-Ion battery facilities is widely recognized. Paul is a trusted Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) industry consultant. He works closely with manufacturers, integrators, utilities, independent power producers, and authorities with jurisdiction (AHJs) to establish the best fire protection and safety practices. His focus on designing cutting-edge safety systems, educating AHJs, and defining industry standards has significantly enhanced fire protection and risk mitigation strategies.