John A. Wilson

Stakeholder Solutions Manager
Lighting Design Lab

John A. Wilson has worked in the utility industry for over a decade and has comprehensive experience designing and implementing efficiency programs. John has worked regionally and nationally with industry partners to lead and support investment in emerging technologies and market research. He has served on numerous regional workgroups where he has helped to inform strategy and align utility approaches in support of market transformation. Since 2007, he has also worked with craft producers to increase awareness of energy consumption and to support emerging technologies in the indoor ag space. As Stakeholder Solutions Manager for the Lighting Design Lab, John works on behalf of member utilities to proactively engage industry partners with the goal of facilitating technology-transfer and supporting utilities in their goal to create a positive customer experience.

Doug Oppedal, LC, MIES

Program Manager/Senior Lighting Specialist
Evergreen Consulting Group

Doug has over 35 years in the electrical and lighting field including journeyman electrician, estimator, and project manager for commercial and industrial projects. As a lighting specialist for a large utility in Portland, Oregon, he completed energy analysis reports and identified energy savings opportunities for lighting and lighting controls for commercial and industrial customers. More recently, Doug has been instrumental in the successful design of the Energy Trust of Oregon Indoor Agriculture Lighting Incentive program. Since its inception, he has worked with over 150 growers on lighting system upgrades around Oregon, assisting with energy efficient upgrades from legacy technologies to LED. He’s also provided numerous trainings and spoken at a variety of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) conferences as well as other events that focus on lighting applications and utility incentive programs options for indoor agriculture.

Kasey Holland

Technical Manager
DesignLights Consortium

Kasey Holland is the Technical Manager of the DLC’s Horticultural Lighting Program, and focuses on Quality of Light for the DLC’s Solid-State Lighting program. Before joining the DLC, Kasey was a graduate research assistant at the Lighting Research Center, working on various projects ranging from 3D printing applications to lighting control system efficiency analysis. Kasey holds an M.S. in Lighting from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and B.S. in Engineering Physics from Stephen F. Austin State University.

Tad Beeksma

Ag Technical Energy Specialist
Focus on Energy

Mr. Beeksma has performed over 100 facility condition audits for schools and other buildings, including investment-grade audits, energy audits, and ASHRAE Level I & II audits during his 15 years in facility services. Mr. Beeksma functioned for 6 years as a project manager on school facility construction projects over $10 million. In addition to his work with school and government facilities, Mr. Beeksma has conducted extensive research on agriculture technology, including horticultural lighting, grain dryers, robotic milking equipment, and many more. As well as being an AEE Certified Energy Auditor and Certified Energy Manager, Mr. Beeksma, is a Certified Measurement and Verification Professional.

Thao Chau

Electrical Engineer
California Energy Commission

Thao is an electrical engineer in the Efficiency division’s Building Standards Office. She has been involved with the development of the energy code for the past three code cycles including work with compliance software and energy standards development. She is currently leading for the Controlled Environment Horticulture measure for the 2022 Energy Code update, focusing on the energy efficiency of indoor agricultural buildings. She is also a subject matter on other lighting measures. Thao holds a MS in both electrical engineering and mathematics.

Lauren Gaikowski

Energy Advisor II
Franklin Energy

Lauren currently serves as Energy Advisor for indoor cannabis cultivators and dairy operations in the ComEd territory. In her work, Lauren develops cannabis custom express program design and cannabis load calculator and assessment tools. Prior to Franklin Energy, Lauren worked as Non-managed Account Energy Advisor at CleaResult guiding customers through energy efficiency incentive program paths.

Derek Smith

Executive Director
Resource Innovation Institute

Derek Smith is Executive Director of Resource Innovation Institute, a non-profit organization advancing a resource efficient future for cannabis cultivation and controlled environment agriculture through advocating for policies and incentives that drive energy and water efficient cultivation practices. RII’s Cannabis PowerScore benchmarking platform and Efficient Yields workshops help cultivators, the supply chain and utilities assess performance and exchange best practices. Before RII, Derek led Clean Energy Works, recognized as one of the most successful American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (“stimulus”) programs. He has directed energy programs for the City of Portland and created an award-winning corporate sustainability program for a national retailer. Derek has testified to the US Senate Energy Committee and briefed the US Secretary of Energy.

Brendan Place

Clean Energy Engineer, Mechanical Engineer
Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources

Jeannie Leggett Sikora

Energy Engineer
CLEAResult®

Jeannie Leggett Sikora’s career in energy efficiency has spanned the agricultural, residential, and industrial sectors. Her main responsibilities at CLEAResult include serving as a company-wide subject matter expert for agriculture, measuring and verifying savings for commercial and industrial energy efficiency programs, and consulting on the design of utility energy efficiency programs. Prior to joining CLEAResult in 2012, she worked in university cooperative extension on various farm and food processing energy issues, conducted research and outreach for the home building industry, and operated a consulting business.

Brady Nemeth

Utility Rebate Coordinator
Fluence Bioengineering

Brady Nemeth is Fluence’s Utility Rebate Coordinator where he helps customers receive incentives from their local electrical utility, running a program that has helped secure over $10 million to date. Relatively new to the horticultural space, Brady’s background is primarily working on energy efficiency programs for lighting. Prior to his current role, he worked as a home energy auditor, provided technical review of Solid-state lighting products under a support contract, and worked as the Compliance Program Manager for the DLC. Brady holds a bachelor’s degree from NC State University in Raleigh, NC, and currently resides in Fluence’s hometown of Austin, Texas.

Bob Gunn

Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Seinergy

Bob founded Seinergy to experiment with new market opportunities and challenge some outdated utility models. Prior to Seinergy, Bob was an economist at Snohomish Public Utility District, working a various projects including energy efficiency programs. Bob holds an MBA from Bainbridge Graduate Institute, a BA from Colorado College and is a Certified Energy Manager through the Association of Certified Engineers. Bob is an analyst at heart, rooted in the electric utility industry and loves numbers, spreadsheets and energy efficiency. In his spare time, Bob loves to tinker with anything he can get his hands on – wood, pipes, wires – often associated with tearing holes in his house.

Michael Zartarian

Owner, Electrical/Horticultural Design Engineer
Zartarian Engineering, LLC

Mike grew up in the agricultural community of the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. There he developed a deep respect for both conventional and small scale organic production methods. He attended Northeastern University earning a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering, and spent the first part of his career designing speaker systems and audio electronics for performing musicians. The switch to precision agriculture came naturally, and he has worked on a wide variety of projects in both cannabis and vegetable production, focusing on LED systems, sensors, power systems and facility design. Mike is the principal of Zartarian Engineering in Boston, MA.