Comprehensive Utility Energy Service Contract Training - Day 3  

Tracy Niro is the Utility Program manager at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). Tracy is a recognized expert in energy policy, federal utility service contracting, and utility energy service contracts. She also oversees electric and natural gas utility acquisitions for DOE sites nationwide and serves as the chair of the Federal Utility Partnership Working Group. Tracy was a 2009 Presidential Management Fellow, has completed detail assignments to the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the International Energy Agency, and was awarded a Fulbright Professional Scholarship to conduct energy research in Australia. Tracy began her career as a staff accountant for an investor-owned utility and has 20 years of experience in the energy industry including past experience leading the DOE FEMP Power Purchase Agreement Program and serving as coordinator for floating offshore wind regulation in Hawaii at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, earned her Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law.

Epstein, U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Management Program Ethan Epstein is the Program Manager and Technical Lead for the Federal Energy Management Program's (FEMP) resilience program. At FEMP, Ethan works with both the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to provide federal facilities with technical assistance and develop resources and tools focused around energy/water resilience and climate change. This includes developing strategies to integrate various programmatic efforts including but not limited to climate adaptation, mitigation and resilience, decarbonization, resilience quantification, and resilience planning.

Chandra Shah is a senior project leader at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). She has been supporting the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) since 1998--helping agencies purchase off-site renewable energy, implement distributed energy projects, and achieve energy/water goals through utility energy service contracts (UESC) and other utility partnerships. Chandra is a co-author of the ESPC ESA Toolkit and other ESPC ESA templates. She is a CEM and holds an M.B.A. from the University of Washington and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan.

Jeff Gingrich manages program and training development for the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) Utility Team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He is an advisor in supporting development of utility energy service contract (UESC) projects and develops resources and curriculum for the internationally accredited UESC training courses for federal agencies and regulated utilities. In addition, Jeff supports a portfolio of projects at NREL that include energy savings performance contracts and Integrated Urban Services in the ASEAN region.

Matt works as a project manager in NREL's Project Development and Finance Group within the Accelerated Deployment and Decision Support Center. His work is primarily focused on supporting the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) in performance contracting and distributed energy procurement. Prior to joining NREL, Matt was an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and worked as a construction project manager with NORESCO. He has experience overseeing and managing projects that include building management system and HVAC control upgrades, LED lighting retrofits, boiler and chiller installations, and combined heat and power plant build outs.

John Myhre is a Project Manager for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where he supports the FEMP Utility, ESPC, and Distributed Energy Procurement Teams with training, technical assistance, and project feasibility reviews, as well as conducting research on decarbonization and the federal performance contracting industry. John has over 10 years of experience working on federal energy projects and in the construction industry, including serving at GSA as a mechanical engineer supporting deep energy retrofits and the Green Proving Ground technology validation program. John has an MBA from Loyola University of New Orleans and a Master of Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of California in Riverside.

Russ Dominy is an experienced acquisition professional having served as the former acquisition director/chief of contracts office at NAVFAC Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center. Russ was the department head responsible for overall management of 50 employees, including 40 contracting personnel. Russ also has held positions as the supervisory contracting officer, procurement contracting officer (PCO), administrative contracting officer, contract specialist, acquisition manager, and contracting officer representative. Russ served as the PCO and source selection authority for all large contract actions including over $1B in ESPC contracts. Russ was responsible for Command Government Commercial purchase card consisting of more than $2 million in transactions annually.