Executive Committee Member Biographies

Chairs

Tom Karier
Tom Karier was appointed Washington Council member to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in 1998. Prior to that, he was the associate dean at Eastern Washington University from 1995 to 1998 and professor of economics since 1981. During this time, he also served as a research associate for the Jerome Levy Economics Institute in Annandale, New York. Karier has a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, with a major in natural resource economics. His bachelor's is in both physics and economics from the University of Illinois. His research areas include public policy, taxation, labor, international trade and industrial organization.

Pat Reiten
Pat Reiten has been president of Pacific Power at PacifiCorp since 2006. Pacific Power provides electricity to customers in Oregon, Washington and California. Prior to that, he was president and chief executive officer of PNGC Power since 2002, an energy cooperative located in Portland, Ore., providing power management services to electric distribution utilities in seven Western states. He has served as an aide to U.S. Sen. Mark O. Hatfield, handling issues associated with the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and in different capacities at the U.S. Department of the Interior, including deputy director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. He earned a bachelor’s in political science with an emphasis in economics from the University of Washington and completed executive training at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. Reiten is a board member of the Oregon Business Council, Oregon Associated Industries and Greenlight Greater Portland and others.

Steve Wright
Steve Wright was appointed administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration in 2002. Prior to that he served 13 months as acting administrator, senior vice president for Corporate from 1998-2000, manager of BPA's Washington, D.C., office between 1990 and 1998 and manager of the BPA’s California office between 1987 and 1990. He started his career at BPA in 1981 in the conservation office. Wright graduated from Central Michigan University in 1979 with a bachelor’s in journalism and received his masters in public affairs from the University of Oregon in 1981.

Members

Jim Abrahamson
Jim Abrahamson has been the Oregon energy partnership coordinator for the Community Action Partnership of Oregon (CAPO) since 2004. CAPO provides energy benefits to low-income Oregonians. He has nearly 20 years of experience in the electric utility industry in a variety of capacities. He was manager of strategic planning systems at Cinergy / PSI Energy in Indianapolis, Indiana. He also worked at Pacific Power where he was responsible for long-term economic and electric load forecasting, strategic planning, public policy, and the administration of the company’s first integrated resource planning process. He chairs the Portland Utilities Review Board advising the Portland City Council on issues related to low-income utility assistance programs. He has a masters of science in economics and a bachelor of science in economics from Portland State University.

Richard Beam
Richard Beam is the director of Energy Management Services at Providence Health & Services, an $8-billion organization. He has served as Providence’s energy manager for the last 13 years, working with facilities directors, utility companies and energy service providers in the Northwest and Alaska. In 2008, Providence received the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for Excellence in Energy Management. Beam has more than 30 years experience in energy-related fields including energy and mechanical design and applications engineering; construction and contract management and electric utility account management. He was named 2007 Energy Manager of the Year for the Association of Energy Engineers’ Western Region. He has an MBA and degrees and certificates in mechanical engineering, communications and business. He has served on the NW Energy Efficiency Alliance board of directors for six years.

Ralph Cavanagh
Ralph Cavanagh is a senior attorney and co-director of the Natural Resource Defense Council’s energy program, which he joined in 1979. Cavanagh has been a visiting professor of law at Stanford and UC Berkeley and a lecturer on law at the Harvard Law School. He has also been a faculty member for the University of Idaho’s Public Utility Executives Course for more than a decade. From 1993-2003, he served on the U.S. Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board and is a member of the National Commission on Energy Policy. He is currently on the boards of the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, the California Clean Energy Fund, the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, the Energy Center of Wisconsin, the Northwest Energy Coalition and the Renewable Northwest Project. He has received numerous awards including the Lifetime Achievement in Energy Efficiency Award from California’s Flex Your Power Campaign, the Northwest Energy Coalition’s Headwaters Award, and the Bonneville Power Administration’s Award for Exceptional Public Service. He is a graduate of Yale College and the Yale Law School.

Lisa Coltart
Lisa Coltart was appointed director of Power Smart at BC Hydro in August 2006. Power Smart is responsible for leading BC Hydro’s conservation and energy efficiency efforts. Power Smart offers a variety of programs to residential, commercial and industrial customers helping them to reduce energy consumption and to be more energy efficient. The goal is to develop and foster a conservation culture in British Columbia. Previously, Coltart was vice president, finance and corporate secretary of General Hydrogen, a private fuel cell company. She held senior positions at Crystal Decisions, Fletcher Challenge Canada and PricewaterhouseCoopers between 1989 and 2001. She also serves on the board of directors of the Vancouver Community College.

Randal Douthit
Randall Douthit is group vice president for Fred Meyer Stores, based in Portland, Ore. Fred Meyer, a division of the Kroger Co., is one of the largest grocery retailers in the U.S. serving five Western states with combined food, apparel and general merchandise. Born and raised in Coos Bay, Ore., Douthit is a 1989 graduate of Oregon State University with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering. Following graduation, he held a variety of engineering, technology and operations assignments with United Parcel Service, both domestically and internationally. He joined Fred Meyer in 1995 as an industrial engineer and subsequently moved to distribution center manager, director of logistics engineering and assistant vice president of industrial engineering for Fred Meyer. He was named group vice president of facility engineering in 2003.

Bill Drummond
Bill Drummond is the manager of Western Montana Electric Generating and Transmission Cooperative in Missoula, Mont. Western Montana G&T provides power planning and representation for its seven members; six rural cooperatives and one tribal utility in Montana. Western Montana G&T’s members serve over 100,000 electric consumers. Drummond’s duties include power and transmission contract negotiation and administration, policy analysis and lobbying. He also provides consulting services to publicly-owned utilities. Prior to joining Western Montana G&T, Drummond was the manager of the Public Power Council in Portland, Ore. He has degrees in forestry from the University of Montana and economics from the University of Arizona.

Melinda Eden
Melinda Eden was appointed as Oregon Council member to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in 2003. She served as vice-chair in 2004 and as Council chair in 2005. She now chairs on the Council's Power Committee. As a previous member of the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission, she served as chair from 2002 until joining the Council. As a practicing attorney, she concentrated in hazardous substances law and previously worked as a newspaper and Associated Press reporter and editor. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Maryland and a law degree from the University of Oregon.

Steve Eldrige
Steve Eldrige has been the general manager and chief executive officer of the Umatilla Electric Cooperative (UEC) since 1990. He has over 35 years of electric utility experience. UEC provides more energy to irrigated agriculture than any other cooperative in the West. Eldrige serves on a number of boards, including chairing the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association Government Affairs Committee. He serves on the boards of Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative, Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee and represents UEC on the BPA Efficiency Program Improvement Plan Committee.

Paul Elias
Paul Elias is currently general manager of McMinnville Water and Light. He has 40 years of experience in the utility industry, with both public and investor-owned companies. He has served as general manager of Snohomish Public Utility District, the Turlock Irrigation District and as division manager for Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Additionally he is a principle in Organization Dynamics, LLP. He is the immediate past president of the Oregon Municipal Electric Utilities, director of Perteet, Inc., director of the Public Power Council and has served as director of the American Public Power Association and the California Municipal Utilities Association. He holds a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering and a master of science in organization development.

Claire Fulenwider
Claire Fulenwider was appointed executive director of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) in May 2008. NEEA is a non-profit organization working to encourage the development and adoption of energy-efficient products and services. Fulenwider has 30 years of leadership experience in the energy industry. After completing her doctorate in political science/public policy at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, she served as director of energy policy research at the Wisconsin Center for Public Policy, where she managed various grants related to conservation, renewable energy and appropriate technology. At Madison Gas and Electric, she was hired as manager of conservation services with a staff of one in the early 1980s -- growing that to a department of 50 -- and into a division which included marketing and customer services. During this period she was instrumental in creating the Energy Center of Wisconsin, a successful regional organization around energy efficiency. Fulenwider also served as a principal and head of the Madison Xenergy office and then A&C Enercom. Moving to Wisconsin Power and Light as vice president of business development, she also assumed responsibilities as president and chief operating officer of Heartland Energy Group, where she was instrumental in the successful merger of Cargill and Heartland. More recently, she has been involved in consulting and lecturing around energy efficiency, including training and development projects on energy efficiency with the American Public Power Association and for U.S. AID in five states in India.

Bill Gaines
Bill Gaines was appointed director of Tacoma Public Utilities (TPU) in 2007. In this role, he serves as the chief executive officer of the municipal enterprise comprising the power, water and rail utilities for the city of Tacoma, Wash. Prior to that, he served as Tacoma Power superintendent, responsible for management and administration of the municipal electric utility serving 160,000 customers in Tacoma and surrounding communities. From 2004-2006, he had senior management roles at Seattle City Light and from 2004 through 2005, he was City Light’s power management executive. In this capacity, he directed the utility’s bulk wholesale power supply activities including long-term resource planning, power and transmission contracting, energy trading and risk management.

Margie Harris
Margie Harris is executive director of the Energy Trust of Oregon. She was the Trust’s first permanent staff member in November 2001. Harris began work in energy conservation and renewable energy development at the time of the 1973 oil embargo. She helped craft Oregon’s first energy conservation legislation while working at the Oregon Department of Energy. Subsequently, she was the marketing and outreach director promoting renewable energy for the Western Solar Utilization Network. As assistant to former Portland Commissioner Mike Lindberg, she was instrumental in establishing the city of Portland’s first energy policies and programs, including Portland Energy Conservation, Inc. (PECI). Prior to joining Energy Trust, Harris was a management consultant with Arthur Young & Company, finance and administration director for Portland Parks and Recreation and executive director of marketing and customer service at TriMet, Portland's regional transportation district. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources.

Erin Holland
Erin Holland is the general manager and executive vice president of Edelman Public Relations in Portland. As general manager, she is responsible for strengthening Edelman’s leadership presence in the Northwest and plays a leading role for several large clients including Microsoft, Autodesk, Acxiom, Oregon Bridge Delivery Partners, NorthernStar Natural Gas and Columbia Sportswear, and formerly for Port of Portland, Vulcan and lucy. She has 19 years experience in public relations. Prior to joining Edelman, Holland was a vice president with Fleishman-Hillard, overseeing corporate, crisis and technology PR for clients such as Sun Microsystems and iPlanet. Previous to Fleishman-Hillard, she spent 11 years at Waggener Edstrom as a senior vice president, working on many segments of the Microsoft account. Holland sits on the board of directors for the North Clackamas Education Foundation, for the University of Oregon Journalism Advancement Council and for the Oregon Sports Authority. She holds a bachelor of science in journalism from the University of Oregon

Fred Kiga
Fred C. Kiga is vice president of State and Local Government Relations and Global Corporate Citizenship for The Boeing Company. Prior to his appointment as vice president, Kiga served as Boeing’s director of State and Local Government in the Northwest Region. Before coming to Boeing, he was director of corporate and government relations for Russell Investment Group, a position he held from 2003 through 2007. From 1997 through 2000, he served as the director of the Washington state Department of Revenue and then became the chief of staff for former Washington state Gov. Gary Locke from 2001 to 2003. He has also worked for Arthur Andersen LLP and Washington Mutual Bank in various capacities. Kiga has earned three degrees from the University of Washington, including a bachelor’s and master’s in Business Administration and a juris doctor. He currently serves on a number of professional/civic boards and commissions, including the University of Washington Board of Regents, the Association of Washington Business and the Cascade Land Conservancy.

Paul Kjellander
Paul Kjellander was recently appointed by Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter as administrator of the new state Office of Energy Resources. He previously was a member and president of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission. Kjellander was elected to three terms in the Idaho House of Representatives where he served as a member of the House State Affairs, Judiciary and Rules, Ways and Means, Local Government and Transportation committees. During his last term in office, he was elected House Majority Caucus Chairman. Kjellander has also served as director of Boise State University’s College of Applied Technology Distance Learning, interim program head of broadcast technology, station manager of BSU Radio Network, director of the Special Projects Unit for BSU Radio, executive producer/newscaster for BSU Radio and director of News and Public Affairs. His undergraduate degrees from Muskingum College, Ohio, were in communications, psychology and art. He holds a master’s degree in telecommunications from Ohio University.

Warren Kline
Warren Kline is vice president of Customer Service and Regional Operations of Idaho Power. He is a 34-year Idaho Power veteran who began his career in the customer service department. He became a member of the Delivery Business Unit's senior leadership team in 1989 when he was named division accounting manager. Since then he has held positions of increasing responsibility including manager of division accounting, customer service manager and general manager of customer service and metering. In 2002 he was promoted to general manager of regional operations. In his current role Kline leads approximately 780 employees in the Customer Services Center, Metering, Lines Support and Regional Operations.

Bill Nicholson
Bill Nicholson is the vice president of Portland General Electric’s Customers and Economic Development division. He oversees service to all customer markets, retail renewable power sales, distributed generation, demand side initiatives, customer research and analysis, internet strategy and economic development. Nicholson was named vice president in May 2007. He joined PGE in 1980 as an engineer at the Trojan Nuclear Plant. During his 28 years with PGE, he has served in a variety of capacities, including project manager for PGE's Resource Development and general manager of Engineering for PGE's power plants and as general manager of PGE's Western Region Line Operations. Nicholson is currently on the board of Associated Oregon Industries and Earth Advantage, an Oregon-based nonprofit that promotes sustainability and conservation by helping builders apply green-building principles. A registered professional engineer, he earned a bachelor of science in nuclear engineering from Oregon State University and has successfully completed the Harvard University Program on Negotiation, the Utility Executive program from the University of Idaho and the American Leadership Forum, where he serves as a senior fellow.

Sara Patton
Sara Patton has led the NW Energy Coalition as its executive director since 1993. The coalition is a regional alliance of conservation, low-income and consumer advocate organizations, utilities, businesses, communities of faith and citizen activists. It has more than 100 member organizations primarily from Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and British Columbia. For 15 years prior to that, Patton worked in energy efficiency at Seattle City Light. She is a member of the Washington State Bar Association and holds degrees from Antioch School of Law and Reed College. Before settling down in clean energy policy, she worked for PRIM Laundry in Seattle as a mangle operator, for Excursion Inlet Packing Company near Hoonah, Alaska as a salmon canner, for West Side Alliance Day Care Center in New York City as a day care teacher and for the Honorable Shirley Chisholm in Washington DC as a legal intern. She is a member of the Seattle City Light Advisory Board, along with the boards of Save Our Wild Salmon and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. She also received the 2006 Helen H. Jackson Woman of Valor Award.

Robert Rowe
Robert (Bob) Rowe was named president and chief executive officer of NorthWestern Energy on August 13, 2008. Prior to joining NorthWestern, Rowe co-founded a national financial and policy consulting firm, working with many companies around the country, including, in recent years, NorthWestern. Rowe left the firm in order to join NorthWestern. He has 20-plus years of energy and utility industry experience, was formerly chairman and commissioner of the Montana Public Service Commission (from 1993-2004), and also served as president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). He holds a Juris Doctor from University of Oregon and a bachelor of arts in history and political science from Lewis and Clark College.

John Savage
John Savage was appointed to the Oregon Public Utility Commission in 2003, after serving as director of the agency’s 70-person regulatory staff. Before joining the commission, Savage was director of the Oregon Department of Energy for eight years under Oregon Governors Roberts and Kitzhaber. He has served on several state, regional and national energy task forces including Oregon Governor Kulongoski’s Climate Change Task Force and President Clinton’s Alternative Fuels Task Force technical advisory committee. Savage chairs the Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body, which advises FERC, NERC, and WECC on mandatory reliability standards; the Electricity Committee of the Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners; and the Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation – a joint committee of the Western Interstate Energy Board (the energy arm of the Western Governors Association) and the Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners. Savage has an M.S. in natural resource economics.

Cal Shirley
Calvin Shirley is the vice president, Energy Efficiency Service for Washington-based Puget Sound Energy (PSE.), the utility subsidiary of Puget Energy, a Fortune 1000 company. Shirley leads PSE’s award-winning and nationally-recognized energy-efficiency programs that are serving the region’s growing energy needs by helping customers conserve electricity and natural gas. Prior to joining PSE in 2002, Shirley held senior-level positions with Snohomish County Public Utility District, Seattle City Light, the city of Seattle and King county. He is a member of the board of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and Leadership Tomorrow. Shirley is a graduate of the University of Washington.

Brian Skeahan
Brian Skeahan was named general manager at Cowlitz Public Utility District in 2005. He has been with the PUD since 2003 and was previously the assistant general manager. A native of Nebraska, he graduated from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where he earned a bachelor of arts in political science/public administration. He later received a masters in public administration from the University of Oregon. He has 26 years in the public utility business, including the last 21 as a general manager. His career began at Springfield Utility Board in Springfield, Ore., in 1982. In 1987, he became the general manager of the utility division for the city of Wahoo, Neb. He later became general manager of Klickitat PUD in Goldendale, Wash., in 1994 and was there nine years before moving to Cowlitz County.

George Smith
George F. Smith is president and chief executive officer of NORPAC Foods, Inc., headquartered in Stayton, Ore. He is a member of the American Frozen Food Institute’s board of directors and a director of the Frozen Food Foundation. He has been active in the Northwest Food Processors Association as its chairman in 2006 as well as serving on numerous committees of the association. A graduate of Oregon State University with a bachelor of science in business administration and a minor in food science, Smith joined NORPAC in 1978 in the Operations division.

Matt Steuerwalt
Matt Steuerwalt is the executive policy advisor to Washington Gov. Gregoire. He joined the policy office in 2005 and advises the governor on energy, telecommunications, financial institutions and climate change. From 1997 to 2005, he worked as an advisor on energy and telecommunications matters for the Washington state attorney general's office. He has taught graduate courses in environmental policy at the University of Washington, Evans School of Public Affairs and worked in consulting firms in Maryland and Colorado.

Phil Welker
Phil Welker is the executive director of Portland Energy Conservation Inc. (PECI). PECI is a non-profit corporation that specializes in innovative approaches to energy and resource efficiency. Welker’s background includes working as a consultant for utility and government organizations developing utility energy services business plans and marketing programs. In addition to leading PECI, he participates in a variety of efficiency industry forums. He serves as the executive director for the California Commissioning Collaborative, a group of utility, government, and private industry representatives working to develop cost-effective programs and a service delivery infrastructure to facilitate the commissioning of new and existing buildings in California. He also sits on the board of directors for the Building Commissioning Association and the board of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council. He has previously served on the boards of the Renewable Northwest Project and the Northwest Energy Coalition.

Brady Wiseman
Brady Wiseman is in his second term in the Montana House of Representatives where he serves on the Energy and Telecomm Interim Committee. A 25-year veteran of the software industry, Wiseman is employed full time as a software engineer at RightNow Technologies, where he has a patent pending. Wiseman has prior work experience as an entrepreneur and consultant with numerous Wall Street banks.

Roger Woodworth
Roger Woodworth is the vice president for sustainable energy solutions at Spokane-based Avista Utilities. He began his utility career as a fish and wildlife biologist, conducting environmental studies for energy project licensing. Through the years, he’s served various leadership roles including: corporate communications; strategic counsel; corporate development officer; and vice president of operations. Woodworth is active in several professional and community organizations including serving as the vice chair of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance board, chair of Edison Electric Institute’s executive advisory committee on strategic issues, past-chair and trustee of the Inland Northwest Community Foundation and chair of the Spokane Mayor's Task Force on Sustainability. He earned a bachelor of science in wildlife biology from Washington State University and is an alumnus of Columbia University’s Senior Executive Program.