Wednesday, March 7 │ 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Panel: Introduction to Smart City San Diego
Learn how Smart City San Diego is positioning the region to become the model for how cooperation and innovation can bring more efficient, reliable and sustainable energy to everyday living. Smart City San Diego is a multi-year collaborative combining the resources of a broad mix of organizations to develop and implement local initiatives that will drive economic growth, empower consumers, and assert San Diego as a clean energy leader. The collaboration’s partners include City of San Diego, SDG&E, GE, UC San Diego and CleanTECH San Diego. By maximizing synergies, the initiative is driving existing energy programs, identifying new opportunities, embracing additional collaborators and moving the region beyond today’s boundaries of sustainability. Join this panel to gain insight on the initiative’s objectives, challenges and successes.
http://smartcitysd.org.
Panelists:
 | Jim Avery Senior Vice President, Power Supply
SDG&E
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James P. Avery is senior vice president, electric, for San Diego Gas & Electric. Prior to joining SDG&E in 2001, Avery was a consultant with R.J. Rudden Associates, one of the nation's leading management and economic consulting firms specializing in energy and utility matters. Avery has extensive experience in utility operations and management. He was the chief executive officer of the electric and gas operations at Citizens Utilities Company, a multi-service organization that provided electric, gas, telecom, water and wastewater services in 21 states across the nation. He also held various positions at American Electric Power. Avery is a member of the board of directors of the California Power Exchange, and High Tech High. He also is a senior member of the Association of Energy Engineers, and a member of both the National Society of Professional Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Avery is a graduate of the Executive Management Program at Dartmouth College and holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from Manhattan College.
 | Lisa Bicker
Smart City San Diego Consultant
CleanTECH San Diego | |  |
Prior to joining CleanTECH San Diego, Bicker was president of the California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF), a private nonprofit corporation formed to accelerate investment in California’s clean energy economy. Before joining CalCEF, Bicker was a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of TruePricing, Inc. an energy technology company. Prior to that, Bicker served as Chief Operating Officer of NewEnergy, Inc., a high-growth, retail electricity provider that grew to over $800 million in revenues prior to its acquisition by AES. Constellation NewEnergy is now the largest retail electricity provider in the United States. Ms. Bicker has also served as General Counsel to California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance (CCEEB), a non-profit advocacy group founded by Edmund G. “Pat” Brown. Prior to that, she served as senior writer for Governor George Deukmejian.
 | David Graham
Senior Policy Advisor
Office of the Mayor | | |
Having worked for both a former Mayor of San Diego and a Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, David Graham is an experienced local government advisor. A veteran of many campaigns David became the Senior Policy Advisor to the Fifth District Supervisor of San Diego County. There he specialized in land use and worked closely on hundreds of projects with applicants, environmental organizations, community members, and county staff, to find successful ways to see projects to approval in one of the fastest growing areas of San Diego County. An expert in public affairs, David's experience includes, land use entitlement, government and media relations, polling, political consulting, issue advocacy, and crisis communication.
 | Deb Tatum Account Director
Digital Energy, GE | |  |
Deb Tatum is the Account Director for GE Energy's Digital Energy business in Southern California. The Digital Energy business provides integrated smart grid solutions and reliable power delivery systems to electric utility, oil & gas, critical infrastructure and industrial sectors.
As Account Director she is responsible for crafting and executing the sales strategy for the GE Digital Energy’s utility business in S California. Deb has spent 20 years with GE in multiple sales and leadership roles in two GE businesses, GE Energy and GE Electrical Distribution & Control, now known as Industrial Solutions. Her career also spans her roles as Director, Global Sales Operations at Brooks Automation and Director, Sales and Marketing at Avistar, a former subsidiary of PNM Resources. Deb holds a B.S. degree from Troy University, a Masters in Education from Auburn University and her MBA from the University of Phoenix.
Byron Washom is responsible for energy management policy to achieve the campus' goals for quantum improvements in energy management and Greenhouse Gas reductions. Prior to UCSD, Mr. Washom was the CEO for twenty years of a due diligence firm that specialized in CleanTech, and he served as Sr. International Advisor to the World Bank and DOE. He is a four time Rockefeller Foundation Grantee and a former Heinz Endowment Grantee for early commercialization of CleanTech into developing countries. Mr. Washom was also Founder and President of Advanco Corp which in 1984 set the long-standing world records for solar electric conversion efficiency at 29.4% and subsequently achieved an IR100 Award. He was the 2008 Recipient of UCSD’s Citizen of the Year Award for Sustainability, and he was a Visiting Faculty Member at the Rady School of Management while teaching the graduate level course, The Business of Renewable Energy.