Toyah Callahan is the program director of the Sustainable Energy Action Committee (SEAC) at the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). She also works on two other US Department of Energy-funded local government programs called SolSmart and EV Smart. Callahan was the senior project manager at The Solar Foundation prior to the merger of the two organizations in 2021. Prior to joining The Solar Foundation, she worked as a renewable energy specialist at Arcadia Power, recruiting solar and wind energy clients.

Callahan was one of the 2020 recipients of the 40 Under 40 Energy Award. She was selected out of 175 professionals nationwide and recognized as a leader for work in America’s transition to clean energy. Callahan has also served as a judge for the US Department of Energy’s Solar District Cup collegiate design competition, evaluating nine student solar and storage proposals focusing on conceptual layout and optimization strategies. Callahan worked with the African Union’s Diaspora Health Initiative and developed an initiative to conduct research and analysis of rural health clinic electrification in Uganda.

Callahan is a member of the Women’s Council on Energy and Environment (WCEE) and Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (WRISE). She holds a master of science in sustainability management from Columbia University and a bachelor of science from the University of Connecticut. She was recently awarded the Galileo Master Certificate in Electric Vehicles from the Renewable Energy Institute.

Douglas Jaeger is president and CEO of Ulteig Engineers which provides engineering and technical services to the power, renewable energy, oil and gas, transportation, and water sectors. Prior to this role, Jaeger served as principal of AMP Advisors, CEO of Adolfson & Peterson Inc. (A&P), and held leadership positions in marketing, sales, operations, and business development with Xcel Energy, Exelon Corporation, and Honeywell, Inc.

Jaeger serves on the board of advisors for Computype, Inc. in St. Paul and the board of directors for CE Power Solutions in Cincinnati. He is also serving or has served on numerous non-profit boards including Minnesota Independent Schools Forum, Prodeo Academy, Minneapolis Children’s Theatre Company, and the Northern Star Council of Boy Scouts of America. In 2010, Twin Cities Business Magazine selected Doug as one of the “200 Minnesotans You Should Know” Honorees. In 2006, he was chosen as one of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” honorees for his achievements and dedication to the community.

Satish Jayaram  is the Vice President and General Manager for ABM’s eMobility and Microgrid  business. In this role, he is responsible for leading ABM’s turnkey infrastructure solutions for vehicle and fleet electrification business. Prior to joining ABM, Satish held several leadership positions over a period of 20 years at Cummins Inc., Where most recently, he led Growth Ventures and Innovation related to the company’s energy transition initiatives.  Learn more about Satish’s experience on LinkedIn.

Satish holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Accounting degree from Bharathiar University in India and completed The Wharton School’s General Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Rolf Nordstrom is president and CEO of the Great Plains Institute. He has nearly 30 years of experience in energy and sustainable development policy and practice in both governmental and nonprofit settings, including the U.S. Congress, the executive branch in Minnesota, and nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and abroad. Among his other duties, he currently leads GPI’s “e21 Initiative” to better align how utilities earn revenue with evolving customer demands and public policy goals. For much of his career Nordstrom has worked to broker agreement among disparate interests on difficult public policy issues. He has a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Carleton College and a master’s degree in international environmental policy from Tufts University.

Mothusi Pahl has over 20 years of experience in energy, climate tech, and investment banking. He currently leads Business Development and Government Affairs at Modern Hydrogen, an energy technology company backed by Bill Gates.

With a background in new technology introduction, commercialization, and public policy, Pahl is at the forefront of building businesses that address carbon dioxide emissions and enhance reliability in industrial operations, on-site power generation, and utilities. The former chief commercial officer at private equity firm B3\, Pahl has co-founded several companies and led go-to-market strategy for groundbreaking waste heat recovery company Alphabet Energy.

Pahl spent his early career in roles of increasing responsibility at Cummins (NYSE: CMI), where he led the company’s Power Generation division across 11 countries in southern Africa.

Pahl is an active alum of the StartX startup community at Stanford University and the Coro Center for Public Policy in San Francisco. Mothusi studied economics, math, and Chinese at Beijing University and University of California-Santa Cruz. He holds an MBA from Yale University, where he was recognized as a Kauffman-Jewett scholar with multiple distinctions, including environmental & land use law. Pahl currently serves on the boards of the Paris accelerator G&R and the Crowden Music School in Berkeley, California.

With more than 25 years of electric utility experience, Priti Patel oversees Great River Energy’s transmission business. Her responsibilities include oversight of all aspects of transmission, including investment strategy, planning, permitting, construction, maintenance, engineering, project management, and field and system operations.

Prior to joining GRE in 2017, Patel served in management roles at the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) in the areas of transmission system planning, competitive transmission development, and regulatory and member relations.

Prior to MISO, Patel served in management roles at Xcel Energy in the areas of transmission development, corporate strategy and planning, and as an assistant general counsel. She began her career as an attorney at the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and in a private law practice.

Patel also currently serves on the boards of directors for the Midwest Reliability Organization, a regional electric reliability council under North American Electric Reliability Corporation.

Deidre Sanders, PhD, has more than 20 years of experience in energy policy related to environmental justice, equity, and climate change. She is founder and principal of her own consulting firm, ArkSpring Consulting, which aids businesses, governments, and nonprofits in advancing environmental justice, economic justice, and social justice objectives. Previously, she served as Senior Managing Director of Energy Equity, Research, and Impacts at ILLUME Advising, and before that policy director at East Bay Community Energy Authority in Oakland, California. At East Bay Community Energy Authority, Sanders developed and implemented policy strategy to ensure the agency met objectives related to greenhouse gas reductions and community benefits. She was also the Environmental Justice Manager at Pacific Gas and Electric Company in San Francisco.

Sanders’ volunteer work includes the American Association of Blacks in Energy public policy committee. Previously she held a place on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and the California League of Conservation Voters.

She developed a tool, the Environmental Justice Community Continuum of Power, to help communities and community stakeholders assess their power relative to other stakeholders. While with ILLUME Advising she co-authored a paper on the challenges of siting electric vehicle service infrastructure in marginalized communities. Her other published articles include “Ignoring Environmental Justice Concerns is Risky Business,” which was published in Triple Pundit, and “Redefining Disadvantaged Communities” on the East Bay Community Energy blog.

Sanders earned her PhD in political science from Claremont Graduate University and her undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California.

Scott Zastoupil is the chief financial officer at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation (SPMF). Since joining the foundation in 2018 as controller, Zastoupil has ensured the foundation’s sound stewardship, financial leadership, regulatory compliance, risk management, and operational effectiveness.

Prior to joining SPMF, Zastoupil worked as a finance and accounting senior manager at RBC Global Asset Management and, before that, at Ernst & Young as an auditor in the asset management industry. He is a CPA and holds a master of accountancy and a bachelor of business administration–accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

As a volunteer, Zastoupil serves on the board of trustees of the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library and for TC Food Justice.

In his free time, he enjoys reading, learning new things, and traveling. Zastoupil also enjoys playing basketball and volleyball.

Christian Mitchell serves as the vice president for civic engagement for the University of Chicago. As vice president for civic engagement, he is responsible for overseeing the Office of Civic Engagement, including state and local government relations, as well as the Office of Business Diversity and Commercial Real Estate Operations. In this role, Mitchell is tasked with building civic engagement partnerships with academic and administrative units at the University and engaging community and corporate partners to build durable relationships and partnerships for economic opportunity on the South Side of Chicago and in the region. 

Source: Mitchell, Christian | UChicago Civic Engagement 

Charles Hua is the founder and executive director of PowerLines. Previously, Charles has advised the US Department of Energy on developing its grid modernization strategy, analyzed energy policy for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and advanced building electrification policy at Rewiring America. Additionally, Charles has advised Fortune 500 companies and international NGOs on sustainability issues and serves on the boards of Slipstream and Clean Wisconsin. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Charles organized a campaign that successfully petitioned his school district to become the largest in the US at the time with a 100 percent renewable energy commitment. For his work, Charles has been recognized by the White House as a 2018 US presidential scholar, by the Aspen Institute as a climate leader, and as an Energy News Network 40 Under 40 honoree. Charles holds an AB in statistics and mathematics from Harvard College.

Source: Mitchell, Christian | UChicago Civic Engagement