Debbie Brodt-Giles, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Debbie Brodt-Giles is the Group Manager for DATA: Data, Analytics, Tools, and Applications within the Strategic Energy Analysis Center at NREL. She is a leader in the fields of data-driven software platforms, data accessibility standards, and cloud computing and helps ensure that every tool developed will help enable new data analyses and innovative entrepreneurial advancements. Ms. Brodt-Giles' team engineers data management systems, software solutions, web applications, data visualizations and cloud computing solutions that help analysts and researchers perform computations, simulations, data science, and modeling. Debbie is the lead for the Open Energy Data Initiative, which is part of LF Energy and sponsored by the U.S Department of Energy, and is focused on providing access to large-scale open energy datasets in an effort to improve analysis, access, and computation. She holds a B.S. in business administration and marketing from California State University.

John Ellersick, Next Rung Technology

John Ellersick, PE and PMP, is the Founder and President of Next Rung Technology, an engineering, execution and consulting services group focused on helping partners and clients accelerate the commercialization of sustainable next-generation technologies such as renewable chemicals, fuels, foods, materials, and water technologies. During John’s career he has been a generator, user, and steward of key data assets and intellectual property of those producing renewable platform chemicals and fuels (Biometics cellulosic to levulinic acid, Myriant succinic acid, Mascoma cellulosic ethanol); emerging technologies in the environmental and water industries (Oasys Water, Forward Osmosis); and currently replacement animal proteins and next-generation materials. John has an M.S. in engineering management from Tufts University, a B.S. in chemical engineering from Northeastern University, and is a passionate Project Management Professional (PMP) and registered Professional Engineer (PE).

Kjiersten Fagnan, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Dr. Kjiersten Fagnan, PhD, MBA is the Chief Informatics Officer and Data Science and Informatics Leader at the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI). She is also the Infrastructure Lead for the National Microbiome Data Collaborative (NMDC). Kjiersten is responsible for ensuring that the JGI and NMDC have the necessary infrastructure to make high-quality environmental omics data and metadata available to the broader community. Her background is in applied mathematics and computer science, and she has worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 2010. Kjiersten received her B.A. in applied mathematics and MBA from the University of California, Berkeley and her Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Washington.

Kimberly J. Graber, U. S. Department of Energy (DOE)

Kim Graber currently serves as legal counsel for the DOE Golden Field Office, in Golden, CO. Her practice focuses on energy efficiency and renewable energy issues, including legal support for DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office, Federal Energy Management Program, and Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs. Prior to joining DOE in 2005, Ms. Graber was employed as legal counsel for the National Wildlife Federation in Boulder, Colorado, where  her practice targeted primarily endangered species and Clean Water Act issues.  Ms. Graber has also worked with private civil litigation firms in Colorado and Arizona. Ms. Graber earned her B.S. degree in business administration and her J.D. from Arizona State University. She is a member of the Arizona and Colorado bars. 

Charles Tait Graves, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Charles Tait Graves litigates trade secret disputes and provides intellectual property counseling on complex trade secret matters as a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. For more than two decades, he has handled countless trade secret matters in Silicon Valley and around the country. Through litigation and publications, he has helped shape California's trade secret laws by advancing creative theories on issues such as claim identification, statutory preemption of alternative causes of action, the meaning of the statutory phrase "threatened misappropriation," expert damages opinions, choice of law, bad-faith claims, and the application of Business & Professions Code Section 16600 in various contexts. Tait has counseled a vast number of companies on pre-dispute counseling, internal investigations, workforce training, policy development, clean room planning, advising new start-ups and company founders, hiring and mobility, international questions, restrictive covenants, pre-acquisition diligence, and due diligence for venture capital firms. Mr. Graves received his B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley and his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Doug Laney, Caserta

Doug Laney is the Principal Data Strategist for Caserta and is a best-selling author and recognized authority on data and analytics strategy. He advises senior IT, business, and data leaders on data monetization and valuation, data management and governance, alternative data, analytics best practices, and information innovation. Doug’s book, Infonomics: How to Monetize, Manage, and Measure Information for Competitive Advantage, was selected by CIO Magazine as the “Must-Read Book of the Year.” Previously, Doug was a Distinguished Analyst with Gartner’s Chief Data Officer research and advisory team. He also launched and managed the Deloitte Analytics Institute, and has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Financial Times among other journals. Doug has guest-lectured at major business schools around the world and is now a visiting professor with the University of Illinois Gies College of Business where he teaches “Infonomics” and “Business Analytics Executive Overview” courses, also available online via Coursera. Doug has a B.S. in software engineering and business administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Julia Cook Moody, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

Julia Moody serves as the Deputy Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property for DOE's field office in Golden, CO, where she handles intellectual property matters for DOE program officials in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Ms. Moody's expertise includes technology transfer, patent prosecution, trademarks, and licensing. Prior to her position with EERE, Ms. Moody was a patent attorney at DOE in Washington, D.C. Her practice there included patent prosecution, trademarks, and transactional work, including work on the Human Genome Project and  the Artificial Retina Project. Ms. Moody earned her B.S. degree in biology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and her J.D. from Georgetown University. She is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and is a member of the Virginia bar.

Didier Navez, Dawex

Didier Navez is Senior Vice President of Strategy and Alliances at Dawex, a company pioneering the data economy and the leading provider of data exchange and marketplace technology. As a thought leader in the domain of digital and data strategy, data monetization, ecommerce and mobile, Didier worked for over 10 years with leading technology research firms Gartner and Forrester, advising business and technology leaders in their digital transformation journeys, across Europe and North America. He previously had leading roles at international consultancies and technology firms, including CSG International and Texas Instruments. Didier holds an MBA from Solvay Brussels School with a specialization in Finance.