Below are the confirmed speakers for the April 6 ArcticX webinar, Doing Business with DOE in the Arctic.
Jigar Shah
Director, Loan Programs Office, U.S. Department of Energy
Jigar Shah was most recently co-founder and President at Generate Capital, where he focused on helping entrepreneurs accelerate decarbonization solutions through the use of low-cost infrastructure-as-a service financing. Prior to Generate Capital, Jigar founded SunEdison, a company that pioneered “pay as you save” solar financing. After SunEdison, Jigar served as the founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, a global non-profit founded by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite to help entrepreneurs address climate change. Originally from Illinois, Jigar holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois-UC and an MBA from the University of Maryland College Park.
Ron Pierce
Director, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, U.S. Department of Energy
Prior to OSDBU, Ron Pierce served as an independent management consultant, where he led efforts to address issues on environmental and climate change for several small businesses and military veteran lawmakers. He spent five years as Senior Director of PBS Veterans and Small Business Initiatives on the Station Services Team. Ron led the national planning, coordination, and implementation efforts for member stations and other public media partners across the country. Over the course of two high-profile presidential campaigns, he was the national director of small business, veterans, and military family outreach programs at the DNC.
He earned his B.S. in Behavioral Human Services from U. S. Military Academy at West Point, NY, and holds a Master of International Affairs from The Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, CA. A combat veteran, Ron spent 11 years as a U.S. Army Officer.
Tim Leach
Transportation Lead, Launch Alaska
Tim Leach brings over 15 years of experience working in the energy sector for non-profit, for-profit, and state-owned corporations and academia. Through his own business under contract with the Alaska Energy Authority, Tim leads the Alaska Electric Vehicle Working Group to bring diverse stakeholders together with the goal of reducing barriers to vehicle electrification. Tim is also an adjunct faculty member for the Alaska Center for Energy and Power where he works on projects related to beneficial electrification, utility emissions reduction strategy, and energy policy.
Tim graduated from the Vermont Law School in 2019 where he achieved a Master of Energy Regulation and Law with Distinction. During his schooling he focused on innovative energy policy and utility programming, electric vehicles, and climate law. He applies this academic training and his experience as a non-profit consumer advocate, a state energy specialist, and an energy consultant to his current initiatives.
Eric Payne
Senior Licensing Executive, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Eric Payne joined NREL’s Technology Transfer Office in 2009, taking on the role of team lead in 2012. Since then, he has led his team to great success in licensing NREL inventions to commercial partners as well as in facilitating agreements between NREL researchers and industry. In his role, Eric manages NREL’s portfolio of bioenergy, chemicals, polymers, and hydrogen fuel cell technologies. More specifically, Eric helps scientists understand how intellectual property rights can be leveraged to advance their research and magnify the impact of DOE innovations.
Mary Yamada
Chief of Staff, Office of Technology Transitions, U.S. Department of Energy
Mary Ashe Yamada is responsible for helping execute and manage the commercialization priorities set by U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE's) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT). Prior to joining OTT in June 2021, Mary served as a Technology to Market Advisor at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) where she helped prepare innovative energy technologies for transition from the lab to the market. In addition, Mary was integral to the creation of ARPA-E’s program SCALEUP – Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential. The program builds from ARPA-E’s primary research and development (R&D) focus to support the scaling of high-risk and potentially disruptive new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications.
Prior to ARPA-E, Mary served as an Associate Director for Navigant Consulting’s Energy Practice. There she managed technology transformation efforts and developed long-term program plans for the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Her work focused on conducting engineering and technology assessments, market evaluations, and economic impact analysis for innovative energy technologies. Before serving as Associate Director, Mary was a Data Services Manager in the firm’s Energy practice. In that role, she led the management, organization, and development of the practice’s Data Services Solution Offering, which included data products such as an energy efficiency technology price index, energy storage deployment tracker, and a global grid infrastructure monitor.
George Roe
Director, Arctic Energy Office, U.S. Department of Energy
George Roe joined DOE from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he has been a member of the research faculty since 2013, with the Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP). His work at ACEP has focused on development, adaptation and integration of energy system. George was part of the leadership team responsible for planning and implementation of the DOE Alaska National Lab Day in 2018.
He holds joint appointments at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Prior to joining UAF in 2013, George served in various engineering and management roles at Boeing for 35 years in research and development of aerospace-related energy subsystem technologies. George holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington.
Dr. James Zahler
Associate Director for Technology-to-Market, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. James Zahler is responsible for oversight of all or ARPA-E's Technology-to-Market activities. He is also responsible for advising teams within the Full-Spectrum Optimized Conversion and Utilization of Sunlight (FOCUS) and OPEN portfolios, which include photovoltaic (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), and heat engine technologies. Additionally, James supports performers in the Micro-Scale Optimized Solar-Cell Arrays with Integrated Concentration (MOSAIC) portfolio, which is designed to develop novel PV and optics technologies for concentrated photovoltaics (CPV).
James joined ARPA-E from GT Advanced Technologies in Merrimack, NH. As the Senior Director of Product Technology, he managed research and application development activities for industrial sapphire materials and growth equipment. These activities included leadership in equipment design, process development, and materials characterization for projects that supported more than $250 million in equipment sales. James also played a key role in adapting and scaling-up ASF™ technology in support of GT’s contract with a Fortune 50 consumer electronics manufacturer.
Victor Kane
Commercialization Programs Team Lead, Office of Technology Transitions, U.S. Department of Energy
Victor Kane works with DOE program offices and national laboratories to develop and manage external funding programs and activities. The team is responsible for implementing the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), Energy I-Corps, Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC), and other technology-agnostic programs seeking to bring impactful energy technologies to market.
Prior to joining OTT Victor served as the acting program manager for the Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) Manufacturing and Competitiveness team, having spent the previous three years helping establish the American-Made Challenges Solar Prize and the American-Made Network. Victor’s work focused on helping solar innovators make their products and processes more attractive to private investors, as well as gain the resources and develop the skills needed to succeed through commercialization. Victor joined the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) in 2010 and led the expansion of the SETO Incubator program over 11 rounds of funding.
