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Ambassadors and Speakers Bureau

The ASHB Ambassadors and Speakers Bureau brings together leading industry professionals able to speak at ASHB-endorsed conferences. The initiative helps provide a wealth of expertise to events in the “intelligent buildings, connected homes, IoT and smart cities” sector each year and continues to grow. Some of the current members of the ASHB Ambassadors and Speakers Bureau are listed below with their bios; contact us for information on how to join.

Also, if you are an event organizer and are interested in having an ASHB-affiliated speaker participate, please contact us. Your event can be included in the ASHB Events Calendar.

Speakers are encouraged to utilize ASHB Research to augment their presentation. A PowerPoint presentation of this research is available for download.

We periodically send a selection of these events to our “ambassadors and speakers” contacts, notifying them that there are several upcoming events that are looking for qualified speakers. Here is a list of some upcoming events with calls for speakers.

Parks Associates Future of Video Virtual & In-Person Sessions – Apply to Speak

Parks Associates Connected Health Summit Virtual & In-Person Sessions – Apply to Speak

Parks Associates Connections Virtual & In-Person Sessions – Apply to Speak

CEDIA Smart Home Technology Conference at CEDIA| September 5-7, 2024 | Denver, CO | Apply to Speak

Street and Area Lighting Conference | September 22-25, 2024 | Atlanta, GA | Apply to Speak

ARC Advisory Forums | Apply to Speak

BuiltWorlds Conference | Apply to Speak

Ambassadors and Speakers Members

Bob Allan

Vice President of Sales

Bob Allan, is the Vice President of Sales for NAVCO Inc., headquartered in Fullerton, CA, an industry leading security integrator. Bob is responsible for East Region sales management. Mr. Allan has over 15 years in the IT industry and worked at Honeywell Building Solutions from 2010 to 2013 helping customers optimize and integrate their buildings and the Siemon Company from 2013-2022 where he led the Intelligent Buildings and Strategic Alliances team.

Suzanne Alfano

Industry Director, Building Systems

Suzanne Alfano is the Industry Director, Building Systems with the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). She brings more than 25 years in standardization and conformity assessment, with a focus on harmonizing electrical code and product standards within the Council for Harmonization of Electrotechnical Standardization of the Nations of the Americas (CANENA) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) forums. She leverages opportunities for business growth and tackles key issues important to member organizations in domestic, regional, or global markets. Suzanne has also served as a consultant to develop rules to support enhanced Canadian provincial electrical safety regulations and as a Product Sections Manager for Electro-Federation Canada (EFC).

Michael Arny

Founder, Leonardo Academy

Michael Arny founded Leonardo Academy in 1997 and leads Leonardo Academy's sustainability programs and consulting practice. Michael has worked on energy, environmental issues, and sustainability throughout his entire career. After earning a BS and MS in mechanical engineering, as well as a BA in Psychology and Russian language at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Michael worked for the Wisconsin Public Service Commission for 14 years. He was co-chair of the State of Wisconsin committee that developed the State of Wisconsin Greenhouse Gas emissions inventory, emission reduction cost analysis, and the economic benefits analysis for emission reductions.

Ghazi Atallah

IT executive

Ghazi Atallah is a seasoned IT executive with over 20 years of experience in the IT and Telecommunications industry and a reputation as a driver of smart digital transformation in various lighthouse projects such as Smart Dubai, Smart Riyadh, and others. He is the founder & CEO of NXN (formerly neXgen), the region’s leading advisory and managed services organization in the field of smart cities and next‐generation technology innovation. Mr. Atallah is a proven leader with deep expertise in developing strong client relationships, and a passion to consult governments in building the strategies and master plans for realizing their smart city ambitions.

Debra Becker

Principal, Debra Becker Consulting

Seasoned sustainability leader in the design and construction space, exploring intersection of sustainability and agriculture through viticulture.

Rachel Berman

Sustainability Program Manager, Mecho

Rachel Berman is the Sustainability Program Manager at Mecho, the leading manufacturer of commercial window-covering systems. She oversees the company’s environmental sustainability initiatives, including the third-party product certification process for Cradle to Cradle, Declare Labels, and Health Product Declarations. Her drive stems from her extensive pursuit of the correlation between human health and the built environment for both materials and daylight. Rachel holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management and leads her local Civic Association’s Parks + Recreation committee in Long Island City, NY

James Brehm

Founder & Chief Technology Evangelist, James Brehm & Associates

James Brehm is Founder & Chief Technology Evangelist at James Brehm & Associates. An independent advisor and technology evangelist, Brehm is one of the leading voices on the state of the IoT and M2M market.

Brandy Burdeniuk

Chief Customer Officer, Green Business Certification Inc. Canada (GBCI Canada)

Brandy Burdeniuk is the Chief Customer Officer of Green Business Certification Inc. Canada (GBCI Canada) responsible for advancing green building and business practices nationally with trusted programs including: LEED Certification, TRUE Zero Waste Certification & Investor Confidence Project (ICP) for retrofits.

As an executive, industrial designer, entrepreneur and troublemaker Brandy has worked with leading designers, businesses, institutions & governments to excite them about creating, living, working, and thriving in healthy sustainable buildings.

Brandy is always eager to share her knowledge and experience, presenting to numerous audiences throughout North America. She is an engaging and entertaining speaker and is known for her ability to communicate challenging topics in a way that breaks down barriers to sustainability and gets people excited for change.

Matt Cable

Manager (Customer Technology and Innovation), Union Gas Limited

Matt Cable is the manager of customer technology and innovation for Union Gas Limited. In his role, he leads a group with a mandate to develop new technologies, innovations and energy solutions that will help the company better serve its customers and contribute to Ontario’s climate change goals. Matt uses his skills with energy modeling, measurement and verification, thermal scanning and building performance management to guide teams to low-energy solutions. He has a unique ability to explain complex technical concepts to design teams and facilitate the optimization of new and existing buildings.

Andres Carvallo

Founder and CEO, CMG

Andres Carvallo is the founder and CEO of CMG, a strategy consulting and advisory company focus on enabling Smart Grids, Smart Cities, Smart Utilities, and Smart Buildings. Carvallo has 30 years of experience in the Energy, Telecommunications, Computer and Software industries, has received 35 industry awards, has published 35 books, and is well known globally. Outside of CMG, Carvallo is an Adjunct Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas State University Ingram School of Engineering, an Innovator in Residence at Texas State University Material Applications Research Center, an Editor of Power Engineering and Building Technologies at Artech House, a Board Advisor at Texas State University Ingram School of Engineering.

Scott Cochrane

President and CEO, Cochrane Supply & Engineering

Scott Cochrane is President and CEO of Cochrane Supply & Engineering, a leading Smart Building Controls Supplier with locations throughout Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, as well as President of Canada Controls. Scott earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business with minors in Marketing and Finance from Eastern Michigan University and holds an additional minor in HVAC Technologies from Macomb Community College. In 2000, he took over the business from his father, Donald Cochrane, Sr., who founded the company in 1967. Scott is now an advisory council member for multiple industry manufacturers including Honeywell, Johnson Controls, and Tridium. He is also an IBcon Digital Impact Award Winner for going above and beyond to positively impact the smart building industry, as well as a winner of the ControlTrends Impact Person of the Year Award and Distributor Executive of the Year Award for his contributions to the industry.

Nicole Conklin

Product Director, Cochrane Supply & Engineering

Nicole Conklin is Product Director at Cochrane Supply & Engineering, and has been with the company for more than 20 years. For 15 of those years, Nicole has worked extensively with Niagara, licensing, tech support, integration support, standardization, emerging market support, OEM sales, and project take off. Her varied background within energy management, HVAC controls, and building automation makes her a recognized leader in the area. Nicole holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Science and Computer Information Systems, as well as numerous software programming certifications. She was also the recipient of Vykon by Tridium’s first-ever MVP Award in 2019 for Outstanding Individual Contribution, and was named ControlTrends 2019 Woman of the Year.

Dan Diehl

President & CEO

Dan Diehl, President & CEO at Aircuity, has thirty years of industry expertise across a wide variety of vertical markets and disciplines in commercial and light industrial building markets. Prior to Aircuity Dan led business development at Lutron Electronics, was a partner for six years with Synergy and also spent 11 years at Johnson Controls, Inc. Dan earned a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland and has an MBA from Villanova University.

Allen Dixon

Senior Director, Marketing and Partner Programs for Zinwave

Over a 30-year career in the telecommunications industry, Allen Dixon has held numerous positions including field engineering, product line management, marketing, and market development. He is currently Senior Director, Marketing and Partner Programs for Zinwave, working to expand the Zinwave brand and develop partnerships in the Enterprise space. A vocal proponent of the role of standards in industry, Allen is the co-founder and past chair of the HetNet Forum – a membership body within WIA – the Wireless Infrastructure Association – and a veteran of the ATM Forum, TIA, and IEEE standards organizations. Allen is a 1985 graduate of the University of Florida.

Slavko Djukic

DAS Expert, Zinwave

Slavko Djukic joined Zinwave in December 2016 and is an expert in DAS and small-cell systems, with 18 years’ experience in indoor wireless technology development. He most recently served as Ericsson’s head of strategy and solutions for small cells, DAS, and Wi-Fi. Prior to Ericsson, he served in a global technical role for Corning, where he was responsible for expanding the company’s global indoor building solutions, acted as the primary technical interface for indoor wireless experts around the world, and acted as the technical lead in Corning’s acquisition of Mobile Access. Slavko also held a leadership role with Powerwave, where he built and led the technical indoor and outdoor DAS solutions organizations for North, Central and South America. He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alabama and his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado.

David Eckell

Emerging Technology National Market Manager, Graybar Electric

David Eckell is the Emerging Technology National Market Manager for Graybar Electric, a leading North American distributor of electrical, industrial and communications infrastructure solutions. He is responsible for helping create and execute strategy for voice and data communications solutions across Graybar’s markets. He has more than 20 years of experience working for carriers, manufacturers and distributors in this space and is a regular presenter at industry conferences. David holds a degree in electrical engineering from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and an MBA from East Carolina University and is currently based in St Louis, MO.

Greg Fitzpatrick, CxA

Area Market Leader, Cochrane Supply & Engineering

Greg Fitzpatrick, CxA has worked in the Building Systems and Controls Business for over 25 years. He worked for Detroit Public Schools as a Chief Mechanical Designs/ Commissioning manager. He then went on to start BDC Engineering, a mechanical Solutions Provider specializing in providing technical and commissioning service to owners. Greg now works at Cochrane Supply & Engineering in business development supporting end users and consulting engineers with IoT and building integration.

Emmy Funk

Sustainability Coordinator, Mecho

Emmy Funk is the Sustainability Coordinator at Mecho, the leading manufacturer of commercial window-covering systems. As coordinator, Emmy manages and obtains all material health and transparency documentation for Mecho’s products, ranging from shadecloth fabric to shade hardware. She has worked extensively on LEED, LBC, and WELL projects providing compliance for Mecho’s products. She also assists with implementing Mecho’s sustainability strategy across the business. Emmy previously worked for the Environmental Protection Agency and has a B.A. in Sociology and Environmental Science from Rice University.

Frank Taaning Grundholm

Vice President of Global HVACR Sales, ABB Motion

Frank Taaning Grundholm is the Vice President of Global HVACR sales in ABB Motion. Throughout his 25 years in the HVAC, Water and Refrigeration industries, he has focused on energy savings and sustainable building specifications, and has contributed to ensuring that buildings and infrastructure are both operationally sound and sustainably developed. Frank took part in the development of the Europump extended product approach, which today forms the basis of many energy-related product requirements in the European Union. Frank joined ABB in 2017 and continuously supports industry associations and serves as a board member of Eurovent Association and of Eurovent Middle East. He is from Denmark, the happiest country in the world and the land of the open sandwich also known as smørrebrød

James Hannah

Managing Director, United States, Parity

James is a Managing Director at Parity where he’s responsible for the company’s growth and operations in the U.S. Market. James has considerable expertise in real estate focused energy management services, particularly multifamily. This has included working directly with some of North America’s largest real estate owners and operators to implement energy efficiency, power generation and green building solutions. James has also been an active stakeholder in the development and refinement of utility and government policies and programs.

Prior to Parity, James spent the vast majority of his career at Bright Power where he most recently held the position of Chief Customer Officer. During his ten years at Bright Power, James played a central role in the company’s transformation from a local energy consulting firm into one of the nation’s leading energy management companies.

James holds B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Helen Heneveld

Founder, Bedrock Learning

Helen Heneveld, a respected industry expert, founded Bedrock Learning, a training solutions company with 80+ online hours teaching the industry and technology. Bedrock received the 2016 CTA Mark of Excellence Award for Best Education or Support Program. Her early entry in 1989 into home automation installation, along with years delivering industry training, she is a valuable member of the Board of Directors of CTA, Consumer Technology Association, Tech Home Division, the Connected Home Council, ASHB, and in the past, the CEDIA Board of Directors. Often in demand, she speaks and consults worldwide. Heneveld co-authored DHTI+ Home Technology Integrator All-In-One Exam Guide by McGraw-Hill, has written numerous publications, holds an MBA from the University of Michigan, and is CEDIA Installer 1 Certified and CEA-CompTIA DHTI+ Certified.

Dr. Patrick Hogan

Honeywell's Automated Control Solutions

Dr. Patrick Hogan serves in a liaison role with Honeywell's Automated Control Solutions group to integrate gas detection instrumentation equipment with security, surveillance and other critical automated building systems. Dr. Hogan is active conference speaker and author on many safety engineering topics, including the role of gas detection in reducing building energy consumption through on-demand use of ventilation systems and integrating safety equipment through optimized use of controller systems and digital communication protocols such as BACnet.

Jim Hunter

Chief Technology Officer, Delos Living LLC

Jim Hunter leads all Delos‘™ technology efforts as Chief Technology Officer, including the continued integration of Delos wellness-based algorithms across technology platforms for residential and commercial environments to help people be well in spaces where they live, work, sleep and play. Prior to joining Delos, Jim provided oversight for technology, architecture and innovation at Greenwave Systems, led Motorola/Google’s architecture and strategy for driving the future of the smart home and shaped a powerful standards-based platform as the Founder and Chief Architect of 4Home, Inc. Jim began his technology career as a nuclear engineer and master training specialist serving in the US Navy, earning numerous awards and certifications. Today, he is an internationally-recognized thought leader, inventor and speaker on all things IoT, Security, Wellness, AI and Future societies at global events like Connections, CES, Transform, WebSummit, Collision and IoT World. Jim is an active contributor to leading tech publications such as TechCrunch and VentureBeat.

Bret Jacob

With more than 30 years of experience in audio/video and building control systems, Bret Jacob has held technical, sales, management and ownership roles with electronics manufacturers and systems installation companies. During this time, Bret has become an industry authority on residential and commercial market smart control technology. Bret recently celebrated his 18-year anniversary with ELAN and Nortek Security & Control where he remains committed to the building and design communities, while launching multiple programs and initiatives aimed at educating and supporting builders & developers and their efforts to incorporate technology into their projects.

Kim Johnson

Chief Marketing Officer, MHT Technologies

Kim Johnson has over 10 years of marketing leadership and experience in a wide range of industries such as consulting, retail data, consumer packaged goods, and technology. Today she serves as chief marketing officer for MHT Technologies, a leader in Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) lighting and building automation software. At MHT, Johnson leads marketing of the company’s core brands, products and platform-based solutions. Most recently, she was elected President of the newly formed PoE Consortium – an industry organization dedicated to the education and advocacy for PoE-based smart building solutions.

Johnson previously led marketing for a PoE lighting startup, where she developed and executed branding and communications strategy that earned significant market exposure. Johnson was recognized for her efforts by LEDs Magazine, as a member of their inaugural class of 40 Under 40 and received multiple marketing leadership awards.

Johnson has a bachelor’s degree from Augustana University in South Dakota and graduated with honors from the University of Iowa’s full-time MBA program with an emphasis in marketing.

David Katz

After 27 years of corporate procurement and planning responsibilities with Canadian Bechtel Engineering, Johnson & Johnson and Ontario Hydro, David Katz established Sustainable Resources Management in 1993 to invest in and provide, marketing and administration services to an energy management controls company. Trained on applied decision analysis, expert systems and life cycle costs, David provides training and consulting services in the application of these programs. He teaches part time at George Brown College and provides the Intelligent Buildings Seminar for the Electricity Forum. He currently consults on energy management, building automation and smart grid opportunities and he has made recent presentations at leading industry conferences in Canada and the U.S.

Mike Krell

Head of IoT Strategy, James Brehm & Associates

Mike Krell is Head of IoT Strategy at James Brehm & Associates. Krell provides research, analysis, and go-to-market strategies for companies looking to deliver successful industrial and consumer IoT solutions.

Harry Kohal

Wisconsin Association of Computer Crime Investigators

Harry Kohal is a life-time member and past president of the Wisconsin Association of Computer Crime Investigators. He has been in IT and IT consulting for over 35 years, starting in the US Air Force. Harry joined Eagle Technology, Inc. in June of 2006 and is currently Vice President of Business Development. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Marian University and a Master of Liberal Studies from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.

Robert Lane

Consummate Entrepreneur

Robert Lane is a consummate entrepreneur with over 40 years experience including senior management roles in electrical, electronic manufacturing and product development. He has international experience in telecommunications, computers and mining activities. Past positions included VP, International at NORTEL and CEO at Commodore Business Machines. He currently serves on many boards of directors and advises numerous start-up companies.

Christopher Larry

Director of Energy Engineering, Exp

Christopher Larry is Director of Energy Engineering at exp. He has spent more than 25 years working to minimize the building industry's energy and environmental footprint through refining building design, building modelling, performance optimization and intelligent controls. He has held numerous positions within the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and is a past president of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE).

Jay Lent

Solutions Director of IoT, Cardinal Peak

Jay Lent serves as a Solutions Director of IoT at Cardinal Peak, an elite engineering services firm based in Lafayette, CO. He has been in the consumer electronics space for the past 13 years leading both national sales teams as well as extensive experience in product development management. Over the last 6 years he has focused on the emerging IoT space. He has deep knowledge of Zigbee, Z-Wave, WiFi, BLE technologies as well as voice services. Prior to entering the consumer electronics industry, he held senior level positions at several leading retailers throughout the US. This combination of experience gives him a unique perspective on product ideation to production to sales execution.

Cees Links

Founder and CEO, GreenPeak Technologies

Cees Links is a pioneer of the wireless data industry. He is the founder and CEO of GreenPeak Technologies, a Smart Home and IoT radio communications semi-conductor company, now part of Qorvo. Earlier in his career Cees worked for NCR, AT&T and Lucent Technologies. Under his responsibility, the first wireless LANs were developed for PCs and notebooks, that ultimately became household Wi-Fi technology integrated into computers, smart phones and connected smart devices. He also pioneered the development of access points, home networking routers, and hotspot base-stations. He was involved in the establishment of the IEEE 802.11 standardization committee and the Wi-Fi Alliance. He was also instrumental in establishing the IEEE 802.15 standardization committee that become the basis for Zigbee sense and control networking.

Michael Lotfy

SVP, Head of Power Products and Power Systems, North America, Schneider Electric

Michael Lotfy is Senior Vice President, Head of Power Products and Power Systems, North America at Schneider Electric, where he drives the division's electrical distribution transformation business.
Lotfy brings more than 15 years of experience, working for a leading multinational corporation. His experience spans multiple disciplines, including global operations, services, business development, product development and business management and driving expansion plans in new markets, delivering sustainable & profitable growth.
In his previous role as Senior Vice President, Building Solutions Head, Americas, within the energy management and intelligent building industry, Michael had full accountability for the Americas commercial organization of smart building solutions including Sales, Marketing, project management & customer support. He accelerated the development of growth activities for smart building solutions offering a full value proposition to our partners and customers focusing on creating new digital business models.

Andy McMillan

Andy McMillan has a broad professional background including executive leadership, management and key-contributor roles in high-tech and building-controls companies ranging in size from startups to global industry leaders. He has founded several companies and holds a dozen patents in sensors, systems and software. For the last ten years he has served as President of BACnet International where he has championed open systems in building automation. He has extensive knowledge of data communications and automation technologies and how they contribute to intelligent buildings and smart cities. He has been an invited speaker and session leader at conferences internationally, with recent presentations focusing on rapid change in building automation business models driven by connected lighting and the incorporation of IoT technologies. Throughout his career Andy has built strong, collaborative relationships crossing commercial, geographic and cultural boundaries. His formal education includes engineering and business degrees from the University of Michigan.

Mike Mulqueen

SVP Sales & Business Development, Parity

Mike Mulqueen has played a leading role in progressing Toronto’s climate strategy and enabling energy retrofits to make the built environment more sustainable. His impact spans the gamut of green initiatives from helping to develop and implement green roof and green building standards for the City of Toronto to managing Toronto Hydro’s low-income, multi-family and commercial sector conservation strategies. As the Senior VP of Sales and Business Development for Parity, Mike continues to push for urban sustainability with this mission-aligned, smart technology leader that is driving innovations in building automation processes to decrease CO2 emissions, as well as energy and operational spend, guaranteed under a performance contract.

While overseeing Parity's sales team and revenue growth (including new business partnerships and Parity’s strategic US expansion), Mike works tirelessly to help multifamily properties across North America harness the power of human and machine learning technology to eliminate energy waste and reduce their carbon footprint - all with guaranteed energy savings and no upfront costs. With his ongoing efforts, Parity is quickly becoming the premier North American software solution in the energy management cleantech space.

Previous to Parity, from 2015 to 2019, Mike led Toronto Hydro's multi-family and commercial energy conservation strategy, managing a team of engineers, energy managers and efficiency sales professionals that helped building owners and managers reduce operating costs. Prior to this he managed the low-income conservation program, which undertook efficiency upgrades in more than 12,000 homes from 2011 to 2014.

From 2005 to 2011, Mike was a Senior Environmental Planner for the City of Toronto where he helped to develop and implement the City’s green roof policies, green building standards, Climate Change Plan and Sustainable Energy Strategy.

Mike is a Certified Energy Manager with a Master of Urban Planning Degree from McGill University and a combined Honours BA in Philosophy and Economics from McMaster University.

Deb Noller

Dynamic CEO and Co-founder, Switch Automation

Deb Noller is the dynamic CEO and co-founder of Switch Automation, a smart building software company specializing in building performance optimization. With 20+ years of experience in real estate, technology and sustainability, she is passionate about helping enterprises leverage digital facilities management technology to execute more efficient business operations. Deb studied environmental management and computer science at James Cook University where she received the JCU Chancellor’s Award. She began her career as a software engineer and launched three successful companies prior to founding Switch. Deb is an active member of the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN), was named one of Dell’s Founders 50 and is recognized as one of the Top 50 Female Entrepreneurs in Australia by Rare Birds.

Brian Patterson

Chairman, The EMerge Alliance

Brian Patterson is the Chairman of the EMerge Alliance, a 501c non-profit corporation established to create application standards that promote the rapid adoption of safe, low voltage DC power distribution and use in commercial buildings including data centers. His extensive technical and work history in electronics, fiber optics and building technologies has resulted in his holding many patents in those fields. He is also the General Manger of Business Development for the Building Products Division of Armstrong World Industries, a founder of the Alliance, and is an active member of the IEEE.

Julie Petrone

Director of Global Marketing, ABB Building Solutions

Julie Petrone is the Director of Global Marketing at ABB Building Solutions, Americas, Electrification, based in Zurich, Switzerland. Julie brings over 20 years of global experience in marketing, sales, commercial operations, e-commerce, and digital transformation across the IoT, Building Automation, and Building Energy Management industries. At ABB, Julie is responsible for BHAS Americas' marketing, including demand generation, value proposition development, segment marketing, digital customer experience, and communications.

Before joining ABB, Julie was Global Director of Marketing for Cylon Controls, based in Dublin, Ireland. Julie joined ABB through the acquisition of Cylon Controls in 2019. Julie spent four years with Cylon as the head of Global Marketing for energy management, building automation, and retail solutions. Before Cylon, Julie led Global Marketing for an industry known IoT wireless communications protocol Alliance.

Julie holds an M.B.A. from Duke University Fuqua School of Business and a B.A. from California State University.

John Petze

Partner, SkyFoundry

John Petze is a partner at SkyFoundry, the developers of SkySpark™, an analytics platform for building, energy and equipment data. John has over 30 years of experience in building automation, energy management and M2M/IoT, having served in senior level positions for manufacturers of hardware and software products including: President & CEO of Tridium, VP Product Development for Andover Controls, and Global Director of Sales for Cisco Systems Smart and Connected Buildings group and is a member of the Association of Energy Engineers. He is the Executive Director of Project-Haystack.org, an open source, 501C trade association focusing on standards and technology to make device data self-describing to enable software applications to automatically consume, interpret, analyze and present data from devices and equipment systems thereby unlocking the value of the data.

Brad Pilgrim

CEO and CoFounder, Parity Inc.

After spending a number of years under the tutelage of successful CEOs at energy start ups in the solar industry in his twenties, both of which went on to be acquired by a Fortune 200 US company NRG Inc, Brad turned his attention to tackling one the largest CO2 emissions problems in the urban settings, where he went on to develop the idea of Parity.

He co-founded Parity Inc. (Parity) in an effort to bring attention to the amount of energy waste he saw in the building that he lived in.

Over the past three years, Brad has led his team to develop and deploy Parity as one of the first AI-powered operating systems for multi-residential buildings in order to tackle one the largest contributors to CO2 emissions in the world, buildings.

Using this platform, Brad and his team have helped prevent an estimated 15 million + lbs of CO2 emissions from their customers’ buildings since 2017.

Parity is currently in 120+ real estate assets in two countries, managing 25 million square feet of building operations, and has saved over $4M in measured energy costs, millions in labour hours, and 15M+ lbs of CO2.

Parity is quickly becoming the premier North American software solution in the energy management cleantech space, working to drive innovations in building automation processes to lower costs, decrease CO2 emissions and help make cities more sustainable.

Andrew Pospisal

Director of Hardware Engineering, Igor, Inc.

Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the building controls and energy efficiency industries. He joined Igor in 2014 as Director of Support Services and was promoted to Director of Hardware Engineering in 2019. At Igor, Andrew is responsible for new PoE hardware and UL certification coordination and compatibility testing of 3rd party equipment with the Igor solution including PoE network switches, LED fixtures, sensors. Andrew also runs Igor University, the company’s customer and partner training program and uses his subject matter expertise to contribute to products and process documentation. Andrew received his degree from Iowa State University with an emphasis on Control System Design.

Ryan Sen

Regional Director of Sales, Canada with Distech Controls

Ryan Sen is Regional Director of Sales, Canada with Distech Controls. With 15 years of industry experience, Ryan has served as Director of Sales Effectiveness and held management roles in the following areas with Distech: technical support, product training, customer services, and quality assurance testing. Ryan is based out of Distech Controls Headquarters in the province of Quebec, Canada and holds a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) degree, in the discipline of Electrical Engineering from Concordia University. Prior to joining Distech, Ryan worked in the industrial automation industry.

Michael Skurla

Director of Product Strategy, Radix IoT, LLC

Michael Skurla is Director of Product Strategy for Radix IoT, LLC, providers of the Radix IoT platform for multi-site, distributed facilities’ operational intelligence, based in Nashville, Tenn. Mike sets cutting-edge product strategy for the company’s IoT platform which was recently recognized with a 2019 IoT Evolution Product of the Year award. He brings 22+ years’ experience in control automation and IoT product design with Fortune 500 companies, focused on the intersection of software and hardware, with emphasis on outcome-based analytics for mission-critical industries across commercial building, retail, healthcare, and data center infrastructure management (DCIM). A well-recognized thought leader, and a contributor to several industry publications including Critical Facilities and LD+A, he is a frequent lecturer on advanced usage of analytics and emerging IT technologies to foster efficiency within the commercial facility design. He is a contributing member of ASHRAE, IES Education, and USGBC. Mike holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science/Programming with a minor in management from Western Illinois University. He is LEED AP BD+C and AP O+M certified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI).

Dwight Stewart

Founder and CTO, Igor, Inc.

With over 20 years of tech entrepreneurship experience, Dwight Stewart is a proven innovator in the cleantech and smart building industry. He is currently Founder and CTO of Igor, Inc., a Power-over-Ethernet intelligent building software company described by Cisco as a “disruptor”. Previously, he founded and sold QAS, a building management, analytics, and energy technology company with installations at universities across the country and at the U.S. Capitol complex.

Craig Szamania

Business Development Manager, Intercoms, Axis Communications, Inc.

Craig Szmania is the Business Development Manager for Intercoms at Axis Communications, including 2N solutions. He is responsible for the Americas intercom business including; long term strategy, team leadership, product needs development, customer growth and business execution.

Prior to this, he was the Regional Business Development Head for 2N, serving the North American market. 2N was a recent acquisition of Axis Communications, and a leader in IP Intercoms.

Mr. Szmania has 18 years of experience in the security industry in, intrusion, access control, video and IP based solutions and previously held top executive positions at GE/UTC Security, and NAPCO Security.

Dr. Kenneth Wacks

Management Advisor

Dr. Kenneth Wacks has been a pioneer in establishing the home systems industry and a management advisor since 1985 to clients worldwide, ranging from startups to large companies. His business focus includes home and building systems, energy management, and digital entertainment networks. Corporate managers depend on Dr. Wacks for clear and practical advice regarding product development and market positioning. Dr. Wacks received his Ph.D. from MIT as a Hertz Fellow and studied at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Stephen Westerfield

President & Co-Founder, Droplit

Stephen Westerfield is President & Co-Founder of Droplit, a startup helping service providers develop and deliver IoT services into the connected building space. With a deep background in sales and corporate strategy, Stephen oversees the company’s sales & marketing efforts, fundraising strategy, and investor relations. He joined Droplit following six years at Morgan Stanley in New York, where he served as Chief of Staff to the firm's CFO. Stephen holds a B.A. in Economics from Davidson College and lives in San Francisco with his wife Kim.

Jeremy Wolfe

Vice President Americas J2 Innovations - a Siemens Company

Jeremy is Vice President Americas at J2 Innovations a Siemens Company. Jeremy has over 20+ years of experience in the HVAC industry having served in senior level positions as a distributor and manufacturer including: Carel North America as both Managing Director and Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Jeremy has also served as a section Chairman with AHRI as well as a voting member on Ashrae committees.