Alan Ackerman

Director of Regulatory Affairs - NYISO

Alan joined Customized Energy Solutions in October 2007. He provides regulatory coverage of the New York ISO, which includes reporting on work group and committee activities.  Alan is the current chair of the New York ISO’s Business Issues Committee and is a past chair of the Price Responsive Load Working Group which deals with Demand Response issues.

 

Alan also provides consulting and business analysis services for clients.  Prior to joining Customized Energy Solutions, Alan worked in the pharmaceutical industry. Alan earned his BA at Penn State University and his MBA at Binghamton University.

 

Apoorve Bhatnagar

Analyst - India

Apoorve joined Customized Energy Solutions in January of 2011 and works with the Indian Operations team as an Analyst.  He has over 3.5 years of experience in Power Trading.  At Customized, he is responsible for Business Development for Open Access Clients, Renewable Energy Market (REC), deciding Bidding Strategies for Clients, Contract Management and Operational Aspects of Power Trading, Regulatory Assistance to the Clients. He previously worked with North Delhi Power Limited and Shree Cement Limited.

 

Apoorve holds a Master in Business Administration (Power) from University of Petroleum & Energy Studies and Bachelor of Science (Mathematical Sciences) from Delhi University.

Ariel Lager

Director, Renewable Energy Services

Ariel joined Customized in 2005. Ariel focuses on providing renewable energy service offerings to the company's wholesale and retail clients at the state, regional, and federal levels. Ariel specializes in project evaluation, consulting, and analysis, and managing renewable attributes and compliance obligations. 

 

Previously, Ariel worked in environmental litigation and end-user electric and natural gas consumption analysis.  Ariel earned a BA from Rutgers and a JD from Dickinson School of Law with a focus on Environmental and Natural Resource Law.  She is licensed in PA, NJ, and DC and serves as the company's in-house counsel.

 

Bill Dagan

Manager - Technology Department

Bill joined Customized in October 2009.  He is leading internal technology initiatives to provide web-based reports to clients and to streamline internal operations pertaining to ISO interfaces. Bill has a background in systems integration, market operations and market settlements within the deregulated electric power industry.

 

For the past eleven years, Bill was responsible for data implementations, systems integrations, custom software applications, reporting & analysis consulting with several ISOs and electric companies. Bill has a BS in Nuclear Engineering from Penn State and spent the first twelve years of his career as a test engineer for GE. 

 

Brandon McGee

System Operator

Brandon joined CES as a System Operator in June of 2011 and is responsible for monitoring and dispatching generation, forecasting load, and entering bids for ancillary services and day-ahead demand for our clients. Before joining CES, Brandon attended Rowan University where he obtained his BA in Economics.

Brian Laurita

System Operator

Caitlin Joyce

Analyst, Retail

Caitlin joined Customized in 2008 and currently works with the Retail team in the Philadelphia office providing supplier registration, invoicing and forecasting services to a variety of retail clients. She also contributes on various levels with marketing and web management for Customized Energy Solutions.

 

Caitlin graduated in 2006 from Emerson College with a BS in Marketing Communication.

Caryn Rexrode

Vice President - Regulatory Affairs

Caryn joined Customized Energy Solutions in August 2007. As VP of Regulatory Affairs, she provides leadership to the Customized team that tracks the evolving market rules in all of the regional ISOs. Through her participation in various committees and working groups, Caryn provides reporting and consultation services to clients.

 

Caryn has over 14 years of experience in the energy industry, with the last 12 of those involving interfacing roles with the organized power markets (including ERCOT, PJM, ISO-NE, MISO, CAISO, and NYISO).

 

Chelsea Garrison

Senior Energy Consultant

Chelsea joined Customized Energy Solutions in January 2009. Working out of the Richmond, VA office she helps clients manage procurement and settlements, as well assist with other wholesale and retail service projects.

 

Chelsea has six years experience in the PJM market across a wide range of activities, including asset unit commitment, daily operations, portfolio reporting, position tracking, settlements, and transaction support. Chelsea earned a BS in Mathematics from Royal Holloway University of London and an MS in Financial Mathematics from Kings College London.

Chelsea Irwin

Office Manager

Chelsea joined Customized Energy Solutions in April 2011 in the role of Office Manager, helping to coordinate and streamline office operations here in the US and India. She recently relocated back to the Philadelphia area from southern Florida where she worked as an Event Coordinator  for a boutique style Public Relations Company. In this role she organized and oversaw the execution of various events.  She graduated in 2007 from The University of New Hampshire with a BA in Psychology.

Chris Maher

Senior Consultant

Chris joined Customized Energy in April 2011 after working as an Information Technology consultant for CES for more than five years.  Prior to joining CES full-time, Chris assisted with infrastructure design and upgrades as well as integration between CES, ISO market participants and RTOs.

 

Chris has 15 years of experience in various aspects of the IT field and SMB consulting.  Chris graduated from Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales, now DeSales University, in 1997 with a BS in Computer Science, Information Technology and a minor in Business Management.

Cynthia Mansbridge

Senior Consultant

Cynthia joined Customized Energy Solutions in January 2009. She is responsible for assisting clients in retail services with new markets and current services in the areas of forecasting, billing, enrollment, and pricing.

 

Prior to joining CES, Cynthia gained over 10 years experience in retail energy operations and forecasting in multiple markets while working for Constellation NewEnergy. Cynthia is a certified Project Management Professional. She also has a BA from The College of William and Mary in Virginia and an MA from the University of Southern California.

Dave Kane

Operations Coordinator

Dave joined Customized in February 2008 as an Energy Scheduler, assuming his current role as Operations Coordinator the fall of 2009. Dave's background in Power System Operations allows him to support and coordinate the day-to-day activity in the Market Operations Center.

 

Dave's has experience in both generation and transmission and is a NERC-Certified System Operator(Reliability Coordinator), in addition to PJM Generation and Transmission Certified. 

David Sapper

Director of Regulatory Affairs – MISO

David joined Customized Energy Solutions in January 2007.  David provides reporting services regarding ongoing developments in the policies and rules of the MISO markets.  He also provides economic and regulatory consulting services, including litigation support.  In addition, he represents the interests of the MISO LSE Coalition, a group of 18 largely transmission dependent municipal, cooperative and similar electric utilities throughout the MISO region.  FERC has favorably relied on his testimony in cost allocation and market power cases.

 

David earned a BA in Economics from Trinity University (TX) and a PhD in Economics from Vanderbilt University.

 

David Steigerwald

PJM Market Specialist

Dave joined Customized in April 2009 as a scheduling analyst and member of the Market Operations Center, where he is responsible for submitting Day-Ahead bids and offers, Day-Ahead and Real-Time Demand Response, Emergency Load Response, and energy market settlements.

 

Prior to Customized, Dave was a consultant with Arthur Andersen and also spent three years playing professional basketball in Europe. Most recently, Dave worked for Goldman Sachs in the power markets and also UBS Investment Bank in the natural gas markets. Dave earned a BA from Bucknell University and an MBA from St. John's University.

Dharmesh Bharathan

Director Scheduling Services

Dharmesh joined Customized Energy Solutions in June 2007. With a background in Electrical Engineering, Dharmesh supports the day-to-day activity in Day-Ahead and Real-Time energy markets, submitting Day-Ahead bids and offers, Day-Ahead and Real-Time Demand Response, Emergency Load Response, settlements and bill reconciliation. Most recently, Dharmesh has been involved with the Wholesale Services group managing generation portfolios and performing power flow studies.

Dhruv Dhiman

Dhruv Dhiman joined Customized Energy Solutions in February 2011 and works in the India Operations as an Analyst. He began his career as a Management Trainee with North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL), a Joint Venture of Tata Power and Delhi Govt. He was an integral part of the pre-opening team to look after intra-state ABT, Power Trading and Power Purchase for NDPL.   

At Customized, he is responsible for Business Development for Open Access Clients, Renewable Energy Market (REC), Demand Response (DR), deciding Bidding Strategies for Clients, Contract Management and Operational Aspects of Power Trading and Regulatory Assistance to the Clients. 

Dhruv holds a Masters in Business Administration (Power) from the National Power Training Institute (NPTI), apart from a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Instrumentation and Control) and Diploma in Electronics and Communication.

Ed Toppi

Vice President - Retail Market Services

Ed joined Customized in July 2006 as a Senior Energy Consultant. His focus is consulting services to load serving entities in the areas of market analysis, risk management, hedging strategy, and other operational areas. Additionally, Ed assists with quantitative analysis and retail energy marketing expertise on a variety of client projects.

 

Ed has over 10 years experience in the electricity industry—mostly in deregulated markets. Prior to joining Customized, Ed was a vice president with Constellation NewEnergy, where he ran the company's Mid-Atlantic regional business and oversaw Customer Acquisition Operations and Load Forecasting.

Eddie Kolodziej

Director of Regulatory Affairs - ERCOT

Eddie joined Customized Energy Solutions in June 2005. He provides reporting and consulting services for clients from the ERCOT market segments whose profitability depends on their timely receipt and accurate understanding of ERCOT's fast-changing market rules. 

 

Eddie spent 31 years with Central and South West Corporation (CSW) working on various assignments in Texas, the southwestern U.S., Mexico, and Europe.

Erik Paulson

Vice President – Wholesale Market

Erik is responsible for the company’s services related to the wholesale electricity markets, which includes managing and scheduling generation assets in the various RTOs/ISOs, and managing the electricity purchases and electricity market activity for large users, including municipalities and industrial customers. 

 

Erik first joined Customized Energy Solutions in May of 2005 as the Director of Regulatory Affairs for PJM. In this role he provided market updates and information on market rule changes to many clients in PJM.

Erika Schmitt

Compliance Analyst

Erika Schmitt joined Customized Energy Solutions in April, 2010. In her role she works with the renewable and retail teams to ensure that clients meet all compliance and regulatory standards. This includes registration with utilities, states, ISOs and the FERC, as well as making quarterly and annual filings to ensure that clients meet all renewable portfolio standards.

Erika graduated in 2009 from Ohio University with a BA in Journalism Public Relations and a BS in Political Science.

Ginger Jenkins

Consultant - MISO

Ginger joined Customized in 2010 as a Regulatory Affairs Specialist. Ginger provides reporting services regarding ongoing developments in the policies and rules of MISO markets. Previously, she worked at MISO as a Stakeholder Relations Specialist. In that role, she stayed familiar with wide-ranging MISO developments, policy and procedural issues, and stakeholder views.

 

Ginger earned a BS in Political Science from Malone College in Canton, OH and completed her MBA at Kelley School of Business.

Guy Filomena

Senior Consultant

Guy joined Customized Energy Solutions in October 2008. His primary area of focus is providing PJM regulatory coverage and consulting services to clients with an interest in generation asset management and trading. 

 

Guy has over 20 years of energy experience, including 12 years experience in competitive electricity markets as proprietary trader, portfolio manager, and asset manager in PJM, MISO, and NYISO. He earned an MS degree in Business from the University of Baltimore and a BS degree in Accounting from the University of Maryland. Guy is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Harveyetta Stone

Benefits Manager

Harveyetta joined Customized Energy Solutions in February 2006.  She joined as a Senior Administrative Assistant where her roles included supporting senior level managers and managing daily operations of the office.  As Benefits Manager her current duties include managing the company's employee benefits program and also assisting the Controller on tax-related and other issues.

 

Prior to joining Customized Energy Solutions, she worked at a global standards organization as an Administrative Assistant.  Harveyetta has earned a Business Administration Associate's Degree from Strayer University with an emphasis in Human Resource Management. 

Jacqueline DeRosa

Director of Regulatory Affairs – CAISO

Jacquie joined Customized in November 2007. She is working with clients to track and report on a diverse array of energy policy issues in CA. Jacquie also provides consulting services for her clients as numerous energy market design enhancements are implemented in the state. 

 

Jacquie has over twenty years of experience in the energy industry. Prior to joining Customized Energy Solutions, she worked directly for the California ISO in the area of market and product design. She also worked as an account manager for the CAISO.

 

Jedidiah Trott

Analyst

Jed joined Customized Energy Solutions in July 2007, working in the Demand Response Business Line. This work includes advising and registering customers in ILR, testing customers for compliance, and planning for participation in the Demand Response program. He supports FTR services in MISO during the annual ARR allocations and FTR auctions. Jed also assists with consulting projects pertaining to market analysis using stochastic modeling tools.

 

Before he joined Customized, Jed worked as a Financial Advisor and has a BA in International Relations from The University of Pennsylvania.

Jeff Whitehead

Senior Consultant

Jeff joined Customized Energy Solutions in August 2006. He currently provides support to the wholesale market services group.  In this role, Jeff helps clients optimize their interactions in RTO and ISO markets, and provides consulting to clients to develop strategies that are executed by Customized's 24 hour operations center.

 

Prior to joining Customized, Jeff worked for PJM Interconnection for 4 years in the System Operations Division, the Western Region Office and the Reliability Services Division. Jeff earned a BA in Information Systems from Susquehanna University and an MBA from Penn State University.

Jennifer Reed

Analyst

Jennifer joined Customized in April 2007. As an Analyst, Jennifer is responsible for registering clients, enabling them to do business with FERC, the state, and in the active wholesale markets. Jennifer is also involved with the Wholesale Services group working with generation portfolios, bill reconciliations and settlements. She also responsible for managing assets in Generator Attribute Tracking System (GATS) and a variety of PJM eSuite applications, and filing FERC quarterly reports.

 

 Prior to joining Customized Energy Solutions, Jennifer worked for over five years as an analyst for PJM Interconnection. She earned a BS in Communication from Clarion University.

Jim Harvilla

Senior Consultant

Jim joined Customized Energy Solutions in January 2009. He is responsible for providing expertise and customer support in the areas of energy storage, distributed resources, renewable technologies, project management and all energy market-related issues. 

 

Prior to joining Customized, Jim worked for New York State Electric & Gas Corporation for 32 years, gaining experience in power plant and energy end-use technologies.

Jim Krajecki

Director of Regulatory Affairs – SPP

Jim joined Customized Energy Solutions in October 2008. He monitors the evolving SPP marketplace through participation on various SPP and regional working groups. Jim provides reporting, consulting, and advocacy services to clients. Jim also works with Customized's Wholesale Market Services team to provide and expand CES consulting service offerings.

 

After several years of service as an US Army Officer, Jim has focused the last 13 years on providing consulting and software services to clients participating in the regional power markets.

Joanne Bradley

Director of Wholesale Services - CAISO

Joanne joined Customized Energy Solutions in April 2010.  She is responsible for providing expertise and customer support in the areas of regulatory reporting, meeting analysis, business development and client management.

 

Prior to joining Customized Energy Solutions, Joanne worked directly for the California ISO for 11 years. At the CAISO she worked across several divisions, including Settlements, Market Analysis, Customer Services and Client Training. Joanne earned her BS degree in Strategic Management from California State University-Chico.

Juan Diaz

Director of Business Development

Juan joined Customized Energy Solutions as an Analyst in April 2005. In 2010 he transition into Business Development and was made the Director of Business Development in 2012. He currently serves as one of the primary Business Development leaders for the company, sharing in the responsibilities for increasing company revenues through the promotion of service offerings and growth of company client base. 

 

Additionally, Juan provides North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) compliance and standards development monitoring services for NERC registered companies as well as working on projects on an as needed basis.

 

Kent Withrow

Senior Analyst

Kent joined Customized in 2007. He supports nearly all CES business areas and markets with software tool development, IT systems guidance, and analysis. Kent came to CES from Midwest ISO, where he served as Technical Lead for Market Settlements Applications, helping ensure a successful energy market launch in 2005.  Prior to that, Kent worked as a software architect and engineer at SPL WorldGroup (now part of Oracle), Landmark Graphics, and LCG Consulting/EnergyOnline. 

 

Kent holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California—Berkeley and an M.S. in Energy Analysis and Policy from the University of Wisconsin—Madison.

 

 

Kevin Komara

Senior Consultant

Kevin joined Customized Energy Solutions in February 2009. He is responsible for the operations of the real-time data acquisition systems at Customized, and the development of new control system technologies.

 

Kevin has over 25 years of experience in the electric energy and aerospace industries. Before joining Customized, Kevin was a Senior Engineer and Project Manager at the PJM Interconnection for 11 years. At PJM, Kevin was responsible for the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Systems that enabled smaller customers to directly connect to the ISO.

Kirth Patel

Analyst

Kirth joined Customized Energy Solutions in August 2008.  He focuses on supporting Data Acquisition Services while assisting with SCADA, RTU configuration, communications, and field automa­tion devices. He provides engineering support for integration of production, measurement, automation, and compression of plant control data into SCADA/HMI.  In addition to supporting the efforts of technological advances and technical standards in data acquisition.

 

Prior to joining Customized Energy Solutions, Kirth worked for Samsung Corporation as an electrical supervisor. He earned his BS in Electrical Engineering in India and an MBA from University of Massachusetts.

Leilani Molina

Senior Consultant

Leilani joined Customized Energy Solutions in July 2011.  As part of the Retail Services team, her responsibilities include assisting clients with new market entry, enrollments, billing, forecasting and pricing.

 

Leilani worked previously for Constellation NewEnergy where she gained over 10 years of experience in retail energy operations and IT support for various regions throughout the company.  She has a BS in Applied Mathematics from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Mark Scott

Director - Structured Trading

Mark joined Customized Energy Solutions in January 2009 in the Richmond, VA office. His primary focus is providing wholesale electricity market procurement and portfolio management consulting services.

Mark has over 10 years of power industry experience concentrated in the PJM market. He has held a variety of transactional roles, including origination, trading, portfolio management, and regulatory market design at a private developer, a load serving entity, and a trading company. Prior to the power industry, Mark was a financial analyst for three years at Procter & Gamble.

Markus Brunner

Energy Consultant

Markus joined Customized Energy Solutions in December of 2010 as a scheduling analyst. With a background in mechanical engineering, Markus supports the day-to-day activity in Day-Ahead and Real-Time energy markets, including the submittal of Day-Ahead bids and offers, Day-Ahead and Real-Time Demand Response, Emergency Load Response, and generation-related activities.

 

Prior to joining Customized, Markus worked as a power congestion analyst for an energy hedge fund, providing support in the daily analysis of the power markets. He earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Swansea University and an MS in Aeronautical Engineering from Cranfield University.

Michael Amiss

Senior Energy Consultant

Mike joined Customized Energy Solutions in July 2006. He is responsible for assisting clients with detailed technical and economic analytical studies and evaluating their energy market activities for improved business decisions. Prior to joining Customized Energy Solutions, Mike worked for the Midwest ISO as a Midwest Market Initiative team member representing Market Settlements.

Before joining MISO, Mike was a portfolio risk analyst in the Trading Controls section of ACES Power Marketing, where he was responsible for the valuation of member forward positions.

Mike McGuffin

Director of Wholesale Services - CAISO

Mike joined Customized Energy Solutions in July 2009 as a Senior Consultant in the CAISO Regulatory Affairs group. Mike previously held positions at Shell Trading (Coral Power) where he was the Commercial Project Manager for the California ISO MRTU implementation.

 

Mike started his career in the power industry in 2000 working in the settlements department at the California ISO. He holds a BS degree in Finance from the University of the Pacific.

Nancy Chafetz

Director of Regulatory Affairs – ISO NE

Nancy joined Customized Energy Solutions in September 2004. In her role, she actively participates in the development of the market rules in ISO-New England through participation in key stakeholder committees and working groups. Nancy provides reporting, consultation and advocacy services to clients in the New England markets. She also develops detailed analyses that help clients make business decisions related to the wholesale and retail electricity markets.

 

Prior to joining Customized Energy Solutions, Nancy worked for over ten years in the energy industry doing financial analysis for generation developers. She earned both an MBA and a B.S. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Narendra Pendharkar

Senior Consultant - India

Mr. N. Pendharkar joined Customized Energy Solutions as a senior consultant after retiring as a Chief Engineer from Maharashtra State Electricity Board, serving 36 years in various capacities. He was on deputation to Central Electricity Authority (Western Regional Electricity Board , Interim Load Dispatch for 5 years) as EAD and Deputy Director. He has worked in Transmission Planning ,System Studies, State Load despatch,400kv S/S Design, erection and commissioning. He was also consultant for Jothi Structure, Mumbai for erection and commissioning of 400kv S/S, Khandwa (MP) of OWERGRID. Adviser Operation and Planning to Pune Power Development Pvt. Ltd. for 3 years in Power trading activities related to Bilateral, Banking, DAM on Power exchange.

Netra Walawalkar

Director - India Markets

Netra joined Customized June 2006 and currently works in Pune, India. She is involved in market analysis projects for clients active in deregulated markets. Netra is leading Customized’s participation in the IEX for Energy trading and REC trading. She works with potential clients on understanding, developing open access process and enabling greater participation in the IEX from industrial & commercial customers as well as renewable & conventional generators. She is involved in developing bidding stategy for energy market participants to maximize their profit.

 

Netra holds MBA degree from Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA and Engineering degree from Mumbai University. 

 

 

Parag Kulkarni

Analyst

Paul Zamkov

Senior Programmer Analyst

Paul joined Customized in October 2010. He is providing technical expertise and supporting company’s internal and external technology initiatives.  Paul has a background in systems architecture, business intelligence, systems integration and technical leadership.

For the past seventeen years, Paul worked as systems and business intelligence architect and technical leader in various industries including healthcare, marketing, accounting, insurance and finance.  Paul has a MS in Applied Math & Computer Science from National Technical University of Ukraine.

Peter Druckenmiller

Natural Gas Scheduler, Analyst

Peter joined Customized in August 2010. Peter is responsible for the analysis and advising of clients in their Wholesale and Retail natural gas markets, inlcluding managing demand and transportation to market areas nationwide, bill reconciliation, and imbalance settlements. 

 

Previously, Peter worked for UGI Energy Services supporting Retail and Wholesale natural gas operations.  He was responsible for providing natural gas management to customers via company owned/managed assets and/or third party capacity, including daily/monthly nominations, and managing pipeline/LDC imbalances.  He earned a BA in Economics from Ursinus College.

Phillip McGrath

System Operator

Phil joined Customized Energy Solutions in September of 2008 and is responsible for submitting Day-Ahead bids and offers, Day-Ahead and Real-Time Demand Response, Emergency Load Response and settlements in Day-Ahead and Real-Time energy markets.

 

Prior to joining Customized Energy Solutions Phil worked for Midwest ISO as a Balancing Authority Operator helping to establish the MISO's current energy markets. Phil also worked as a generation dispatcher for PJM, over 8 years as a Real-Time System Operator. Phil is NERC Reliability-Coordinator-certified as well as PJM Generation-Dispatcher-certified.

Rahul Pendharkar

Senior Consultant

Rahul joined Customized in 2010 as a Senior Consultant. He has over 12 years of experience in IT and energy fields, and has most recently been involved with projects in the deregulated Indian Power Sector. Rahul worked at PG&E for 6 years in their Wholesale Power Trading Settlements IT group, where he worked in wholesale trading, dynamic load profiling, and improving meter data quality for settlement purposes.  

Rahul Walawalkar

VP, Emerging Technologies & Markets

Dr. Rahul Walawalkar leads the Emerging Technologies & Markets team with focus on energy storage, renewables, demand response and smart grid technologies as well as international markets. He is an acclaimed energy expert. Rahul serves on the Board of ESA and provides input to FERC & various state agencies. He has served on panels for US DOE and in working groups for IEEE & NIST.

 

Rahul holds a Ph.D. in Engineering & Public Policy, a MBA in Energy Management and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He is the recipient of numerous awards and is member of various professional organizations including AEE, IET, IEEE and IAEE.

Raj Chintapalli

Director of Regulatory Affairs - IESO

Raj joined Customized in August 2004 after working in the IT industry for six years. In his current role, Raj provides reporting services regarding ongoing developments in the policies and rules of the Ontario Electricity Markets. He was instrumental in starting and supporting Wholesale Energy market services and has been leading the MISO ARR/FTR line of business since start of MISO nodal energy market.

 

Raj is an Engineering Bachelor from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur, India, and has a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Business Essentials from The Wharton School.

Rajiv Shukla

Senior Consultant

Richard Gilkey

Vice President - Fuels and Demand Response

Rick joined Customized Energy Solutions in June 2006. He assists customers in managing electric, natural gas, and other energy costs through supply management, cost optimization, and risk management. Rick is also responsible for administering electric load response programs that provide opportunities for customers to further reduce electric costs.

 

Rick has worked with industrial customers to negotiate power and natural gas purchase agreements, perform energy scheduling, and provide consulting services. Rick earned undergraduate degrees in Chemistry from Dickinson College and Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Widener University.

Rick Mancini

Director of Wholesale Services - Northeast

Rick started with Customized Energy Solutions June 2003 as Director of Regulatory Affairs for the NYISO. Currently, as Director of Wholesales Services – Northeast, Rick continues to follow the NYISO Committee and Working Group activities and is involved in more detailed analysis of the Market conditions as the NYISO addresses significant changes to the Market largely due to Federal and State regulatory and environmental mandates. Rick has 45 years experience in the energy industry  as related to power plant operations and RTO/ISO market design.

 

 

Robert Safuto

Senior Consultant

Robert joined Customized Energy Solutions in October 2011. He provides regulatory coverage of the Southwest Power Pool and consulting services across multiple competitive markets. Robert has more than 12 years of experience in the North American competitive electricity sector working with ISOs, power marketers, merchant generators and local utilities. Prior to joining the Customized team Robert worked with the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO).

 

In addition to his power market experience Robert served in the U.S. Army as a commissioned officer. In 2011, Robert earned an MBA degree from the State University of New York at Albany.

 

Rodney Nutt

System Operator

Rodney joined CES as a System Operator in January of 2011 and is responsible for monitoring and dispatching generation, forecasting load, and entering bids for ancillary services and day-ahead demand for our clients. 

 

Prior to joining CES, Rodney worked as a Power Scheduler with INGENCO, and has previously held positions in investment banking and capital markets.  He earned his BA in German from University of Pennsylvania, JD with a concentration in commercial and corporate law from Western New England College School of Law, and MBA in finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business.  Rodney is a member of the New York Bar and holds the PJM System Operator Certification.

Sachin Thosar

Junior Analyst

Sangita Ganti

Programmer Analyst

Sangita joined Customized in March 2010. She supports company's  process automation, internal and customer facing interactive reporting and other technology initiatives. Sangita has a background in Data Warehousing, Application Development and Business Intelligence.

 

Sangita has Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Osmania University, India and Masters in Computer Science from University of Kentucky, Lexington.

Scott Voelker

Systems Operator

Scott joined Customized Energy Solutions in September 2010 as a Market Operator. Scott supports the day-to-day activity in the Day-Ahead and Real-time energy markets. He is responsible for submitting Day-Ahead bids and offers, Day-Ahead and Real-time Demand Response, Emergency Load Response and energy market settlements.

 

Prior to joining Customized, Scott worked on the retail side of the energy industry. He was responsible for pricing electricity contracts and most recently real-time trading. He has a B.S. in Economics from Westminster College.

 

Seth Trout

Analytical Services

Seth joined Customized Energy Solutions in late 2009. He focuses on monitoring the ERCOT marketplace and provides reporting and analytical services to clients. Seth has over 10 years of wholesale energy experience focused on consulting and advisory services. Over that time he has worked across a wide range of functional areas, including retail supply, wholesale generation, trading and scheduling, shadow settlement, and strategy development.

 

Seth's work has centered around market design particularly LMP market constructs. He earned his BA in Political Science, with an economics focus, from the University of Dayton.

Sharon Barra

Controller

Sharon joined Customized Energy Solutions in August 2008 as a Senior Accountant. She was promoted to Controller in December of 2008, where she is now responsible for all the daily financial activity and reporting of the company.

 

Prior to joining Customized, Sharon spent three years as Controller at Swets Information Services Inc. She worked previously at Fleer Trading Cards for 13 years holding various roles in the finance department. 

Sharon earned a BS in Accounting from Lycoming College.

Stephen Fernands

President

Stephen Fernands is founder and President of Customized Energy Solutions, one of the fastest growing private businesses. In 2008, INC magazine ranked Customized Energy Solutions the 15th fastest growing private company in the energy industry, and in 2007, the Philadelphia Business Journal named it the 8th fastest growing private company in the region.

 

As President, Stephen has been involved in more than 100 consulting projects, including market design evaluation, demand response program development, supply procurement, load profiling, generation development, and transmission congestion analysis.

Steven McDonald

Senior Consultant

Veronica Bosquez

Analyst

Veronica joined Customized Energy Solutions in March 2009.  Her role is primarily assisting and expanding the CAISO CRR business line.  She also lends support within the PJM and MISO markets.

 

Veronica previously held positions at the Midwest ISO in their Forward Markets as an FTR Engineer involved in the design and operation of the financial transmission rights market and as a senior engineer for Market Administration, providing engineering support for the operation of the FTR and Day-Ahead markets, as well as ex-post pricing. 

William Schofield

Vice President - Corporate Development

Bill joined Customized Energy Solutions in January of 2002.  He is responsible for helping to coordinate the business development and hiring activities of Customized Energy Solutions' various functional teams.

 

Previously, Bill provided leadership to Customized’s advocacy and market reporting services team. Bill also served as the primary representative to the MISO LSE Coalition and, prior to that, for the PJM Public Power Coalition (PPC), while also providing services to other clients. Bill is based in Customized Energy Solutions' Midwest office located in Carmel, Indiana.