Overview

NOTE NEW LOCATION:

E15-070 (Bartos Theater, MIT Media Lab)

 

This panel discussion is about the future of America's energy system, focusing on electricity. A variety of  topics, such as the effect of the economic downturn on energy initiatives, enabling innovation at utilities, decoupling, transmission regulation and carbon policy will be covered.  The following 3 panelists will be discussing the topics:

American Electric Power (AEP) Chairman & CEO, Michael G. Morris;

Former New York Governor, George Pataki;

President of Ceres, Mindy Lubber.

Moderator: MIT Sloan Sr. Lecturer William Aulet

Please note, this is a 1.5 hour long event.

 

Event Lead Sponsor: American Electric Power

Event Supporting Sponsor: MIT System Design and Management program in ESD

 

Link to video of event:

http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/2105-mit-energy-club-future-of-energy-panel-session

Preparatory Readings

Biographies:

Michael G. Morris Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Electric Power

Michael G. Morris is leading AEP's efforts to develop:
• An advanced interstate high-voltage transmission system that efficiently delivers wholesale power regionally within a competitive market while enhancing regional reliability;
• Extra high-voltage transmission line projects with a number of joint venture partners in Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia;
• Innovative carbon capture and storage systems at one or more AEP coal-powered generating plants; and
• Energy efficiency and load demand reduction initiatives as well as integration of new intelligent distribution grid technologies to provide greater service quality, reliability and control of energy usage to customers.
Morris was chairman, president and CEO of Northeast Utilities System from 1997 to 2003, where he led the company during its $1.3 billion sale of the Millstone Station nuclear plant in 2001, a $679 million merger with Yankee Energy System Inc., and the acquisition of Connecticut Valley Electric Co. He was also heavily involved in the formation of ISO-New England, as well as restructuring and retail customer choice in the New England states.
Before joining Northeast Utilities, Morris was president and CEO of Consumers Energy, principal subsidiary of CMS Energy, and president of CMS Marketing, Services and Trading. He was previously president of Colorado Interstate Gas Co. and executive vice president of marketing, transportation and gas supply for ANR Pipeline Co., both subsidiaries of El Paso Energy. Morris was the founder and president of ANR Gathering Co., one of the first gas marketing companies in the United States.
Morris is past chairman of the Edison Electric Institute. He also serves on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Board, the National Governors Association’s Task Force on Electricity Infrastructure, the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, Business Roundtable (chairing the Business Roundtable's Sustainable Growth Initiative), and the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation. Morris serves as a director of the boards of Alcoa, Battelle, Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited, and The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. He is past chairman of the board of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association and the Ohio Business Roundtable.
Born in Fremont, Ohio, Morris graduated from Eastern Michigan University with both bachelor’s (1969) and master’s degrees (1973) in biology. He served on the Board of Regents at Eastern Michigan University from 1997-2004. In 1995 he received the university’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. During his graduate years, he was commander of the ROTC Brigade. He began his working career in 1971 in Detroit with a small engineering firm and moved to the environmental department of Commonwealth Associates in 1973, where he prepared environmental impact statements for electrical utility transmission lines, natural gas and oil pipelines, and power plants.
Morris received a law degree, cum laude, from the Detroit College of Law in 1980 and is a member of the Michigan Bar Association. He is a past member of the Board of the Detroit College of Law.

 

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Governor George E. Pataki
Governor George E. Pataki joined the law firm Chadbourne and Parke, LLP in 2007 as Counsel, focusing on their environmental and corporate practice areas. The Governor also is the founder and Chairman of Pataki-Cahill Group, a consulting firm concentrating on climate change, energy and the environment. 
Prior to joining Chadbourne & Parke and starting the Pataki-Cahill Group, he served three terms as the 53rd governor of New York State, from 1995 through 2006. First elected in 1994, he won re-election in 1998 and 2002.  He was a partner in the New York law firm of Plunkett & Jaffe until 1987. He was elected mayor of Peekskill, New York in 1981, and served in the New York State Legislature as an assemblyman and then a senator from 1985 to 1994, before becoming governor.

Widely know for his protection of over one million acres of open space, the most since Teddy Roosevelt, Governor Pataki balanced his pro-business philosophy with award-winning, cutting-edge policies in the renewable energy and environmental fields. He led the establishment of the first mandatory cap and trade carbon initiative (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative - RGGI) which now includes ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic States. The Governor implemented the first integrated strategy for creating clean, renewable transportation networks utilizing alternative fuels, including tax and other incentives for both consumers and manufacturers, grants for alternative retail fuel distribution systems and the exemption of renewable fuels from all State and local taxes. 
Governor Pataki established New York’s leading brownfield program spurring development in cities across the state by creating a $200 million fund to support the redevelopment of contaminated sites and instituting a $135 million tax credit program to encourage public private investment in brownfields.  He instituted the nation’s first green buildings tax credit incentive program which led to the building of the first high-rise green office building in the United States, the first high-rise green residential building in the United States and a host of other green projects currently underdevelopment. Most notably, through his determined leadership Governor Pataki ensured that the redeveloped World Trade Center site will be a global example of green building design.

In addition, Governor Pataki worked to create public private partnerships for clean energy generation in New York State resulting in one of the largest industrial solar power arrays in the U.S., two cellulosic ethanol production facilities, two clean coal plants underdevelopment and one of the largest wind-power arrays in the Eastern United States.  He introduced net metering to encourage alternative energy production in homes and established the nation's first business park devoted to the development of clean energy technologies.

Among numerous other awards, BusinessWeek named Governor Pataki one of the top 20 “Individuals who stand out for their efforts to cut gases that cause global warming” in the world. Also, in 2006, Vanity Fair called him a governor who “gets it” in its inaugural “Green Issue” for his efforts concerning the environment.  He is currently co-chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations Independent Task Force on Climate Change.

The Governor and his wife Libby reside in Garrison, NY.  They have four children.

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Mindy S. Lubber, JD, MBA

Mindy S. Lubber is the President of Ceres, the leading U.S. coalition of investors and environmental leaders working to improve corporate environmental, social and governance practices. She also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), an alliance that coordinates U.S. investor responses to the financial risks and opportunities posed by climate change.

INCR activities include organizing the Institutional Investor Summit on Climate Risk at the UN Headquarters, hosting fiduciary training programs for pension fund trustees, producing research reports to improve investor understanding of climate risk, and coordinating engagement of its members with companies, money management firms, and policy makers.

Ms. Lubber has held leadership positions in government as the Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; in the financial services sector as Founder, President and CEO of Green Century Capital Management, an investment firm managing environmentally screened mutual funds; in the private sector as the President of an environmental law and policy consulting group; and in the not-for-profit sector for more than a decade leading environmental and public interest law organizations, including the National Environmental Law Center, which she founded. She was the Senior Advisor and Communications Director to former Governor Michael Dukakis, and for a decade, held leadership positions with the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG), including Chairwoman of the Board of Directors.

Ms. Lubber holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration.

Future of Energy Panel - NEW LOCATION: E15-070 (Bartos Theater, MIT Media Lab)

06:00-07:30PM Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Leader: John Kluza
Location: E15-070 (Bartos Theater, MIT Media Lab)