Curtis Crews is the Director of O&P Compliance & Risk at Texas RE is currently responsible for directing all NERC compliance activities for the Texas Interconnection. Curtis has supervised or managed engineering groups for ERCOT ISO, Austin Energy, and the Lower Colorado River Authority and has over 25 years of experience with emphasis in Real-Time environments. Curtis holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University and is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Texas.

Scott Smith is the Chief Information Security officer for the City of Bryan. He is responsible for cyber security as well as compliance for NERC CIP, PCI DSS, and CJIS standards requirements. His expertise is in Critical Infrastructure Protection, Information Security Management, and IT Compliance Management. Prior to his current position, Mr. Smith spent 11 years as the Manager of IT Operations for Bryan Texas Utilities overseeing the utilities’ infrastructure, security and compliance programs. Scott is a member of Infragard, ISSA, ISACA, and holds active CISSP, CISM and CGCIO certifications.

Julie Caruthers Parsley is the first female Chief Executive Officer at Pedernales Electric Cooperative. Before coming to PEC, Parsley was a founding partner of Parsley Coffin Renner LLP, a law firm specializing in utility regulations, was a commissioner of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC), and a Regional State Committee member in the Southwest Power Pool. She was also a member of the Texas Energy Planning Council and served on the ERCOT Board.

In 2022, Parsley was appointed to the State Energy Plan Advisory Committee. She also serves as a board member of Texas Electric Cooperatives, serves as an Advisory Trustee on the board of Southwest Research Institute, is a founding board member of the Association of Women in Energy, and is a member and frequent speaker for the Gulf Coast Power Association.

Before serving as PUC Commissioner, Parsley served as Texas Solicitor General, the first female to serve in that role, and was an adjunct professor of law, teaching appellate practice and procedure at the University of Texas School of Law.  She holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Distribution from Texas A&M University, and she received her Juris Doctor from Texas Tech University School of Law, which later honored her by selecting her to give the commencement speech to the graduating class in December 2002.  Most recently Parsley was named 2021 Distinguished Alumni by Texas Tech School of Law.

Mark Henry is the Director of Reliability Services & Registration at Texas RE. He has experience in the electric power industry including generation, transmission, and control center assignments as an electrical engineer and engineering supervisor at the Lower Colorado River Authority for nearly 15 years. He has worked with the bulk power system compliance program since joining the ERCOT ISO in December 1999. Mark is a licensed professional engineer in Texas and holds a BSEE from the University of Texas at Austin.

Liz Jones is Vice President Regulatory Affairs for Oncor, where she develops regulatory policy for the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Ms. Jones has engaged in similar activities at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and the Texas Reliability Entity. Ms. Jones previously served as an Assistant General Counsel and Administrative Counsel for the PUC, addressing electric, telephone, open-records, and open-meetings issues.  Ms. Jones was also an associate with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton in San Diego, California.  Ms. Jones holds a B.A. from Rice University and a J.D. with honors from The University of Texas School of Law; she is licensed to practice law in Texas and California.

Thomas Coleman is Chief Technical Advisor at NERC. He works with industry and stakeholders to assess, report on, and provide recommendations to ensure the reliability of the North American Bulk Power System. Mr. Coleman leads the efforts around NERC’s natural gas risk strategy and is the NERC lead for NERC’s Electric Gas Working Group. He has led initiatives for the NERC Reliability Issues Steering Committee as well as efforts around long term, short term and historical reliability assessments.  Mr. Coleman joined NERC in 2014. Prior to joining NERC Mr. Coleman traded power and natural gas commodities and directed long term origination at JP Morgan and Williams Energy.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida and his MBA from Vanderbilt University.

Kimberly Denbow is the Vice President of Security & Operations at the American Gas Association (AGA) and has been with AGA for 25 years. Ms. Denbow supports AGA’s all-hazards emergency preparedness activities and pipeline resilience and reliability initiatives. Ms. Denbow has served as staff executive for multiple AGA Operations Section technical committees and she serves as the industry liaison to numerous U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Department of Energy (DOE) natural gas physical and cybersecurity programs. Ms. Denbow is an active member of the Oil & Natural Gas Sector Coordinating Council (ONG SCC) and the Pipeline Sector Coordinating Council. Ms. Denbow has a Bachelor of Science in marine biology from the University of Florida and a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Sam Siegel is Vice President of Wholesale Regulatory Compliance for Vistra Corp.  Sam provides compliance coverage and regulatory support for Vistra’s generation and commercial risk management businesses. He is responsible for leading interactions with regulators such as FERC, NERC, CFTC, Exchanges (e.g., ICE and CME), Public Utility Commissions, Regional Entities (e.g., TexasRE) and ISOs (e.g., ERCOT and PJM).  Sam serves on the Texas Energy Reliability Council (TERC) as the member representing dispatchable electric energy. Prior to Vistra, Sam worked in Compliance at several investment banks and as a litigator at large national law firm.  He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Plan II and History from the University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law. 

John Paul Skeath’s current focus at NERC is related to DER modeling, model verification, cyber contingency definition and mapping, and disturbance report analysis. He is involved in various NERC Reliability and Security Technical Committee (RSTC) subgroups, including the System Planning Impacts of DER Working Group (SPIDERWG). John Paul “JP” graduated from Colorado School of Mines in 2017 with his B.S. in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science and from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2018 with an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Mike Del Casale is Calpine’s Senior Vice President of Power Operations managing the Calpine fleet since October 2017 and has served in the power industry for more than 39 years. In previous roles at Calpine, he has served as Vice President of Regional Operations and Construction, Vice President of Engineering and Construction, East Region Asset Manager, and Plant Manager at the York Energy Center. Before joining Calpine in 2010, he was involved in a number of plant construction and commissioning projects, along with other operations and engineering positions throughout his career.  Mike worked at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for several years before joining Delmarva Power and Light, which later became Conectiv Energy. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Villanova University.

Keith Smith is the Head of Compliance and Reliability for US Onshore Operations at Ørsted where he manages activities associated with NERC and ISO/RTO rules and regulations. Keith has 13 years of experience in the electric power industry, including roles as a Network Model Engineer at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and as an O&P Compliance Engineer and Manager at Texas Reliability Entity. Keith holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.