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About UsPGS Energy Training (PGS) is a leading provider of quality CPE approved seminars for the electric power and energy industries. Established in 1990, PGS has trained over 10,000 energy professionals in the last 8 years. PGS offers on-site training programs, public classroom seminars, live phone-based classes, and online training. View PGS Seminar Clients. PGS welcomes inquires from parties interested in helping PGS develop, present or promote its training programs and services. Our Instructors
John Adamiak
John Adamiak is President and Founder of PGS Energy Training and an expert in energy derivatives and electric power markets. Mr. Adamiak is a well-known and highly effective seminar presenter who has over 20 years experience in the natural gas and electric power industries. His background includes 15 years as a seminar instructor, 9 years of energy transaction experience, and 6 years of strategic planning and venture capital activities. John's academic background includes an M.B.A. degree from Carnegie Mellon University.
Soli Forouzan
Soli Forouzan is President of Mind Span, Inc., an Energy Trading Risk Management and Asset Optimization consulting firm based in Houston. Prior to holding this position he was the Chief Risk Officer for PG&E Energy Trading, overseeing all trading in electric power, natural gas and other fuels for the third largest energy trading organization in North America. In that and other occasions he oversaw the middle office functions for complex, multi-commodity wholesale energy books. Soli's career spans over 20 years in the energy industry, during which time he traded one of the largest natural gas storage asset portfolios in the industry. Mr. Forouzan has been a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) since 1987 and is a frequent speaker at energy industry forums on the subjects of trading risk management and asset optimization.
Peter C. Fusaro
Peter Fusaro is immersed in sustainability initiatives with companies throughout the US. Peter is a professor in Bard College’s new program offering an MBA in Sustainability where he teaches sustainable finance. He is also a professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs where he teaches a course on renewable energy project development and finance. He is on the Advisory Board of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan. Peter is Chairman of Global Change Associates in New York and has been active in energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon projects for decades. He will share his experiences in this emerging field of business sustainability with webinar participants.
Greg Peters
Greg Peters is President, EnVision Energy Solutions and the natural gas consultant to the Midwest ISO and author of several of the MISO’s electric – natural gas infrastructure interdependency studies. Mr. Peters has over 25 years of energy industry consulting and management experience and is an expert in energy products and services marketing and supply planning, procurement and energy management. Mr. Peters' consulting experience includes several years as Manager of Price Waterhouse's National Public Utilities Consulting Services and currently as President, Envision Energy Solutions Company. Envision provides gas, electric and fuel management consulting services to a wide range of industrial, commercial and municipal end-users. Previously, Mr. Peters has had fuel procurement, fuel management and planning responsibilities for Columbia Energy Services Corporation, Equitable Gas Company, and The Peoples Natural Gas Company.
Kenneth Skinner, Ph. D.
Kenneth Skinner, Ph.D. is Vice President of Risk & Evaluation Products for Integral Analytics, an analytical software and management consulting firm focused on operational, planning, and market research solutions. Dr. Skinner has over 20 years’ experience in evaluation and risk measurement, having worked as an energy consultant with PHB Hagler Bailly and Financial Times (FT) Energy, and as the Derivative Structuring Manager for the retail energy supplier Sempra Energy Solutions. He has his Ph.D. from Colorado School of Mines, in Mineral Economics, with an emphasis in Operations Research, an MBA from Regis University and his BS in Engineering from Letourneau University. Dr. Skinner is a nationally recognized expert in economic evaluation and modeling of energy assets including energy storage, distribution and generation, efficiency and demand response, renewable energy alternatives, financial derivatives and structured contracts using net present value, econometric and statistical methods, optimization principles, and real option valuation techniques. Dr. Skinner is currently the technology columnist for Wiley Natural Gas and Electricity Journal and is a noted speaker on energy related topics for organizations such as AESP, IAEE, ACEEE, PLMA, IEPEC, INFORMS, Infocast, EUCI, SNL Energy and PGS Energy Training. Jim Crist
is President of Lumen Group, Inc. headquartered in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. He has over 27 years experience in the energy industry covering coal, gas, oil, propane, and electricity. Jim has conducted many strategic studies of the industry and prepared market and business assessments for several large energy companies. Before founding Lumen Group in 1996, Jim spent 20 years working for major energy companies in engineering, technology development, rate and regulatory policy development and marketing. He served as marketing vice president in both regulated and deregulated entities. His consulting practice provides strategic planning, marketing and business development, and rate and regulatory consulting, along with serving as an expert witness in regulatory proceedings in several jurisdictions.
Andy Weissman
Andy Weissman is Senior Energy Advisor at Haynes and Boone LLP, known for its expertise in the domestic and international physical and financial energy markets, and Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Energy Business Watch, one of the premier energy market advisory services in the country.
He has more than three decades of experience providing strategic advice and counseling to major electric utilities, independent power producers, natural gas and coal producers, large energy users, hedge funds and other major financial institutions and retail and wholesale energy marketers. During the past decade, he repeatedly has been among the first to spot major price trends in the electricity, natural gas and coal markets. Earlier in his career, he helped to pioneer the use of emissions trading in the U.S., structuring nearly all of the early transactions under Title IV of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, which established a "cap and trade" program for precursors of acid rain. Jason Makansi
Jason Makansi is an independent consultant in the power generation industry with over 30 years of experience analyzing the technological, business, environmental and regulatory issues in electricity production and delivery. He is also a prolific author, respected industry thought leader, and sought-after communicator. His third book, Lights Out: The Electricity Crisis, the Global Economy, and What It Means to You, was called a "must read for anyone even slightly interested in the adequacy of the U.S. power sector and what the future may hold," and received glowing reviews from industry observers and critics in the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the St. Louis Post Dispatch to name just a few. Mr. Makansi has appeared on CNBC and TheStreet.com, and has been interviewed for NPR, The New York Times, Forbes, Newsweek, and CFO magazine, and his byline has appeared countless times in the most respected industry journals. He earned his Chemical Engineering degree from Columbia University.
Mr. Miki Kolobara, Esq.
Mr. Miki Kolobara, Esq. is the managing attorney at Kolobara Law Firm, LLC. He practices primarily in commodities and derivatives trading law with particular emphasis on energy trading attorney, risk management, and compliance. Prior to founding Kolobara Law Firm, Mr. Kolobara spent 15 years working for several large energy companies where he assisted in creating and implementing trading policies and procedures, drafting standard trading and credit documentation, and training front and middle office personnel about legal and contractual aspects of energy trading. He has negotiated hundreds of master agreements and documentation for physical and financial transactions, as well as structured transactions for natural gas, electricity, coal, crude oil, and emissions allowances.
Mr. Kolobara serves on the Futures and Derivatives Law Committee of the American Bar Association, as well as the North American Energy Standards Board's contracting committee where he participated in drafting the NAESB standard master agreement for natural gas trading. Additionally, Mr. Kolobara is active in the International Energy Credit Associations' Contracts and Legal committee and its Dodd-Frank Act working group. As a member of the WSPP contracting committee, Mr. Kolobara participated in drafting of the WSPP standard master agreement for electricity trading. Mr. Kolobara is a frequent speaker on topics related to energy trading, hedging, risk management, and compliance. Julie Ryan
Ms. Ryan provides advisory services to energy companies in the areas of strategic planning, energy supply and wholesale trading and marketing, M&A due diligence, and risk management. Ms. Ryan has over 23 years of experience in the energy industry. She has been consulting since 2006, and she brings direct experience in leading risk management, energy supply planning, trading and marketing operations, strategic planning, and corporate risk analysis through several officer positions at Puget Sound Energy, Merchant Energy Group of the Americas and Louis Dreyfus Energy Corp. Ms. Ryan has been an appointed member of the Seattle City Light Review Panel since 2010, which oversees its strategic planning process, rate design and rate reviews. She has spoken at numerous industry conferences on the topics of risk management, hedging, strategic planning, and has been a guest instructor at Willamette University’s Atkinson School of Management since 2006. Ms. Ryan graduated Cum Laude, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, from Smith College in Massachusetts. Makansi, Jason
Jason Makansi, is President of the consulting firm, Pearl Street Inc, and author of the acclaimed, Lights Out: The Electricity Crisis, the Global Economy, and What It Means To you (John Wiley & Sons, 2007). He has taught seminars in many areas for the electricity industry, keynoted major industry conferences, facilitated and moderated sessions and symposia, and is considered a top thought leader and domain expert, especially for advanced technology deployment. Digital intelligence in the electricity industry has been a primary practice area for Pearl Street. In 1996, Makansi authored a pioneering Power Magazine special report, “Information Technology for Power Plant Management,” the first to consider an IT system as a power plant data/information/knowledge network. In 2008, Makansi, with Paul Kurchina, issues “Brains and Brawn: Integrating Digital and Human Asset Intelligence into Comprehensive Power Plant Knowledge Management.” He is also the co-program designer and chairman for a new industry workshop, “Managing the Digitally Integrated Power Plant: A Power Generation Summit.” Makansi has served on the executive committee of the International Society for Automation (ISA) Power Industry Division for more than fifteen years. He has conducted digital intelligence projects around distributed control systems (DCS), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), cycling and dispatch, predictive analytics software, transformers and substations, home energy automation, energy storage, and nuclear plant asset management. Dr. Mazie Leftwich Psy. D.
Dr. Mazie Leftwich Psy. D. is a nationally known presenter and corporate trainer in the energy industry who has 20 years of executive experience in the right of way and land management consulting business. Dr. Leftwich serves as Director of the CLS Professional Development Institute and has been the catalyst behind CLS's extensive employee training, project training, and team-excellence programs.
Joey Lee Miranda
Joey Lee Miranda is a Partner in the Environmental and Utilities Practice Group of Robinson & Cole LLP. Ms. Miranda's practice focuses on energy and utilities matters including regulatory representation, litigation, transactional representation and counseling. Ms. Miranda also regularly publishes and presents on matters of interest to the energy industry. Recently, she edited the book Capturing the Power of Electric Restructuring.
Ann O'Hara
Ann O'Hara practiced law for 30 years prior to taking an “inactive” status with the Nebraska State Bar Association. Her experience in energy contracting law began in 1988 and she gained the majority of that experience as senior counsel for Aquila Energy Corporation in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1995, O'Hara began her own law practice which focused on energy transactional law with an emphasis on over the counter derivative documentation and the ISDA© Master Agreements. Her ISDA clients included some of the largest energy producers, marketers, and local distribution companies in the United States.
In 2000, O'Hara wrote her first book, "A Practical Guide to Gas Contracts” published by PennWell Publications. She is currently working on a second book, "OTC Energy Derivatives and the ISDA Documentation" which includes a study of the 1992 and 2002 ISDA© Master Agreements, the 2005 ISDA© Commodity Definitions, and accompanying credit documents. O'Hara continues to lecture and consult on energy risk management issues and ISDA documentation. She has presented seminars and workshops throughout the United States and Canada on the 1992 ISDA© Master Agreement, the 1994 ISDA® Credit Support Annex, the 2002 ISDA© Master Agreement, Master Netting Agreements, the NAESB Base Contract and the GISB Base Contract. Mr. Dale Veres
Mr. Dale Veres is the President / Principal Consultant of Trailblazer Strategies Group LLC. Trailblazer is a Management Consulting firm focusing on strategy development, business planning, business opportunity assessment, performance management, identifying and eliminating unwarranted costs, asset optimization, change management, implementing enterprise solutions, process-systems alignment, and competitive intelligence.
Dale's professional career spans 29 years with over 25 years of US energy industry experience. He has broad-based industry knowledge including that for energy, utilities, wind energy, consulting, commercial real estate, and information technology. Most recently Dale has been involved directly in the wind power industry through his consulting work for the US operations of an international wind energy developer as well as by serving as Vice President Finance & Strategic Planning for a start-up wind turbine manufacturing firm. Prior to those positions, Dale professional career includes three-years of consulting with a Fortune 5 company as well as a 20-year career with a major US integrated natural gas corporation and its largest operating gas utility. He has served Notre Dame College of Ohio as an Instructor on Business Analysis and Decision-Making. Dale has produced and delivered numerous webinars on wind energy, and has spoken nationally and internationally on the topics of tactical competitive intelligence and on business transformation. He is a Certified Toastmaster and has also served four years as the Chapter Coordinator for the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals. Keith Custer, PE
Keith Custer, PE has over 30 years of consulting and management experience and is an expert in project estimating, cost engineering, project scheduling, and earned value project management. Mr. Custer is a professional Electrical Engineer and has been involved in estimating technical projects ranging from Nuclear Power electric generation and control systems, landfill monitoring controls, office telephony systems, international voice and data communications systems, computer systems, custom software development, and major package software applications like Financials, CIS, HR, CRM, MMIS, PMO, and ERP in wide range of industries including electric power, insurance, financial, retail, manufacturing, health care, environmental, and customer service.
Mr. Custer has served as CIO and systems strategy planner and has operated his professional consulting, estimating, and management services company for over 20 years and has estimated, scheduled, and managed numerous technical projects and program offices including on-shore and off-shore staffing for companies such as Keane, IMRglobal, and Computer Aid Inc. Additionally, Mr. Custer has directly provided professional estimating Bechtel, SWEC, Comanco, Oracle, and Marriott as well as for numerous utilities customers such as FPL, NUSCO, MPL, Centerior, TECO, PECO, PPL, PSEG, SMUD, and GSU service. Larry G. Berg, PMP
Larry Berg is President of BERG LLC and has over 29 years of electric industry strategy, management and consulting experience. He has authored articles for industry periodicals on proposed climate change legislation as it specifically affects electric utilities. Mr. Berg spent most of his professional career at El Paso Electric Company (before retiring in February 2010), where he held a number of key strategic roles, including Director of Forecast & Planning and Director of Corporate Projects. He also served the company as a Power Consultant, Principal Project Manager, Technical Assistant (to the CEO) and as the company's Y2K Program Director in 1999-2000. Mr. Berg is a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso and is a Project Management Professional (PMP) as certified by the Project Management Institute.
Cynthia Kase
Cynthia traded physical energy as well as commodity derivates before launching the firm in 1992. She is a Chartered Market Technician and member of the Market Technicians Association, and Master of Financial Technical Analysis, awarded by the International Federation of Technical Analysts and the American Association of Professional Technical Analysts. Her work has won numerous awards from both the energy and technical analysis communities and she is widely published. Her technical trading algorithms are carried by a wide rang of trading platforms.
P. Dean Rogers, AP
Dean Rogers, AP, is Kase's Managing Director. Dean has been with Kase since 2000, is a member of the Market Technician's Association and oversees all of the firm's daily technical analysis work. Dean consults with clients on trading and hedging strategies, writes market analyses for oil and gas, provides training on Kase's computer trading and hedging models, teaches technical analysis and risk management courses, and is responsible for software and quantitative analytics research and development.
Sharon Armstrong
Sharon Armstrong has over 20 years of experience as a Human Resources consultant, trainer and career counselor. Since launching her own consulting business in 1998, Sharon Armstrong and Associates, she has consulted with many large corporations and small businesses. She has facilitated training, completed HR projects and provided career transition services for a wide variety of clients in the profit and non-profit sectors.
Sharon received her Bachelor's Degree from the University of Southern Maine and her Masters Degree in Counseling from George Washington University. She is a certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR). Sharon is the co-author of a humor book, published by Random House. Heeling the Canine Within: The Dog's Self-Help Companion was published in 1998. Her first business book, Stress-Free Performance Appraisals - Turn Your Most Painful Management Duty into a Powerful Motivational Tool was published by Career Press in July 2003. Her second business book, The Essential HR Handbook - A Quick and Handy Guide for Any Manager or HR Professional was published in Summer 2008. The Essential Performance Review Handbook, her last book, was published in May 2010. Joan Matochik
Joan Matochik is president and founder of JM Communications, a professional development and training business, specializing in helping individuals in the business world sharpen their written and verbal communication skills. For over 20 years, she has trained individuals in the profit and non-profit sectors not only to become more effective communicators but also more productive employees in the workplace.
Joan's academic background includes a B.A. degree in English Language and Literature from Daemen College in Buffalo, New York, and an M.A. degree in Journalism from Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. For several years, she assisted clients with their public relations and publicity needs. She has also taught professional writing at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York; Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York; and the State University of New York College at Geneseo in Geneseo, New York. A published author, Joan has written several articles on business communication. Joyce Oliner
Joyce Oliner concentrates on providing employment law and human resources training programs to the senior executives, managers and line employees of commercial, non-profit and governmental organizations. Ms. Oliner's extensive experience as an employment attorney makes her uniquely qualified to provide very practical training that combines both legal principles and real-world situations. Ms. Oliner practiced employment law for close to twenty years. As a partner with Shaw Pittman LLP in the District of Columbia, Ms. Oliner counseled management on a wide range of employment matters and conducted sensitive internal investigations of employee discrimination complaints. In addition to her counseling practice, Ms. Oliner also successfully represented employers in litigation before federal and state agencies around the country on a wide range of employment discrimination issues. Ms. Oliner is a frequent speaker and writer on issues relevant to human resources professionals. Ms. Oliner received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Oxford University, England, her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Wisconsin, her Master of Laws degree from the University of Virginia, and her Master of Education degree from the University of Maryland. Boris Shvartsberg, Ph.D., P.E., P.M.P.
Mr. Shvartsberg is an engineering and project management professional with more than 35 years of practical experience in managing and supervising of highly complicated technical projects for utility companies in the United States and Latvia. He has extensive teaching experience in the European and US colleges and universities. Mr. Shvartsberg is the author of more than 20 publications on electrical engineering and project management subjects and has made numerous successful presentations at international conferences and symposiums.
Mr. Shvartsberg has a doctorate and a masters degree in Electrical Engineering. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New Jersey, USA and a certified Project Management Professional designated by the Project Management Institute (PMI). He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a Leader of PMI Utility Industry Community of Practice. CPE Credits in Specialized Knowledge & Applications
 PGS Energy Training is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.learningmarket.org. CPAs interested in attending any seminars should contact our offices for details on CPE credits granted and any prerequisite requirements. PGS telephone seminars are eligible for CPE credits only if seminar participants use the printed seminar slides - not the Internet posted slides.  PGS Energy Training is registered with GARP as an Approved Provider of continuing professional education (CPE) credits. If you are a GARP CPE participant, please record this activity in your Credit Tracker at www.garp.org/cpe. Please inform PGS Energy Training that you are a GARP CPE participant upon seminar registration. The Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) is a not-for-profit membership association dedicated to preparing professionals and organizations for making better-informed risk decisions. GARP’s membership represents more than 150,000 risk management practitioners and researchers at academic institutions, banks, corporations, government agencies, and investment management firms in 195 countries and territories. GARP administers the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and Energy Risk Professional (ERP) Exams – certifications recognized by risk professionals worldwide. Visit www.garp.org/cpe.
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