ABOUT US

PGS Energy Training (PGS) is a leading provider of quality seminars for the electric power and energy industries. Established in 1990, PGS has trained many thousands of energy professionals. PGS offers online courses, in-person classroom seminars, and group on-site training at the location you choose. View PGS Client List.

PGS welcomes inquiries from parties who are interested in helping PGS develop, present, or promote its training programs and services.

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.

Kenneth Skinner, Ph. D. -- VP and Chief Operating Officer, Integral Analytics
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.

Dr. Randell Johnson - Acelerex
Dr. Johnson has expertise and experience in the Valuation, Design, Procurement, and Operations of Grid Batteries

Dr. Johnson has been involved in the Energy Storage Road Map for the Maldives, Bermuda Energy Storage Sizing Study, New York Energy Storage Road Map, Massachusetts State of Charge Study, MISO Energy Storage Study, Ontario Energy Storage Study, and numerous other energy storage studies. He was selected by the World Bank to study 100% carbon-free grids with energy storage and Acelerex software and methods were selected by the International Renewable Energy Agency for increasing penetration of renewables with energy storage. Dr. Johnson has invented and developed software for battery analytics and battery real time control. He is expert at power markets and valuation of energy storage to maximize utilization of existing transmission systems and co-optimization of transmission and other resources in addition of co-optimization of energy and ancillary services. A Harvard Business Case has been written for energy storage that includes methods pioneered by Dr. Johnson.

Dr. Johnson holds a Ph.D. in Power Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MS in Economics from Cass Business School, UK, and a Utility Corporate Finance Certificate for Gas and Electric Utilities from UConn Business School. Dr. Johnson has background in strategy, regulatory finance, economic optimizations, quantitative finance, electricity and energy markets, public policy, technical grid design, real-time optimizations, and high-performance computing.

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.

Jim Crist
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.

Peter C. Fusaro - Chairman of Global Change
Peter C. Fusaro wrote the best seller “What Went Wrong at Enron” and has served as an expert witness on corporate corruption cases. His knowledge of the energy industry goes back over 4 decades as both a policy maker at the US Department of Energy in Washington DC and as a senior executive at a multinational oil company and original equipment manufacturer. Today, Peter is on the advisory board of Bard College’s MBA in Sustainability and was on the advisory board of the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute in the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He as an adjunct professor at Columbia University and developed a popular renewable energy project finance course there. He is a graduate of Tufts University with an MA and Carnegie-Mellon University with a BA.

Eric Stark
Eric Stark is a Senior Trainer and Consultant of RNItechnology. He has more than 32 years of consulting and training experience and practice in industrial applications, utilities and academics in North America and around the world.Eric has extensive experience in power system design, studies and commissioning, special emphasis on protection, power quality, power system grounding, power flow, short circuit, arc flash, transient stability, transient switching analysis and harmonic studies.Eric’s recent work included several generation, micro-grid, subway and utility projects in North America and Middle East, including system and stability studies. Eric was involved in protective relay settings, transfer schemes, coordination, and load shedding schemes.In addition to his vast professional experience, Eric is the author of technical papers for major players like General Electric, Institute of Technology, Digital Energy and has prepared and conducted numerous courses, workshops and tutorials in academics and industry, globally, for GE and RNItechnology clients.Eric's experience includes industries such as oil and gas, silver, gold and phosphate mining, cogeneration, utility systems, pulp and paper, and many application projects.

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.

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, 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, LNG, 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.