North American SEM Collaborative

The SEM Collaborative is led by a board of SEM leaders who are committed to elevating and accelerating how SEM is practiced across North America.  This group is interested in increasing our representation from diverse perspectives, including from different organization types, different regions, and other forms of diversity.  We welcome other persons potentially interested in supporting SEM Collaborative efforts as board members.  Please reach out to Neal Elliott to express interest.

Leslie Wright - Secretary
Leslie Wright, Manager of Business Energy Management at Puget Sound Energy in Washington state. I have been with PSE since 2003; working in various groups such as Standards, Planning, Major Projects, Customer and System Projects, and for the past 2 years in Customer Energy Management. My team engages commercial and industrial customers in energy efficiency programs to incentivize conservation savings. Prior to PSE, I worked for Ford Motor Company in automotive engineering and Motorola in production and packaging engineering. I have 2 Bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Natural Sciences (with a concentration in Math) and an MBA.

Nick Dalziel - Treasurer
Nick Dalziel is a co-founder of Goldfin Consulting and has been working in the energy management field since 2006. He developed an early taste for SEM while working at BC Hydro at a time when they were introducing the concept to their industrial customers. Nick flipped to the consulting side and played a significant role in the implementation of the industrial and custom energy efficiency programs in Ontario, between 2010 and 2017, including SEM services for all sectors. Since launching Goldfin in 2018, Nick has been involved in the implementation of several SEM programs or services directly to industry, with an emphasis on carbon strategy and management. Nick loves this work, but he’d rather be (mountain) biking.

Michelle B Keller - Member at Large  
Michelle Keller has been active in energy efficiency since 2001, supporting commercial, industrial, and university clients with project development, M&V plans, and sponsoring utility interactions. Michelle was excited to incorporate SEM into her work as the approach evolved on the East Coast, and is now an advocate for holistic considerations in energy efficiency, decarbonization, and sustainability efforts with all of her customers. Michelle’s experience as a process/project engineer, an independent contractor supporting efficiency and demand management efforts of grocery chains and small businesses in ten US states, an SEM coach, plus time in project and program implementation within efficiency utilities in several Northeast States provides her with the insight to incorporate the perspectives of all parties involved in energy management, efficiency, and clean energy efforts for new construction and existing facilities. Michelle has returned to independent consultancy with Fraktalas Energy and specializes in understanding how to leverage relationships and SEM to bring state and utility efforts together with engaged customers to foster real progress toward the ambitious efficiency, resource demand management, equity, and carbon reduction goals that drive current efforts in this field. Michelle holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a humanities concentration in music. 

Pamela Birkel, Cascade Energy
Pamela Birkel is the Director of Strategic Energy Management (SEM) at Cascade Energy. Based in Portland, Oregon, she oversees SEM delivery to 15 utility clients as well as customer-direct SEM. Ms. Birkel received an MBA from the University of Oregon in 2013, focused on sustainable business practices, and has been with Cascade, in a range of SEM roles, since that time. Prior to her MBA, she was an architect in Portland with an interest in green buildings. She sees SEM as a vehicle for decarbonization, and believes that SEM brings the most accessible methods for reducing emissions and commercial and industrial sites worldwide. She envisions expanding the typical SEM arena of energy efficiency to include capital projects, time-of-use responses, distributed generation, and energy storage, thereby helping companies realize their goals of achieving net zero emissions according to science-based targets. Ms. Birkel holds degrees and credentials that include M.Arch., MBA, CEM, 50001 CP EnMS, and CAP.

Diana Chou, Marin Clean Energy (MCE)
Diana Chou brings over a decade of experience in clean energy & energy efficiency programs, most recently managing MCE’s SEM programs serving industrial, agricultural, large commercial, and multifamily property customers. Diana started her SEM journey as an energy coach, engaging with customers on integrating strategic energy management into their operations. She most enjoyed seeing the potential and enthusiasm in each organization, and thrived off of providing them with the tools they needed to further develop their energy management practices. 

Prior to her SEM days, Diana supported grocers in making upgrades to more energy efficient equipment. She also worked with the Bay Area Climate Collaborative (BACC), where she fostered the development of several (then) forward-looking projects, including the “Ready Set Charge” EV-Ready Communities guidebook and an energy efficiency toolkit for the SMB sector. Diana holds a BA in Chemistry and minor in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jon Feldman, Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO)
Jon Feldman is the Senior Technical Officer for Industrial Energy Efficiency in the IESO’s Energy Efficiency department, which delivers energy efficiency incentive programs to Ontario’s electricity users. In this role, Jon is responsible for all technical aspects of the current and future industrial programs. He is specifically responsible for providing guidance, leadership and direction to a group of service providers who deliver the technical review function on behalf of the IESO. He also provides leadership and guidance on industrial energy efficiency measures, energy management, Strategic Energy Management and ISO 50001, to the Energy Efficiency department. Jon also led the innovative use of IPMVP Option D for assessment of savings from major new construction industrial projects including mine ventilation, compressed air and industrial refrigeration. In 2020 Jon became only the 2nd Canadian to be inducted into the AEE’s Energy Manager Hall of Fame; the Associations highest honor, given to outstanding leaders in the energy industry who over their lifetimes have made significant contributions in the field of energy management.

Jon holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He holds the CEM, CEA and CMVP designations, is a CMVP Instructor, and is the longest serving instructor on the Canadian CEM panel, having taught over 50 classes and over 1,300 students. In 2019 Jon was admitted as a Fellow of the Association of Energy Engineers.

Lura Griffiths, Alternative Energy Systems Consulting (AESC)
Lura is an experienced SEM Coach, analyst, consulting engineer, project manager, technical trainer, and program manager with a passion for communicating with customers and delivering organizational change. She is skilled at organizational change and stakeholder management by building consensus, resolving issues, and developing solutions across cross-functional teams. Lura serves as one of two lead energy coaches for AESC's SEM program- delivering energy management training to customers throughout Southern and Northeast Oregon and is a Commercial SEM Coach for the Energy Trust of Oregon’s Existing Buildings program. She facilitates workshops with diverse groups of all sizes in topics ranging from continuous improvement processes and behavioral change to HVAC controls and regression modeling of usage.

Lura holds a BS in Renewable Energy Engineering from the Oregon Institute of Technology in Portland, OR and several certifications including AAS Resolt Management, AAS Computer Support Specialist, Certified Energy Managner (CEM), and a Certified Practitioner in Energy Management Systems (50001 CP EnMS).

Clay Hoover, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Clay Hoover is a Senior Program Manager with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) EnergyRight for Business and Industry, with 14 years of experience helping commercial and industrial customers leverage energy efficiency to achieve higher performance. Clay, the TVA Financial Service Engineer of the Year in 2023, has a wide range of experience successfully implementing SEM programing. This includes SEM efforts with TVA’s Magnolia Combined Cycle Plant in Ashland, Mississippi, that led to a 50001 Ready recognition. Clay currently oversees TVA’s EnergyRight School Uplift Program, working with K-12 school districts across the Tennessee Valley to make smart energy choices. Clay has also contributed to program design and management of TVA’s SEM programs for industrial, multifamily, and a potential hospital program.
 
Clay holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is a licensed professional engineer in Tennessee.

Holly Farah, LEED AP, Rouj Energy Analytics

Holly Farah is Founder and CEO of Rouj Energy Analytics, a rapidly growing cleantech firm that is specialized in energy data analytics and quantitative research; design; planning; and evaluation, measurement and verification (EM&V) of a wide range of demand-side management (DSM) portfolios and programs, including agile evaluation of industrial and commercial Strategic Energy Management (SEM) programs. Rouj harnesses the power and capacity of data to revolutionize the traditional implementation and evaluation practices and methodologies. Since its inception in 2016, Rouj has been involved in performing state-of-the-art engineering and meter data analysis for utilities and regulators across North America.

For over twenty years, Holly Farah has been leading DSM impact evaluations in different regulatory environments and climatic conditions across North America, training and mentoring many engineers on industry best practices related to quantitative analysis and energy performance modeling and serving as technical advisor and subject matter expert for a broad range of evaluation topics including energy codes and standards, net zero, and performance-based programs.

Anna Kelly

Anna Kelly received her MPP in Energy Policy from Oregon State University. Her specialty is measurement and verification (M&V) and she received her training from Energy Trust of Oregon’s evaluation team. Anna works at the intersections between the plays in the energy efficiency industry. From policy to implementation, she identifies barriers, alleviates pressures, and accelerates scaling. She has more than 10 years focusing on SEM and SEM-type programs as an evaluator, an administrator, a government body, and an implementer. She has implemented and measured the outcomes of thousands of projects, while pursuing continuous improvement in our approaches through active advocacy, original research, and procedural optimization. 

Mike Kelly

Mike Kelly is the Acting Manager of the Industry Technical Team at the Office of Energy Efficiency. He is a member of the ISO/TC 301 and the Canadian Mirror Committee to ISO/TC 301, responsible for energy management and energy savings standards. Prior to this, Mike spent over four years as a Senior Industrial Engineer at Natural Resources Canada. He has an extensive knowledge of industry, programs and policies, with a focus on energy efficiency, emission reductions and economic performance.

Before joining government, Mike spent over six years in industry as a Process Engineer and Energy Manager. In these roles, he facilitated production through the design, development and continual improvement of industrial equipment and processes. Mike championed energy saving initiatives, including the implementation of an energy management system, employee awareness campaign and a number of energy efficiency retrofits and process upgrades. This resulted in an award-winning program that achieved energy, water and emission reductions by over 60% in three years and provided millions of dollars in annual cost savings. During his time in industry, Mike also served as a Chair for the General Manufacturing Sector of the Canadian Industry Partnership for Energy Conservation, a Standing Committee Member on Energy Efficiency in Buildings responsible for the National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings, and an Industrial Partner for Algonquin College.

Mike is an advocator for responsible energy use and firmly believes that there is a direct link between meeting net-zero emissions targets and effective energy management. He is a strong supporter of the energy efficiency first principle and bringing behavioural, organizational and technological change together to maximize results. It starts with asking a simple question – how can we save more energy? Mike first asked this question in industry and continues to ask it regularly in government.