Keynote Speaker
Peter Boyd – Lecturer at Yale School of the Environment; Resident Fellow, Yale Center for Business and the Environment; Founder & CEO of Time4Good.
For over twenty years he has worked on, led and advised, high-growth organizations on leadership, strategy, time maximization, team alignment andentrepreneurial opportunity. His private-sector experience started with McKinsey & Co then spanned over ten jobs in twelve years at the Virgin Group, including CEO of Virgin Mobile South Africa. In non-profit and government, he was Launch Director and COO of Sir Richard Branson’s Carbon War Room; served as Chair of The Energy Efficiency Deployment Office for the UK Department of Energy & Climate Change; and led The B Team’s ‘Net-Zero by 2050’ initiative focused on business encouragement for an ambitious Paris Agreement at COP21.
Panel Moderator
Benjamin Z. Houlton, Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and a Cornell University professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology as well as Global Development.
An accomplished international scientist, his research interests include global ecosystem processes, climate change solutions, and agricultural sustainability. As founding co-chair of the California Collaborative for Climate Change solutions, Ben works with researchers from key research institutions to accelerate the translation of research findings into practical climate solutions. He also directs more than 100 acres of farmland carbon sequestration projects to improve crop yields and create new financial markets for farmers and ranchers. Ben has published his research in leading scientific journals including Nature, Science, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As part of his mission to connect scientific discovery with the public, he is also a frequent guest on regional and national news programs.
Panelists
Daniel O’Connell,
General Manager-Rochester Operations Giga Factory/Innovation Center
Plug Power
Mr. O’Connell joined Plug Power in 2018 as General Manager of the Rochester Operations and currently oversees the Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) operations in Rochester NY. Daniel was instrumental in bringing the Giga Factory/Innovation Center expansion project to the Rochester, NY region.
Mr. O’Connell was previously the Co-Founder and CEO of American Fuel Cell (AFC). Plug Power acquired AFC to obtain a deeper understanding of MEA design and manufacturing. He also was previously the Co-Founder and COO of Standard Hydrogen Corporation and now serves on their board.
Mr. O’Connell began his career with General Motors in 1977 and retired as the Director of Advanced Technology Demonstration Vehicles in 2013. He led the deployment of the Chevrolet Electric Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCEV) “Project Driveway” and the Volt Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) “Customer Advisory Board” vehicle fleet programs. He was responsible for all Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) and Electric Networked Vehicle (EN-V) platform demo fleets. He had responsibility for the US DoE Tech Val and the German CEP FCEV fleet programs. He was also responsible for implementation of the Hydrogen Infrastructure plan for fleet deployments and designed/procured/permitted/installed 12 hydrogen refueling stations as well as the >50 Electric Recharging Stations for the initial Volt Fleet deployment. He oversaw 8 vehicle repair/maintenance facilities around the globe. Mr. O’Connell remains active with NYSERDA, FCHEA, DoE, DoD, DoT, Oak Ridge National Lab, NREL, and others to promote the Hydrogen economy.
He had previously been responsible at GM for Advanced Product Engineering including Advanced Manufacturing, Operations and Process, and held positions of leadership in: Research, Fuel Processing, Program Management, and System Development activity at the Fuel Cell Activities Center in Honeoye Falls, New York.
Mr. O’Connell holds 7 patents, several concept disclosures, written several papers, and has spoken at countless conferences and events.
William D. Carleton, General Manager-Solar Operations & Maintenance
Will Carleton is currently the General Manager of the Solar Operations and Maintenance team at Clearway Energy Group based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Will is responsible for overseeing the safe and reliable operations of 15 utility scale solar assets totaling 1500 megawatts worth of capacity and more than 275 distributed generation and community solar assets across the country. He is committed to diligence in health and safety performance, attention to detail, quality maintenance and operations practices, and ensuring the managers and technicians who work for him are trained for all situations that they encounter.
Will brings with him over fourteen years of experience, including 8+ years in the photovoltaic industry. Will started with NRG now Clearway Energy Group as a Regional Manager over utility scale solar assets eventually taking over as the General Manager of DG and Community Solar where he led numerous change and operational excellence initiatives to turn around performance of a difficult and historically underperforming asset class. Leading to his current role as General Manager of Solar O&M.
Before joining NRG, Will was a consultant with Blasdel Energy Services, where he specialized in all aspects of PV operations, including safety, operational excellence, procedure development, maintenance management system development, training, and commissioning. Prior to that, Will worked at First Solar and was responsible for the planning and scheduling of some of the world’s largest PV sites.
Will is also a 6-year veteran of the United States Navy, where he started his career as a Nuclear Trained Electricians Mate (Submarines). He graduated near the top of his class and went on to complete multiple western pacific deployments. Will received numerous commendations while serving in the Navy, including four Navy Achievement Medals.
Suzanne Hunt is a Co-Owner of Hunt Country Vineyards, her family’s seventh generation farm and 40-year-old winery in the Finger Lakes. She is also Policy Director for Generate Capital which finances, builds, owns, and operates sustainable infrastructure projects in North America, South America, and Europe. From 2007-2021 Suzanne was a clean tech and climate policy consultant solving problems in energy, agriculture, and transportation. Her firm HuntGreen LLC’s clients included a wide variety of private equity firms, government agencies, startups, Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits. She serves on the external Sustainability Council to the CEO and senior leadership of Bayer Corporation in Germany. She is an Associate at the International Institute for Sustainability Analysis and Strategy (IINAS) in Germany, a member of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), a member of the Agriculture and Forestry Advisory Panel to the NY Climate Action Council, and a member of the NY Clean Transportation Roadmap Expert Advisory Board. She also serves as Chair of the Cornell AgriTech Advisory Council, a Board Trustee of the Seneca Park Zoo Society, Board Member of the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance, Energy Vision, and the Center for Earth Ethics. At the winery Suzanne has spearheaded a multitude of sustainability and climate resilience efforts – including energy efficiency, geothermal heating/cooling, solar PV, micro-wind, soil health, carbon sequestration, sustainable building materials, waste reduction, wildlife habitat, and advocacy. In 2021 Suzanne and her parents were recognized by Wine Business Monthly as some of the top leaders who shape the way the wine industry operates.
Curt A. Gooch, Dairy Environmental System Solutions Expert at Land O’Lakes and a Cornell Senior Extension Associate Emeritus
Curt found his passion for animal agriculture early in life and has been fortunate to work professionally for over 30 years serving the US dairy industry. His unique combination of on-farm experience, professional preparation, technical experience, and industry leadership on environmental sustainability has resulted in positive impacts at the farm, milkshed, state, regional, and national levels. He works extensively across the US and abroad, contributing towards dairy environmental, economic, and social sustainability with the goal of having dairy products on sustainable food plates.
Curt is a technical and practical expert in cradle to farm gate dairy environmental systems encompassing dairy facilities and management, cow-comfort and well-being, manure handling, advanced manure treatment for energy recovery (anaerobic digestion) and nutrient recovery, environmental impact reduction and assessment, farmstead greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions quantification, mitigation, and off-farm offsets. He serves on the Innovation Center for US Dairy Environmental Stewardship Committee and the National Milk Producers Environmental Issues Committee. Curt earned a Master of Science degree in biological resources engineering and Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural engineering, both from the University of Maryland College Park, and became a licensed professional engineer in 1996.
Curt utilizes his farm upbringing to approach work from a systems solution’s perspective based on identified end goals. He thrives when working with others committed to a common outcomes and targeted impacts.