Pamela King, E&E reporter
Published: Monday, January 12, 2015
Clean power association Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) is bringing in four new board members.
Deb Frodl, global executive director of GE Ecomagination; Prasanna Venkatesan, president and CEO of Landis+Gyr in the Americas; Kevin Self, vice president of strategy and corporate development for Johnson Controls Inc.; and Howard Wenger, president of business units at SunPower Corp. are the new directors.
"I am thrilled to have the support and perspective of these prominent business leaders as we work to transform public policy to enable the rapid growth of advanced energy companies," AEE CEO Graham Richard said in a statement today. "Their leadership will be of great value in helping AEE pursue its vision of a prosperous world running on secure, clean, affordable energy."
Frodl has spent 25 years at GE, where she has held executive marketing and sales positions in capital fleet services, capital public finance, commercial equipment finance and dealer financial services. She holds a bachelor's degree from Minnesota State University and a master of business administration from the University of St. Thomas.
As part of the senior leadership team for Johnson Controls' $14 billion building efficiency division, Self handles global strategy, portfolio analysis, partnership development and investment management. Prior to joining the company, he led strategy and integration at MillerCoors LLC and Miller Brewing Co. from 2007 to 2010. Self holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Michigan and a master of business administration from Northwestern University.
Venkatesan is head of business for Landis+Gyr in the Americas. The University of Oklahoma graduate was previously senior vice president and general manager for North American operations, where he introduced and executed smart grid solutions for utilities like AEP Texas, Oncor Electric Delivery Co. LLC and Hydro-Québec. Venkatesan has also held senior-level engineering and management roles at Schlumberger Ltd., where he was responsible for technology development, manufacturing and supply chain operations.
At SunPower, Wenger is in charge of global residential, commercial and power plant business. Before that, he was executive vice president and a member of the board of PowerLight Corp., which was acquired by SunPower, and a manager at Pacific Gas and Electric Co., AstroPower Inc. and Pacific Energy Group, which Wenger co-founded. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a master's from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
All four join AEE's 12 other board members in oversight of the organization's initiatives to reform and modernize the electric power system and the industry's business and regulatory models.
Copyright 2015, Environment and Energy Publishing LLC. Reprinted with permission.