Meet the Voices Powering the Future of Energy

Elliot Mainzer is President and CEO of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) in Folsom, California. For the last 25 years, he has been a leader in helping to achieve a reliable and affordable clean energy transition by working to support innovation and creativity in renewable energy development, transmission planning, market design and regional collaboration.

Mainzer joined the CAISO on September 30, 2020 after an 18-year career at the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), including seven years as Administrator and CEO. At BPA, he led efforts to unlock the wind-energy potential of the Pacific Northwest, managed the development of BPA’s open-season model for transmission subscription and queue management, and worked to balance the needs of the Federal Columbia River Power System with the welfare of tribal nations and salmon protection.

Under Mainzer’s leadership at the CAISO, the organization has strengthened coordinated power and transmission planning with California’s regulatory agencies, integrated record-setting amounts of new power generation and the nation’s largest fleet of lithium-ion batteries, helped preserve overall system reliability during the record-setting Western heat wave of September 2022 and provided strategic leadership and direction for the CAISO’s new extended day-ahead market proposal.

Mainzer’s strong background and personal commitment to regional collaboration as an essential element of a reliable and affordable clean-energy transition have been a hallmark of his leadership at the CAISO, where he has also brought renewed focus on control center modernization, stakeholder engagement and program management in support of the organization’s new 2022-2026 strategic plan. A native of San Francisco, Mainzer has an undergraduate degree in geography from U.C. Berkeley and master’s degrees in Business Administration and Environmental Management from Yale University. He is a senior fellow of the Oregon Chapter of the American Leadership Forum, has served on the boards of the Electric Power Research Institute and the Energy Systems Integration Group, and currently serves as co-chair of the Western Electric Industry Leaders Group.

He and his wife Margaret have twin boys. Among his non-professional pursuits, Mainzer is an amateur jazz saxophonist and dedicated student of jazz theory and history.

Lanny Nickell is the Chief Regulatory Officer at Voltus and a nationally recognized leader in energy policy. He served two Presidential appointments as a Commissioner at FERC, including five years as Chairman, where he advanced grid modernization and clean energy integration‍

John Wellinghoff is the Chief Regulatory Officer at Voltus and a nationally recognized leader in energy policy. He served two Presidential appointments as a Commissioner at FERC, including five years as Chairman, where he advanced grid modernization and clean energy integration.

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Sam Lockshin is the product manager of the data products at Yes Energy. He has a passion for programmatically delivering Yes Energy’s high-quality power market data catalog reliably to customers so they can achieve their business goals. You can catch him at karaoke, playing piano, or checking out the latest horror flick.

Michael is the president of Yes Energy and one of its founders. Michael named the company based upon its commitment to be a positive force in the power industry, and a helpful partner for its customers. Michael often warns new employees “be careful what you become good at, because that’s what people in business will want from you!” And what people want from him and his friends at Yes Energy is hard work solving data problems in the niche that is nodal power markets. Equally important to Michael is providing a company culture where employees can take risks, learn to become leaders, and be themselves. In addition to his Yes Energy “passion project,” Michael enjoys snowboarding, pretending he knows how to surf while on vacation, trail running (which he actually does know how to do), spending time with his lovely wife and their dogs... oh and music - all kinds!

michael@yesenergy.com

Isaac Velander is a co-founder and the Chief Product Officer at Yes Energy. His two decades in the power markets have focused on delivering products that reduce the friction to market participation and increase the transparency into the mountains of data that the markets produce. When he's not in front of his laptop, he's out in the mountains of Colorado with his wife and son.

isaac@yesenergy.com

Cliff Rose leads Yes Energy's efforts to build products that help our customers leverage power market data to make better asset siting decisions. He has ten years of experience helping companies navigate power markets in both consulting and Saas businesses. Outside of work you can find Cliff engaging in stereotypical Colorado activities such as skiing, running, and biking.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliff-rose-87155514/

cliff.rose@yesenergy.com

Laura Fletcher is the Associate Product Manager for the Infrastructure Insights product at Yes Energy. She joined Yes through the acquisition of The C Three Group in 2023 where she spent 4 years working in the physical infrastructure side of the energy industry. Outside of work, Laura likes to spend her time traveling, reading, and hiking.

laura.fletcher@yesenergy.com

Ben Perry is the Product Manager for Forecasting products at Yes Energy. He came to Yes at the beginning of 2024 after 10 years as a Demand Forecasting Analyst at TESLA, Inc.

ben.perry@yesenergy.com

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Alex Bennitt is the Product Manager for Live Power and partner content integration at Yes Energy, where he utilizes a background in market fundamentals and Live Power operations to help steer product direction. Over the past 7 years, Alex rotated through many roles within Live Power operations, from deploying sensors in the field, to calibrating raw sensor data, and most recently running a market fundamentals team. In his free time, Alex is an avid skier that chases snow almost year-round.

alex.bennitt@yesenergy.com