Eric T. Whitley
Eric T. Whitley
President & CEO
1831 Iron Point Road,
Suite 140
Folsom, CA 95630
Tel: (916) 800-4545
ewhitley@gridsme.com
Background
Mr. Whitley brings over 30 years of industry experience
leading, facilitating, and supporting critical operations and
technologies in power plant operation, transmission, and
large grid management systems. His career spans longtime employment at Southern California Edison, California
ISO, Midwest ISO, and the Western Electricity
Coordinating Council (WECC), serving in positions of
Project and Technical Management, Plant Manager, EMS
Manager, Manager of Reliability Applications, and Director
of EMS and IT Services. These roles have focused on grid
operations and technologies, IT leadership, project
management, recruiting, and developing high performing
teams in support of critical systems.
While at WECC, Whitley’s role included the start up of two
reliability coordination centers and associated facilities
within one year, recruiting and building a IT technical team
and power engineering team. All were part of a large
agenda to create a single RC for the Western
Interconnection. The project came in on time and under
budget.
Selected Relevant Experience
•
Grid Subject Matter Experts – President & CEO: In April of 2011, Eric Whitley
founded Grid Subject Matter Experts LLC. The company is a strategic consulting
company providing relevant subject matter experts for clients in many areas within
the industry. The company has grown in the last 3 years with focuses in NERC
compliance, energy market analysis and training, cyber security, and providing
technical resources to help with specific needs of grid managers. The focus of the
company is to help facilitate changes our clients are going through.
Projects Completed:
• Mr. Whitley was brought back to WECC to help lead the Western Interconnection
Synchrophasor Program (WISP) as Manager of Technical Delivery along with a
very talented team. He was responsible for ensuring all technology, systems, and
data were up and running in a production mode from this very large project within
the three year schedule from inception to production. The $32 million dollar project
(WECC’s portion of the overall $108 million dollar effort) included coordination with
18 large entities projects throughout the Western Interconnection, multiple
application and communication vendors, and an internal software development
team. The project was delivered on time and within budget.
• GridSME has completed numerous regulatory and NERC compliance
engagements with mock audits, assessments, implementation of technical
solutions for compliance, and has a large focus on keeping our clients compliant in
the face of a very fast changing regulatory environment (such as CIP version 5).
• GridSME has completed a number of CAISO specific market analysis training
sessions with clients related to their generation assets
• Mr. Whitley been involved in various studies ranging from network model process
analysis, transmission operations efficiencies, and evaluating reliability practices
throughout the Western Interconnection.
• Our goal at GridSME is to bring a practical approach to project management with
numerous clients projects.
Mr. Whitley has been involved in grid issues for decades and participates in regional
and national organizations, speaking engagements, and panel discussions. As
President of GridSME, he helps provide services for many different clients that have
growing needs for expertise.
1
Mark Myers, CISA
Mark Myers, CISA
VP of Compliance and
Energy Services
Selected Relevant Experience
•
Grid Subject Matter Experts – VP of Compliance and Energy Services: Provides
clients with compliance services such as: subject matter expertise for all CIP/Cyber
security applicable under the NERC CIP suite of reliability standards, preparation
of policies, procedures, and associated documentation, NERC audit preparation,
CIP compliance program culture development and maintenance. Provides
technical expertise in: industry technology solutions, business analysis to practical
IT solutions, IT governance solutions, process improvement expertise, contract
negotiations, interconnection agreement.
•
Northern California Power Agency - Manager, Information Services: Managed a
team of 11 to 14 people. Lead on the cyber security team to implement and
monitor compliance to NERC CIP standards. Secured real-estate and built-out a
fully functional back-up center to support business continuity at NCPA. External
Affairs speaker for NCPA. Responsible for the go-live of MRTU and daily
operations, market software and IT solutions. Developed Strategic Plans. Held a
flat budget for 5 years.
•
Northern California Power Agency – Enterprise Architect: Instrumental in the
design and deployment of systems to support CAISO Phase 1b. Member of NCPA
MRTU project team. Responsible for design of software supporting MRTU.
Member of MSSA negotiating team. Designed , managed, and implemented a SOA
at NCPA. Introduced Rule engine technology into the SOA. Implemented an
Enterprise Service Bus into NCPA application architecture. Moved development
team to a Framework approach for software design. Implemented Enterprise
Architecture at NCPA in support of management transition planning. Developed a
plan for the capture of the following core enterprise models: Process Modeling,
Fact Modeling, Business Rules, Terms.
•
California Independent System Operator (CAISO) - Manager of Compliance
Systems/Acting Manager of Operational Compliance: Participated in business
design and managed the software implementation of applications for monitoring
Ancillary Service Markets..
1831 Iron Point Road,
Suite 140
Folsom, CA 95630
Tel: (916) 800-4545
mmyers@gridsme.com
Background
Mark Myers is a recognized leader in the implementation of
technical projects and in bringing teams together. He has
been described as a pragmatic visionary. Mr. Myers has
practical experience in hydro generation, transmission,
and operations. In addition, Mr. Myers brings extensive
experience in contract management and negotiations. He
specializes in using his broad experience to help
companies manage change and control costs in the
wholesale electric markets. His unique skills provide
expertise in both IT delivery and business. He has worked
in the wholesale electrical power business for over 30
years, designing, documenting, and implementing
business solutions. Mark has worked for fortune 500
companies, the California Independent System Operator,
and municipal utility organizations. At each of these
organizations, Mark introduced innovative business,
process, and software designs which cut costs while
providing agility to the business. Mark received a BA in
Business Information Systems from Phoenix University
and is a Certified Information System Auditor (CISA)
2
Andrew Dressel
Andrew Dressel
Director of Regulatory
Services
Selected Relevant Experience
•
Grid Subject Matter Experts - Director of Regulatory Compliance: Provides clients
with compliance services such as: NERC compliance strategies, documentation
development for compliance plans, policies, and procedures, reliability regulatory
guidance, NERC audit preparation, provides subject matter expertise in specific
Reliability Standard knowledge, compliance program and culture development,
guidance on mitigation, disputes, and negotiated settlement process/strategies. Mr.
Dressel also authors the Reliable Wire a free regulatory newsletter that focuses on
FERC, NERC, and WECC reliability issues.
•
North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) – Attorney: Provided legal
counsel to the NERC Standards and Critical Infrastructure Departments. Prepared
regulatory filings to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and
governmental authorities in Canada. Supported the NERC Reliability Standards
development process and the Standards Committee. Coordinated NERC Reliability
Standards activities with stakeholders, Regional Entities, and regulators.
•
Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) – Legal Counsel: Served as the
primary attorney for WECC’s Standards Department. Provided assistance and
guidance for the enforcement of the Reliability Standards. Issued legal guidance
for WECC’s regional transmission planning activities including those activities
related to American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants. Prepared documents
for submission to FERC. Provided counsel on general corporate matters including
corporate policy, contract, labor, and tax issues. Drafted policies and procedures
for the start-up and certification of WECC’s reliability coordination centers in
compliance with the Reliability Standards. Worked with the WECC Reliability
Coordination center management to develop the CIP compliance programs for
NERC certification. Prepared and processed documentation for enforcement
proceedings from audit write-ups through settlement.
1831 Iron Point Road,
Suite 140
Folsom, CA 95630
Tel: (916) 800-4545
adressel@gridsme.com
Background
Mr. Dressel is an energy industry subject matter expert on
NERC Reliability Standards focusing on
implementation, auditing, settlements, and compliance
processes. He has worked at both NERC and WECC
as an attorney in their compliance and enforcement
and standards development groups. He also played a
key role in the set up the compliance program at the
WECC Reliability Coordinator through their certification
in 2008 and their “go live” date in 2009.
Mr. Dressel’s strengths are his in depth of knowledge of
NERC Standards and FERC regulations and
processes. His experiences working at both WECC
and NERC compliance is highly valuable in consulting
with clients working through their status, programs, and
issues and managing the evolution of our standards
environment.
3