HUMAN PERFORMANCE WORK GROUP CONFERENCE 2014
Hosted By:
Bonneville Power Administration
Portland, OR
October 28 - 30, 2014
West er n
El ec tr icity
Co or d in at in g
Co uncil
SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
Human Performance Workgroup Conference 2014: Stay On The Grid and Off The Pyramid
Time Tuesday 10/28
7:00
8:00
Time
Wednesday 10/29
Time
Thursday 10/30
8:00
8:30
Registration
Logistics and Safety
Wally Groff, BPA
8:00
8:30
Registration
Logistics and Safety
Wally Groff, BPA
8:35
Welcome and Introductions
Ron Fenex,APS
Deveny Bywaters,WECC
James Merlo, NERC
Brad Bea, BPA
8:35
Conference Day 2 Overview
Ron Fenex, APS
8:40
Session 7
Human Performance, the Next Logical Step
Rob Fisher, Fisher IT, Inc.
Registration
WORKSHOP 1
The Science Behind Human Performance
James Merlo, John Patton, Wally Groff, David Bowman,
Bob Schwermann, Brad Perrett
OR
WORKSHOP 2
NERC Cause Analysis Training
James Merlo, Ben McMillan
*6 NERC CEH credits available
8:45
Conference Day 1 Overview
Ron Fenex, APS
9:00
Executive Messages
Melanie Frye, WECC
Richard Shaheen, BPA
Session 1
Introduction to the Heinrich Pyramid Model
Wally Groff, BPA
Kevin Harris, Northeast Utilities Transmission
9:40
10:10 BREAK
10:30 Session 2
Effective Use of the Pre-Job Brief
Kevin Harris, Northeast Utilities Transmission
10:10 BREAK
10:30 Session 8
Creative Human Performance Defense Barriers
Mike Carden, Dominion Virginia Power
Kevin Harris, Northeast Utilities Transmission
11:00 Session 3
The Power of Critical Observations... from the Field to the
Boardroom
Dominic DiBari, Black & Veatch
11:20 Session 9
Video Event Reports (VERs) Mobile Devices Bring Event
Reports to the “Eyes” of the Field
Panel Discussion: John Patton, PG&E
Tom Neary, OpCon Technologies
Ron Fenex, APS
12:00 LUNCH
12:00 LUNCH
12:20 LUNCH
1:15
2:15
2:35
3:50
4:25
5:00
5:00
Session 4
You: The Most Critical Component on the Bulk
Power System -Exploring Pattern Recognition and
Cognitive Bias
Mike Legatt, ERCOT
1:20
Session 10
Using Near Misses to Drive Reliability
Linda Connell, NASA
2:30
BREAK
2:50
Session 11
Why Do We Need Human Performance?
David Bowman, Knowledge Vine, LLC
3:40
Session 12
The Importance of Human Performance inthe Contract
Labor Force
Ilya Tlumach, Day & Zimmermann
4:15
Session 13
Training HP to the Contractor Workforce– Panel
Discussion
Mike Carden, Dominion Virgin Power
Kevin Harris, Northeast Utilities Trasmission
Wally Groff, BPA
Kent Peterson, Xcel Energy
4:45
Closing Comments
John Patton, PG&E, Wally Groff, BPA, Ron Fenex, APS
BREAK
Session 5
Creating a Just Culture to Better Manage Risk
Monika Bay, Baltimore Gas and Electric
Session 6
WECC Human Performance Work Group Update
John Patton, PG&E
Ron Fenex, APS
Day 1 Wrap-Up
Ron Fenex, APS
5:00
Tuesday, October 28
7:00 am - 8:00 am
Registration
Workshop 1:
Workshop 2:
The Science Behind Human Performance
NERC Cause Analysis Training
James Merlo, John Patton, Wally Groff,
James Merlo, Ben McMillan
David Bowman, Bob Schwermann, Brad Perrett
*6 NERC CEH credits available
8:00 am - 12:00 pm
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Lunch (provided)
1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Workshop 1:
Workshop 2:
Continued
Continued
AGENDA
Wednesday, October 29
8:00 am - 8:30 am
Registration
8:30 am - 8:35 am
Logistics and Safety
8:35 am - 8:45 am
Welcome and Introductions
8:45 am - 9:00 am
Conference Day 1 Overview
9:00 am - 9:40 am
Executive Messages
9:40 am - 10:10 am
Session 1: Introduction to the Heinrich Pyramid Model
10:10 am - 10:30 am
Break
10:30 am - 11:00 am
Session 2: Effective Use of the Pre-Job Brief
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Session 3: The Power of Critical Observations . . . From the Field to the
Boardroom
12:00 pm - 1:15 pm
Lunch
1:15 pm - 2:15 pm
Session 4: You: The Most Critical Component on the Bulk Power
System—Exploring Pattern Recognition and Cognitive Bias
2:15 pm - 2:35 pm
Break
2:35 pm - 3:45 pm
Session 5: Creating a Just Culture to Better Manage Risk
3:45 pm - 4:25 pm
Session 6: WECC Human Performance Work Group Update
4:25 pm - 5:00 pm
Conference Day 1 Wrap-Up
Thursday, October 30
Registration
8:30 am - 8:35 am
Logistics and Safety
8:35 am - 8:40 am
Conference Day 2 Overview
8:40 am - 10:10 am
Session 7: Human Performance, the Next Logical Step
10:10 am - 10:30 am
Break
10:30 am - 11:20 am
Session 8: Creative Human Performance Defense Barriers
11:20 am - 12:20 am
Session 9: Video Event Reports (VERs) Mobile Devices Bring Event
Reports to the “Eyes” of the Field
12:20 pm - 1:20 pm
Lunch
1:20 pm - 2:30 pm
Session 10: Using Near Misses to Drive Reliability
2:30 pm - 2:50 pm
Break
2:50 pm - 3:40 pm
Session 11: Why Do We Need Human Performance?
3:40 pm - 4:15 pm
Session 12: The Importance of Human Performance in the Contract
Labor Force
4:15 pm - 4:45 pm
Session 13: Training HP to the Contractor Workforce—Panel Discussion
4:45 pm - 5:00 pm
Closing Comments
AGENDA
8:00 am - 8:30 am
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The WECC Human Performance Work Group (HPWG) was formed in 2010 to create a proactive focus on reducing human error and those precursors that impact system reliability. The
mission of the WECC HPWG is to identify and share successful Human Performance Initiatives
in the industry including tools, materials, techniques, technologies and vocabulary to reduce
workplace errors, and to focus on strategies for continuing improvement of operations training.
The 2nd Annual WECC HPWG Conference is designed for Human Performance professionals,
safety professionals and other professionals seeking to start and/or sustain a Human Performance Improvement Program.
“Stay On The Grid And Off The Pyramid” is the theme to provide a focal point for Human Performance best practices, bringing sector specific subject matter experts and stakeholders together into an idea sharing, cooperative forum focused on improving Human Performance.
The WECC HPWG extends its appreciation to Bonneville Power Administration for hosting this
conference.
On the following pages you can read about each of the conference presenters. With gratitude,
the WECC HPWG thanks each presenter for their dedication to this conference and to the
cause of Human Performance Improvement.
Monika Bay
Manager for Serious Injury and Fatality
Prevention Project
Baltimore Gas and Electric
M
onika Bay leads Baltimore Gas and Electric’s
(BGE) Serious Injury and Fatality Prevention
Team (SIFT), an employee-based team focused on
solutions that reduce the risk of serious injuries and
fatalities.
Within the portfolio of SIFT initiatives, Monika directly leads BGE’s new risk management
approach called Just Culture. First pioneered in the aviation and healthcare industries, this
unique approach is designed to deliver a real breakthrough in safety and operational
performance by focusing on how we design our systems and how we manage behavioral
choices. Monika delivers a high-energy, interactive and engaging perspective on this
precedent-setting approach within the utility industry.
Monika’s 33 year career with BGE includes experience in nuclear and fossil generation,
environmental land use management, military contracts and utility privatization, distribution
pole asset management, and business transformation architecture. Monika earned her BES
degree in Civil Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.
Monika can be reached at monika.s.bay@bge.com.
Brad Bea
Chief Safety Officer
Bonneville Power Administration
B
rad Bea is the Chief Safety Officer with Bonneville
Power Administration (BPA). Since joining BPA 15
years ago, Brad Bea has served in a variety of important
roles that have centered on safety.
Brad has a breadth of safety knowledge as well as technical leadership, business experience
and outstanding communication skills.
In addition to his bachelor’s degree from Washington State University, Bea holds a
professional certificate in Occupational Safety and Health. He also graduated from Bonneville
Power Administration’s Apprenticeship Program and has experience as a journeyman
lineman.
Bea lives with his wife and three children near Washougal, Washington, where he enjoys
ranching, camping, horseback riding and coaching youth sports.
Brad can be reached at babea@bpa.gov.
David Bowman
Chief Executive Officer
Knowledge Vine, LLC
D
avid Bowman has over 25 years of industrial
experience with a strong focus on operations,
maintenance, safety engineering, and organizational
alignment.
David served in the United States Marine Corps and has held various leadership roles with
R&R Marine Maintenance, Chevron, Chevron-Phillips, and Entergy. David started Knowledge
Vine, LLC and is the Chief Executive Officer.
David is a subject-matter expert in Human Performance and led those efforts for Entergy
Corporation for over 12 years. David has a proven track record in organizational effectiveness
and alignment which led Entergy to its best record in the history of the company in 2013.
David gained his experience and knowledge in the petro-chemical, nuclear power, fossil fuel
generation, utility transmission and distribution industries. David has a Bachelor of Science in
Safety Engineering.
David can be reached at dbowman@knowledgevine.com.
Deveny Bywaters
Training Manager
Western Electricity Coordinating Council
D
eveny Bywaters’ training career began with a local
Medical Software company in Portland, Oregon
responsible to install, train, and support software
installations in doctors’ offices throughout the area.
These were the early days, before Microsoft Windows,
when raw code was used to build login menus.
As a subject-matter expert, Deveny was added to the national Medical Manager Software
support team to solve computer and software problems for doctor and medical clinics
throughout the United States. When the company went public and merged with WebMD,
Deveny was named the corporate training manager. During this time, she led cross-functional
teams for ADA approvals of electronic medical records, trained the corporate sales team,
implemented an online corporate university and led the company training program through
Y2K along with company mergers and re-structuring.
After 18 years with a large software company, Deveny went to work for a small software
company in Portland as the training manager to revamp the training program for Transplant
Registry software. Here she traveled around the country, mainly to cardiac transplant units
and orthopedic knee and hip replacement surgery centers, to train doctors how to track
surgery success statistics.
In 2008 Deveny joined BPA with the good fortune to lead a variety of training projects ranging
from Performance Management and Diversity to GIS and Asset Management software. Fueled
with a new passion of working with something as important and as exciting as the northwest
power grid, Deveny trained all of the linemen, vegetation management and most of the real
property specialists how to use the BPA Geographic Information System (GIS). Following that
project, Deveny led a team of trainers and SME’s to create and roll out training for the new
asset management software to all of the substation operators, substation maintenance,
communications and system protection engineers. To round out her training time at BPA,
Deveny moved to the Customer Billing group, gaining a whole new perspective of the power
and transmission system.
In May 2014, Deveny joined WECC as manager of the operations training program. Her vision
is for WECC to be a training resource and model training program.
Deveny can be reached at dbywaters@wecc.biz.
Michael Carden
Technical Consultant, System Protection
Dominion Virginia Power
M
ichael (Mike) Carden has been with Dominion
Virginia Power’s System Protection organization
for 29 years.
The first 22 years were spent building and commissioning the control systems for Dominion’s
transmission grid and power plants. The last 5 years have been spent developing and
implementing best work practices for field technicians and electricians around the Dominion
system.
These best practices include the Human Performance Work Zone Tools designed to create
physical and visual defenses that reduce the “hands-on” human errors which affect the
reliability of the electric transmission system.
Mike holds a B.S. in Business Management and an A.S. Industrial Instrumentation.
Mike can be reached at mike.carden@dom.com.
Linda J. Connell
Program Director, Aviation Reporting System
NASA
L
inda Connell is a Research Psychologist in the
Human Systems Integration Division, NASA Ames
Research Center, Moffett Field, CA.
Ms. Connell has participated in numerous studies with domestic and international research
teams to explore human factors issues in aviation and other industries since 1981. This
research was assisted by Ms. Connell’s skills as a Private Pilot and Registered Nurse. She was
appointed the Director of the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) in 1997. Ms.
Connell has completed coursework from USC in Aviation Accident Investigation and Legal
Aspects of Aviation Safety.
Additionally, Ms. Connell has received numerous NASA and industry recognition and awards
including: appointment as honorary member of the Guild of Spanish Pilots; recognition from
Honor and Justice Commission for participation in ASPA/ICAO Regional Seminar on Safety
Reporting Threat and Error Management (TEM) and Cabin Safety; “Partners in Safety” Award
from Alaska Air Carriers Association; and SEPLA (Spanish Air Line Pilots Association) Award for
contributions to the development of the Spanish Reporting System (SRS).
Ms. Connell has consulted on the confidential reporting model to numerous organizations,
including: Institute of Medicine, Development of Patient Safety Data Standards, MemberLiaison Panel; Advisory Board Member, Int’l Fire Chiefs Association, National Fire Fighter NearMiss Reporting System; and currently NASA Program Director for FRA/NASA Confidential Close
-Call Reporting System for the U.S. Railroad Industry.
Ms. Connell can be reached at linda.j.connell@nasa.gov.
Dominic DiBari
Director, Management Consulting
Black & Veatch
D
ominic DiBari has over 25 years of operations,
project management, and engineering experience
possessing a sense of urgency, bias for action, and
strong commitment to the teamwork necessary for
achieving best in class results.
Recognized for improving under-performing assets as well as ensuring assets maintain a
continuous improvement trend, Dominic has a critical eye for identifying behavioral and
process gaps that when closed greatly improve operational performance and efficiency.
Adept at facilitating the value conversation between operational, engineering, and
commercial points of view for improved performance at the right cost and risk, Dominic
started his career in shipboard operations with the U.S. Coast Guard where he led teams that
safely rescued upwards of 1,000 economic refugees on the high seas in the Florida Straits and
Greater Antilles. He transitioned to the de-regulated power generation industry holding
positions of plant engineer, general manager (solid fuel power plants, PJM/MISO markets),
director of operational excellence (PJM/ERCOT/NYISO/NEPOOL markets), and portfolio vice
president of combined cycle gas assets in the ERCOT market.
Dominic is currently with Black & Veatch providing consulting services worldwide to owner/
operators, private equity, infrastructure funds, and debt investors in power generation assets.
He is also a retired commander (O-5) in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves. Dominic holds an
undergraduate degree from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, graduate degree from the
University of Illinois, and a diploma from the U.S. Naval War College. He lives in the greater
New York City metro area and works out of Black & Veatch’s Manhattan office. A member of
the Board of Director’s for the Valerie Fund, Dominic is also an active fundraiser benefiting
children and their families dealing with pediatric cancer and blood disorders.
Dominic can be reached at dibarid@bv.com.
Ron Fenex
T&D Technical and Safety Training Manager
Arizona Public Service
R
on Fenex has been with the Arizona Public Service
Company (APS) for 34 years. Ron has worked in
Fossil Generation, Nuclear Generation and the
Transmission & Distribution areas during his career at
APS.
Ron started his career in operations and since that time has worked extensively in the
development areas of Corrective Action Programs, Human Performance Improvement (HPI),
Nuclear Safety Culture and other associated training programs.
A strong believer and advocate for HPI, Ron currently serves as the Western Electricity
Coordinating Council (WECC) Human Performance Working Group Chairman.
Ron continues to look for new and innovative ways to teach and anchor HPI within current
and newly developed training programs for both operators and electrical field workers.
Ron is a graduate of Ottawa University and holds degrees in Communication and Human
Resources/Business Administration.
Ron can be reached at ronald.fenex@aps.com.
Rob Fisher
President
Fisher IT, Inc.
R
ob Fisher is currently the owner and president of
Fisher IT, Inc. a Native-American owned business
that was recently awarded a Top-100 Native-American
Owned Business in the US and a Top-50 Emerging
Business in North Carolina by DiversityBusiness.com.
Rob has extensive experience in performing event investigations, designing performance
improvement systems, designing and improving corrective action programs, designing and
running procedure programs, and educating staff. He is a sought after trainer and is routinely
invited to speak at international, national and regional conferences on safety, procedures,
performance improvement, human performance and event investigation. Fisher IT has most
recently been recognized internationally as instrumental in reducing fatalities in high hazard
industries using human performance and procedure concepts.
Fisher IT, Inc. provides training and consulting services in Human Performance Improvement,
Root Cause, Corrective Action Program and Procedures / Programs / Processes for multiple
industries. Current projects include US Nuclear, Non-Nuclear power generation and
transmission, US Industrial and Petrochemical, Department of Energy and international
clients.
Rob can be reached at rob@fisherit.com.
Melanie Frye
Vice President, Reliability Planning and
Performance Analysis
Western Electricity Coordinating Council
M
elanie Frye, Vice President of Reliability Planning
and Performance Analysis, is responsible for
WECC’s technical and analysis functions, including
events analysis, situational awareness, reliability
planning and assessments, performance assessments,
and standards development.
This group collaborates closely with WECC’s member forum committees, including the
Operations, Planning Coordination, Market Interface, and Transmission Expansion Planning
Policy Committees. In addition, Melanie has lead WECC’s response to the September 8, 2011,
Pacific Southwest power outage.
Melanie was WECC’s Vice President of Shared Services, overseeing Human Resources,
Accounting and Finance, Information Technology, Project Management, and Administrative
Services functions and staff. She joined WECC in 2007 as Director of Human Resources.
Prior to joining WECC, Melanie spent several years with PacifiCorp as a Senior Human
Resources Consultant where she was responsible for providing advice and counsel to the
leadership team of eight thermal and three natural gas power generation facilities in Utah and
Wyoming. She provided support to over 2,500 union and non-union employees located across
the company’s six-state service territory.
Before her tenure at PacifiCorp, Melanie was Director of Human Resources at Iomega
Corporation, an international high-tech company.
Melanie holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Weber State University in
Ogden, Utah.
Melanie can be reached at mfrye@wecc.biz.
Walter Groff
Substation Operations Specialist
Bonneville Power Administration
W
alter (Wally) Groff has worked for Bonneville
Power Administration (BPA) 13 years, starting as
a Substation Operator Apprentice. He has held jobs
within substation operations, system operations, and
training. He currently works in the BPA Substation
Operations Group which provides technical procedures,
certifications, and support to BPA electrical workers.
Wally is very passionate about helping people, and feels very lucky to be training and working
with field personnel in discussing ways to improve Human Performance.
Most recently Wally was chosen to participate in BPA’s Human Performance Implementation
Team, which is working to bring Human Performance to the transmission organizations within
BPA. He has given presentations and facilitated discussions with executives, managers,
foremen, as well as office and electrical workers regarding the benefits of Human
Performance. Wally is also active in the North American Transmission Forum’s Human
Performance Practices Group, as well as the WECC Human Performance Working Group.
At home Wally enjoys spending time with his wife Amber, and two children Lillian (5) and
Ethan (11), as well as fishing, carving traditional Northwest Coast Indian art, and vegetable
gardening. He is also a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.
Wally can be reached at wegroff@bpa.gov.
Kevin Harris
Management Test and Technical Support
Northeast Utilities Transmission
K
evin Harris has 27 years of service with Northeast
Utilities in the field of Test and Commissioning of
Generation, Substation and Switchyard facilities.
He started his career with Northeast Utilities Nuclear Production Test Group. After 11 years as
an Electrical Test Specialist at a Nuclear Generating Facility, he continued his career as a Senior
Test Analyst for Northeast Utilities unregulated Test Group, Northeast Generation Services. In
this capacity, he maintained or commissioned electrical distribution and generation apparatus
to include protection and control relays for nuclear generators, merchant generators, hydro
generators, pharmaceutical, Industrial and commercial customers.
In 2004, Kevin joined the Northeast Utilities Transmission Group with an opportunity to
participate in the startup of the newly formed Transmission Test Department. In 2007, Kevin
participated in an opportunity to explore human error reduction with several consultants.
Kevin has since co-championed a successful human performance improvement initiative
within the Northeast Utilities Transmission Group (72% reduction in Transmission Grid Events
initiated by human error.) In 2012, Kevin presented on Electric Utility Industry Practices with
Human Performance Tools at the first annual North American Electric Reliability Corporation
(NERC) conference on Human Performance in Atlanta, GA. He followed the NERC
presentation opportunity with a presentation on a supervisor’s perspective at the first PPI
Human Performance Conference in Galveston, TX. In 2013, he presented at the first Western
Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) Human Performance Work Group Conference: Job
Briefings, Creative Defense Barriers and HP Metrics.
Kevin is a Charter Member of the Human Performance Association (http://hpaweb.org) and
member of the inaugural Board of Advisors for the Association.
Kevin can be reached at kevin.harris@nu.com.
Michael Legatt
Principal Human Factors Engineer
Electric Reliability Council of Texas
M
ichael Legatt serves as the principal human
factors engineer for the Electric Reliability Council
of Texas (ERCOT), the independent system operator that
manages the flow of electricity to 22.7 million Texas
customers. Dr. Legatt has been a programmer for over 20
years, and worked in the energy, financial, medical,
neuroscience research and educational sectors.
He has a Ph.D. in clinical health psychology/neuropsychology from the Ferkauf Graduate
School of Psychology/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in
energy systems engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a patent for a
neuropsychological test of visual attention that measures both visual pathway function and
visual attention, and aims to help better diagnose issues in attention deficit/hyperactivity
disorder, developmental dyslexia, traumatic brain injury and schizophrenia.
As an amateur (ham) radio operator, he received a commendation for helping to provide
emergency communications during the 2003 blackout in the northeastern United States,
which sparked his interest in the psychology of energy management. He works to build
systems designed to provide operators with needed information, optimizing for perception,
speed, comprehension, and stress management. He also works at the organizational level to
support the growth of the industry’s high reliability culture.
His development of the Macomber Map® has been featured in the New York Times, National
Public Radio and T&D World. The Macomber Map was credited as being instrumental in
helping ERCOT operators maintain grid reliability during several record- setting wind
generation levels since 2010, and through several severe weather events since 2009.
Macomber Map is now freely available as an open-source application.
He also works on the behavioral aspects of consumer electric use, researching electric vehicle
to grid integration, behavioral aspects of conservation and consumer awareness in grid
management, and the cybersecurity, behavioral, and reliability issues that arise with
integration of new technologies across layers of the grid. He is ERCOT’s lead on a collaborative
project with the University of Texas at Austin, EV-TEC and the Pecan Street Project to study
integrating electric vehicle charging and driver behavioral patterns with the bulk electric
system. This research project looks at the viability of EVs to intelligently charge in a distributed
fashion and provide ancillary services. Michael also serves as a founding advisory board
member of the Central Texas Fuel Independence Project.
Mike can be reached at michael.legatt@ercot.com.
Ben McMillan
Senior Risk Analysis Engineer, Reliability Risk
Management
North American Electric Reliability Corporation
B
en McMillan joined the North American Electric
Reliability Corporation (NERC) staff on June 20, 2011
as a Risk Analysis Engineer. Promoted to his current
position as Senior Risk Analysis Engineer in July 2013,
where he is actively involved in the Event Analysis
program, the Cause-coding efforts, and evaluating the
trends identified within that effort.
Prior to joining NERC, Ben spent time in the manufacturing industry, working in the fields of
quality and process improvement, as the Division Quality Manager. A naval officer for more
than 20 years, he served in the surface warfare and nuclear power community, and certified
as a Naval Nuclear Engineer. Additionally he held positions in the operational testing of
weapons and command /control systems. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from
the United States Naval Academy and a Master of Engineering Management degree from Old
Dominion University.
A Senior Member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), Ben holds certifications from ASQ
as a Quality Engineer (CQE), Reliability Engineer (CRE), Quality Auditor (CQA) and Manager of
Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE). He is also a Six Sigma Black Belt, and has been
teaching Root Cause Analysis for more than 6 years, having developed the course for NERC as
well as his previous employer.
Ben can be reached at ben.mcmillan@nerc.net.
James Merlo
Director, Reliability Risk Management
North American Electric Reliability Corporation
J
ames Merlo is the Director of the Reliability Risk
Management and Training Group at NERC. Joining
NERC in July 2011, James leads the electric reliability
organization’s efforts to assess the industry status and
needs with regard to events on the Bulk Electric System
and explores human performance challenges affecting
bulk power system reliability.
In this role, he identifies opportunities and methods for improvement based on proven
methods from other industries and within the electrical industry to improve the reliability of
the bulk power system. Additionally, he is responsible for ensuring that reliability based
industry alerts, lessons learned, best practices and other valuable industry publications are
quickly identified and communicated to the industry stakeholders and other various
audiences.
James served in a variety of leadership roles in the United States Army including combat tours
in Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Significant positions include; Deputy Brigade
Commander in Baghdad, Iraq 2004-2005 and as an assistant professor and program director at
the United States Military Academy.
James has his Bachelor of Science in Human Factors Psychology from West Point, his Masters
in Engineering Psychology from the University of Illinois and his PhD in Applied Experimental
and Human Factors Psychology from the University of Central Florida. He is the author of over
50 publications and book chapters on the subjects of human factors engineering and human
performance.
James can be reached at james.merlo@nerc.net.
Tom Neary
Chief Executive Officer
KnowledgeKeeper
OpCon Technologies, Inc.
T
om Neary is the CEO and Co-Founder of OpCon
Technologies, Inc. Tom has spent the last eleven
years helping companies to develop the ability to
implement user generated video via mobile devices at
the field operator level to create high levels employee
engagement and collaboration.
Tom pioneered the used of video collaboration at the supervisor unit level to improve the
quality of work methods and procedures. Tom also teaches safety specialists how to create
video event reports so that lessons learned, near misses and high value events are easily and
rapidly disseminated across the mobile devices of every field operator.
Tom has a passion for the strategic use of mobile devices to streamline difficult and complex
corporate processes. Tom is a avid iOS developer and is fluent in Apple's ecosystem as applied
to the corporate enterprise from deployment through security and privacy.
Prior to founding OpCon Technologies, Tom designed and installed industrial process control
systems for 17 years. Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from University
of New Hampshire and a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Tulane University in
New Orleans, LA. Tom is a Registered Professional Engineer in the state of California.
Tom can be reached at tneary@knowledgekeeper.com.
John Patton
Senior Human Performance Specialist
Pacific Gas & Electric
J
ohn Patton started his career at Pacific Gas & Electric
(PG&E) in 1997 as a Substation Construction
Electrician.
In 2000, he was asked to join the Field Safety Team where he served as the Safety Chairman
for 8 years.
He is currently a coach for the Grass Roots Safety Team, a member of the Trans Ops Safety
Council and the PG&E Safety Culture Change Team. In 2010, he became a Sr. Contract
Management Inspector, and continued as a trainer in that role through 2012.
John’s present role at PG&E is a Transmission Operation Senior Human Performance
Specialist, where he writes a monthly newsletter on Human Performance Improvement called
Operation Zero. He is a certified Human Performance Practitioner, has completed NERC
causal coding, and INPO course for Human Performance Leads.
He also serves as the Vice-Chair for WECC Human Performance Work Group. He recently has
been a guest speaker at various conventions and seminars such as NERC, NATF, EPRI, and
WECC.
John received an AA degree from American River College in Sacramento, California.
John can be reached at jmpn@pge.com.
Brad Perrett
Manager - Regulatory Compliance & Training
Minnesota Power
B
rad Perrett is the Compliance and Training
Manager at Minnesota Power, located in Duluth,
Minnesota.
Brad joined Minnesota Power in 1985, and is responsible for managing Minnesota Power’s
compliance efforts related to FERC, NERC, MRO, and RFC standards and requirements.
Additionally, he oversees the training and support of System Operations, Power Delivery, and
other areas requiring regulatory training.
Brad started his 29-year power industry career as a Hydro Plant Operator, and has held
subsequent positions as an Assistant Engineer in Transmission Planning, a System Operator, a
Senior System Operator, an Outage Coordinator, and the Supervisor of System Operations.
Brad served in the United States Navy for six years, where he operated and maintained
electrical and electronic circuitry, hydraulics, pneumatics, mechanical systems, and other
equipment.
Brad holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Energy Management from Bismarck State College
in North Dakota, and has been a NERC-Certified Reliability Operator since 1999.
Brad can be reached at bperrett@mnpower.com.
Kent Peterson
Human Performance Program Manager
Xcel Energy
K
ent Peterson is the Manager of the Human
Performance Improvement program for the
Transmission organization at Xcel Energy.
Assuming the duties of HPI Program Manager in 2013, he leads the organization’s efforts to
reduce the number of errors and minimize the unexpected events which affect electrical reliability, and also to advance the opportunities and methods for improving Human Performance
within Transmission.
Kent’s responsibilities include the design and development of HPI program policy and training
materials, the delivery of training to the various groups and organization, the monitoring and
tracking of HPI-related events, and the working with company stakeholders and committees
on Root Cause and Event Analysis.
Kent can be reached at kent.peterson@xcelenergy.com.
Robert D. Schwermann
Senior Human Performance Specialist
Pacific Gas & Electric, Retired
R
obert D. Schwermann retired as a Senior Human
Performance Specialist at Pacific Gas & Electric
(PG&E) in early 2014. He worked in the energy industry
for over 40 years and has a broad pioneering base of
knowledge.
His experience includes operations and merchant functions including Power System Dispatch
and Scheduling, Trading, Transmission and Distribution Operations, and Hydro and Substation
Operations. He was the founding Chair of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council
(WECC) Human Performance Work Group and Vice-Chair of the North American Transmission
Forum Human Performance Work Group. He was heavily involved in the initiation and
formation of the National Electrical Workers Near-Miss Reporting System.
Bob is a past member of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Standards
Committee and the NERC Interchange Subcommittee. His merchant involvement was as a
member of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) Board of Directors and
Executive Committee and he also chaired the NAESB Seams Subcommittee and the
Interpretations Subcommittee. Bob served as Chair of WECC’s Market Interface Committee,
the Market Issues Subcommittee and the Interchange Scheduling and Accounting
Subcommittee.
Bob earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University-Chico and is a Vietnam
Veteran.
Bob can be reached at rdschwermann@sbcglobal.net.
Richard Shaheen
Acting Senior Vice President of Transmission
Bonneville Power Administration
R
ichard Shaheen has over 27 years of leadership
and technical experience in the electric utility
industry. Currently he is Acting Senior Vice President
of Transmission for Bonneville Power Administration
(BPA).
His most recent position with BPA was serving as Vice President of Engineering and Technical
Services organization. Richard has responsibility over Transmission Internal Operations, Field
Services, Marketing and Sales, Engineering and Technical Services, Planning and Asset
Management, Aircraft Services and System Operations.
Additionally, Richard serves on the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Transmission
Executive Committee, is a US Board member for International Conference on Large High
Voltage Electrical Systems (CIGRE), a member on the Western Electricity Coordinating Council
(WECC) and is a member of the Peak Reliability Member Advisory Committee.
His career also included work with Florida Power and Light in areas of operations, engineering,
technology, technical services, construction management, and customer/commercial/
regulatory arenas. Richard holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the
University of Florida and a master’s in business administration from Florida Atlantic University.
Richard can be reached at rlshaheen@bpa.gov.
Ilya Tlumach
Manager, Business Services
Day & Zimmermann
I
lya Tlumach is engaged in creating a learning and
improving organization at Day & Zimmermann
ECM, which is a leading provider of total plant
lifecycle solutions for the power, process and
industrial markets.
He leads the Human Performance, Employee Concerns and Performance Improvement teams
at Day & Zimmermann.
Being married to his life-long friend Amanda and raising four children with her invigorates
him! They reside in Lancaster County Pennsylvania.
He has many hobbies and interests, ranging from pottery making and beekeeping to dirt bike
riding with his sons.
Ilya can be reached at ilya.tlumach@dayzim.com.