Key
Personnel
The foundation of AEAI’s success is the multidisciplinary skill set of its key personnel. The experts on the AEAI staff not only have diverse backgrounds but also have a comprehensive understanding of the complexities of both domestic and international energy and environmental issues and provide familiarity with the technical, policy and social aspects of these activities.
In addition to these full time experts, AEAI has access to a vast pool of additional resources, including both individual experts and key organizations, and is able to mobilize these resources quickly when needed for successful project development and implementation.
Prem Babu: Mr. Babu, Senior Engineer, has more than 30 years experience in the domestic and international power sector covering generation, transmission and distribution. His experience spans design, engineering, commissioning, independent power project development, power sector investment and more recently providing consultancy services to financial institutions, multi laterals and government agencies. He directed a first of its kind project in India, funded by ADB that will facilitate private investor participation in the electrical power transmission sector of India. He led a team of legal and financial experts in structuring, preparing documentation and conducting a transparent international competitive bidding for a build, own, maintain and transfer of two, 400 kV, transmission lines each approximately 330 km long. As a Program Manager on behalf of USAID, Mr. Babu coordinated the development and construction of Afghanistan’s Northern Transmission System, a National Priority Project, comprising some 500 km of 220 kV transmission lines, associated substations and distribution systems. He has conducted reviews and assessments of due diligence studies performed on Electrical Distribution Systems in Southeast and Western Austria. Mr. Babu has also provided technical assistance for several power sector projects that involved study and analysis of the existing transmission and generation in the country, the review of current and future loads, the potential for power exchange with neighboring countries, electricity laws, regulatory agency guide lines, government objectives and schedules, local commercial and financial environment, grid code and technical matters that would effect the addition of new generation or transmission lines and provided recommendations on the optimum way to meet the increasing demand either by building new capacity or by buying power from neighboring countries or a combination of both. He has an excellent understanding of commercial, technical and legal issues associated with the power generation and distribution sector. Mr. Babu managed the preparation of various agreements such as power purchase, operations & maintenance and interconnection. He is familiar with settlement issues, demand side management, economic load dispatch, regulated and competitive markets, etc. that are associated with open power sector.
Richard Brown: Dr. Brown is AEAI’s Senior Vice President and Program Manager. He has worked overseas in development activities for more than 40 years. Following a tour of duty as a Peace Corps Volunteer in India, Dr. Brown joined the United Nations Development Programme, as Assistant Resident Representative in Korea (3 years) and Indonesia (3 years) and as Deputy Resident Representative in Sri Lanka (3 years). He developed the strategic plans for all three countries and focused on a wide range of activities from education to infrastructure development. He joined USAID where he served for five years as the Deputy Mission Director in India managing the program. This was followed by his heading the Office of Egypt and European Affairs in Washington where he helped to design the new Support to Eastern Europe Program (SEED) and the concept of county Investment Funds. During the next ten years, Dr. Brown was USAID Mission Director in Sri Lanka for 3 years, followed by 5 years in Bangladesh and three years heading USAID’s largest program ($800 million annually) which involved substantial infrastructure (telecommunications, power, and water/waste water), education, health, economic growth programs. Upon leaving USAID, he served as the Senior Vice President (Program) of Winrock International with its major energy and environment program. Dr. Brown headed as Chief of Party a USAID financed project to put in place programs that encouraged trade and investment in Indonesia for 2 years. Dr. Brown joined AEAI in July 2005. He has a Masters and a PhD from American University (Washington, D.C.) in International Development.
Charles Burge: Charles Burge, Senior Information Technology Specialist has more than 20 years of experience in organizational development, business, and project management with a focus on the effective use of information technology (IT), including technology needs assessment; task/project prioritization; strategy development; hardware/software services procurement; and project implementation and acceptance testing. He has a solid history of working with all levels of business and U.S. government entities (federal, state, and local), international donor organizations, financial institutions, and foreign governments. Mr. Burge is a skilled trainer and presenter and has extensive experience in relating technical content and needs to non-technical executive audiences.
Timothy Ferris: Mr. Ferris, Senior Regulatory/ Legal Advisor has more than twenty-seven years of legal, regulatory, project management and engineering experience with energy and environmental matters, both domestically and overseas. Specific legal/regulatory experience includes drafting energy legislation, organizational development for new regulatory agencies in emerging markets, negotiating power purchase agreements, and cogeneration, IPP, natural gas pipelines and oil/gas field development work. As an Attorney and Project Manager, he has been involved with institutional regulatory reform and restructuring programs for the power sectors in developing countries; large-scale oil/gas and energy development/generation projects; and state level energy/environmental regulatory activities. As a Regulatory Engineer in the commercial nuclear power industry, he has acquired significant experience with nuclear licensing, electric power operations support and corporate quality assurance oversight. In addition to a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and J.D., Mr. Ferris has completed courses in the Executive Business Program at Harvard University.
Gopal Kadagathur: Dr. Kadagathur, the founder and president of AEAI, is a professional engineer and applied scientist who has worked throughout the world with public and private clients addressing both the technical and policy issues impacting energy restructuring and privatization. Dr. Kadagathur has more than 35 years of experience covering the spectrum of activities in energy and environmental sectors. He has extensive knowledge of energy consumption data analysis of conservation/fuel switching options, energy efficiency technologies and financial analysis of integrated power. He has worked in more than 50 countries on the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Sciences from Harvard University a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Mysore University. Dr Kadagathur is a member, Harvard University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Alumni Council and a member of Harvard University Friends of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Zija Kambieri: Mr. Zija Kamberi, AEAI’s Chief of Party for USAID’s Albania Distribution Privitization Support Project, is an energy and legal expert with a Law and Engineering degree and with more than 10 years’ experience in regulatory and legal issues related to the energy sector of Albania. Before working with AEAI, he was engaged in a Power Sector Reform project for Albania, working as local attorney for Pierce Atwood Attorney and for USEA. He was also Head of Legal and Public Relations Department of the National Agency of Energy of Albania. Between 1998 and 2000, he was Senior Project Representative in energy issues for the PHARE multi-country program. Mr. Kamberi is a lecturer on “Energy and Mineral Resources Law” at the Polytechnic University of Tirana, and he has developed several presentations in and out of Albania, and also he has published papers and articles on energy in local newsletters and journals.
Hovannes Kantuni: Mr. Kantuni has more than 17 years of progressively responsible professional experience. Mr. Kantuni currently brings to bear his financial/ budgeting, engineering and energy knowledge as well as his management ability as chief of party of USAID-funded Commercialization of Energy Efficiency Program in Armenia. Mr. Kantuni is the responsible for socially-oriented energy efficiency projects that are being implemented in hospitals, kindergartens, special schools and other social welfare and health institutions. Mr. Kantuni closely and resourcefully cooperates with beneficiaries, donors and charitable organizations (e.g., UNDP, World Bank, UNICEF, COAF, etc.) active in Armenia’s energy efficiency sector. Mr. Kantuni is an experienced expert in budget development and management. He conducts evaluation of the selective projects considering the projected energy savings, proposed application of new technologies, rate of return on investment, social and other relevant factors.
He is a seasoned manager, experienced in successfully leading teams of local and expatriate professionals in the implementation of development projects in Armenia and abroad. He ensures timely and high quality work through precise implementation planning, continuous and sound supervision, results-oriented monitoring and evaluation, synergy with stakeholders and other ongoing efforts, and compliance with all local and donor legal requirements. Mr. Kanuni oversees the work of the technical staff and local consultants, including pilot project proposal development, selection, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of results. Ensuring that pilot project implementation complies with all Armenian legal requirements, including licensing laws, building codes and standards, develops procedures for monitoring the implementation of pilot projects, supervises the work of contractors in implementation of pilot projects, including monitoring conformance to schedule, quality of installation work, and contractual requirements. Being Chief of Party at AEAI-Armenia Mr. Kantuni provides technical input to deliverables, including financial, monitoring and evaluation plans for each pilot site and final project reports as well as regular liaison with USAID Technical and Contracts Officers and local counterparts (government, donor agencies and others), representing AEAI as a country manager.
Suzanne Maia: Ms. Maia, Vice President and Senior Policy Analyst, applies over 25 years of international experience in energy policy, regulatory, market development and technology transfer issues to promote clean energy technologies and integrated sustainable development initiatives. She is a specialist on clean energy market development, renewable energy (RE) rural development programs and financing, electrification, energy efficiency, climate change mitigation through industrial cogeneration initiatives and energy conservation, clean technology transfer initiatives, and energy market reforms. She has performed assignments as Project Manager, technical specialist or analyst for USAID, USTDA, IFC/GEF, The World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy, the National Environment Fund (Brazil), The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and others. She is President of a Brazilian non-governmental sustainable development organization (Brasil Sustentavel, or BRASUS, co-founded by AEAI in 2000) that promotes productive use of clean energy, rural integrated development, capacity-building at all levels, community mobilization and organization, and enterprise and market promotion. For BRASUS, she directed various multidisciplinary rural and RE market development projects, sponsored by the U.N. Foundation, the State Government of Mato Grosso (Brazil), InWEnt (Germany), E+Co., IPCC and other sponsors. For these projects, she fostered public-private partnerships with six municipal governments and over 20 private sector partners, as well as established a Revolving Fund for RE projects in Brazil which approved financing for 49 RE projects. In 2002, she served as a member of Technical Committee 7 on Universal Service of the Brazilian National Council for Energy Policy. Previously, she implemented and managed The World Bank’s innovative LAC-Asia Infrastructure Resource Center (knowledge management) in Washington; was the IDB’s Action Plan Coordinator/Brazil for the Sustainable Markets for Sustainable Energy Program; and was Senior Analyst on the full range of electric utility issues for TEPCO. Ms. Maia is a U.S. citizen with permanent resident status in Brazil. She has an M.A. in International Studies from The American University, Washington, DC and a B.A. in International Relations and French from Goucher College, Towson, MD.
Olga Mandrugina: Dr. Mandrugina, Vice President, is AEAI’s General Manager for the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Region. Since 1991, Dr. Mandrugina has managed power, environmental, economic and social sector activities in Armenia, Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Romania, Ukraine as well as other countries. She has worked extensively with US Agency for International Development (USAID), World Bank, US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), European Bank or Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and United Nations' counterparts. Dr. Mandrugina has skills and expertise in project and program management, evaluation and assessment, team and institution capacity building, coalition building, institutional strengthening, energy policy, energy efficiency, technology transfer, public information activities, small business development, strategic planning, privatization, commercialization and information technology. She developed and used analytical models in support of privatization due diligence related to: projected financial performance, asset valuations, and risk assessment.
Dr. Mandrugina has a clear understanding of energy sector restructuring, democracy and governance and international development needs. She managed the $200 million USAID Energy and Environment (Energy I) Indefinite Quantity Contract (IQC) for (AEAI was the prime contractor) which provided a vehicle for support of responsible energy, infrastructure and environment development throughout the world with a focus on Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Dr. Mandrugina has B.A. and M.A. in Foreign Languages from Moscow State Linguistic University, MPP (Public Policy) from Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Ph.D. in Economics from Moscow State University.
Ognjen Marković: Mr. Markovic is the Deputy Chief of Party for the USAID Regulatory and Energy Assistance Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mr. Markovic has 27 years of experience in business and project management in the energy sector. Throughout his career he has provided business, budget and investment planning, monitoring, reporting and execution; investment project development, procurement and project management, project appraisal; and power utility restructuring and management expertise to his clients. His areas of focus include: energy balancing and management of power exchange between power utilities and traders; transmission and dispatching in power utilities, power sector research and development, energy system analysis, power sector strategy and policy, institutional and organizational capacity building. Mr. Markovic specializes in the power sector of South Eastern Europe, former Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. He has experience with World Bank, EBRD, USAID, kfW, European Agency for reconstruction, EIB, Phare and other donors and agencies.
Before working with AEAI, he held positions in the BiH energy sector, including Deputy and Acting General Manager at the power utility Elektroprivreda BiH, and as Assistant General Manger with the engineering company Energoinvest Sarajevo. From 2002 until 2006 Mr. Markovic worked with the EU Mission to Kosovo as the Head of Energy Division, Kosovo Trust Agency. Mr. Markovic was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He graduated at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University in Sarajevo, in 1975. He also received his M.S. degree from the University of Sarajevo, in 1984
Randall Nottingham: Mr. Nottingham, Senior Energy Economist and Policy Analyst, has more than a dozen years of experience in positions of increasing responsibility and exposure. Mr. Nottingham is currently serving as the director of the Afghan Energy Information Center (AEIC) in Kabul under the USAID-funded Afghanistan Infrastructure and Rehabilitation Program (AIRP), where he and his expat and local staff are responsible for managing the collection, analysis, and distribution of information regarding Afghanistan’s energy situation and infrastructure development. Mr. Nottingham’s key areas of expertise include project management, training needs assessment, team and institutional capacity building, information management, energy market and investment analysis, political and economic risk assessment, and policy proposal and review. Mr. Nottingham holds a B.A. in Energy and Environmental Policy Studies from Syracuse University, an M.S. in Energy and Environmental Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.S. in Petroleum Economics and Management from the French Petroleum Institute (IFP).
Dan Potash: Mr. Potash, Senior Financial Analyst, has over 25 years of experience in the U.S. and overseas in energy project financing, including many renewable energy and cogeneration projects. He heads AEAI’s Power Project Financing team, http://www.powerprojectfinancing.com. He has also participated in numerous power sector reform and restructuring initiatives, power project development, financial structuring, business and risk analysis, financial modeling, sector planning and in implementing joint ventures. He has been Chief of Party and Deputy Chief of Party for USAID and World Bank projects, and is experienced in project management for overseas project teams. He has worked on projects and provided government advisory services in Afghanistan, Moldova, Armenia, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and many other countries.
Elsa Powel: Ms. Powel is a Project Associate and Administrator coordinating field and home office operations. She has worked on projects in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Thailand and Central America. Her prime area of focus is capacity building and wrote and presented AEAI’s final report on training provided Afghan men and women for USAID’s Afghanistan Energy Assistance Project. With her diverse skill set, Ms. Powel provides marketing, proposal coordination, budget management, logistics management, report writing and presentation expertise. She has a B.A. from Brown University.
Ranjan Ravaliya, Environmental Scientist, Ph. D.: Dr. Ravaliya, Senior Environmental Specialist, has worked in the environmental field for over 18 years. She has an excellent grasp of and expertise in, the technical aspects of hazardous waste management programs, site assessment and remediation planning, data collection, compilation and management. She is skilled with multiple types of databases used for various purposes, and has successfully coordinated technical projects and provided logistic support for numerous other projects. She has a Ph. D. in Chemistry, B. Sc. in Chemistry and M. Sc. Chemistry from the University of Baroda, Gujarat, India. She was awarded her Environmental Remediation Certification from Northeastern University, MA and she is a Massachusetts Certified-Asbestos Project Monitor & Asbestos Inspector.
Joe Skroski: Mr. Skroski, Senior Advisor, provides support to AEAI’s Board of Directors specializing in Management, Policy and Energy issues. Mr. Skroski has over 49 years of experience in energy policy and regulation, project finance, and project management experience, including 19 years of international experience, in Central Asia, Egypt, Indonesia, Latin America, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. His experience includes restructuring, corporatization and privatization of the electric utility sector; technical and financial appraisal of BOO/BOOT projects, due diligence reviews and risk management assessments, integrated resource planning, capacity building, energy technology assessment, implementation and financing of cogeneration and independent power production projects, engineering and construction management, management and organizational reviews, electric utility planning and operations, energy conservation and load management, demand side planning and management, product marketing, market planning and research and utility telecommunications and control.
Jane Wilson: Ms. Wilson, Vice-President, is an international energy regulatory affairs legal specialist with more than 31 years of professional experience including seasoned executive leadership and chief of party experience. Ms. Wilson brings senior-level, executive experience working with high-level public officials in international arenas to lead regulatory and government efforts in the liberalization of energy markets in accordance with international laws, regulations, and agreements. Four of her most recent years have been focused on energy sector regulations and legislative reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, working directly with three energy commissions, assisting with organizational structure, staff development, and activity implementation as well as developing a phased approach to unify the regulators. Ms. Wilson’s extensive knowledge of the Energy Community Treaty and the European Union Energy Directives developed from years of first-hand implementation experience. Her demonstrated leadership in managing personnel utilizes process changes that achieve superior performance and builds long-term skills of personnel and transfers knowledge to local counterparts. Ms. Wilson’s proven ability to build effective cross-cultural teams to accomplish joint tasks, which require public, private, and international organization buy-in and participatory results, includes environments recovering from ethnic tension. She is able to make complicated concepts understandable and transfer knowledge to appropriate advocacy counterparts and a wide-range of audiences directly.
Other AEAI Staff: information on other staff is available; all AEAI staff have international energy work experience, graduate work in related areas and language proficiency in one or more languages. AEAI has strong working relationships with and can utilize the resources of faculty at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Georgetown University and Tufts University as well as the variety of National Laboratories that are based in the United States. We also have commitments from US agencies (i.e. Department of Energy) and other organizations to assist AEAI as is useful on any activity.
