Itron Inspire

Customer Care & Field Services Manager
Track: Mobile & Measurement Solutions

Dennis DeMera has 16 years of water utility experience and is currently the Customer Care and Field Services Manager for the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD). The LVVWD provides water to more than one million people via approximately 430,000 water meters. Currently, LVVWD utilizes its C2M, customer information system, with its AMI network and AMR system to further enhance our operations into a more customer centric omni-channel utility. Dennis currently oversees the technology for the Customer Care & Field Services department which encompasses data collection, meter-to cash systems, customer engagement and water conservation. He has overseen multiple Itron deployments that include Itron Choice Connect (AMI), Mobile Interface (AMR), Field Collection System, Field Deployment Manager, Field Tools, Leak Sensors and Water Analytics. Dennis has Bachelor of Science Business Administration, Information Technology Management, an Associate of Applied Science, Ornamental Horticulture and holds an AWWA WSO Water Distribution and SCRUM Master certification. In his free-time, Dennis enjoys outdoor activities, golf, travel, and spending time with his family.

Manager, SMOC, AMI Operations
Track: Applications, Outcomes & Services

Mitch Davda manages the Smart Meter Operations Center at Duquesne Light Co. He provides leadership and technical expertise in AMI business and technical processes. He manages and directs the daily operations of the SMOC. Prior to this role, he was a consultant with Itron providing professional and technical services at multiple utilities across the electric, water, and gas domains before coming over from SDG&E.

Manager, Member Billing and Settlements
Track: Data Management

Travis Graff is the Manager of Member Billing and Settlements at Prairie Power, Inc which is a Generation and Transmission Electric Cooperative serving the rural areas of Central Illinois. He joined Prairie Power, Inc. in 2006 and has held various positions in Accounting and Finance, Member Services and Power Supply. He is responsible for metering, data integrity and member billing of all wholesale delivery points on the cooperative’s system. Travis earned an undergraduate degree in Information Systems before continuing on for an MBA at Eastern Illinois University. Travis lives in Springfield, Illinois with his wife Ashleigh and four children. During his spare time, he enjoys playing hockey, traveling and attending his kids activities.

Director Customer Support Services
Track: Applications, Outcomes & Services

Jay is the Customer Services Support Director for American Electric Power. He is accountable for the strategy and maintenance of key customer operations, including business support of related systems. Oversight responsibilities include daily business operations of meter-to-cash systems supporting AEP’s seven distribution operating companies, including customer information system management, large power and complex billing, deregulation support, and meter revenue systems support.

Previously, Jay led AEP’s Customer Experience Program, directing the fulfillment of CX strategy across the enterprise, including responsibility for implementing programs and executing projects that are aligned with customer satisfaction and brand reputation goals. He also held a leadership role in AEP’s Audit Services Department. Before joining AEP, Jay served in risk assurance and consulting capacities with EY. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Indiana University.

Manager of Smart Meter Operations
Track: Data Management

Justin Logsdon is the Manager of Smart Meter Operations for FirstEnergy. FirstEnergy operates in five states (Ohio, Pa., N.J., Md., and W. Va.) and has approximately 6 million electric customers. Justin and his team are responsible for the daily operations of FirstEnergy’s smart meter solution, utilizing OWCE, IEE & MV90 to process data daily for the 2.7 million and growing population of smart meters & legacy interval meters. He has worked at FirstEnergy for over 18 years and has spent his career in various metering roles through both corporate metering support and regional operations. Justin earned a Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering Technology from DeVry University and an MBA from Kent State University. He and his wife Amy have four children and reside in the Canton, Ohio area. When not shuttling his kids to various school & sporting activities, Justin enjoys running, golf and woodworking.

Sr. Director | Operational Technologies and Strategy
Track: Applications, Outcomes & Services

David Lukcic is the Sr. Director of Operational Technologies and Strategy for Tampa Electric Company. This includes Grid Modernization, Data Analytics, Distributed Intelligence, Change Management, Network Operations, AMI, Meter and Lighting Operations and Smart Cities. He is currently involved with the development approval and implementation of the Grid Modernization Strategy, in addition to finding new ways of leveraging technology and data to drive efficiencies into operations, and providing customers more information and choices. He has a degree in electrical engineering from the University of South Florida (USF), an MBA from USF and is a Professional Engineer in the State of Florida. Mr. Lukcic was responsible for meter operations, permitting major capital projects, such as power plants, transmission lines and major infrastructure. Mr. Lukcic’s experience includes over 20 years in industrial and power plant operations, transmission and distribution and environmental capacities.

Smart Energy Operations Supervisor
Track: Applications, Outcomes & Services

After receiving his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Western Michigan University, Dean Martin began his career at ANCO Engineers, performing a commercial and industrial rebate program for Consumers Energy. He held a variety of roles before beginning his career at Consumers Energy in Smart Energy. Dean is currently the Smart Energy Operations supervisor, with a team who performs device management of various smart electric meters and gas communication modules deployed across the state of Michigan. Consumers Energy has deployed cellular-based smart electric meters to 1.8 million electric customers, has over 660,000 gas communication modules communicating through the AMI technology and has deployed an AMR solution to 1.2 million gas-only customers.

SR Director-Customer Service | Field Services Division
Track: Multi-Purpose Network Solutions

Marty Martinez has been with SAWS for 38 years specifically in Customer Service's Field Division since 2017. The team works to ensure accurate and timely meter reads monthly, initiates/terminates accounts with beginning and ending billing reads, conducts service interruptions and provides investigation support for high bill complaints and potential unauthorized water use.

SAWS started its AMI journey in 2019. The ConnectH2O program is targeting over 570,000 AMI meter installations over the course of this project. Marty's role includes overseeing the installation vendor, deployment schedule planning, meter and material planning, and the internal field inspections team.

Supervisor of Application Support | Field Tech
Track: Mobile & Measurement Solutions

Nick Miller joined Southwest Gas Corporation in 2006. During his 17 years of service with the company, he has also held the positions of Mapping Specialist, Engineering Technician, Business Technology Support Analyst, and Systems Analyst. In his current position, Nick oversees training, Help Desk support, System Upgrades and Implementation, and facilitates business-focused direction as it relates to endpoint technologies. Routing, rerouting, assignment creation, process assessment, FCS system components and related technology interfaces are primary areas of focus. He has two master’s degrees from Grand Canyon University: Master of Science in Leadership and an MBA. He also recently completed a Bachelor’s in Information Systems.

Southwest Gas uses Itron products for over 2 million customers in NV, CA, and AZ. Supported Itron products include: FCS, ISM, Itron Mobile, Mobile Interface, FDM, IFT, MC3, FC300, iPhone w/ IMR2, 40G/GB ERT, 100G ERT, 500G ERT and the Intelis Gas Meter.

Director of Business Services
Track: Multi-Purpose Network Solutions

Steve has over 30 years of water utility experience and is the Director of Business Services at Greenville Water, SC, which is nestled against the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains between Atlanta and Charlotte. He previously worked as the Chief of Customer Service at Charlotte Water, servicing over 1.2M customers through 320,000 water services. Prior to his 24 years at Charlotte Water, Steve was a Utility Engineer for Salisbury-Rowan Utilities. Steve and his team are responsible for Greenville Water’s metering system and associated data analytics, billing, account management/customer engagement, and field services. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a Master’s degree in Strategic Leadership and Organizational Development. In addition to his work at Greenville Water, Steve was the former chair of the AWWA Customer Service Committee and North Carolina AWWA Utility Management Committee. In his free time, he enjoys fishing, mountain biking, hiking, music, and exploring the beautiful City of Greenville. Steve and his beautiful wife have three children, one daughter at Clemson University, one at the University of South Carolina, a 13 year old son, a dog, and a turtle.

Director of Customer Strategy & Experience
Track: Multi-Purpose Network Solutions

Andrea Nuesser is the Director of Customer Strategy & Experience at Hydro One. In her role, she is responsible for developing and implementing strategic initiatives to build the grid of the future and serve the needs and expectations of Hydro One’s broad customer base.

Andrea is an experienced leader, outside-of-the box thinker, and engaging strategist who is passionate about shaping the future of energy. In an evolving utility landscape, she provides thought leadership and drives collaboration through various industry working groups to enable innovative energy solutions and help customers with their energy transition.

Andrea has a broad background in social sciences, marketing and customer behaviour. Before joining Hydro One, she was a Vice President at Innovative Research Group, a public opinion research and consulting firm. Andrea holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

Director of Continuous Improvement and Meter Reading
Track: Mobile and Measurement Solutions

Lisa Reilly is the Director of Continuous Improvement and Meter Reading at Peoples Gas, a natural gas distribution company serving southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. Lisa has enjoyed a 32 year career with Peoples Gas working in many areas of the company. In Lisa’s spare time she and her husband have fostered over 100 retired racing greyhounds, has 7 grandchildren, 1 dog, 4 cats and 2 parrots. Lisa and her husband enjoy taking Caribbean Cruises.

District Director | Gas Operations - NW Region Houston TX
Track: Applications, Outcomes and Services

Lynette Sealy is the District Director of Gas Operations in Houston, TX for CenterPoint Energy. She began her 30-year career with CenterPoint Energy in the Call Center. She has held various management positions, including Gas Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) Lead, Area Manager, Business Technology Support Manager in Technology Operations and Work Order Management, Data Quality Management, and Meter Reading. Lynette currently serves as a Board member of the United Energy Credit Union and Aldine Education Foundation. She also serves on the SGA Operations, Maintenance, And Emergency Management committee. Lynette also participates in a variety of non-profit organizations such as the United Way Community Investment program. Lynette graduated from the CNP Leadership Academy, Leadership Women — Texas and earned a bachelor of science in business administration from DeVry University.

AMI Project Manager
Track: Mobile and Measurement Solutions

Mike Smith is the AMI Project Manager for Maritime Electric (a subsidiary of Fortis Inc.) in Prince Edward Island, Canada. He joined Maritime Electric in 1997 specializing in project management and process optimization. Mike has implemented many systems including ESRI’s GIS, Itron’s FCS, outage management, vegetation management, service order systems, customer service and billing. Mike has worked with the T&D Operations group to optimize the departments workflows including dispatching work to crews and asset management. Mike has also worked in metering for several years. In 2012, Mike worked on a five-year IoT load control demonstration project that created a virtual power plant that allowed real time energy control operator access to control load. In 2017, Mike joined IT again as the supervisor of the IT and GIS development teams. Mike holds an IT Application Programmer Diploma, HR Certificate and a Business Degree with a major in Organization Behavior as well as a GISP (GIS Professional) designation.

Power Delivery Reliability Grid Automation Strategy
Track: Multi-Purpose Network Solutions

Rick Teigland is the manager of the reliability grid automation team at Florida Power & Light Company (FPL). In this role, he is responsible for the overall strategy and deployment of grid automation devices across FPL’s 43 county service territory. Rick previously served as a technical manager for the distribution portion of the Energy Smart Florida program overseeing the installation and integration of over 8,000 devices, sensors, and monitors in Miami-Dade County. He was also responsible for the distribution Storm Secure Program during the program’s early years. Prior to that, Rick was a distribution planning supervisor where his group was responsible for analyzing the distribution grid, developing capacity and system improvement projects, and ensuring protective coordination between feeder relays and distribution devices. Rick is a registered Professional Engineer, received his Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida and received his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of South Florida.

Manager of Measurement Analytics
Track: Mobile & Measurement Solutions

Nick Vail has over 13 years of experience working in the utility industry and is currently the Manager of Measurement Analytics for Spire. Nick began his career at Spire 10 years ago as a GIS Analyst and has held various positions in the company before finding is home in the measurement department. Over the last 2 years, Nick has led the rollout of Intelis meters throughout all regions of the Spire footprint. Nick has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Geography, a Master of Science in Geospatial Science, a Master’s degree in Business Administration, and a Graduate Certificate in Business Intelligence. Nick lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his wife Callie and their two daughters Ava and Poppy. In his free-time, Nick enjoys camping, hiking, canoeing, and spending time with his family.

Manager | IT Field Area Network Operations
Track: Multi-Purpose Network Solutions

Bill Westrick has worked in the technology field for almost 35 years. He joined Exelon in 2012 where he initially worked on ComEd’s distribution automation deployment project, and soon moved into an operations role where he managed ComEd’s Itron (SSN) AMI and DA networks. He is now in Exelon’s Utility Communications group as IT Manager, Field Area Network Operations, where he’s responsible for the Itron AMI and DA networks at five Exelon utilities. Bill is also responsible for the Land Mobile Radio systems across all six Exelon utilities. Prior to joining Exelon, Bill was IT Director at Pennant Foods Company where he was responsible for technology deployed across its 12 manufacturing facilities in North America. His background also includes systems engineering at IBM and consulting experience at McKinsey & Company and Accenture. Bill resides in the Chicago area with his wife Liz and has 4 children (one recently graduated from college and in the workforce; two in college; and one in high school). In his spare time, he plays the piano, works as a volunteer at a social service agency on Chicago’s west side, and enjoys spending time with his children.