Energy²⁰²⁶

Morgan Hood has 15 years of industry experience with energy efficiency and product development. Her current role as New Product Development manager at VGS is helping the company establish a new portfolio of products and services focused on decarbonization. Morgan’s highly developed customer engagement expertise with large industrial and manufacturing facilities, commercial real estate, retailers, and residential customers help her unlock the valuable customer insights that fuel the product development process. Her method-based approach relies on the principles of design thinking, value proposition design, and the business model canvas as creative frameworks for evidence-based decision-making.

Chris Vaughn joined Green Mountain Power (GMP) in 2022 as an Energy Innovation and Resiliency Coordinator. Chris’ work focuses on GMP’s strategic electrification initiatives, with the goal of reducing costs for customers and lowering carbon emissions in Vermont. Prior to Green Mountain Power, Chris worked for the City of Burlington, Vermont within the Burlington City Arts department. Chris completed his bachelor’s degree in English Literature at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont.

Joseph Steig is a principal at ecosVC, a consulting and training company for STEM ventures, and will be the lead facilitator for DeltaClimeVT 2025. He also consults with companies and investors in a CFO capacity, currently serving in that capacity at FruitScout, an agtech startup. Previously he was CFO at LRVHealth, a healthcare venture fund based in Boston. Joseph has worked in a diverse range of industries from aquaculture to software and has extensive consulting experience with universities and innovators on technology commercialization.

Joseph was a founding board member of FORGE, the educational non-profit affiliated with the world’s largest clean tech incubator, Greentown Labs. He has led accelerators in cleantech and agtech for over a decade. He went to Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts and divides his time between New England and Vancouver, Canada.

Geoff Robertson is the Finance and Venture Investments at VCET. He previously worked as the managing director of VSJF’s DeltaClime^VT business accelerator that serves startup and seed-stage ventures focusing on climate economy innovation. Prior to VSJF Geoff held the position of CEO at Empower Mobility, a mobile platform and software company, where he was responsible for managing business development, human resources, and finances. As the CFO at School Spring, LLC, Geoff negotiated the successful sale of the cloud based recruitment and applicant tracking system for K – 12 schools. He previously served as the Entrepreneurial Advisor at Davis & Hodgdon CPAs serving School Spring, the Vermont Food Venture Center, and many other small businesses in Vermont.

40+ years of experience translating research to commercial opportunities. Judy is co-founder of the Chemical Angels Network, entrepreneur and former Fortune 100 executive. Judy serves as board member, co-founder, advisor and investor in seed and early stage start-ups. And Judy is Immediate Past President of the American Chemical Society. Her previous executive positions include Vice President and Global Corporate Director of Research and Development at International Flavors and Fragrances, Inc.; Vice-President Worldwide Research and Development for the Pepsi-Cola Company, the global beverage arm of PepsiCo, Inc.; Vice President Research and Development, Henkel Corporation, the North American operating unit of the Henkel Group; and co-founder and managing partner of 1EXECStreet, a successful San Francisco based boutique executive search firm. She has also held management and technical contributor positions at Polaroid and ALCOA and has served with the National Science Foundation as Program Director for the IGERT Program.

Lisa Morris, Energy Services Analyst at Vermont Electric Co-op, began her career in urban planning and transitioned to the energy world after moving to Vermont in 2012. Over the past decade, she’s worked on variable peak pricing, co-op community solar, net metering, beneficial electrification, and flexible load programs. Her work involves the interplay between policy goals and program implementation and how the two inform each other to further Vermont’s energy transformation. She holds a Bachelor of the Arts in Sociology from Oberlin College and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Michigan.

Jake Marin is a Senior Emerging Opportunities Manager at VEIC. He manages s a diverse portfolio of projects but specializes in adoption of new HVAC technologies. Previously, Jake was the Program Manager for HVAC and Refrigeration at Efficiency Vermont. Here, he developed Vermont’s first heat pump program in 2014 and has continued to help develop programs and guidelines for the greater Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region through his collaboration with the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership (NEEP). These programs have supported the installation of over 35,000 high efficiency heat pumps and over 14,000 heat pump water heaters in Vermont alone. Starting with single zone ductless mini-splits, his heat pump program portfolio has grown to include multi-zone, ducted, air to water and, most recently, Ground Source Heat Pump.

James L. Gibbons heads the Policy and Planning Team at Burlington Electric Department. The Policy and Planning Team is responsible for wholesale power market interactions, renewability, strategic electrification program design, and long term planning.

James joined BED in 2008. Prior to that he worked for almost 20 years at the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority where he was initially responsible for load forecasting and energy efficiency, moved to rates and rate design, and from 2003 on managed the organization’s Power Supply and Transmission activities.

James was a key participant in securing BED’s 100% renewable energy portfolio by both negotiating long term renewable contracts and affecting the purchase of the Winooski One hydro facility in 2014. In his ten years at BED, in addition to his power supply responsibilities, James was the Project Manager for BED’s ARRA grant deployment of an advanced metering system that covers virtually all of BED’s customers, for several BED owned solar generating arrays (including one located in partnership with another City Department on the roof of the Burlington Airport parking garage), and for BED’s last two triennial Integrated Resource Plan filings.

James serves (and has served) on numerous utility boards and committees and, In his position on these boards and committees, James is always a strong voice in support of public power.

In 2018, James received the Northeast Public Power Association Distinguished Service Award.

As the Manager of Strategy and Innovation, Emily Stebbins-Wheelock leads Burlington Electric’s Center for Innovation, which includes the finance, information technology, policy and planning, and sustainability and workforce development teams. Her expertise includes strategy development and performance management, project and change management, organizational development, enterprise risk management, and emergency and continuity of operations planning. Prior to joining BED, Emily worked for 15 years in finance and administration at the University of Vermont, most recently as the Director of Office of Operational Excellence. While at UVM Emily led strategic and business process improvement projects including the implementation of the University’s budgeting and financial reporting system, development of UVM’s enterprise risk management program, implementation of an incentive-based budgeting model, and comprehensive reviews of UVM’s student scholarship administration and procurement processes.

Emily is a former member and chair of the Burlington Planning Commission and served on the Vermont Council on Rural Development’s Council on the Future of Vermont. Emily is a Prosci Certified Change Practitioner and has earned the Associate in Risk Management-Enterprise Risk Management (ARM-E) designation. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University and a Master of Science in Community Development & Applied Economics from UVM.