Board of Directors

Bret is responsible for Tenaska’s Renewable Energy Advisory practice, helping corporate clients across North America develop sustainability strategies and procure renewable energy. Additionally, he leads Tenaska’s southeast US energy management services and deal brokerage activities. Prior to joining Tenaska in 2018, Bret spent 15 years with the Southern Company holding numerous positions at Southern Power and Georgia Power, including as Director of National Business Development, Manager of Business Development for ERCOT and SPP, and Generation and Siting Manager. During his time at Georgia Power, he held positions as Team Leader of Transmission and Capital Projects and Senior Biologist. He earned a B.A. in Biology from Catawba College in Salisbury, NC and an M.S. in Ecology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Bret has served on NAEMA’s Board of Directors since 2016.

For the past 29 years, Vince has worked in the power and energy industry in various positions within American Electric Power, including Distribution, International Development and in his most recent position as Managing Director in AEP Energy Marketing. His current responsibilities include expanding AEP’s wholesale power supply and renewable energy business to municipal utilities, cooperatives and investor owned utilities in both the PJM and MISO markets.

Vince has been a Board Member of NAEMA for the past 12 years.

Kristen is the Senior Manager for Structuring and Origination and Enel Trading North America. She started her career in New York City at Goldman Sachs working in the Quantitative Investment Strategies group. After her experience on Wall Street and middle-market investment banking, she has spent the last 10 years in the energy industry. She’s held positions in energy trading, utility corporate strategy and capital project management for oil and gas production companies.

Kristen has served on NAEMA’s Board of Directors for three years.

Cindy has been involved in the energy industry for over 19 years, beginning as a Transmission Scheduler then as a Real Time Trader. Cindy has worked as a Transmission Marketing Manager, handling overall MISO strategy and influencing interconnection policy and as a Transmission Project Development Manager where she led contract negotiations between Minnesota Power and Manitoba Hydro for the 500kV, Great Northern Transmission Line. Her current duties include developing and managing ALLETE Clean Energy’s (ACE’s) NERC program and overseeing interconnection and RTO policy for ACE’s nationwide generation portfolio from BPA to SPP and MISO to PJM.

Cindy has served on NAEMA’s Board of Directors since 2018 and serves on the Board’s Advisory, Bylaws and Membership Committees.

Joni is involved with managing EDF Renewable’s present and potential end users for wind, solar, storage and other renewable energy projects in the MISO and PJM regions. For the past 32 years, Joni has worked in the wholesale power and energy industry in various positions both in the regulated and unregulated arenas. Her focus is to bring value to both sides of the supplier-customer equation with various generation and market portfolios. Joni has a B.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from North Dakota State University.

Joni has served on NAEMA’s Board for several years and has held the NAEMA Chairperson/President, Vice President and NAEMA Treasurer roles for multiple years. She is also a member of the Tariff, Legal & Regulatory Issues Committee (formerly, the Tariff and Standard Agreements Committee).

Dean Jones has 41 years experience working in the electric industry. Over that period, he has held positions in power production, grid system operations, energy trading, and power marketing. Dean has experience working in MAPP, SPP, WECC, MISO, PJM, NYISO, AESO and IESO markets.

Dean has served for the past fifteen years on NAEMA’s Board of Directors. During that time, he has served three years as the NAEMA Vice-President and four years as NAEMA President. Dean actively participates in NAEMA initiatives and has served on the Audit, Tariff, and Conference Planning committees.

Dean lives on an acreage outside of Regina, Saskatchewan with his wife of 41 years. Sharing that space with them are five horses, one donkey and a cat. Dean has two children and three grandchildren, who all live close by. Spending time with family and friends is his favourite pastime.

Cham has over 21 years of diversified energy marketing and trading experience. Currently, Cham heads up the origination group at ACES, providing due diligence and transactional support for an array of market-based products including renewable energy credits, capacity, emissions, heat rate options, long-term power purchase agreements, outage insurance, and tailored-fit structured products for ACES’ clients across the U.S. Cham holds a B.S. in Microbiology and a minor in Spanish from Indiana University-Bloomington and an MBA with a finance concentration from the University of Indianapolis.

Cham has served on NAEMA’s Board of Directors since 2015 and is the Chair of the Board’s Social Media Subcommittee.

Claudia is responsible for wholesale origination of sales of generation in ERCOT, MISO, CAISO, PJM, New England ISO, and New York ISO.  She also provides commodity cost forecasting of Vistra Energy’s retail electricity and natural gas sales and is responsible for deal support of Vistra Energy’s Large Commercial and Industrial sales including structuring, product development, contract language development and negotiation, etc.  Claudia joined Vistra Energy in July of 2001 with multiple years of experience in commodities markets and has been involved in commodity pricing and risk management of the retail portfolio for her entire tenure at Vistra Energy.

Claudia was elected to NAEMA’s Board of Directors in 2020.

Bill is responsible for originating power and risk management products for Uniper customers serving load and managing wind, solar, and gas-fired generating facilities across North America. For the past 30 years Bill has worked in the wholesale power and energy industry in various power marketing positions with utility affiliates, independent power companies, and power marketing organizations. His focus is to bring value to both sides of the supplier-customer equation with various generation and market portfolios. He has served as a general management consultant and on a number of for-profit and not-for-profit boards, some of them within the energy industry. Bill has a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Bill joined NAEMA’s Board of Directors in 2019.

Jim has 32 years of experience in the power industry. As the Director of Energy Marketing, Jim is responsible for creating long-term value from the energy markets for both Avant Energy and the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA) from the energy markets. Previously, Jim was instrumental in the start-up of The Energy Authority and for 20 years held a number of positions in energy trading, power marketing, and business development. He has experience working in MAPP, MISO, PJM, SPP, SERC and FRCC regions. His prior work experience includes 10 years of service at the South Carolina Public Service Authority and 6 years’ experience as senior test engineer for both Pratt & Whitney and Westinghouse Electric Corporation Nuclear Technology Division. Jim has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of South Carolina.

Jim has served on NAEMA’s Board of Directors for several years, including three years as Vice President. He has served as NAEMA President since 2018.

Karyn has over 25 years’ experience in the power industry. In her current capacity, she is responsible for long term bilateral power transactions in the MISO region and Canada, transmission and non-utility generation procurement strategies, wholesale power contract administration as well as the maintenance of regulatory relationships. Karyn has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the industry including strategic planning, deal structuring and contract negotiations. In addition, prior to entering the wholesale electricity markets she worked in various finance, information technology and project management roles. Karyn has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree as well as a Professional Accounting designation.

Karyn has served on NAEMA’s Board of Directors since 2012, currently serving as Secretary since 2018.