WWG Member Biographies

Reed Armstrong
Reed Armstrong is employed by PPM Energy in the capacity of renewable energy marketing in SPP and ERCOT. Mr. Armstrong has 19 years of experience in the energy markets and is the president of the Wind Coalition for 2008.

Brad Beecher
Bradley P. Beecher, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer . Electric, joined The Empire District Electric Company, headquartered in Joplin, Missouri in 1988 as a Staff Engineer at the Riverton, Kansas Power Plant. He held various roles in energy supply and strategic planning until 1999. During a break in service Beecher worked for Black & Veatch, a large engineering and consulting firm. Beecher returned to Empire in 2001 and was elected Vice President . Energy Supply in 2001. He was elected to his present position effective June 2006. Mr. Beecher played an integral part in Empire.s decisions to participate in both the Elk River and Meridian Way projects.

A native of northwest Kansas, Mr. Beecher graduated from Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Kansas.

Mr. Beecher serves on the Joplin Parks and Storm Water Sales Tax Oversight Committee and serves as a board member for the Joplin Kiwanis Club.

Jay Caspary
Jay Caspary is Director of Engineering at Southwest Power Pool where he is responsible for expansion planning and tariff studies for generation interconnections and long term transmission service in SPP. Jay has over 25 year career in power industry in expansion planning, electric and gas resource planning, regulatory services/pricing, marketing/customer choice and transmission services. Currently, Jay serves as Vice Chair of Eastern Interconnection Reliability Assessment Group Management Committee and Chair of ISO/RTO Council Planning Committee.

Stephanie Cole
Stephanie, a recent graduate of Fort Hays State University, has served as a volunteer to environmental organizations. She has professional experience working in environmental policy and growth management efforts. Stephanie currently represents the Sierra Club and is involved in energy-related issues.

Randy Doll
Education: B.A. Business Administration, M.A. Business Management

Career Summary: - 20 years experience commercial and residential real estate development, President Doll Real Estate Services Inc.

Public Service: 8 years served as Chairman/member Butler County Board of Directors (spent 7 years developing wind farm guidelines, site selection, financial sureties, ecommissioning, planning, zoning, etc... for Butler County)

Personal: Married, 3 children, Flinthills land owner

Blake Elliott
Blake Elliott is the Director of Electric Supply Planning at the Kansas City, Kansas Board of Public Utilities (KCBPU) which supplies electricity and water to the residents of Kansas City, Kansas and Wyandotte County and is the largest Electric municipal utility serving more than 64,000 electric customers. He has been with the BPU for 30 years and started as a power plant operator attending college classes whenever he could. After earning a BS from Park College and a MBA from Kansas University he transferred from Electric Production to the Environmental Services Department and eventually to Electric Production and Supply.

As the Director of Electric Supply Planning he is responsible for forecasting fuel, purchase power, customer demand and electric sales revenue. He also manages long term capacity plans through management of sales/purchase contracts including renewable contracts and implementation of energy efficiency and demand response initiatives to meet customer requirements and required reserves.

Les Evans
Les Evans has over 29 years experience in the power generation industry. He currently is the Vice President, Power Supply for KEPCo where he is responsible for securing and maintaining a reliable and economic power supply for 19 member Rural Electric Cooperatives. Before coming to KEPCo, he spent over 23 years with an Investor Owned Utility (IOU) and 4 years as a consultant in the wind energy sector through his own company and an international renewable energy firm.

Les was appointed in 2005 to the newly created Kansas Electric Transmission Authority (KETA) by the Governor of Kansas and continues to serve on that Authority today.

Les is a native Kansan and earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Kansas State University.

Rob Freeman
Rob Freeman is the CEO of TradeWind Energy, a Kansas City based developer of utility scale wind projects. TradeWind currently has its smoky hills wind project under construction in Kansas, and it has a development pipeline of about 2,000 MWs of projects in the Midwest region of the country.

Before joining TradeWind, Mr. Freeman was a Senior Vice President of Aquila, Inc., with responsibility for development and acquisitions of gas storage facilities and independent power projects in Europe and Canada.

He earned his JD from the University of Arkansas, and his BS in Geology from the University of Missouri. Mr. Freeman has strong business ties throughout the Midwest, where he started his career as an attorney practicing in the areas of corporate transactions, commercial contracts, and mergers and acquisitions.

John Grimwade
John Grimwade is currently Senior Director, Strategic Planning and Development at Kansas City Power & Light Company (KCP&L), a wholly owned subsidiary of Great Plains Energy, Inc. His responsibilities include the coordination and development of KCP&L.s Comprehensive Energy Plan as well as other strategic initiatives within KCP&L and Great Plains Energy. John has over 28 years of energy industry experience in the areas of Integrated Resource Planning, Power Plant Development, Power Marketing, Risk Management, Power Engineering and Power Plant Construction and Commissioning.

Mr. Grimwade holds an MBA from Rockhurst College, Kansas City, Missouri and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts.

John enjoys outdoor activities including biking, swimming, hiking and sailing and enjoys spending time with his wife Vicki and twin son and daughter Michael and Allison.

Colin Hansen
Colin Hansen is Executive Director of Kansas Municipal Utilities (KMU), the statewide trade association representing 168 municipal electric, natural gas, water, wastewater and telecommunications utilities. In that role, he is responsible for oversight of the association.s numerous legislative & regulatory, technical assistance, job training & safety, natural gas services, and member communications activities. Mr. Hansen holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Drake University. He lives in McPherson, Kansas with his wife Kristine and their three children, Maren, Olivia & Cole.

Ray Harold
Ray Harold, Director of Engineering for Midwest Energy, has over 25 years of experience in the utility and utility consulting business. Mr. Harold has been involved with wind development since 1997, providing technical assistance to developers, regional transmission operators, state agencies and financial institutions throughout the United States. He has worked directly on projects in Kansas, Texas, Illinois, Wyoming, Montana, New York, Massachusetts and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mr. Harold is a graduate of Kansas State University, and a registered professional engineer in the state of Kansas.

Carl Huslig
As president of ITC Great Plains, Kansas native Carl A. Huslig is dedicated to meeting the energy needs of Kansas and the Great Plains area through the development of electricity transmission infrastructural improvements. ITC Great Plains is focused on increasing electricity transfer capability and improving the region's overall electricity transmission reliability. Mr. Huslig has made presentations at the 2007 Kansas Renewable Conference and the 2007 Annual AWEA conference about the importance of transmission for the renewable energy industry.

Mr. Huslig brings over 16 years experience in the utility industry and vast experience with the Southwest Power Pool policies. During his 15 year career at Aquila starting in 1991, Mr. Huslig held positions of increasing responsibility primarily within the transmission function. Most recently, Mr. Huslig served as vice president of transmission during which he was responsible for day-to-day operations including planning, system operations, capital and maintenance budgets, and regulatory and legislative affairs.

Mr. Huslig is a 1991 graduate of Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, with a bachelor of science in electrical engineering.

Mike Irvin
Mike Irvin is the Director of Kansas Farm Bureau.s Legal Foundation. He directs the Legal Foundation, which supports educational and public awareness programs, legal and public policy research and litigation aligned with the mission and public policy positions adopted by the members of Kansas Farm Bureau.

Mike is a native of Goodland, Kansas, where he grow up on a farm and practiced law for over twelve years. He has an extensive background in commercial and civil litigation and public administration.

Mike earned an undergraduate degree in Business Finance from Kansas State University, a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Kansas, and a Juris Doctorate from Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas.

Mike, his wife Robin, and their three children, reside in Manhattan, Kansas.

Bob Johnson
Bob is currently responsible for wholesale power supply marketing for the Sunflower Electric Power Corporation (.Sunflower.) and Mid-Kansas Electric Company, LLC (.Mid-Kansas.). In this role, Bob is responsible for the renewable energy portfolio on both the Sunflower and Mid-Kansas systems. He works closely with wind developers, municipal utilities and other customers to bring wind energy into the Sunflower/Mid-Kansas resource mix and is responsible for Sunflower.s aggressive approach to the use of wind-generated energy. He is a liaison to member systems, regulators, large contract customers and other utilities, including 33 municipal utilities served by Sunflower and Mid-Kansas.

Sharla Krenzel
As director of Wichita County Economic Development in Leoti, Sharla Krenzel has more than 11 years experience in community and economic development. Since 2001, she has worked with landowners, developers and utilities to promote the development of wind farms in Wichita County, gaining insight into the wind and electric industries from a community perspective. In her role as economic development director, Sharla has been successful in bringing over $7 million in grants to Wichita County, including the 10-year Federal Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community designation and grant. Sharla currently serves on a number of local and regional organizations, including serving as secretary of the western Kansas Rural Economic Development Alliance (wKREDA); and secretary/treasurer of Western Kansas Business Consulting, one the state.s Enterprise Facilitation pilot projects. She has also served on the Governor.s Rural Life Task Force and Kansas State University.s Kansas Center for Rural Initiatives board.

Len Kriesky
Mr. Kriesky has 35 years experience in electric energy generation. His experience includes several electric generation air quality improvement projects as well as municipal waste to electric energy projects. He is currently managing owner.s engineering and construction observation activities on several wind energy projects.

Mark Lawlor
Mark Lawlor joined is a Project Manager for Horizon Wind Energy. He is responsible for development in the Kansas market. Prior to joining Horizon, Mark was a partner in a law firm specializing in renewable energy law. In addition to developing new wind energy projects, he is involved in shaping legislative and regulatory policy. Mark has a J.D. from Washburn University School of Law with a Certificate in Environmental Law, and a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Political Science from the University of Kansas.

Mark is currently managing the development of the Meridian Way Wind Farm near Concordia, Kansas. Meridian Way is a 201MW wind project that is planned to come on-line by the end of 2008.

Jim Ludwig
Jim Ludwig is executive vice president, public affairs and consumer services for Westar Energy, Kansas. largest electric utility. He has more than 20 years of utility experience, having spent much of his career working with company regulators. He received Bachelor of Arts degrees in classical languages and history in 1980 from The University of Kansas. He is a board member of Leadership Kansas, the Topeka Chamber of Commerce and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is vice chair of Let's Help, Inc.'s board. He also serves on several business, civic and charitable boards.

Corey Mohn
Born and raised in the Kansas City area, Corey co-founded Planning Initiatives, a St. Louis city planning consulting firm, in the summer of 2001. He has directed development and redevelopment projects, presented numerous economic development plans to city and village councils, and instructed community leaders on the legalities and usefulness of state economic development programs and policies.

Corey currently serves as Agribusiness Development Specialist for the Agriculture Marketing Division where he facilitates department projects with public entities and private businesses, and serves as a liaison to help coordinate the role of the Department of Commerce in state government initiatives. A particular emphasis of Corey.s work lies in the bio-energy sector, where he serves as staff to the Biomass Subcommittee of the Kansas Energy Council and coordinates the Kansas Biofuels Working Group.

Corey obtained Bachelor of Arts degrees in economics and political science at Washington University in St. Louis and graduated magna cum laude.

Dan Nagengast
Dan Nagengast is Director of the Kansas Rural Center in Whiting. He has served as Co-Chair of Governor Sebelius' Rural Life Task Force and Chair of the Kansas Food Policy Council. He farms with his wife near Lone Star.

Ruth Douglas Miller
Ruth Douglas Miller is an associate professor of electrical engineering at Kansas State University, where she has taught since 1990. She holds a BS in electrical engineering from Lafayette College (Pennsylvania) and MS and PhD degrees also in electrical engineering from the University of Rochester (NY). At KSU she has conducted research into the health effects of electric and magnetic fields from power lines. Her interest in renewable energy began with the KSU Solar Car racing team; she was also involved with the KSU Solar House in 2007. She currently heads the Kansas Wind Applications Center, started in Fall 2007, to educate young wind engineers and encourage interest in wind energy among Kansas school children and communities. The Center is supported by a grant from DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Susan Sloan
Susan Williams Sloan handles communications and outreach for the American Wind Energy Association. She coordinates Wind Energy Works!, (www.windenergyworks.org) a national alliance of groups that aim to engage the public debate with facts about the benefits of wind energy development. Susan also serves on the steering committee for NREL.s Wind Powering America program.

Steve Weatherford
Steve Weatherford has been the President of Kansas Development Finance Authority (KDFA), the conduit issuer of bonds for the state of Kansas, since January 2003. In mid-2003, through an Executive Reorganization Order, Kansas Housing Resources Corporation (KHRC) was formed as a subsidiary of KDFA. Steve is also the president of KHRC which serves as the Housing Finance Agency for the State of Kansas. KHRC has four primary areas of emphasis: Homeownership, Rental Housing, Housing with Supportive Services, and Asset Management. The goal of KHRC.s activities in all of these areas is to enhance Kansas communities with housing opportunities. Steve is a member of several policy councils including the Kansas Energy Council and the Kansas Re-entry Policy Council. He is also a member of the Governor.s Cabinet and it.s Economic Development Sub-Committee and was appointed as the Governor.s Liaison for the Greensburg Tornado Recovery effort.