Brooks, Richard “Dick”

Richard “Dick” Brooks is a CMU/SEI certified Professional Software Architect with over 40 years of software engineering accomplishments, primarily serving the Energy industry in the development of software solutions for secure message exchange, analytics (both data and cybersecurity) and enterprise architecture design/implementation. In 2018, Dick Co-Founded Reliable Energy Analytics, LLC (REA) along with Joanne Brooks to focus on the development of NIST C-SCRM (SP 800-161 Appendix F) + NTIA SBOM solutions, called SAG-PM (TM), to satisfy FERC Order 850 supply chain regulations and the Cybersecurity Executive Order, 14028, including OMB M-22-18. REA is an active member of the DHS CISA ICT_SCRM Task Force, Small and Medium Business Work Group, CISA Industrial Control System Joint Working Group (ICSJWG) and CISA’s Critical Manufacturing Sector Coordinating Council CM SCC and the IETF SCITT working group focusing on standards to improve consumer visibility into the trustworthiness of app store software using “Trust Scores” for each app across all app stores, following the recommendations of NIST for consumer software labeling.

Mr. Deatherage is a founding partner in the Dallas law firm of S. Deatherage Law, PLLC. For more than 30 years, he has focused on environmental issues, energy, and climate change. For most of his career, he worked with large law firms in Dallas, but four years ago he formed his own firm and also began pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities. He earned his B.A. in Letters from The University of Oklahoma in 1984 with highest honors, with minors in Botany and French, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1987 cum laude, where he served as the Articles Editor for the Harvard Environmental Law Review. Mr. Deatherage was one of the founders of the American Bar Association’s Environmental Disclosure Committee. He has published a book entitled Carbon Trading Law and Practice, originally published by Oxford University Press. He has taught Climate Change Law at the University of Texas Law School. He currently is general counsel of a company developing electric vehicle charging stations and planning to supply them with utility-scale solar plus storage facilities.

Rao Konidena founder of Rakon Energy LLC, Minneapolis, MN  
Mr. Konidena is passionate about connecting clients to cost-effective solutions in energy consulting, storage, distributed energy resources, and electricity policy. With his expertise in electricity policymaking and U.S. energy markets, he likes helping solar and storage developers and consumer and environmental advocate clients. Most recently, Mr. Konidena was with Midcontinent ISO (MISO) as Principal Advisor for Policy Studies, working on energy storage and distributed energy resources. At MISO, he worked in management and non-management roles around resource adequacy, economic planning, business management, and policy functions.Mr. Konidena is on the Board of Ever Green Energy, a district heating and cooling company and Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association (MnSEIA). 

Lorenzo Kristov is an independent consultant developing policies and market designs to transition the electricity system to renewable energy and distributed energy resources (DER). He applies grid architecture methods to design distribution system operator (DSO) models and distribution-level markets for the high-DER future power system. From 1999 to 2017 he was a Principal in Market Design and Infrastructure Policy at the California Independent System Operator. He has a PhD in economics, MS in statistics and BS in mathematics.

Mr. Lauby joined NERC in January 2007 and has held a number of positions, including vice president and director of Standards and vice president and director of Reliability Assessments and Performance Analysis. 
In 2012, Mr. Lauby was elected to the North American Energy Standards Board and was appointed to the Department of Energy’s Electric Advisory Committee by the Secretary of Energy in 2014. Mr. Lauby has served as chair and is a life member of the International Electricity Research Exchange, and served as chair of a number of IEEE working groups. From 1999 to 2007, Mr. Lauby was appointed as a member of the Board of Excellent Energy International Co., LTD, an energy service company based in Thailand. He has been recognized for his technical achievements in many technical associations, including the 1992 IEEE Walter Fee Young Engineer of the Year Award. He was named a Fellow by IEEE in November 2011 for “leadership in the development and application of techniques for bulk power system reliability,” and in 2014, Mr. Lauby was awarded the IEEE Power and Energy Society’s Roy Billinton Power System Reliability Award. In 2020, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) elected Mr. Lauby as a member, citing his development and application of techniques for electric grid reliability analysis. 
Prior to joining NERC, Mr. Lauby worked for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for 20 years, holding a number of senior positions, including: director, Power Delivery and Markets; managing director, Asia, EPRI International; and manager, Power System Engineering in the Power System Planning and Operations Program. Mr. Lauby began his electric industry career in 1979 at the Mid-Continent Area Power Pool in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His responsibilities included transmission planning, power system reliability assessment and probabilistic evaluation. 
Mr. Lauby is the author of more than 100 technical papers on the subjects of power system reliability, expert systems, transmission system planning, and power system numerical analysis techniques. Mr. Lauby served as chair and is a life member of the International Electricity Research Exchange and served as chair of a number of IEEE working groups. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. In addition, Mr. Lauby attended the London Business School Accelerated Development Program as well as the Executive Leadership Program at Harvard Business School. 

Mr. McDonald has 48 years of experience in the electric utility transmission and distribution industry. He received his B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. (Power Engineering) degrees from Purdue University, and an M.B.A. (Finance) degree from the University of California-Berkeley. Mr. McDonald is a Life Fellow of IEEE (member for 51 years), member of IEEE-HKN (inducted 51 years ago), and was awarded the IEEE Millennium Medal, the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) Excellence in Power Distribution Engineering Award, the IEEE PES Substations Committee Distinguished Service Award, the IEEE PES Meritorious Service Award, the 2016 CIGRE Distinguished Member Award, the 2016 CIGRE USNC Attwood Associate Award, the 2021 CIGRE Honorary Member Award and the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) Lifetime Achievement Award. He is Past President of the IEEE PES, the VP for Technical Activities for the US National Committee (USNC) of CIGRE, the Past Chair of the IEEE PES Substations Committee, the IEEE Division VII Past Director, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Mr. McDonald was on the Board of Governors of the IEEE-SA (Standards Association), is an IEEE Foundation Director and Chair of its 50th Anniversary Celebration Committee and is a Founding Board Member and Treasurer of the SECC. He received the 2009 Purdue University Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineer Award and will receive the 2023 Purdue University Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award. Mr. McDonald teaches a Smart Grid course at the Georgia Institute of Technology, a Smart Grid course for GE, and Smart Grid courses for various IEEE PES local chapters as an IEEE PES Distinguished Lecturer (since 1999). He has published one hundred fifty papers and articles, has co-authored five books and has one US patent.