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The pace of structural change in the power sector has accelerated—driven by surging load growth, data center demand, market volatility, and the need for clean, reliable, and cost-effective electricity. The Ascend Summit convenes more than 350 industry leaders to explore how to create long-term value and resilience in a rapidly evolving energy development and procurement landscape.
20% discount off regular pricing
The power sector faces a defining moment. Load growth has moved from forecast to reality, grid reliability is under pressure, and the policy and capital frameworks that govern clean energy are shifting faster than ever. The Ascend Summit | Power in the Balance brings together 350+ industry leaders that will tackle the most urgent questions shaping the future of energy development, procurement, and finance.
This year's conference explores:
Professionals shaping the future of clean energy and power markets, including:
Load growth, procurement complexity, and reliability pressure aren't slowing down. This year's Summit pre-conference workshops give utility planners and energy buyers dedicated time to work through the challenges shaping their decisions with peers who are navigating the same landscape. Space is limited — register early to secure your spot.
Utility Panel | Interactive Best Practices Exchange
Lender Panel | An Interactive Exchange Between Developers
and Lenders
Utility resource planners face overlapping pressures: surging load growth, reliability mandates, constrained interconnection queues, and rising stakeholder expectations around cost and carbon. This session brings together utility professionals to share firsthand experience navigating these challenges, what's working, what isn't, and what they wish they'd known sooner. Structured around short case study presentations followed by facilitated peer discussion, this exchange is designed for utility planners to learn directly from each other in a candid, practitioner-focused format.
Key Takeaways:
Brandon Mauch, Senior Managing Director, Ascend Analytics
Paul Eory, Director, Utilities & Corporates, Ascend Analytics
Mark Christie, Former Chairman, FERC
Adam Keech, SVP, Market Services, PJM
Paul Suskie, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, SPP
Eric Blank, Chairman, Colorado Public Utilities Commission
What distinguishes projects that move efficiently to financial close from those that face unexpected hurdles? As market conditions evolve, successful financing increasingly depends on thoughtful preparation, effective communication, and a shared understanding of project risk. This interactive discussion brings together developers and commercial lenders to explore the characteristics of finance-ready projects, discuss what builds confidence throughout the financing process, and share practical perspectives on creating stronger partnerships that support successful project execution.
Key Takeaways:
Robert LaFaso, Director of Market Intelligence, Ascend Analytics
Lynna Ohanian, Manager of Power Markets, Ascend Analytics
Mark Christie, Former Chairman, FERC
Load growth has moved from forecast to reality, placing policy execution under pressure. This panel examines how regulatory frameworks translate into operational outcomes across reliability, interconnection, and cost control. Keynote panelists will discuss how capacity market rules, interconnection reforms, and transmission planning get implemented within ISOs and states. The discussion will focus on how reliability gets measured across thermal, renewable, and storage assets, and how performance gets monitored under real system conditions. The panel will also address accountability, including outcome tracking, cost allocation, and responsibility for upgrades and grid services, and examine how state and regional roles influence speed, cost, and reliability.
Michael Fisher, PhD, Senior Managing Director of PowerVAL, Ascend Analytics
Mark Christie, Former Chairman, FERC
Chad Seely, SVP, Regulatory Policy, General Counsel, & Chief Compliance Officer, ERCOT
Leah Kaffine, Principal, Energy Strategy, CoreWeave
Adam Keech, SVP, Market Services, PJM
Sponsored by Leyline Renewable Capital
Power procurement enters a new phase as large load growth, policy uncertainty, and reliability constraints reshape decision-making. Data center demand accelerates timelines while forcing utilities and corporates to reassess clean energy goals, affordability thresholds, and willingness to pay for carbon-free power. The concept of a “green premium” faces renewed scrutiny as planners and procurement teams weigh cost, reliability, and speed to power. This session explores key tradeoffs across cost, reliability, and speed, along with challenges tied to market uncertainty. Speakers will highlight emerging dynamics in this period of extreme change and how procurement strategies adapt under constrained conditions.
Paul Eory, Director of Utilities & Corporates, Ascend Analytics
Grant Redding, Capacity Procurement Manager, Southern Company Services
David Hicks, VP, Electric Supply, Development & Origination - Consumers Energy, CMS Energy
Rich Flanigan, VP of Energy Supply & Markets, Grant County PUD
Energy project finance continues to adjust to rising uncertainty, shifting market structures, and evolving revenue expectations. Lenders are struggling to underwrite against merchant exposure, forcing a revisiting of assumptions around debt service coverage, downside risk, and post-contract merchant tails. This discussion will examine how market participants assess pricing and volume risk, manage concentration and overexposure, and evaluate alternative financing structures such as preferred equity and revenue swaps. Speakers will provide perspective on how capital allocation strategies evolve as traditional financing frameworks adapt to more dynamic and uncertain power markets.
Bari Wien, Executive Director, Renewable Energy & Environmental Finance, Wells Fargo
Scott Butin, Vice President, Environmental Finance, U.S. Bank
Chris Kolosov, Partner, Renewable Energy Project Finance, Sheppard
Sophie Brkovic, VP, Energy & Infrastructure Project Finance, Foss & Co
Jonathan Kim, Managing Director, Head of Power & Infrastructure, Mizuho
Power markets are evolving rapidly, driven by policy shifts, supply chain bottlenecks, technology advances, and ongoing clean energy goals. This session will provide insights into key trends affecting energy prices, project viability, and procurement strategies. The Ascend Outlook provides actionable insights to help spot market opportunities, navigate risks, and plan smarter strategies to maximize value.
Brent Nelson, PhD, Senior Managing Director of Market Intelligence, Ascend Analytics
Sponsored by Scout Clean Energy
Join fellow attendees at one of Boulder’s premier event venues, offering Colorado-inspired food, indoor and outdoor gathering spaces, and
panoramic views of the Flatirons.
Sponsored by Tenaska Power Services Company
The U.S. power grid is facing a once-in-a-century buildout requirement. While load growth forecasts have spiked, driven by AI data centers and industrial reshoring, regulatory processes and the physical transmission and distribution system remain formidable bottlenecks. This panel explores the tension between approval processes and national reliability needs and what efforts are underway to accelerate America’s ability to supply next generation load growth.
Joseph Chavez, Director, Energy Portfolio Analytics, Equinix
Paul Suskie, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, SPP
Jacob Susman, Origination & Partnerships Americas, Google
Eric Beightel, Federal Strategy Director, Environmental Science Associates
Benjamin Conor Branch, EVP, Development, Invenergy
Capital allocation decisions grow more complex as policy uncertainty, evolving grid needs, and shifting market structures reshape investment strategy. Long-term planning requires balancing load growth with the risk of overbuild, while incorporating changing capacity market dynamics and ELCC assumptions. At the same time, capital must support new generation while maintaining efficient grid utilization. This session will examine how leading corporates, utilities, and IPPs steward capital across uncertain policy environments, manage load forecasting risk, and finance new resources. Perspectives will highlight how investment strategies adapt to align reliability, scalability, and long-term market fundamentals.
Cedric Tiu, Head of Investments, Bildmore Clean Energy
Erdal Kara, PhD, Director, Power Fundamentals, Vistra
Mark Alexander, VP Finance, Head of FP&A, Origis Energy
Ben Snydacker, Sr. Vice President, Capital Markets & Project Finance, Scout Clean Energy
Amit Barnir, Vice President, US - Network Infrastructure, Zenobe
Maria Roumpani, PhD, Partner, Current Energy Group
Planning frameworks face mounting pressure as load growth, reliability risks, and system constraints reshape the energy transition. Large load additions, including data centers, challenge the traditional approach to resource planning and infrastructure development. At the same time, rising electricity costs influence stakeholder sentiment and complicate clean energy targets. This panel will focus on how planners view the tradeoff between clean generation, system reliability, and affordability.
Brandon Mauch, PhD, Senior Managing Director of PowerSIMM, Ascend Analytics
Lena Perkins, PhD, Director of Resource Planning, Palo Alto Utilities
Lidija Sekaric, Vice President Innovation and Emerging Technology, NRECA
Pedram Mohseni, Senior Director of Power Supply and Fuels, Duke Energy
Jim Burdick, Distribution Planning Engineering Leader, Idaho Power
Jason Rurup, Energy Supply & Market Modeling Manager, Xcel Energy
Distributed energy resources continue to expand, driven by evolving state policies, rising retail rates, and new opportunities to serve both grid and customer needs as reliability and affordability become top priorities. As markets shift beyond standalone community solar, developers, utilities, and policymakers must reassess which revenue streams are durable, financeable, and aligned with system value.
This panel discussion examines how DER revenue stacks evolve across markets, how policy design shapes long-term viability, and how ownership models influence outcomes for utilities and third parties. Perspectives will also explore the role of DERs in managing large loads, supporting affordability, and integrating storage to enhance reliability and grid performance.
Caroline Zechter, Director of Community Solar, Ascend Analytics
Bill Francis, Vice President, Development, New Energy Equity
Scott Elias, Director of Policy & Market Development, CleanCapital
Alex Bartlett, Director, Project Finance, MUFG
Nick Theisen, Vice President, Business Development, TurningPoint Energy
Storage optimization and offtake strategies are evolving as owners and investors place greater emphasis on capping merchant exposure and driving revenue certainty. Utilities, developers, and operators must tailor market participation to new off-take structures while maintaining performance across diverse market conditions. At the same time, storage developers will straddle opportunities across both front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter applications, each with distinct value streams and risk profiles.
Discussion will focus on how bid optimization frameworks adjust to capture value across these use cases, balance risk and return, and align operational strategies with increasingly complex market signals.
Mike Huisenga, Senior Managing Director of SmartBidder, Ascend Analytics
Ryan Strickland, Senior Manager, Short-Term Trading, Enel Green Power
Dan Rosenberg, Senior Director, Asset Management, Excelsior Energy Capital
Christian Tomaino, Manager, Origination, Tenaska Power Services Company
Jennine Camara, Director of Portfolio Management, San Diego Community Power
Energy M&A markets are entering a more disciplined phase as investors place greater weight on revenue certainty, contract structure, and market exposure. Storage and hybrid assets face increasing scrutiny around merchant risk, while tolling agreements, bid optimization strategies, and behind-the-meter applications reshape how value is defined and captured. At the same time, shifting policy frameworks, evolving cost structures, and continued load growth influence transaction activity and pricing across regions. This discussion will examine how developers and IPPs reassess valuation frameworks, evaluate financeable revenue streams, and navigate widening dispersion in asset pricing as markets move from volume-driven growth to risk-adjusted returns.
Rahm Orenstein, Managing Director of Ascend Energy Exchange, Ascend Analytics
Lindsay Latre, Co-Founder and CEO, ESA
Kyle Snyder, VP of Business Development, Ormat
Della Xu, Director of M&A, GridStor
Adam Rickel, VP, Business Development and M&A, Lydian Energy
Risk management strategies continue to evolve as merchant exposure, extreme weather, and load growth reshape revenue certainty. Storage and renewable operators must decide how much risk to retain versus transfer, while evaluating new hedging structures, contracting tools, and tax equity considerations. The increasing frequency of extreme weather events also raises new challenges for scenario analysis and stress testing. This discussion will examine how market participants manage basis and shape risk, incorporate weather and volumetric uncertainty, and assess the impact of large load additions on project revenues. Speakers will highlight how integrated market intelligence and portfolio strategies support robust risk management decisions.
Carlos Blanco, PhD, Managing Director of Risk Management, Ascend Analytics
Scott Wrigglesworth, Director, Risk Management & Analytics, SVCE
Henry Herndon, Executive Director, CPCNH
Gloria Gan, Director Commercial Operations, Middle River Power
Supria Ranade, Executive Director, Power Origination, JP Morgan
Energy storage is emerging as a critical resource for meeting rapid load growth, competing directly with gas on cost, flexibility, and speed to deploy. Its value extends beyond energy supply, supporting grid utilization, reliability, and emissions reduction in increasingly constrained systems. However, storage performance depends on how it integrates with complementary resources and evolving grid needs.
This discussion examines how storage compares to traditional generation, its role in reliability frameworks, and how developers, utilities, and large load operators align strategies to support scalable, lower-emissions growth.
Robert LaFaso, Director of Market Intelligence, Ascend Analytics
Joel Vyduna, Executive Vice President, Commercial & Technology, Key Capture Energy
Patrick Bowland, CEO & General Manager, Michigan Public Power Agency
Rakesh Kothakapu, Vice President, Engineering and Markets, Illinois Municipal Electric Agency
Karl Meeusen, Director, Markets, Legislative and Regulatory Policy, Wärtsilä
Energy supply chains face mounting pressure as demand for new generation accelerates and policy frameworks evolve. Equipment sourcing, pricing, and availability, as well as the engineering workforce to install it, are all shifting in response to tax credit timelines, FEOC requirements, and global competition. At the same time, domestic manufacturing capacity for storage and gas generation is trying to align output to meeting both near-term and long-term demand.
This session will examine the state of energy infrastructure supply chains, with perspectives from OEMs, EPCs, and developers. Perspectives will highlight key bottlenecks to deployment, the outlook for domestic and non-FEOC supply, and how supply chain dynamics influence timelines, costs, and project viability.
Conor Donovan, Manager of Forecasting, Ascend Analytics
Chris Ruckman, VP of Energy Storage & Decarbonization, Burns & McDonnell
Brian McCarthy, Senior Vice President, Power Generation Leader, WSP
Stephen Figueroa, Senior Director of Business Development, Mainspring Energy
Hike Provisions Sponsored by CleanCapital
Enjoy some of Boulder’s best outdoor adventures with your Ascend guides and two trail options: one more strenuous, and one more flat. Shuttles will take hikers to the trailhead. If you are hiking, wear sturdy shoes and be prepared for changing weather conditions.
For those not wishing to hike, we will have lawn games at Chautauqua Park.
Black Diamond: 1st/2nd Flatirons Trail –
Strenuous 3.6 miles with 1,446 feet of climbing
Blue Square: Bluebell Trail to Enchanted Mesa – Moderate 2.5 miles with 500 feet of climbing
Green Circle: Lawn games at Chautauqua Park – Relaxing 0 miles with 0 feet of climbing
Advance your skills and market knowledge with technical sessions across the Ascend Analytics product suite.
Registration for Pre & Post Conference Workshops is required to attend.
PowerVAL | Market and Policy Outlook, New Features and Capabilities
PowerSIMM | Using Enhanced Opportunity Cost Forecasting for Better Decision Analysis
SmartBidder | Configuring Bid Strategies that Maximize Revenue
Brent Nelson, PhD, Senior Managing Director of Market Intelligence, Ascend Analytics
Caroline Zechter, Director of Community Solar, Ascend Analytics
Robert LaFaso, Director of Market Intelligence, Ascend Analytics
Keegan Campanelli, PowerVAL Product Manager, Ascend Analytics
Brandon Mauch, PhD, Senior Managing Director of PowerSIMM, Ascend Analytics
Carlos Blanco, PhD, Managing Director of Risk Management, Ascend Analytics
Ben Anderson, Manager of Resource Planning, Ascend Analytics
Mike Huisenga, Managing Director of SmartBidder, Ascend Analytics
Zander Kessler, Senior Energy Analyst, Ascend Analytics
Charu Samantula, Energy Analyst II, Ascend Analytics
For those wishing to stay in Boulder throughout the afternoon, Ascend staff are available to be your guides to local breweries, road cycling, gravel cycling, or eBiking around town. Please notify Ascend if interested.
Senior Managing Director of PowerVAL
Senior Managing Director of PowerVAL
Dr. Fisher holds a PhD in energy policy from Carnegie Mellon University and a BS in Economics and BAS in Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Fisher leads the valuation team which produces bankable asset valuations and revenue forecasts for solar and storage. In the last 3 years, Dr. Fisher has consulted on over $5B of asset transactions, where he provides guidance on market outcomes and risks for developers, lenders, and investors.
Prior to Ascend, Dr. Fisher worked in corporate development for an unregulated development arm of a regional utility company. He also has experience leading commercial teams in distributed generation development. His doctoral research at Carnegie Mellon explored the technical, economic, and emissions impacts of distributed storage participating in wholesale and retail markets.
Senior Managing Director of PowerSIMM
Senior Managing Director of PowerSIMM
Dr. Mauch holds a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin and a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas.
Dr. Mauch, Senior Managing Director of PowerSIMM, leads a team of analysts at Ascend in providing modeling support for resource planning and risk management. Since joining Ascend in 2018, Brandon has led projects on behalf of utilities, project developers, non-profits, and state agencies. He also provides guidance and oversight on Ascend’s development of PowerSIMM.
Prior to joining Ascend, Dr. Mauch was a Senior Program Manager for CLEAResult Consulting where he managed utility energy efficiency and demand response programs for Midwestern utilities. Before that, he was a Utility Regulation Engineer for the Iowa Utilities Commission where he worked on regional energy policy issues, resource planning and rate cases for Iowa’s investor-owned utilities.
Senior Managing Director of Market Intelligence
Senior Managing Director of Market Intelligence
Dr. Nelson holds PhD and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley.
Dr. Nelson leads the long-term power market forecasting practice at Ascend Analytics, advising clients on emerging market dynamics and strategic long-term investment strategy. His knowledge spans wholesale markets, financial modeling, emerging technologies, and energy systems analysis.
Prior to joining Ascend, Dr. Nelson was an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Northern Arizona University, while also holding a collaborative appointment at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL), focusing on energy systems analysis and decarbonization. He also worked for the US Department of Energy from 2014-2016, focusing on R&D and commercialization strategy for energy efficiency and load flexibility. He has extensive experience in energy technology and energy system modeling, with a focus on understanding market opportunities for emerging technologies.
Chief Delivery Officer
Chief Delivery Officer
Dr. Goffri holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge and a BA in Physics from the Israel Institute of Technology.
Dr. Goffri brings extensive expertise in power markets, power asset valuation, procurement strategy, decarbonization, and due diligence to Ascend Analytics. He advises private and public sector clients on clean energy business strategy, technology and market assessments, policy analysis, and M&A. His knowledge spans wholesale markets, community solar, and distributed resources.
Before joining Ascend, Dr. Goffri led the power markets team at Guidehouse's Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure practice, focusing on M&A due diligence and strategy projects in renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. He has developed detailed cost, performance, and financial models for clean energy systems and analyzed the levelized cost of energy across various global regions and technologies.
Dr. Goffri also has a background in research, having worked at the University of Cambridge, UK, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Managing Director of Risk Management
Managing Director of Risk Management
Dr. Blanco holds a PhD in Finance from Universidad Complutense, Madrid, where he was awarded magna cum laude distinction. He also has a masters degree in Investments and International economics from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
Dr. Blanco provides expertise to Ascend's clients in the areas of analytic modeling, forecasting, optimization and simulation, while also contributing to advance the software product and services to meet the evolving client needs.
Dr. Blanco is an internationally recognized expert in energy risk management and climate change risk. He works globally with Ascend customers on development of risk management policy and procedures. His expertise in risk management and climate risk has been highly sought after by corporations for training and board presentations. Dr. Blanco has uniquely linked risk policies consistent with renewables and storage and the attributes of Ascend software. Prior to joining Ascend, he was the co-founder and managing director of Black Swan Risk Advisors, where he worked with leading organizations worldwide on a wide range of advisory and education projects. Dr. Blanco has published over 150 articles on a wide range of financial and commodity risk management topics and taught finance at the University of California, Berkeley.
He also served as the former VP of Risk Solutions at Financial Engineering Associates, where he was a member of the Executive Management Committee as well as an essential contributor in the development and client support of financial and energy derivatives pricing and market risk management models.
Director of Community Solar
Director of Community Solar
Ms. Zechter holds a M.A., Economics and Energy & Environmental Policy, from the SAIS Johns Hopkins University.
Ms. Zechter applies her extensive expertise in ISO wholesale market and utility retail forecasting to ensure successful deployment the Ascend Analytics MI Retail products. She leads a team of analysts that models retail rates and community solar bill credits across the country, serving customers across the distributed energy resources space.
Additionally, Ms. Zechter leverages her 5+ years of experience modeling the NY Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER) market to oversee the deployment of Ascend’s VDER battery dispatch tool.
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Managing Director of Ascend Energy Exchange
Managing Director of Ascend Energy Exchange
Mr. Orenstein holds an MBA from Reichman University and a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tel Aviv University.
Mr. Orenstein leads Ascend Energy Exchange – Asset Sales, an analytics-based marketplace that enables Ascend customers to buy and sell high quality energy storage and renewable energy projects in a streamlined and efficient way, wrapped by Ascend's unique suite of analytical and consulting services, thereby maximizing reach and value.
Prior to joining Ascend, Mr. Orenstein spent 15 years holding executive positions in the renewable energy industry, including as CEO of Sunflower Sustainable Investment, Ltd (TASE: SNFL), a global developer and IPP of renewable energy and energy storage; VP Business Development – Energy Storage and VP Business Development – Americas, at Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ORA), a global developer and IPP of renewable energy and energy storage. Prior to that, Mr. Orenstein spent nine years with ECI Telecom (now Ribbon Communications) in various senior capacities covering product management, business development, and pre-sales engineering.
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Director of Market Intelligence
Director of Market Intelligence
Mr. LaFaso holds a MS in Engineering Management from the Colorado School of Mines and a BS in Energy Systems Engineering from the University of Wyoming.
Mr. LaFaso leads Ascend Analytics’ Market Intelligence (AscendMI) day-to-day practice area, which encompasses the development of long-term supply-stack, market-price, and project-economics forecasts. His work influences Ascend's software suite, as AscendMI forecasts drive the analytics behind PowerSIMM and PowerVAL. Mr. LaFaso conducted the Valuation Due Diligence for significant M&A transactions, including the multi-gigawatt portfolios behind TerraGen’s sale to Masdar and Origis Energy’s sale to Antin Infrastructure Partners.
Senior Managing Director of SmartBidder
Senior Managing Director of SmartBidder
Mr. Huis
enga holds a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering with Specialization in Sustainable Power Generation from the Royal Institute of Technology/KTH and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Iowa
Mr. Huisenga leads the SmartBidder team at Ascend Analytics providing overall business unit management and direction with strategic growth initiatives. He also acts as a subject matter expert for bid optimization supporting Ascend's commercial team activities that include sales enablement and training, executing customer acquisition strategies, product marketing and positioning, sales demos and trials, webinar and conference speaking roles, along with executing commercial partnerships. Since joining Ascend in 2023, SmartBidder assets under management have grown five-fold.
Prior to joining Ascend Analytics, Mr. Huisenga was a Senior Vice President and Energy District Business Line Leader with WSP USA, a Top 5 ranked design firm by Engineering News Record (ENR), spending 15 years in roles covering sustainability services, renewable energy, and management.
PowerVAL Product Manager
PowerVAL Product Manager
While studying electrical engineering at Vanderbilt University, he focused on distributed energy and control systems and published research related to transactive energy systems. He holds a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University.
Mr. Campanelli serves as a product manager for Ascend Analytics, where he works as part of the team that helps develop PowerVAL, Ascend's product offering for asset valuation and long-term wholesale price and retail rate forecasting. Mr. Campanelli began his career as a software engineer working on IoT connectivity solutions at RTI, before becoming a product manager for Lumin with a focus on building the demand-side tools needed to economically support rapid electrification in a modern distributed and renewable grid.
Manager of Resource Planning
Manager of Resource Planning
Mr Anderson holds a M.A., Mechanical Engineering, Cornell University and a B.A. Mechanical Engineering,
Ben Anderson, Senior Energy Analyst, provides modeling support and analysis for integrated resource planning and forecasting. Prior to joining Ascend in early 2023, Mr. Anderson worked with Colorado Energy office to model pathways for the state to reach 100% clean energy by 2040 and he did portfolio management for various developers. In addition, Mr. Anderson spent five years as a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), focusing on wind energy and microgrid modeling. Mr. Anderson holds an M.A. and B.A. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University.
Director of Business Operations
Director of Business Operations
Ms. Grafton holds an MBA, Finance Concentration from the University of Colorado, Boulder and a B.S. in Earth Systems: Energy, Science, & Technology from Stanford University.
Ms. Grafton, Director of Business Operations, leads cross-functional execution for the SmartBidder product line at Ascend Analytics, aligning product, operations, sales, finance, and engineering teams on strategic commercial and operational priorities. Since joining Ascend in 2024, she has scaled SmartBidder delivery and implementation processes to support 3x growth in assets under management and launched the SmartBidder Managed Optimization offering. She led the QSE build/buy/partner assessment resulting in the Tenaska partnership.
Prior to Ascend, Ms. Grafton held product and technical sales roles at Stem, Inc. (formerly AlsoEnergy), where she led post-merger integration and commercial feasibility work, and at Guidehouse, where she managed energy consulting teams and utility EM&V contracts.
Senior Energy Analyst
Senior Energy Analyst
Mr. Kessler holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College.
Mr. Kessler, Senior Energy Analyst, leads the analyst team on the SmartBidder product line at Ascend Analytics, where he supports product management and delivers advanced energy market analytics and bid optimization solutions for storage and renewable assets across major North American power markets. Since joining Ascend, Mr. Kessler has developed deep expertise in battery dispatch optimization, nodal price forecasting, and ancillary services markets, contributing to client-facing analysis and internal product development across ERCOT, CAISO, and other ISOs.
Prior to Ascend, Mr. Kessler conducted research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where he focused on lead halide perovskite solar technology, independently fabricating and testing prototype devices to improve performance.
Senior Energy Analyst
Senior Energy Analyst
Mr. Kessler holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College.
Mr. Kessler, Senior Energy Analyst, leads the analyst team on the SmartBidder product line at Ascend Analytics, where he supports product management and delivers advanced energy market analytics and bid optimization solutions for storage and renewable assets across major North American power markets. Since joining Ascend, Mr. Kessler has developed deep expertise in battery dispatch optimization, nodal price forecasting, and ancillary services markets, contributing to client-facing analysis and internal product development across ERCOT, CAISO, and other ISOs.
Prior to Ascend, Mr. Kessler conducted research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where he focused on lead halide perovskite solar technology, independently fabricating and testing prototype devices to improve performance.
