Keynote Speakers
Ángel Cabrera
President, Georgia Institute of Technology
Ángel Cabrera is the 12th and current President of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Previously, he served as the President of George Mason University and of Thunderbird School of Global Management, and the former dean of IE Business School.
As a business educator, Cabrera has played a key role in advancing professional ethics, internationalization, and corporate social responsibility. In 2007, while serving as a senior advisor to the United Nations Global Compact, he was the lead author of the “Principles for Responsible Management Education” (PRME). A United Nations–supported initiative that advances sustainable development through management education, PRME has now adopted by more than 800 schools around the world. He is also a co-founder of the University Global Coalition, a global network of universities working in partnership with the United Nations in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.
He’s been named a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, a “Star of Europe” by Businessweek, a “Henry Crown Fellow” by the Aspen Institute, and a “Great Immigrant” by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He has received honorary degrees from Miami Dade College and Universidad Politécnica of Madrid.
Kim Greene
Chairman, President and CEO, Georgia Power
Kim Greene is the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Southern Company Gas, the leading natural gas company in the industry. She ensures the safe and reliable delivery of natural gas to more than 4.2 million utility customers in Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee and Virginia. In addition, she oversees non–utility businesses that deliver value through energy-related retail products and services, wholesale gas services and gas midstream operations, including storage facilities and gas pipeline investments.
Greene is a strong voice in the energy sector, especially on issues related to safety, emerging technologies, innovation and STEM-related education. She is a respected thought leader and advocate for the future of energy – from national energy policy to the overall customer experience.
Greene serves as an Oil & Natural Gas Liaison Co-Lead for the Electric Subsector Coordinating Council, which is the principal liaison between federal government and the energy sector on security issues. Additionally, she serves on the boards of directors of Valero Energy Corporation, American Gas Association, Gas Technology Institute and Morehouse School of Medicine. Previously, she served on the board of directors of the Electric Power Research Institute for eight years, including one year as Chair.
TEDx-style Speakers
Wiebe Boer
CEO, All On
Dr. Boer is the Chief Executive Officer of All On and joined the team from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he was one of the founders of the strategy firm’s Lagos office. Prior to BCG, Dr. Boer spent five years with the Heirs Holdings Group in Lagos, playing roles including Chief of Staff to the Chairman, Director of Strategy, and CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation. Dr. Boer has also worked in the Rockefeller Foundation’s Africa Regional Office in Nairobi, McKinsey & Company, and with World Vision Mauritania where he managed a USAID funded development project. While conducting his doctoral research in Nigeria for his Yale PhD thesis, Wiebe co-founded AfriOne, the first ISP in North Central Nigeria. He has served on a variety of corporate and public sector boards across Africa, and is also a widely published author and speaker. His most recent book, A story of Heroes + Epics: The History of Football in Nigeria, published by Bookcraft in 2018. Dr. Boer earned a PhD and two Masters degrees from Yale University and a Bachelor’s degree from Calvin College, all in history. He spent one year studying political science at the University of Jos, and completed his primary and secondary education at Hillcrest School, also in Jos, Nigeria where he was born and raised.
Dr. Devon Gardner
Program Manager, Caribbean Community Secretariat
Devon Gardner has been the Program Manager for Energy and Head of the Energy Unit at the Caribbean Community Secretariat, since September 2014. In this role, Devon has oversight of the Energy Program, which is tasked with the identification of common policies and strategies for transforming the energy sector within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) . This transformation requires a shift in a majority of the energy systems within the region from their current states of inefficiency and over-dependence on imported fossil sources, which exposes them to the uncertain uncertainties and volatilities of mostly expensive global oil prices, to a state of greater efficiency and high penetration of indigenous renewable sources. In particular, the Energy Program promotes a transition to energy systems that favor sustainable and clean energy production, as well as efficient delivery and use, which simultaneously provides legal certainty for investors and improved predictability in price and supply for users.
James Ellsmoor
Co-Founder & Director, Solar Head of State
James Ellsmoor is a serial entrepreneur and writer, bringing to life his passion for sustainability and renewable energy. At the age of just 26, he is Co-Founder and Director of Solar Head of State, an international nonprofit working with governments in the Caribbean and Pacific islands to raise awareness of renewable energy through high-profile solar installations on iconic government buildings. He was recognized on Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 List in 2017.
Energy Burden Workshop Speakers
Michael Oxman
Managing Director, Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business
Michael joined Scheller College in 2016 as the Managing Director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business where he teaches business sustainability courses and oversees industry outreach, partnerships, and educational initiatives. From 2016-2018, he and Beril Totkay led the Understanding Energy Burden and its Potential Solutions for Atlanta study.
Prior to joining Scheller, Michael spent over twenty five years working at the intersection of international business, sustainability, and risk management including serving in leadership roles at Acorn International LLC and Business for Social Responsibility (BSR). In these roles, he advised a broad range of international energy and mining companies on local content, social impact, risk management, community engagement, reporting, CSR and human rights initiatives. Michael also has extensive commercial experience through his work at Chevron, Price Waterhouse, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in political risk, fiscal analysis, and strategic planning functions. Michael’s career spans assignments in the US and a broad range of international locations including two overseas residential assignments in Central Asia.
Dr. Marilyn Brown
Professor of Sustainable Systems, Georgia Institute of Technology
Marilyn Brown is a Regents’ and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems in the School of Public Policy. She joined Georgia Tech in 2006 after a distinguished career at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she led several national climate change mitigation studies and became a leader in the analysis and interpretation of energy futures in the United States.
Marilyn Brown is a Regents’ and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systemsin the School of Public Policy. She joined Georgia Tech in 2006 after a distinguished career at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she led several national climate change mitigation studies and became a leader in the analysis and interpretation of energy futures in the United States.