ESIG Expands Leadership Team to Support Strategic Growth
Reston, Va. – Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG), the leading source of global expertise for energy systems integration and operations, today announced the expansion of its leadership team with three key additions. Debra Lew joins ESIG as Associate Director and Ryan Willis will serve as the Director of Marketing and Operations. Additionally, Mark O’Malley, on secondment from University College Dublin, has been named Chief Scientist.
“Debbie, Mark and Ryan have years of involvement with ESIG in various capacities and I am thrilled to officially welcome them to the team,” said Mark Ahlstrom, ESIG Board President. “Their combined leadership, expertise, and insights will foster a new phase of growth for ESIG and our role as the go-to resource for information, research, analysis, technical collaboration and peer-to-peer networking required by the changing global energy industry.”
Lew will guide the expansion efforts of ESIG working groups and task forces, integrating ESIG knowledge and lessons learned into regulatory and policy discussions, and assist in the launch of the Global Power System Transformation consortium (G-PST) research programs. She has more than 25 years of experience in the power industry, holding management, program and engineering roles at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and most recently serving as a Senior Technical Director at GE Energy Consulting. Lew specializes in wind, solar and DER integration with a focus on the transition to 100% clean energy.
Willis will lead and coordinate ESIG’s marketing and communications efforts as well as manage the organization’s operational activities. He has more than 15 years of marketing and communications experience, having most recently served as Vice President of Ackermann Marketing and PR. While at Ackermann, Willis managed a number of ESIG initiatives, including overall communications efforts, social media, webinars and renaming and rebranding the organization.
O’Malley is on secondment from University College Dublin, where he is a Professor of Electrical Engineering. In addition to chairing ESIG’s Research and Education Working Group, O’Malley will advise and assist all other ESIG working groups with research activities. He also holds a key leadership position in the G-PST, where he chairs the Research Agenda Group. O’Malley recently completed a three-year assignment as Chief Scientist, Energy Systems Integration at NREL. Over the past 30 years he has built his scientific reputation in Energy Systems Integration and has been recognized for these contributions as a Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, a member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
For more information on ESIG, visit www.esig.energy.
About Energy Systems Integration Group
ESIG began in 1989 as the Utility Wind Interest Group, an organization created to educate utilities about wind power. Within ten years, it developed into a significant technical educational organization and convener of peer-to-peer workshops to assist utilities, system operators, project developers and equipment manufacturers from around the world with the integration of wind power, and then by 2011, also with the integration of solar power. With renewables becoming the mainstream sources of new generation and reliability services, the organization expanded its mission, branding and international participation in 2018 through a merger with the International Institute of Energy Systems Integration (IIESI) to become the Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG), taking on not just the planning and operations of electricity systems and power markets, but also the growing issues for other energy vectors, including the electrification of transportation, buildings and industry for decarbonizing the entire energy supply.
ESIG now serves as a resource for a broad cross-section of the global energy industry, including utilities, ISOs, independent power producers, project developers, manufacturers, forecasters, consultants, educational institutions, and government agencies, including regulatory bodies.
