SOLD OUT! REGISTRATION NOW CLOSED

SPEAKERS Amy Bach, Executive Director, United Policy Holders Amy Bach is a nationally recognized advocate for individuals and businesses in matters relating to insurance. She currently serves as the Executive Director of a non-profit organization called United Policyholders, www.uphelp.org that is a resource for information and help. She has extensive experience providing input to elected officials and courts regarding insurance regulatory and legal matters, particularly those that arise in the aftermath of natural disasters, and in counseling individuals and businesses on resolving insurance coverage and claim matters. Bach is currently working toward the adoption by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners of a standard form for annual climate change risk disclosure by insurance entities. Ralph Cavanagh, Energy Program Co-director, Natural Resources Defense Council RALPH CAVANAGH is a senior attorney and co-director of NRDC’s energy program, which he joined in 1979.  Ralph has been a Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford and UC Berkeley (Boalt Hall), and a Lecturer on Law at the Harvard Law School; he has also been a faculty member for the University of Idaho’s Public Utility Executives Course for more than a decade.  From 1993-2003 he served on the U.S. Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board.  His current board memberships include the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, the California Clean Energy Fund, the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, the Energy Center of Wisconsin, the Northwest Energy Coalition, and the Renewable Northwest Project.  He is a member of the National Commission on Energy Policy, which the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation established in 2002.  Ralph has received the Heinz Award for Public Policy, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Mary Kilmarx Award, the Yale Law School’s Preiskel-Silverman Fellowship, the Lifetime Achievement in Energy Efficiency Award from California’s Flex Your Power Campaign, the Northwest Energy Coalition’s Headwaters Award, and the Bonneville Power Administration’s Award for Exceptional Public Service.  He is a graduate of Yale College and the Yale Law School.  He is married to Deborah Rhode, who is the MacFarland Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. Henry Gardner, Executive Director, Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) Henry Gardner is the Executive Director with the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), official Council of Governments representing the Bay Area’s nine counties and 101 cities. ABAG’s Executive Director since December 18, 2004, he is an award winning professional with more than 30 years of public service and private consulting experience. He began his career with the City of Oakland, rising from Assistant City Manager to City Manager, a position he held from 1981-93. He has been the recipient of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators’ Mark of Excellence Award, and was the 1992 Selected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He is the past president and founding board member of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators. He received an A.B. from the University of Illinois with a major in Political Science and Speech, and an M.A. from Southern Illinois University in Government and International Law and Relations. Arthur R. Jensen, CEO and General Manager, Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency Art Jensen is the General Manager of the Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency (BAWSCA), comprising 27 utilities that purchase water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) for resale to their local service areas. The Agency represents its members’ collective interests in their relationship with the SFPUC on matters related to water supply, facility reliability, operations, water quality and wholesale water rates. In 1995, he joined the Bay Area Water Users Association (BAWUA), BAWSCA’s predecessor organization. Prior to that time he served for 5 years with the Contra Costa Water District, involved in the areas of planning and engineering. His current position provides him a different perspective and additional opportunities for advocating rational approaches to current and future water issues in California, particularly in the SFPUC service area.  He has an advanced degree in Environmental Engineering Science from Caltech, and has taught courses in water resources at both Stanford and UC Berkeley. Eamonn Kelly, CEO, Global Business Network Eamonn Kelly is CEO of Global Business Network, the renowned California-based, future-oriented network and consulting firm, and a partner of the Monitor Group. He has been central to sustaining GBN's thought leadership about the future, and is also head of its consulting practice. He has consulted at a senior level to dozens of the world's leading corporations in most sectors, including healthcare, energy, telecommunications, transportation, financial services, manufacturing, computing, professional services and consumer goods. He is author of Powerful Times: Rising to the Challenge of Our Uncertain World, and co-author of What's Next: Exploring the New Terrain for Business. Eamonn has also worked with key global and national public agencies, as well as several major philanthropic foundations. For more than a decade he has been at the forefront of exploring the emergence of a new, knowledge-intensive economy, and the far-reaching consequences for society, organizations and people—and has been invited to present his provocative ideas frequently all over the world. Michael Krasny, host of Forum on KQED Public Radio Michael Krasny Ph.D. is host of KQED's award-winning Forum, a news and public affairs program that concentrates on the arts, culture, health, business and technology. Since 1970 he has been a professor of English at San Francisco State University and is a widely published scholar and critic as well as a former regular contributor to Mother Jones magazine and a fiction writer. Dr. Krasny has interviewed many of the leading newsmakers and cultural icons of our time, including Saul Bellow, former President Jimmy Carter, Cesar Chavez, Noam Chomsky, Francis Crick, John Kenneth Galbraith, Newt Gingrich, Jane Goodall, V.S. Naipaul, Rosa Parks, Robert Redford, Salman Rushdie, Carl Sagan, Susan Sontag, Gloria Steinem, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He is the recipient of many awards and honors, including The SY Agnon Gold Medal for Intellectual Distinction, The Eugene Block Award for Human Rights Journalism, The Inclusiveness in Media Award from The National Conference for Community and Justice, and a Koret Foundation Fellowship. He has also been named best talk show host by Focus magazine, a number of Bay Area newspapers, The San Francisco Publicity Club, and Citysearch. Dr. Krasny received his B.A. (Cum Laude) and M.A. degrees from Ohio University, where he is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and his Ph.D. degree from The University of Wisconsin. Hal LaFlash, Director, Emerging Clean Technology Policy, Pacific Gas & Electric Company Hal LaFlash is the director of emerging clean technology policy in the energy procurement organization at Pacific Gas and Electric Company. His duties include assessing the state of technologies that will affect how PG&E fills its future resource needs, which includes understanding, evaluating, and supporting emerging renewable energy and other clean energy technologies. Hal has been at PG&E for 28 years where he has held various positions in energy efficiency, non-utility generation, gas transportation, resource planning, and renewable energy policy. He also held positions at PG&E Corporation in corporate development and business planning. Hal has been a judge in the California Clean Tech Open business plan competition; he was a member of the Solar Task Force of the Western Governors Association’s Clean and Diversified Energy Initiative; he co-authored “Hedging Carbon Risk: Protecting Customers and Shareholders from the Financial Risk Associated with Carbon Dioxide Emissions,” which was published by the Electricity Journal; and he is currently a co-chair of the Utility Committee of the American Council on Renewable Energy. Hal has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration.