As higher education institutions strive to meet ambitious decarbonization goals, effective engagement with utilities and a clear understanding of regulatory landscapes are critical. This advanced webinar brings together leading experts to explore the intersection of campus sustainability, utility collaboration, and policy alignment.

Dr. Sue Tierney, Senior Advisor at Analysis Group and former Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Energy, will share insights from her extensive experience in utility regulation and energy policy, offering a national perspective on aligning institutional efforts with evolving regulatory frameworks.

Dennis Curtis of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) will dive into practical strategies for engaging with utilities, including navigating transmission capacity, electrical feed limitations, and aligning campus plans with state decarbonization pathways. He will highlight how to assess local utility capacity and foster collaborative relationships to overcome infrastructure constraints.

David Phillips, Associate Vice President for Capital, Energy and Sustainability at the University of California System, will discuss how large university systems can strategically position themselves within complex utility and regulatory environments, drawing from UC’s experience as a national leader in institutional decarbonization.

Dano Weisbord is Tufts first Chief Sustainability Officer and in this role furthers the institution’s commitment to be a leader in sustainability and climate matters. He is also the Executive Director for Campus Planning. In this combined role, he works across the university to bridge campus operations with education, co-curricular, and research activities. Dano came to Tufts from Smith College where he held the position of Associate Vice President for Campus Planning and Sustainability and was responsible for projects including the electrification and decarbonization of a thermal and electric district energy system.

Join this session to gain expert guidance on building impactful utility partnerships and advancing campus climate goals within local, state, and federal regulatory contexts.

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Presenters

Susan F. Tierney, Senior Advisor, Analysis Group

Dr. Tierney is an expert on energy policy and economics, specializing in the electric and gas industries. She has consulted to companies, governments, nonprofits, and other organizations on energy markets, as well as economic and environmental regulation and strategy. Her expert witness and business consulting services have involved industry restructuring, market analyses, utility ratemaking and regulatory policy, clean energy regulatory policy, transmission issues, wholesale and retail market design, and resource planning and procurement. Dr. Tierney is a former assistant secretary for policy at the US Department of Energy, state cabinet officer for environmental affairs, and state public utility commissioner. She chairs the board of directors of Resources for the Future; serves on the external advisory board of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory; and is a member of the boards of directors of the World Resources Institute, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Barr Foundation, and other organizations. She has published widely, frequently speaks at industry conferences, and has lectured at many leading universities.

Dennis Curtis, Sustainability & Digital Assurance Partner, PwC

Dennis is a partner and leads PwC’s Sustainability Solutions Practice for the Energy, Utilities and Resources sector. In this role at PwC, Dennis works with clients to implement strategies to improve their sustainability reporting and communicate progress to their investors and other stakeholders. Dennis brings extensive experience in delivering sustainability reporting strategy, materiality assessments, risk assessment, information governance and data quality, measurement, reporting and assurance services. He has more than 25+ years of internal controls reporting, risk management, and compliance experience serving energy, utilities, and sustainable energy companies.

Dennis has specialized in assisting organizations with their sustainability reporting needs, including alignment with recognized reporting standards, as well as ensuring the underlying data supporting disclosures are investment grade. He focuses on helping companies report sustainability metrics to meet the new reality of stakeholder expectations as they articulate their story and value to society.

David Phillips, Associate Vice President, Capital, Energy and Sustainability, University of California, Office of the President

David Phillips provides strategic leadership for capital programs, energy and sustainability initiatives across the University of California, which includes ten campuses, five medical centers, and three national labs. Responsibilities include Physical, Environmental, and Capital Planning; Design and Construction; Facilities and Asset Strategies; Real Estate; Energy; and Sustainability. David and his 50-person team help connect researchers, students and operations staff to integrate sustainable practices in support of the University’s mission. David has been in this role since 2015, after working at UC Davis for over 20 years.

David’s recent priorities include:

• Developing plans and actions to reduce the University’s operational greenhouse gas emissions and implement the transition to modern, resilient campus energy systems. Under David’s leadership, UC has partnered with investor-owned utilities to enact innovative energy and greenhouse gas reduction incentive programs, established cost-effective contracts to purchase more renewable electricity than any other university, and became the largest voluntary off-taker for biomethane in the county. Several campuses are in the process of constructing electrified central energy plants.
• Supporting the campuses and medicals centers in implementing other strategic capital goals. Over 400 capital projects, totaling nearly $21 billion are currently underway. Another $86 billion in projects are in the pipeline, with funding identified for $30 billion. Advancing student housing projects and UC Health real estate transactions have been a targeted priority.
• Implementing programs and policies to identify and prioritize investments to address UC’s systemwide deferred maintenance and seismic safety needs.

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