To view past speakers, please check out the VX Archives
VX2026 Speakers
-

Tamotsu Saito
Chairman, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO)
-

Mark Pestrella
Director, Los Angeles County Public Works
-

Siva Gunda
Vice Chair, California Energy Commission
-

Christine Harada*
Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission
-

Noemí Gallardo
Commissioner, California Energy Commission
-

Miguel Luna
Chair, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy; CEO, Urban Semillas
-

Allan Marks
President, Board of Water and Power Commissioners, LADWP
-

Renata Simril
President & CEO, LA84 Foundation
-

Noel Hacegaba
CEO, Port of Long Beach
-

Ronen Hoffman
President, EIS Council
-

Kathleen Brown
Fmr. Treasurer, State of California | Partner, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
-

Felicia Marcus
William C. Landreth Visiting Fellow, Stanford University’s Water in the West
-

James T. Butts, Jr.
Mayor, City of Inglewood
-

Lauren Faber O’Connor
Partner, Lowercarbon Capital
-

Arnab Pal
Executive Director, Deploy Action
-

Minh Le
General Manager, Los Angeles County Internal Services Department
-

John Shegerian
Co-Founder, CEO, ERI
-

Tak Yokoo
Founder and Chair, Japan Hydrogen Forum
-

Congressman Mike Levin
United States Congressman for California
-

Representative Laura Friedman
Congresswoman, 30th District of CA
-

Jason Caudle
CEO, First Public H2
-

Simon Bluestone, PG, BCES
Vice President, Stantec
-

Sara Neff
Partner/ GM, Sustainability Cloud Operations + Innovation, Microsoft
-

Senator Ben Allen
California State Senator, Chair, State Senate Energy Committee
-

Adán Ortega, Jr.
Chair of the Board, The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
-

Dennis McGinn*
Board of Directors, Willdan Group, Inc.; Former Assistant Secretary of the Navy
-

Stephen Cheung
President/CEO, LA County Economic Development Council/World Trade Center-Los Angeles
-

Sylvie Bédard
Consul General of Canada in Los Angeles
-

Senator Josh Becker*
Chair, CA Senate Energy, Utilities & Communications Committee
-

Senator Henry Stern
California State Senator, Chair, Senate Emergency Management Committee
-

Yuri Freedman*
Senior Director, Business Development, Southern California Gas Company
-

Rick Caruso
Founder and Executive Chairman, Caruso
-

Jackie Birdsall
Senior Program Manager, Toyota North America
-

Anil Tammineedi
Partner, Angeleno Group
-

Murota Kosei
Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles
-

Jim Kelly
Director, S&C Electric
-

Terry O'Day
Chief Operating Office / Founder, In-Charge Energy
-

Andrea Sasse
Consul General of the German Consulate, Los Angeles
-

Gene Seroka*
Director, Port of LA
-

Kathryn Barger
Supervisor, 5th District of Los Angeles County
-

Michael Colvin
Director, Regulatory and Legislative Affairs, EDF
-

Shivaji Deshmukh
General Manager, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
-

Nick Schultz
Assemblymember, California Assembly District 44
-

Romi Kadri
Managing Partner, Levelized Capital
-

K J Srinivasa
Consul General of the Indian Consulate, Los Angeles
-

Kumar Kotla*
Founder & CEO, ReMo Homes
-

Robert Hertzberg
Sr. Advisor, Mission Possible Partnership; CA Senate Majority Leader Emeritus
-

Martin Adams
LA County Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action & Fire Safe Recovery
-

Evan Birenbaum
Sr. Technical Executive, EPRI
-

Eliot Abel
Senior Vice President, Corporate Clean Energy Solutions, Pivot Energy
-

Hilary Norton
Fmr. Chair, California Transportation Committee
-

Ted Bardacke
Executive Director, Clean Power Alliance
-

Tim McOsker*
15th District, Los Angeles City Council
-

Jules Radcliff
Partner, Radcliff Fairman LLP
-

Gunjan Bagla
CEO, Amritt, Inc.
-

Steve Glenn*
Founder, CEO, and Chair of the Board, Plant Prefab
-

Lorraine Paskett
COO, First Public Hydrogen
-

Haresh Kamath
Director of Cross-Cutting Technologies and Solutions, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
-

Andrew McAllister
Commissioner, California Energy Commission (CEC)
-

Andrea Ambriz
General Manager, Exposition Park
-

Thomas Aujero Small
CEO, Culver City Forward; Former Mayor of Culver City
-

Ross Zelen
Chief Committee Consultant, Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies
-

Mary Nichols
Co-Chair, Commission on the Future of Mobility
-

Joe Edmiston
Executive Director, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy
-

Ambassador Eric Garcetti
Former Consul General to India in Los Angeles; Former Mayor of Los Angeles
-

Rebecca Lee
Director of Government Affairs, Western US, NRG
-

Daniel Weiss*
Managing Partner, Angeleno Group
-

Jacob Lipa
Founder and Principal, Lipa Consulting
-

Mia Lehrer
President, Studio MLA Urban Design Landscape Architecture
-

Bonnie Lowenthal*
President, Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners
-

Phillip Recht
Partner, Mayer Brown
-

Charles Wilson
Executive Director & CEO, Southern California Water Coalition
-

John Withers
Board of Directors, Irvine Ranch Water District
-

Victoria Harmon
CEO & Founder, VL Harmon Advisors
-

Mark Gold*
Director, Water Scarcity Solutions, NRDC
-

John Keisler
CEO & Managing Partner, Sunstone Economic Development
-

Ricky Sakai
Senior Vice President of Investment & Business Development, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
-

Joone Kim-Lopez*
General Manager/CEO, Moulton Niguel Water District
-

Christine Peterson
Senior Director of International Trade & Investment, Office of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass
-

Sophie Hottat*
Consul General of Belgium in Los Angeles
-

Lex Heslin
CEO, Enso Infrastructure
-

Beckie Menten
California Director, Building Decarbonization Coalition
-

Nancy Sutley
Board Vice Chair, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
-

Nurit Katz
Vice President, LADWP; Chief Sustainability Officer, UCLA
-

Joe Sullivan
Director of Energy Solutions, Los Angeles IBEW & NECA
-

Robert Lempert
Director, Pardee Center for Longer Range Global Policy and the Future Human Condition; Principal Researcher; Professor of Policy Analysis, RAND School of Public Policy
-

Coby Skye
Executive Director, San Luis Obispo County Integrated Waste Management Authority
-

Nate Taylor*
Director of Integrated Infrastructure Planning, SoCalGas
-

Billy Riggs
Professor, Director, Autonomous Vehicles and the City Initiative; University of San Francisco
-

Alycia Gilde
Chief Strategy Officer for Climate Action Partnerships, Los Angeles County Internal Services Department
-

Miguel Sangalang*
Executive Director and General Manager, City of Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting
-

Timothy O'Connor
Executive Director / Ratepayer Advocate, City of Los Angeles Office of Public Accountability/Ratepayer Advocate
-

Brian Goldstein
Executive Director, Energy Independence Now
-

Aura Vasquez
Strategic Clean Energy Executive; Former LADWP Commissioner; ESG & Public Affairs Advisor
-

Martin Howell
Global Energy Skills Leader, Arup
-

Dr. Kelly Sanders
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Former Assistant Director for Energy Systems Innovation, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
-

Nick Melvoin
Board Member, District 4, Los Angeles Unified School District
-

David Libatique*
Deputy Executive Director, Stakeholder Engagement, Port of Los Angeles
-

Randall Winston
Deputy Mayor of Infrastructure, City of Los Angeles
-

Kristen Torres Pawling
Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of LA City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky
-

Houtan Moaveni
Vice President, Grid Strategies
-

Daniel Adler
Executive Director, US Green Bank 50
-

Erik Trask
Vice President of Fusion Science, TAE Technologies
-

Robin Wong
Industry Partnerships Lead, Livermore Institute for Fusion Technology
-

Edward Moses
CEO, Longview Fusion Energy Systems
-

Nasser Faarooqui
Co-Founder, CEO, GridGPT
-

Rachit Khare
Founder, ConceptX
-

Ehud Ganani
VP Strategic Programs, EIS Council
-

Arthur Sohikian
Executive Director, High Desert Corridor JPA and North LA County Transportation Coalition JPA
-

Paula Daniels
Executive Director, LA County Office of Food Systems
-

Rick Cole
Councilmember, City of Pasadena
-

Tom Soto
Founder & CEO, SAS Earth Energy Services
-

Masaaki Kawai
Business Development Director, NGK Automotive Ceramics USA, Inc.
-

Janna Sidley
Commissioner, California Little Hoover Commission; Board Member, LACERS
-

Cameron Bard
Chief Revenue Officer, Madison Energy Infrastructure
-

Christopher Sheppard
Principal Engineer, County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works
-

Tanya Peacock
Managing Director, EcoEngineers
-

Hamed Noori
Founder and CEO, SenseNet Inc.
-

Robert Piascik
SVP, Chief Information & Technology Officer, New York Power Authority
-

Brian Craddock
SVP Global Sales, SenseNet Inc.
-

Rob Alexander
CEO, AlumaPower Corporation
-

Gerro Prinsloo
Sales Director, AlumaPower Corporation
-

Heidi Sanborn
Board Member, California Foundation for the Environment and Economy
-

Daishu Hara
Senior Director, NEDO Washington DC
-

James Kast
General Manager, Iwatani
-

Yuma Taniguchi
Manager, Nikkiso
-

Tim Sasseen
Clean Energy Executive; Vice President, American Honda
-

Paul Nelson
Managing Partner, Saoradh Enterprise Partners
-

Angelina Galiteva
Founder & Board Chair of Renewables 100 Policy Institute; Former CAISO Boardmember
-

David Nahai
Chair, Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board
-

John Flory
Co-founder, Gulf Energy Catalyst
-

Tiya Gordon
Co-Founder/COO, it's electric
-

Ruben Aronin
Senior Principal, Better World Group
-

Akihiro Mori
Captain, NYK Group
-

Larry Kosmont
Chairman and CEO, Kosmont Companies
-

Edgar Khalatian
Partner, Mayer Brown LLP
-

Deborah Klein Lopez
Agoura Hills City Councilmember; Board Chair, Clean Power Alliance
-

Tomohiro Fujita
Section Chief, Namie Town, Fukushima
-

Larry Frank
Senior Advisor to Mayor Karen Bass, City of Los Angeles; Former Deputy Mayor to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City of Los Angeles
-

Meghan Sahli-Wells
Strategic Advisor, Better World Group
-

Joe Irvin
City Manager, City of Malibu
-

Alisa Kreynes
Director, Ports & Shipping, C40 Cities
-

Aaron Lapsley
CTO, Hyroad
-

Peter Rose
Senior Director, Stakeholder Relations at Hydro Québec
-

John Paul Cisneros
Vice President, American Triple I Partners
-

Heather Repenning
Vice President & Client Account Manager, Jacobs
-

Loni Mahanta
Chief Legal & Corporate Affairs Officer, HopSkipDrive
-

David Hanson*
Interim General Manager, LADWP
-

Jason Rondou
Interim Chief Operating Officer and Senior Assistant General Manager - Power System, LADWP
-

Brianna Daniels
Vice President, Stantec
-

Zoe Heller
Director, CalRecycle
-

Emily Coven
California Executive Director, Circular Action Alliance
-

Heidi Sanborn
National Stewardship Action Council
-

Mike Caprio
Director of Government Affairs - CA at Republic Services
-

Erin Rowland
Material Management Bureau Manager, City of Long Beach