Tony Livoti, President, Monterey Bay International Trade Association (MBITA)

Tony Livoti has been involved in small business development his entire career – starting and successfully operating a creative management company in Hollywood, a small manufacturing company in Felton, California,  working as a business broker in the sale of businesses throughout the Monterey Bay region and forming and operating an Export Management Company for companies throughout California. (EMC).

In 1984, Livoti saw a need for an international trade association for the burgeoning Monterey Bay region and its array of entrepreneurial enterprises, and as a result, founded the Monterey Bay International Trade Association (MBITA).

Under his leadership, the MBITA in 1995 became a founding partner in the BAYTRADE public-private sector export promotion program that has helped generate over $350 million in ‘new-to-market’ exports representing exporting companies throughout 17 counties in Northern California.  

Under his guidance as its President, MBITA has grown over the years to become a wholly self-sustaining non-profit with over 200 members and clients and foreign cooperative partnerships throughout the Pacific Rim, the European Union, and the Americas.

MBITA has also become a leader in California on utilizing web based solutions for conducting, facilitating and consummating global trade transactions for small to mid-sized enterprises.  This includes desktop to desktop global eCommerce training and a web based eTraining program for online global trade in partnership with the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) and the GLOBE project. 

MBITA manages TradePort.org owned by the L.A. Chamber of Commerce (LACC) and the Bay Area Economic Forum (BAEF) and has created and currently operating the U.S’s first statewide ‘intranet’ for trade promotion services called the TradePort Collaborator supported by 40 public and private sector trade promotion organizations located throughout the California

Donald Steiny, President, Donald Steiny Consulting

Donald Steiny is an author and researcher in Information Systems.  He has lead or worked with research projects at Stanford and the University of Oulu, Finland and published in several journals.  His latest area of research is business opportunities that are emerging from the smart grid and how the technological, social, political and economic factors will play out over the next two decades.

Shannon L. Fraser, International Trade Specialist, Office of Energy and Environmental Industries, Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration

Shannon Fraser serves as an International Trade Specialist for the Energy Sector in the Office of Energy and Environmental Industries (OEEI) at the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) in Washington, D.C.  Along with a team of fifteen energy and environmental analysts, Ms. Fraser works in partnership with U.S. companies to advance exports of U.S.-manufactured clean energy technologies in overseas markets.  Through analysis of domestic and international energy policies, participation in bilateral and multilateral energy dialogues, coordination of trade missions and reverse trade missions, and development of clean energy programs, Ms. Fraser and OEEI counterparts support the commercialization of emerging clean energy technologies and entrance into international markets.  

Ms. Fraser’s areas of expertise include 1) clean coal technology, 2) power transmission and distribution (including smart grid), 3) energy efficiency, 4) biofuels, and 5) European energy issues.  She works closely with U.S. energy companies, trade associations, and U.S. and foreign government counterparts to advance bilateral and commercial energy working group activities.  Ms. Fraser has conducted a number of energy-sector studies and analyses, including a report on ‘The Potential Exports of U.S. Clean Coal Technologies Through 2030,’ which highlights opportunities for U.S. firms in the developing markets of China and India.  Recent collaborations with U.S. government, foreign government, and smart grid trade associations have focused on international deployment of U.S.-manufactured smart grid technologies and exchange of information on emerging smart grid policies and pilot projects.

A native of Sacramento, Ms. Fraser holds a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley and a Master’s in Pacific International Affairs from U.C. San Diego.  Prior to relocating to Washington, D.C., she has resided in France (Lyon) and Japan (Fukuoka and Nagoya). 

Dimitri Dadiomov, Business Development, North America, Better Place

Dimitri Dadiomov is part of the business-development team focused on markets in North America. In this capacity, he is responsible for evaluating and prioritizing potential markets for Better Place, the leading electric vehicle services provider.  He works with governments, energy companies, investors, and other key stakeholders with the ultimate goal of creating charging networks to support the mass adoption of electric vehicles. 

Prior to joining Better Place, Dadiomov worked for Intellectual Ventures, where he focused primarily on clean energy innovations.  He was part of the team working with Better Place founder Shai Agassi on formulation of the Better Place model and the original business plan prior to the company’s official launch in 2007.

Dadiomov earned a B.S. in Energy Science and Technology and a B.A. in Economics with honors from Stanford University. While there, he served as Co-President of the Business Association of Stanford Engineering Students (BASES), one of the world’s largest student organizations focused on entrepreneurship, with over 5,000 active members.

Joel Kubby, Associate Professor, Baskin School of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC)

Joel Kubby is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering in the Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California at Santa Cruz.  His research is in the area of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) with applications in Optics, Fluidics and Bio-MEMS and in renewable energy microgrids that incorporate local energy generation (solar, wind) and storage in electric vehicles (vehicle to grid).  Prior to joining the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2005, he was an Area Manager with the Wilson Center for Research and Technology and a Member of Technical Staff in the Webster Research Center in Rochester New York (1987-2005).  Prior to Xerox he was at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill New Jersey working in the area of Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM).  He is the co-chair of the SPIE Silicon Photonics conference and the MEMS Adaptive Optics conference.

Marty Kurtovich, Senior Business Development Manager, Chevron Energy Solutions (CES

Marty Kurtovich currently manages business development efforts for Chevron Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Chevron U.S. A., in San Francisco, CA, His over twenty years of professional experience include positions at the California Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington DC, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company.  His past assignments include development of environmental policies to address groundwater pollution in Silicon Valley, as a Special Assistant in the Clinton Administration worked on sustainable technologies with the Western Governors Association, and developed and evaluated utility energy efficiency programs in California.  Kurtovich’s current focus is on linking the nexus between policy, technology, and economics to enable new markets for green technologies and renewable energy.  Kurtovich’s educational background is in environmental engineering and policy, with degrees from UC Berkeley and Johns Hopkins University.

Matthew Steiner, Principal, Hygrid Green Energy

Matthew Steiner completed his BA Biology degree in 1996 at UCSC.  He is also a registered licensed nurse working in ICU and ER divisions for nine years. Steiner has been an avid student of renewable energy policy and alternative methods of power production since his teenage years. Recent renewable incentives and a public interest in “GREEN” technology have inspired him to shift his focus to meet our energy requirements.

His application of knowledge in biology and practice in nursing has forged a unique holistic approach to meet current energy challenges.  Steiner realized that equilibrium is dynamic and multifaceted and that all aspects of our energy needs must be considered further while recognizing that biology has efficiently and elegantly refined itself for billions of years & holds many solutions to our modern day problems and challenges.

Claudio Lima is the Managing Director of Sonoma Innovation, a Silicon Valley-based Smart Grid Consulting Firm specialized in Smart Grid Communications Strategy, Next Generation Smart Grid Architectures and Advanced Technologies.  He serves as a member of the NIST Cybersecurity Smart Grid Architecture, IEEE P2030 Smart Grid Architecture Standards Committee and the IEEE Smart Grid Steering Committee.  He’s actively involved with the NIST Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, defining the role of IP in Smart Grid and the development of a Smart Grid Communications Architecture Framework. He is also actively involved with the Open Smart Grid/UCI and the Smart Network Council-UTC organizations. Prior to joining Sonoma, Dr Lima headed several teams and strategic initiatives for Sprint-Nextel at the Sprint Advanced Technologies/CTO organization in Silicon Valley, including Sprint's Next Generation Networks, Emerging Services, and Digital Media Innovation (DMI)/Venture-R&D, responsible for new technologies and business opportunities development for Sprint-Nextel’s. He holds a Ph.D. in Electronic Engineering from University of Kent, Canterbury-England.

Dr. David M. Tralli, Manager, Civil Programs, National Space Technology Applications Office, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.

D. M. Tralli holds an MBA in Strategic Management from the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, a PhD in Geophysics from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.S. Summa Cum Laude in Physics from the University of Southern California.  He has been with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology since 1986.   

Tralli has held management positions with the JPL Strategic Systems Technology Program Office and the Commercial Technology Program.  He is currently Manager of Civil Programs in the National Technology Applications Office (NSTA).  Focusing on R&D and applications needs of national security and economic significance, NSTA offers organizations and federal agencies such as the Department of Energy, opportunities to apply the unique scientific, technological and engineering capabilities resident at JPL to help meet their strategic visions and requirements.  Tralli is the Project Manager for a study entitled “Roadmapping the California Smart Grid through Risk Retirement,” for the California Energy Commission Public Interest Energy Research Program, Defining the Pathway to the California Smart Grid 2020.

John Knapp, President and CEO, Power Shaver, Energy Savings Systems

John Knapp has been happily married to his sweetheart bride Lisa for almost 19 years, and has two teenagers, a daughter Savanna, 15 and son Dallas, 13.  Knapp is actively involved in his community, serves at his local church in many facets, works with Junior High students, enjoys doing and has been involved in humanitarian work at home and overseas.  Knapp hopes to be able to use much of the profit from his company Power Shaver to continue and expand his volunteering opportunities. 

Knapp was born in Southern California, but was raised in Hawaii.  After moving to the Sacramento area he started his own successful construction company.  Having a keen knack for spotting future social and business trends, Knapp extensively researched how energy efficiency and power conservation was not only important to him as a business and home owner, but also believed it would be important to many others across the world, and founded Power Shaver, an up and coming energy saving systems company transforming the way people and businesses use their energy.