WOWE - Women of Wind Energy

Karen Ramsey
President and CEO, Lead for Good

Keynote and Strengths-Based Leadership Workshop Facilitator

Karen Ramsey, ACC, SPHR has over 20 years of leadership experience which includes serving as VP of Human Resources for a Fortune 500 company, successfully running her own company for nine years, and chairing 16 boards of directors for various nonprofit organizations.

A published author and national speaker, she is currently serving as a faculty associate teaching High Impact Leadership as part of ASU’s Nonprofit Management Institute and her second book, entitled Lead for Good Field Guide: Seven Steps for Unleashing the Great Nonprofit Leader Within will be published in early 2013.

Ruth Heffernan Marsh
Senior Engineer, Consulting
DNV KEMA Energy & Sustainability

Renewable Energy Blast Panelist

Ruth joined DNV in 2006, and brings over 17 years of professional consulting, project management, and engineering experience in the wind energy and aerospace industries to her role in DNV’s Consulting department. She has managed projects involving technical due diligence, feasibility studies, life-cycle economic analyses and turbine loads analysis.  She has developed curricula and delivered training programs aimed at helping professionals retrain for careers in the wind industry.  

Ms. Marsh has conducted research and published papers on rotor dynamics, wind turbine design concepts and advanced turbine technology.  She holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Stanford University.   

Khianti Silver
Manager, Human Resources
American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)

Giving, Taking, and Receiving Feedback Workshop

Khianti has been with  AWEA since April 2009

William H. Holmes
Partner, Stoel Rives LLP

Mentoring and Small Group Discussion Speaker and Facilitator

Bill Holmes is a partner at Stoel Rives LLP where he concentrates his practice in the area of energy law, with a special emphasis on wind, solar, hydroelectric, hydrokinetic, tidal and ocean, geothermal, and biomass.  He has also advised clients on regulatory and transactional aspects of energy storage as a means of integrating renewable energy.  Bill was the first recipient of the WoWE Champion Award given at the WoWE Annual Luncheon during the 2012 WINDPOWER Conference and Exhibition.

Bill is an adjunct professor at the University of Oregon Law School, where he has taught one of the first renewable energy law courses in the nation since 2008.

Bill joined the firm in 1985 and has been a member since 1992.  Before joining Stoel Rives, he served as law clerk to Judge Louis F. Oberdorfer, United States District Court for the District of Columbia (1984-1985). 

Kimberlee Centera
Independent Contractor

Wise Women Panelist

Kim currently serves as an Independent Contractor specializing in negotiating, structuring and documenting real estate and title transactions for the development and financing of utility scale wind and solar renewable energy projects in the United States.

Kim started in the renewables industry in 1993, when she joined the legal department of SeaWest WindPower, Inc., a pioneer privately-owned wind development company based in San Diego, California. She quickly transitioned to the Development Group bringing her core real estate expertise to the highly-trained and specialized Development Team. In 2005, SeaWest WindPower, Inc. was acquired by The AES Corporation located in Arlington, Virginia, to provide a competitive foundation for AES to expand its traditional utility-based business rapidly into the wind industry. 

In her lengthy career, Kim has worked on development and acquisition of several thousands of megawatts of projects located across the United States, Canada and certain area of South America. 

Susan Greene
President, American Solar Energy Society (ASES)

Wise Women Panelist

Susan Greene is president of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), the 58 year-old association of engineers, scientists, architects and advocates dedicated to moving the United States to a sustainable energy economy. She is past president of the Denver-based Women in Sustainable Energy (WISE).

Susan spent over 30 years as a senior executive and attorney in the new-media/telecom world, working for NBC, HBO, Citigroup and Time Warner Cable, where she built new businesses at the intersection of content and technology – including the creation of CNBC and early mobile phone e-commerce ventures for Citigroup. Early in her career she was part of the team that created Sesame Street. At NBC she was executive producer of the first live HD broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera, now seen in movie theaters worldwide, the first show of which won several EMMY awards. She has led public policy initiatives at the federal, state and local level. Running a major proceeding at the Federal Communications Commission, she established the policy foundation for rules requiring TV stations to air educational and informational programming for children. She finds the current state of the renewable energy sector very similar to the early days of cable television. 

Amanda Ormond
Owner, Ormond Group

Wise Women Panelist

Amanda Ormond has worked in energy and public policy for over twenty years in Arizona and the West.  For the past decade she has managed the Ormond Group LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in education, advocacy, and lobbying for clean energy.  Prior to starting her consulting firm Amanda served as Director of the Arizona Energy Office for seven years where she was responsible for developing state policy and promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy and alternative fueled vehicles.

Amanda holds a B.S. in Environmental Earth Science.  She has a variety of clients for which she works on policy and technical issues for renewable development and transmission. Amanda has represented the wind industry for the past seven years as the Southwest Representative for Interwest Energy Alliance, a regional AWEA affiliate. She helped form the Arizona Wind Working Group in 2002 and is the co-lead.   Amanda was awarded the Wind Powering America Western Regional Wind Advocacy Award in 2010. 

Darlene Snow
Executive Director, Wind Energy Foundation

Wise Women Panelist

Darlene heads the Wind Energy Foundation, an organization devoted to educating the public about the benefits of wind energy.  She joined the Foundation in 2011 and brings over 20-years’ experience leading public education campaigns at several of the world’s largest communications firms.  For Ogilvy Washington, Darlene led the Industry Affairs and Energy practices and created a number of award-winning campaigns.  Prior to Ogilvy, Darlene led the technology practice at Edelman Los Angeles during the dot-com boom, working with a number of leading technology and internet companies.

She has a B.S. degree in Environmental Resource Management from the Pennsylvania State University and resides near Annapolis, Maryland, with her husband Todd and two children, Emily and Amanda. 

Jennifer States
Program Managers for Wind and Water, Pacific Northwes National Laboratory

Wise Women Panelist

Jennifer States is the Program Manager for Wind and Water Power at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. With 15 years of renewable energy experience, she manages PNNL's activities for the Department of Energy’s Wind and Water Power Program, northwest utility clients; as well as renewable energy projects for the Department of Defense.

Jennifer was the recipient of the 2010 Women of Wind Energy - Rising Star award. Prior to her work for PNNL, she was the Managing Director of JW Prairie Windpower, the US headquarters for juwi international. She was responsible for all aspects of business management and wind project development, including establishment of a project pipeline of over 1500 MW in 7 states.

Aaron Tippie
Director of Renewable Energy, Westwood Professional Services

Wise Women Panel Moderator

Aaron Tippie is the Director of Renewable Energy for Westwood Professional Services, a consulting firm providing engineering, surveying, and related services to independent power producers, utilities, and contractors operating within multiple energy industries.  He is a shareholder and was elected to Westwood’s board of directors in April of this year.

Aaron is a graduate of Bucknell University, where he studied mechanical engineering, and of the University of St. Thomas executive MBA program in Minneapolis. Aaron is a “car guy”, and also enjoys cooking, reading about international news and energy issues, and home improvement projects. Aaron lives in Minnesota with his wife and two young children.