RISK
MANAGERS
FORUM

August 20-21, 2026

SPEAKERS

Steven Abraham

Steven Abraham

Senior Director of Technical Sales

Equinix

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Steven Abraham

Steven Abraham is Senior Director of Technical Sales at Equinix, where he leads teams responsible for designing and delivering technical solutions for customer data-center power, cooling, and network requirements. In this role, he partners closely with customers to support mission-critical infrastructure supporting some of the world’s most demanding workloads.

 

Steven’s customer portfolio spans highly regulated and infrastructure-intensive verticals, including Public Sector, AI, Financial Services, Cloud Service Providers, and large Enterprises, where reliability, resilience, and scalability are paramount.

 

With more than 25 years of experience in the datacenter and technology industry, Steven has held leadership roles at NTT, Lumen, and Equinix, giving him a broad perspective on the evolution of digital infrastructure and the increasing convergence of energy, facilities, and technology.

 

Steven is based in Northern Virginia, at the heart of the U.S. datacenter and power ecosystem, where he lives with his wife, Kristen, and their two sons.

Scott Akin

Scott Akin

Executive Director of Natural Gas Trading

ACES

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Scott Akin

Scott Akin is the Executive Director of Fuels Trading at ACES in Carmel, Indiana. Scott joined ACES in May 2015 and has held various trading roles in the Fuels group, where he gained the experience needed to oversee fuels trading for the majority of the natural gas portfolios managed by ACES. In 2021, Scott was promoted to lead ACES’ growing Fuels trading desk functions. His responsibilities include overseeing physical and financial commodity hedging strategies, physical and financial transaction execution, commodity market analysis and reporting, and the day-to-day operations related to natural gas, oil, and other fuel-related exposures for ACES’ Members and Customers. Scott also manages ACES’ Weather team.

Scott has more than 15 years of experience in the energy industry. Prior to joining ACES, Scott worked for the Trading and Operations team at BP Energy’s North American Gas and Power group and as a Natural Gas Analyst for Proliance Energy in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Before working in the energy industry, Scott held various jobs in the broadcasting industry as a meteorologist.

Brett Bergeson

Brett Bergeson

Chief Risk Officer

Arizona G&T Cooperatives

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Brett Bergeson

Brett Bergeson was born and raised in Moses Lake, Washington. He grew up working on his father’s farm where he learned valuable life lessons of perseverance, problem solving, and hard work. Brett graduated from the University of Washington majoring in Finance and Accounting. He worked in agricultural related businesses for several years after graduation and in 2004 joined Grant County Public Utility District, a large generation, transmission, and distribution power company, located in Central Washington. At Grant PUD, Brett worked in accounting, directed Counterparty Credit and Energy Risk with contract negotiation and settlement responsibilities, managed the Strategic Planning Department which included the financial forecast, rates, budget, and cost of service analysis, and managed the Internal Audit Department. In March of 2019, Brett joined Arizona G&T Cooperatives where he manages the Internal Audit Department and serves as the Chief Risk Officer. Brett and his wife, Janet, now make their home near Tucson, Arizona. They have been married for over 40 years and have five wonderful children and in-laws with twenty beautiful grandchildren.

Tyson Boatler

Tyson Boatler

Director of Hedging and Optimization

Golden Spread Electric Cooperative

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Tyson Boatler

Tyson Boatler, CFA, is Director of Hedging and Optimization at Golden Spread Electric Cooperative in Amarillo, Texas, where he leads the financial optimization of a 1,700-megawatt generation portfolio across multiple wholesale power markets. Since joining Golden Spread in 2014, he has been responsible for developing and executing hedging strategies, managing commodity price exposure, and optimizing generation assets in increasingly volatile energy markets.

 

A native of Amarillo, Tyson earned a Master of Science in Finance and Economics from West Texas A&M University and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Economics from Texas Tech University. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

 

With more than a decade of experience in energy trading, portfolio optimization, and commodity risk management, Tyson brings practical insights into navigating market volatility, managing fuel and power price risk, and implementing hedging strategies that support long-term financial stability for electric utilities and cooperative power providers.

Tim Burdis

Tim Burdis

Director, State Policy Solutions

PJM

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Tim Burdis

As director of state policy solutions, Burdis manages a team of professionals who endeavor to harmonize emerging state electricity policies with wholesale market design and transmission system planning policies.  His organization specifically focuses on: offshore wind development; clean energy development; resource adequacy evolution; grid modernization; and, grid security maintenance.

Before his current post, Burdis served as the business operations manager to PJM’s General Counsel / Senior Vice President of Law, Compliance and External Relations. Here he managed a portfolio on matters relating to corporate governance, regulatory filings, development of policy and messaging, long-term corporate strategy and the day-to-day management of the executive office. 

Prior, Burdis served as manager of policy analysis & strategy, managing a team of economists focused on the outreach and strategy development for state government engagement; focusing on policy assessment, market design and transmission planning. Additionally, he managed PJM’s engagement with the Organization of PJM States, Inc. (OPSI) and its interaction with the company’s Executive Team and Board of Managers.

Burdis started his career as an engineer working in PJM’s markets and operations divisions.

He is a graduate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and holds a Master of Science in Engineering from West Virginia University.

Darick Eisenbraun

Darick Eisenbraun

Senior Vice President of Corporate Development

CFC

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Darick Eisenbraun

Darick Eisenbraun recently joined CFC as senior vice president of corporate development. Before joining CFC, Eisenbraun was the CEO of High Plains Power Inc. in Riverton, Wyoming. Prior to High Plains Power, he served as chief financial officer and manager of member services for Butte Electric Cooperative in South Dakota.

Eisenbraun also served on the boards of the Spearfish Municipal Airport and Spearfish Parks and Recreation. He was the city of Spearfish vice president and a city council member during his time in South Dakota. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Black Hills State University.

Melissa Fischer

Melissa Fischer

Vice President of Risk Management Services

ACES

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Melissa Fischer

Melissa Fischer is Vice President of Risk Management Services at ACES in Carmel, Indiana. Melissa joined ACES in November 1998. In her current role, Melissa provides risk management support services to ACES’ Members and Customers, including serving as the risk manager for Wabash Valley Power Alliance. Melissa also helps to plan and organize ACES’ annual Risk Managers Forum and quarterly Risk Managers Working Group meetings for the risk management personnel of ACES’ Members. Melissa is a non-voting ex officio member of the G&T Accounting and Finance Association’s Enterprise Risk Management Committee.

Mindy Kidwell

Mindy Kidwell

Vice President of Trading Control

ACES

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Mindy Kidwell

Mindy Kidwell is Vice President of Trading Control at ACES in Carmel, Indiana. Mindy leads the Trading Control teams across ACES’ four Regional Trading Centers (RTC). Mindy has spent her entire career at ACES, beginning in 2003. Mindy has advanced through key leadership roles, including Trading Control Analyst, Manager, Director, Managing Director, and Vice President.

In her role, Mindy manages a strong control environment around trade execution for ACES and its Members and Customers through data capture and validation, trading limits and policy compliance monitoring, Dodd-Frank recordkeeping compliance, and transaction reporting.

Mindy oversees ACES’ annual SOC 1 Audit, ACES’ internal Risk Management Committee, oversees new Member and Customer implementations and plans, organizes and hosts quarterly Risk Managers Working Group meetings for the risk management staff at ACES’ Members, and organizes ACES’ annual Risk Managers Forum.

Mindy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Public Policy from Indiana University.

Mike McFarland

Mike McFarland

Director of Enterprise Risk Management

Great River Energy

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Mike McFarland

Michael G. (Mike) McFarland is the Director of Enterprise Risk Management at Great River Energy in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  In this position, Mike is responsible for oversight of Great River Energy’s risk management program, spanning strategic, large project, trading/marketing, operational, financial, and compliance risk.  He also manages Great River Energy’s internal audit and insurance programs.

Mike has more than 35 years of experience in the utility industry, serving the last 15 years as Great River Energy’s risk manager. From 2002 to 2010, Mike operated a consulting company providing business strategy, project management, information technology, and risk consulting services to companies including Great River Energy.  Prior to that, Mike was president of a small IT security services company and held executive positions with a global telecommunications firm.  Mike began his career in 1982 as an IT professional working for Northern States Power Company (now Xcel Energy), in Minneapolis, MN, serving for 13 years in various staff and leadership positions.  His risk management experience spans several of the positions and responsibilities held throughout his career, founded in the areas of operational risk, security, and emergency preparedness, and extending into market, financial and strategic risk.

Mike serves on the board of the Minnesota Rural Electric Trust, a not-for-profit worker’s compensation insurer for Minnesota rural electric cooperatives, serves as past chair of the Energy Insurance Mutual Insurance Advisory Committee, and participates as a member of FM Global’s Risk Management Executive Council. Mike is also former co-chair of the Twin Cities ERM Roundtable, an association of practicing risk managers representing several leading Minnesota corporations, and has served as president of the national G&T Accounting and Finance Association. Mike received his Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics in 1986 at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Technology, in Minneapolis, MN.

Christian Nagel

Christian Nagel

Senior Director of Power Supply and Production

Rayburn Electric Cooperative

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Christian Nagel

Christian Nagel serves as Senior Director of Power Supply & Production at Rayburn Electric Cooperative, where he leads the strategic oversight and coordination of the company’s power supply, load, and generation activities within the ERCOT wholesale electricity market. In this role, he shapes Rayburn’s overall power supply and resource strategy; directs hedging, risk-management, and market participation activities; and oversees cross-functional teams responsible for planning, execution, and ongoing performance management. Christian currently manages the performance of a generation and power supply portfolio representing more than $1 billion in assets and is leading the development of approximately 700 MW of new generation projects, from early-stage planning through execution, to support long-term reliability and cost stability for Rayburn’s members.

 

He also provides long-term, strategic recommendations to executive leadership and the Board of Directors on resource adequacy, market exposure, and generation investment decisions. He ensures compliance with internal risk, planning, and governance policies, and supports Board education and engagement on ERCOT market structures, pricing dynamics, and regulatory developments.

 

Prior to joining Rayburn, Christian began his energy-industry career at ACES. While at ACES, he held various management and trading positions and ultimately served as Portfolio Director for the ERCOT and SPP regions. In this role, he was responsible for hiring, managing, training, and developing traders; establishing and executing hedging and portfolio-optimization strategies for members and clients; and coordinating risk-management controls with middle- and back-office functions.

 

Before entering the energy industry, Christian was a commodities trader in Chicago, Illinois, where he traded futures and derivatives across interest rates, currencies, stock indices, and energy products. That experience gave him a deep understanding of risk management, which he later adapted to the cooperative business model.

 

Christian holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Finance and Economics from Indiana University Bloomington.

John Rohrbach

John Rohrbach

Executive Director of Regulatory Strategy

ACES

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John Rohrbach

John Rohrbach is Executive Director of Regulatory Strategy for ACES in Carmel, Indiana.

John joined ACES in January 2012 as Manager of Regulatory and Market Affairs covering the PJM and CAISO RTO markets. In his current role, John is responsible for PJM capacity markets and PJM regulatory and market affairs.

John has over 32 years of industry experience. He began his career in 1985 as a research economist with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and has served the personal advisory staffs of Commissioners John Hanger and Nora Mead Brownell of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. John previously worked at GenOn Energy (and predecessor companies RRI Energy and Reliant Energy) as Director of Regulatory Analytics. Prior to that, he was the Manager of Federal/RTO Affairs in the rates department at CenterPoint Energy and worked at Lukens Energy Group (now part of Black & Veatch). He has provided testimony for ACES’ PJM Members in Federal District Court on electricity market disputes and at FERC on matters impacting the commercial interests of ACES’ Members in electric market design and natural gas pipeline rate proceedings.

John holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics/Political Science from Rutgers University, a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Florida Southern College, a Masters in Taxation from the University of Central Florida’s Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting, a Master of Science in Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University’s H. John Heinz III College, and previously held a PJM Energy Markets Certification.

Brian Sloboda

Brian Sloboda

Director, Utility Research and Policy

CFC

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Brian Sloboda

Brian is the Director, Utility Research & Policy at CFC. He joined CFC in October 2022. Brian is focused on identifying emerging opportunities to assist cooperatives in maintaining their place as the trusted energy provider.

Prior to joining CFC, Brian held senior positions at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). Brian has helped cooperatives conduct pilots of new and emerging technologies Brian has been the subject matter expert on electric transportation, smart home, grid modernization and emerging business models.

Brian has degrees in political science and speech communication from Fairmont State College.

Mo Saleh

Mo Saleh

Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer

CFC

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Mo Saleh

Mo Saleh was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer of CFC in 2021. In this role, he leads the Enterprise Risk Group, overseeing a broad portfolio of critical functions including enterprise risk management, credit risk including policy and standards, counterparty credit risk, special situation management, asset-liability management, macroeconomic and financial market research, and pricing of CFC’s loan products. Saleh rejoined CFC in 2016 after originally leaving in 2005 to build a diverse career in commercial banking and international financial regulation. Since his return, he has held several leadership roles within the Treasury and Finance Group, including Vice President of Financial Risk Management. His responsibilities have spanned short-term funding, treasury operations, investment portfolio management, and hedging market risk.

Saleh earned a Bachelor of Science in Corporate Finance (magna cum laude) from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an MBA from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Ashley Slater

Ashley Slater

Vice President of Regulatory Affairs

NRECA

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Ashley Slater

Ashley Slater is NRECA’s vice president of regulatory affairs. She leads a team of advocates and sets the strategic direction of the association’s regulatory programs. She also represents the interests of NRECA’s member cooperatives on matters before federal and state regulatory agencies, executive branch
departments, national standards development organizations and national policy forums.
Ashley has more than 20 years of experience navigating complex legislative, regulatory, and political
issues at both the state and federal government level. Before joining NRECA, she served as vice president of government affairs and policy for PNGC Power, a Portland, Oregon-based generation and transmission co-operative with service territory in seven western states. Prior to that, she was a senior principal of
legislative affairs for NRECA, advocating for electric cooperatives before the U.S. Congress. She also has held numerous positions within government, serving at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the departments of Commerce and Energy, and on Capitol Hill.
She is a graduate of The University of Washington in Seattle, and resides with her husband, Neil, and their two sons, Adam and Ben.

Kevin Suhanic

Kevin Suhanic

Vice President of Portfolio Strategy and Origination

ACES

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Kevin Suhanic

Kevin Suhanic is Vice President of Portfolio Strategy and Origination at ACES in Carmel, Indiana. In his strategy role, he is responsible for managing risk and optimizing outcomes for ACES’ Members’ and Customers’ long-term portfolios. These efforts include asset valuation, assessment of regulatory impacts, and assessment of commodity and transmission markets. Kevin conducts financial analyses for acquisitions/divestitures and has served as an expert witness in litigation support.  

Kevin also oversees ACES’ Origination group, which provides ACES’ Members and Customers with commercial wholesale electricity, renewable energy credits, and emissions market opportunities that support long-term risk mitigations. Kevin directs these efforts to proactively identify, negotiate, and coordinate the valuation and execution of structured products for these market products on behalf of ACES’ Members’ and Customers’. He is responsible for ACES’ request for proposals (RFP) process and negotiation of power purchase agreements and other power supply agreements. 

Kevin joined ACES in February 2007 as a Financial Transmission Rights Modeler and led ACES’ Transmission group for several years as Director of Transmission Services. In this role, Kevin oversaw congestion management and consulting activities, including power flow modeling for the Eastern Interconnect, WECC, and ERCOT and trading in the congestion markets. 

Kevin monitors and advises Members and Customers on market developments and regulatory changes. He has extensive experience in financial modeling and accounting. He has also been involved in several implementations for Members and Customers transitioning into nodal markets and has served on various cross-functional teams focused on new regulations and new markets. 

Prior to joining ACES, Kevin began his career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, LLC as an associate in the Audit and Assurance division, with a tour in the International Taxation division. This included providing accounting treatment advice and implementing specific tax strategies. 

Kevin holds a Bachelor’s of Science and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame. He is Series 3 certified by the National Futures Association. Kevin is also a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) in Ohio. 

Roger Tutterow

Roger Tutterow

Professor of Economics

Kennesaw State University

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Roger Tutterow

Roger Tutterow is Professor of Economics at Kennesaw State University where he holds the Henssler Financial Endowed Chair.

 

His analysis of the economic, business and political environments have been featured in a variety of media including Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Business Week, Forbes, USA Today, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Arizona Republic, Florida Times-Union, Kansas City Star, New York Times, Orlando Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Wichita Eagle and on CNN, CNBC, NBC, Bloomberg Television, NPR’s “Marketplace” and “All Things Considered,” CNN-Radio as well as by regional electronic and print media.

 

In addition to his work in academia, Dr. Tutterow has served as a consultant on financial economics and statistical modeling for corporate clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to closely held businesses. He has provided expert testimony on economic, financial and statistical matters in state and federal court, before the Georgia General Assembly and before the Georgia Public Service Commission. Dr. Tutterow has given several hundred speeches to professional groups in over 40 states and Canada on topics in the economic, business and political arenas.

 

Dr. Tutterow served on the Council of Economic Advisors, under three Georgia Governors. In 2010, he was named to the Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians, which conducted a comprehensive review of Georgia’s Tax Code. In addition, Dr. Tutterow serves on the Georgia Child Support Commission, the Cobb County Public Employees’ Pension Board and the Board of Trustees of Berry College. He previously served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vinings Bank, on the Board of Managers for PrimeARCapital LLC, on the Southern Region Board of Directors for the American Red Cross Blood Services and the Board of Directors for Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Atlanta. He was selected by Georgia Trend magazine as a “notable Georgian” and as one of “Georgia’s Most Influential” by James magazine.

 

A Georgia native, Dr. Tutterow holds a B.S. in Decision Science from Berry College and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Georgia State University. Prior to joining Kennesaw State University, Dr. Tutterow held faculty and administrative appointments at West Virginia University, Georgia State University and Mercer University. He has also served as a visiting professor at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and at the Institute for Industrial Policy Studies in Seoul, South Korea.

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