McNees Attorneys, Specialists to present at Annual Ohio Conference
February 20, 2018
Press Releases
Columbus, Oh. – (February 5, 2018) McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC Attorneys Bob Weishaar, Jr., Sam Randazzo and Matthew Pritchard along with Technical Specialists Kevin Murray and Joseph Bowser will be speaking at the 22nd Annual Ohio Energy Management Conference, being held February 20-21, 2018 at The Columbus, a Renaissance Hotel in Columbus, Oh.
Bob Weishaar, Jr., will be presenting on February 21 in a workshop entitled “Significantly Reducing Your Transmission, Capacity and Energy Costs Though Conscious Scheduling and Demand Management” along with Matthew Brakey and Jennifer Lemley from Brakey Energy.
Bob chairs the Energy & Environmental Group. His practice focuses primarily on matters involving the state and federal regulation of electricity supply and delivery, natural gas supply and delivery, and oil pipelines. He has substantial experience with electric industry restructuring in wholesale and retail markets, and has appeared before state regulatory commissions in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Virginia, and Ohio; before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and before various state and federal appellate courts. On electricity and natural gas matters, Bob generally represents the interests of consumers and consumer representatives, and owners of cogeneration facilities, before federal and state administrative agencies and appellate courts. He also counsels clients regarding the competitive procurement and self-supply of utility services. Bob has counseled clients on the state and federal regulation of oil and natural gas pipelines.
Sam Randazzo will be part of the panel to discuss “Powering the Future of Ohio’s Economy … Ohio’s Electricity Marketplace” on February 21. The panel includes Robert Flexon of Dynegy Inc, Asim Haque of Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Eileen Mikkelsen of FirstEnergy Corp, Julie Sloat of AEP Ohio, Amy Spiller of Duke Energy Corp and Thomas Raga of Dayton Power & Light Co.
Sam has spent the last five decades solving issues affecting the price and availability of communications, natural gas, electricity and other regulated services. The range of his experience includes developing Ohio’s innovative self-help natural gas program, implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, a leadership role in natural gas and electricity restructuring and chief guide on Ohio utility legislation and counsel to the Industrial Energy Users-Ohio.
Matt Pritchard will be speaking in the morning of February 20 on “FirstEnergy: Significant Developments Impacting Electric Rates” along with Richard Jackson of ASHTA Chemicals, Inc and Sonny Fanelli of FirstEnergy Corp. In the afternoon, he will be discussing “Dayton Power & Light (DPL): Significant Developments Impacting Electric Rates” with Sharon Schroder and Stefanie Campbell of The Dayton Power and Light Company.
Matt’s practice focuses on the counsel of large industrial and commercial customers with facilities in Ohio on energy and utility matters. Matt regularly appears before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) on a diverse range of energy and utility matters ranging from the litigation of utility rate cases, participation in cases involving the implementation of Ohio’s energy efficiency and renewable energy requirements, participation in PUCO rulemaking proceedings, and participation in various other matters that address the PUCO’s oversight over public utilities and their rates. Matt also has extensive appellate experience in appeals of PUCO decisions, participating in over a dozen appeals, drafting appellate briefs in many instances, and leading the oral argument of one of the appeals. As part of his representation of large industrial and commercial customers, and in conjunction with the practice group’s office and attorneys located in Washington D.C., Matt monitors ongoing developments at the federal level that could affect the price and availability of electricity for large industrial and commercial customers with facilities in Ohio.
In addition to his representation of large industrial and commercial customers, Matt also assists utilities, municipalities, and competitive suppliers of utility services in various regulatory proceedings before the PUCO.
Kevin Murray will be discussing “PJM Basic … Insights into the Regional Electricity Market Operated by PJM” with Lou D’Alessandris of FirstEnergy Corp. and Adam Keech of PJM Interconnection, LLC as well as “PJM Advanced … A Deeper Dive into the Regional Electricity Market” with Adam Keech of PJM Interconnection, LLC on February 20.
Kevin is a Technical Specialist in the Columbus, Ohio office of McNees Wallace & Nurick and is the Executive Director of the Industrial Energy Users-Ohio. He focuses on monitoring and evaluating regulatory proceedings at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and various state agencies; provides analysis of proposed tariff or rate offerings; assists in the development of regulatory and commercial strategies; and provides clients’ assistance in utility contract negotiations, utility and site selections for new facilities, competitor analysis and analysis of customer usage patterns. He has been active in the creation of regional transmission organizations and presently serves on the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.’s Advisory Committee.
Prior to joining the firm, Kevin spent twelve years with The Timken Company managing a 20,000 DTH per day natural gas portfolio for the company’s Midwest facilities and participated in natural gas, pipeline and electric utility contract negotiation. As the company’s member representative at the Electricity Consumers Resource Council (ELCON) and Process Gas Consumers (PGC), he helped develop regulatory advocacy positions and worked with outside counsel representing the company in regulatory proceedings. Kevin held several additional supervisory positions at The Timken Company, where his duties included performing computer modeling and cost analysis to provide product pricing support for marketing, and also managing raw materials, logistics and management information systems in steelmaking operations.
Joseph Bowser will join Wyatt Elbin of Marathon Petroleum Corporation and James Ziolkowski of Duke Energy to discuss “Duke Energy Ohio: Significant Development Impacting Electric Rates” on February 20. On February 21, he will be speaking on “Ohio Power Company (AEP OHIO): Significant Developments Impacting Electric Rates” along with James Loder of Glatfelter and Ryan Houk of AEP Ohio.
As a Technical Specialist with McNees Wallace & Nurick’s Energy and Environmental group, Joe uses his extensive experience and knowledge to help the firm’s clients address issues that affect the price and availability of utility services. Joe’s addition to McNees Wallace & Nurick is part of its ongoing effort to internalize and integrate legal, technical, and governmental relations skills required to effectively and efficiently address utility issues.
Prior to joining McNees Wallace & Nurick, Joe worked with the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel as Director of Analytical Services. There he managed the analysis of financial, accounting, and ratemaking issues associated with utility regulatory filings, and assisted in policy development and strategy. Joe also spent ten years at Northeast Utilities, where he held positions in the Regulatory Planning and Accounting departments of the company. He provided litigation support in regulatory hearings and assisted in the preparation of the financial/technical documents filed with state and federal regulatory commissions.
Joe began his career with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, where he led and conducted audits of gas and electric utilities in the Eastern and Midwestern regions of the United States.
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McNees is a full-service law firm based in central Pennsylvania with more than 130 attorneys representing corporations, associations, institutions and individuals. The firm serves clients worldwide from offices in Harrisburg, Lancaster, State College and Scranton, PA; Columbus, OH; Frederick, MD; and Washington, D.C. McNees is also a member of the ALFA International Global Legal Network.
