The Future of Energy

101 West Capitol Street,Jackson MS 39201

16 June, 2022

Description

Join key leaders in the industry as they discuss the future of energy for our community and the world. There has never been a more important time to examine the possibilities of better, more sustainable energy. It’s important to have conversations and connections that will secure accessibility and awareness for all members of our community. Join key leaders in the industry as they discuss the future of energy for our community and the world. Get to know our featured panelist: Jason Reynolds, ENTERGY: Jasons is a results-oriented and strategic leader with over 20 years of experience and proven success in utility system planning & operations, FERC\NERC regulatory, compliance, ethics, and environmental programs (regulatory interface, permitting, policy, compliance and technical-lab). His experience in leadership includes nuclear industry, corporate compliance, laboratory facilities, ethics and environmental affairs. Jason has proven relationship building skills with leadership, internal and external customers, regulatory agencies, legal professionals and the general public. Melvin Roland, MISSISSIPPI POWER: Melvin Roland has spent his entire career with Southern Company, joining in 2000 as an Engineer at Georgia Power in Substation Design. In 2005, he moved to Coastal Mississippi to lead Substation Construction at Mississippi Power where he was responsible for all capital projects for the company. In 2008, he transitioned to Substation Maintenance where he led multiple teams in completing all maintenance activities. Roland later became the Transmission System Operations Manager in 2011 to oversee the company’s Transmission Control Center and its support group where he ensured the Transmission grid was available, reliable, and fully compliant. Roland advanced in 2014 to the Northern part of the company’s service area as Distribution Manager. In 2018, he returned to the Gulf Coast in Transmission as the Transmission Lines and Substations Manager. In January 2021, Roland was named Transmission General Manager. In January of this year, he was named the Distribution General Manager. His extensive and proven background in design, construction, maintenance and operations in Distribution and Transmission over his 20-year career at Southern Company make him a tremendous asset in his new role. Roland completed a dual degree program at Morris Brown College and the Georgia Institute of Technology where he earned degrees in Mathematics and Electrical Engineering. He also earned a Master’s in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Georgia State University. A leader in his company and community, Roland serves as the chair of the company’s Leadership Development Council and has formerly served externally on the Red Cross Community Board and the Moss Point Mayor’s Advisory Committee. Tequila Smith, COVANTA Tequila Smith serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer for Covanta, a leader in sustainable materials management and a premier provider of environmental solutions benefitting businesses and communities across North America. In her role, Tequila is responsible for the repositioning and execution of Covanta’s sustainability strategy where her efforts will be focused on amplifying Covanta’s sustainability achievements through the creation and strategic coordination of ESG programs and initiatives. Prior to joining Covanta, Tequila held engineering and external affairs positions for over two decades in the power generation industry. Most recently, she served as vice president of Sustainability for Georgia Power Company, the largest of the four electric utilities owned and operated by Southern Company, one of the nation’s largest generators of electricity. There, she led the implementation of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy. Prior to her tenure with Georgia Power Company, Tequila was employed by Alabama Power Company where she served as vice president of Charitable Giving, president of the Alabama Power Foundation and executive director of the Alabama Business Charitable Trust Fund and led the company’s philanthropic, volunteerism and community support initiatives. Prior to this, she served as general manager for Renewable Energy Operations at Southern Power. Tequila earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and is an Advisory Board Member of UAB’s School of Engineering. Tequila also holds a Master of Arts in Communication Studies from the University of Alabama focused on organizational leadership. In addition, she is a member of the Board of Directors for the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, Stonehenge Capital Community Development and HudsonAlpha Foundation. Octavais Walton, Corporate Environmental Risk Management (CERM) Octavais Walton serves as the Manager of CERM's Environmental group and has more than 24 years of extensive environmental engineering and environmental management experience with a variety of public and private entities. As CERM’s Environmental Business Group Manager, Mr. Walton is responsible for the administrative and technical operations for the Environmental Group to include client and project engagements, planning and scheduling, acquisition and management, work quality, work accuracy and completeness, training, and technical and administrative guidance. He holds a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering with a minor in Environmental Science from Auburn University, and an MBA with a cognate in Operations Management from Liberty University. Demitrius Davis, ENTERGY Demitrius Davis became vice president, operations support, in August 2020. In this capacity, he is responsible for all technical and commercial support functions required to safely operate, maintain and optimize the performance of power generation’s fleet. Power generation technical areas under his responsibility include outage and project support, fleet maintenance and engineering, compliance and risk, fleet training, chemistry, environmental support, asset management and decommissioning and commercial excellence. Davis joined the company from Southern Nuclear, where he was fleet outage services director. In that role, his team was responsible for managing fleet outage management, reactor services, non-destructive examination services, turbine services, dry cask storage and major strategic alliances for southern nuclear. He also was responsible for establishing and maintaining governance, oversight and resolution of emerging fleet and industry issues that challenge nuclear safety, successful execution of refueling outage services activities and used fuel loading outages. Davis holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and a Master of Engineering degree in civil engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He also holds a senior reactor operator certification. Join this exception group of industry leaders and find out what's in store for the future of energy.