Panelist Bios
DIEDRE ALTOBELL | Chief Engineer, Transmission Planning, Con Edison of New York
As Chief Engineer of Con Edison’s Transmission Planning Department, Ms. Altobell is responsible for designing the necessary electric infrastructure to reliably transition New York City to a clean energy future. In her role she has provided thoughtful leadership as the State promotes its efforts to adopt clean energy initiatives, providing guidance to her team as they support Con Edison’s Clean Energy Commitment, optimizing system interconnections to facilitate meeting New York State’s ambitious clean energy goals including Offshore Wind.
Prior to joining Con Edison’s Transmission Planning team, Ms.. Altobell was the Director of Electricity Supply as well as the Director at Con Edison’s Utility of the Future team pursuing the integration of DERs and other new innovative technologies. Ms. Altobell has been with Con Edison for over 30 years, previously serving as Director of its Resource Planning Department that developed daily and long-term forecasts for the electric, gas, and steam systems of New York City and the surrounding boroughs, and performed analytical studies related to the reliability and economics of the bulk power system.
Ms. Altobell is one of the Company’s subject matter experts in wholesale market design, representing Con Edison at numerous NYISO stakeholder governance processes, chairing both the Business Issues Committee and the Management Committee. Early in her career she served as a Senior Policy Advisor promoting changes to state and federal regulatory policies, developing market intelligence, and evaluating arbitrage opportunities across the region.
Ms. Altobell also spent some time in operating positions at Con Edison in its Energy Control Center economically dispatching generation to meet system load, and as a maintenance field supervisor in Con Edison’s now divested power plants, providing technical support during the overhauls of various steam turbines and electric generators.
Ms. Altobell is a graduate of Columbia University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering.
SHAUN JOHNSON | Director, Market Design, NYISO
Shaun Johnson has been working in the energy industry for over 20 years. Shaun rejoined the NYISO as the Director of Market Mitigation and Analysis in 2014; responsible for implementing the NYISO’s market mitigation measures and working collaboratively with the NYISO’s external Market Monitoring Unit. Most recently Shaun has taken the position of Director of Market Solutions with the NYISO; responsible for leading the initiatives to help NYISO’s markets harmonize with the grid of the future.
CARL MAS | Vice President for Policy, Analysis & Research, NYSERDA
Serving as an integral member of NYSERDA’s Executive Team, Carl is a subject matter expert and strategic thought-partner responsible for providing executive level direction and management oversight of policy analysis & development, energy market monitoring, and environmental & social science research. Previously Carl directed NYSERDA’s Energy and Environmental Analysis Department with responsibility over state energy planning including the Authority’s efforts with respect to the NYS Greenhouse Gas Inventory, multi-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative program reviews, the New York State Energy Plan, and the Climate Action Council’s Scoping Plan.
Carl has served as a Senior Advisor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office through an intergovernmental appointment. In this role, Carl provided support for the Building a Better Grid Initiative, focused on the National Transmission Planning Study & the Transmission Facilitation Program, as well as the NARUC-NASEO joint task force on Comprehensive Electricity Planning. In recognition of this work, Carl was honored with a 2024 ESIG Excellence Award.
Carl has also served as a Manager at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, as a researcher at two U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories and in other positions in the renewable energy space.
Carl received a dual Masters in Science from the University of California, Berkeley, in Mechanical Engineering and Energy & Resources.
TAMMY MITCHELL | Director of the Office of Energy System Planning & Performance,
NYS Dept of Public Service
Tammy is responsible for overseeing New York State’s electric, natural gas, and steam systems in areas including safety, reliability, siting, planning, and operations.
Ms. Mitchell has been with the Department of Public Service for over 30 years. Throughout her career, she has held various leadership positions within the Department and served as an Assistant to the Commissioners. Ms. Mitchell has participated in numerous proceedings related to utility regulatory and policy matters and has testified before the Public Service Commission as an expert witness. She served four years as a Director of the Northeast Power Coordinating Council and currently serves as the Alternate representing the Chair of the New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment.
Ms. Mitchell holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Master of Business Administration degree from the State University of New York at Albany.
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