Clean Tech in Rail, Automotive and Energy

The Clean Tech industry is composed of a variety of business segments, applications and technologies. Many business students are thriving to understand the mix and find out ways how to enter and build a promising professional career in it.

Please join us to welcome this year's energy trek from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in its effort to build clean tech expertise and meet successful players in the industry.

We've assembled an outstanding mix of presentations by Clean Tech Pioneers and Professionals known in Electronic Rail and Automotive Transportation as well as Clean Energy Supply.

Rod Diridon, the "father of modern transit service in Silicon Valley", executive and political leader will take us on an exciting tour about the high-speed project currently evolving in California.

Robert Garzee, clean tech pioneer, entrepreneur and political advisor will lead us through a clean tech automotive transportation incubator with a unique concept of using synergies across a variety of technologies and applications found in green transportation.

Jeff Hamel, energy researcher and clean tech advocate will challenge our acceptance of the notion of clean tech for modular nuclear power generation concepts currently being developed at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

Uday Mathur, Principal in the Renewable Energy Emerging Clean Technology Group at Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) Company and alumnus of Kellogg, will explain us more about utility - scale renewable energy, the state of the "renewables" union in California, and PG&E's role in it. 

Join us at McCormick and Kuleto with its Panoramic Views of the San Francisco Bay, Angel Island, Alcatraz, and Aquatic Park to welcome and network with Students participating in this Year's Energy Trek from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Chicago. Learn from First - Class Panelists about Clean Tech Rail Transportation in High Speed, Green Tech Automotive Transportation as well as Smart and Clean Concepts employed in our Power Grids. Our Presenters are:

  Rod Diridon - Clean Tech Rail Pioneer, Executive, and Political Leader 

Rod Diridon, the son of an immigrant Italian railroad brakeman, is called the “father of modern transit service in Silicon Valley.” Raised in Dunsmuir, California, he worked his way through college on the railroad receiving a BS in accounting and MSBA in statistics from San Jose State University. His political career began in 1971 as the youngest person ever elected to the Saratoga City Council. He retired in 1995 because of term limits, after completing 20 years and six terms as chair of both the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and Transit Board. He is the only person to have chaired the San Francisco Bay Area’s (nine counties, 110 cities, 27 transit agencies) three regional governments:

the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and the Association of Bay Area Governments. In 1992 he convened the “Bay Vision 20/20 Commission” to merge those regional bodies.

Rod has chaired more than 100 international, national, state and local programs, most related to transit and the environment. He served in 1992 as the chair of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) in Washington DC and for five years as North American vice chair of the International Transit Association (UITP) in Brussels. He advised the Federal Transit Administration and in 1995 chaired the National Research Council’s Transportation Research Board’s Transit Oversight and Project Selection Committee. Rod founded and chaired the Transportation Research Board's study panel on “Combating Global Warming Through Sustainable Transportation Policy.” He is frequently asked to provide legislative testimony. 

Promoting international understanding, Diridon founded Sister County Commissions with the Province of Florence, Italy and Region of Moscow, Russia. He promoted the expansion of the county’s parks from less than 500 acres to more than 40,000 acres and co-chaired four parks-funding campaigns during his tenure. He’s provided sustainability keynotes, especially for high speed rail, in more than 50 US cities and a dozen countries and published numerous related articles.

Rod is on the regional boards of directors of the Wells Fargo Bank and the corporate board of Empire Broadcasting Company. In 1969 he founded the Decision Research Institute, which he sold in 1977, where he developed a “shared survey” research procedure later adopted by the United Nations.

In 1976, Rod chaired the state’s first successful half-cent sales tax for transit and subsequently chaired five successful regional transportation financing elections and a statewide transportation bond election. He has chaired nine major rail-related studies and construction projects. He was appointed in 2001 and reappointed in 2006, by Governors Davis and Schwarzenegger respectively, to the California High Speed Rail Authority Board, of which he is chair emeritus. He is also chair of the APTA’s High Speed and Intercity Rail Committee.

Rod is president and founder of the California Trolley and Railroad Corporation, chairs the area's League of Conservation Voters, is San Jose Rotary president-elect, Breathe Cal president, Lincoln Law School trustee and a member of other service groups.

He is especially proud of son Rod, Jr. (a two-term Santa Clara City Council member and vice mayor recently reelected city clerk/auditor) and daughter Mary Margaret (director of counseling for the Silicon Valley YWCAs). His wife, Dr. Gloria Duffy, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense managing nuclear disarmament negotiations, is now the president/CEO of the Commonwealth Club of California. Rod, Sr. is now the executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) created by Congress in 1991. He recently concluded a term as president of the national Council of University Transportation Centers.

After college Rod was a naval officer with two Vietnam combat tours. He was chosen one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of America in 1972, has been listed in Who’s Who in America since 1974 and was named one of the ten most influential Silicon Valley leaders in 1990. He was recently named one of the “Millennium 100” who contributed most to the success of Silicon Valley in the past millennium. In 2004 he was named by the international “Metro Magazine” as one of the 50 who most influenced transit in North America in the last 100 years. He also received the top service awards from the American Public Transportation Association, national High Speed Ground Transportation Association and others. Upon his retirement from elected office in 1994, the historic Amtrak/CalTrain station in San Jose was renamed the San Jose Diridon Station in his honor. He has received numerous other awards and citations.

  Bob Garzee - Clean Tech Automotive Transportation Pioneer and Entrepreneur

Bob founded Synergy EV, Inc. in 1994 and the Electronic Transportation Development Center (ETDC) in 2003.  He became the Senior Board Member of the Silicon Valley Clean Cities Coalition in 2005. He founded and has managed the ETDC since it inception and considers it the Silicon Valley’s “Center of Excellence of Green Transportation”. He recently incorporated Silicon Valley Edition, Inc. that will be the ETDC’s investment arm into Silicon Valley Green Transportation firms.

Bob earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from California State University in Arcata and a Masters of Business Administration from Cal State one year later. He then joined the IBM Corporation as a Systems Engineer and went on to hold the positions of Marketing Representative, National Industry Consultant and Silicon Valley Area Manager in Palo Alto.

Bob has over 40 years experience in executive management in the technical and transportation and engineering fields. He became the CEO of a $70M firm in the Bay Area and then the founder of two Silicon Valley software development firms. He was Congressman Richard Pombo’s Technical Advisor in Silicon Valley and received the American Lung Association and Breathe California Clean Industry Transportation Leadership awards. 

Bob has participated in numerous radio and television programs on why Silicon Valley can be the Americas Leader is Alternative Fuel Development and after 6 years in downtown San Jose recently opened a new ETDC Business Support Center at Club Auto Sport. His ETDC organization has been patterned after the Center of Excellence structure including Public-Private groups including Technology companies, Health Organizations, Clean Cities Coalitions, major Municipalities, Order Financing Firms, San Jose State University, and major prototyping facilities, etc.

Bob is the Silicon Valley HD Project Manager for the California Energy Commission Grant proposal and will run the Proterra, AAraya-Optony and Energy Sales shop location at the current Electronic Transportation Development Center in San Jose.  He is the HD Grants Silicon Valley Industry Interface to the General Services Fleet (Box Truck), School Bus Districts and Refuse Truck Operators project. He is the Manager of the Center of Excellence facility.

  Jeff Hamel - Energy Researcher and Clean Tech Advocate

Jeffrey Hamel is a Senior Project Manager in the Advanced Nuclear Technology program area of the Nuclear Power Sector. His current research activities focus on supporting deployment of advanced nuclear plants in the near-term, while promoting areas of research to support long-term nuclear sustainability and growth. Specifically, he oversees research on near-term deployment of advanced light water reactor nuclear plants, development of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) GEN IV technology, and technical and commercial support for an integrated spent fuel management strategy. He joined EPRI in 2007.  

Before joining EPRI, Mr. Hamel worked at General Electric as the Manager of Specialty Projects and was responsible for managing and leading new growth for GE’s nuclear business, particularly in PWR and spent fuel services. In addition, while at GE, Mr. Hamel supported the commercial development of new nuclear power plant projects both domestically and internationally, including development of key engineering, mechanical and electrical equipment, construction and installation suppliers worldwide necessary for project execution.  

Mr. Hamel received a BS degree in marine transportation from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, along with his U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Marine License and U.S. Navy Reserve Commission. He received his MBA degree from Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.

Uday Mathur - Emerging Clean Technology, Pacific Gas & Electric Company

Uday Mathur joined Pacific Gas and Electric Company in 2006 and is a Principal in the Renewable Energy-Emerging Clean Technology group, where his responsibilities include working with industry participants to advance new utility-scale renewable energy technologies.  Mr. Mathur led the initial design and development of PG&E’s innovative WaveConnect program, which is intended to launch the wave energy industry in California.  Additionally, Mr. Mathur negotiates power purchase agreements with independent power producers to help expand PG&E’s clean energy portfolio.  Prior to PG&E, Mr. Mathur spearheaded a broad range of successful new business initiatives in the broadband, medical device, and satellite communications industries. 

Mr. Mathur holds degrees in electrical engineering from UC Berkeley and the University of Southern California, and an MBA from Northwestern University.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to 15 million people in northern and central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/about/.

Wednesday, March 17th

7:00-8:30pm Presentations and Discussion

8:30-9:00pm Networking and Wrap-Up

Produced by:

Bert Taube, Clean Tech/Energy Affinity Chair