Our Team

Executive

Bruce Biewald

Chief Executive Officer and Founder

Tim Woolf

Senior Vice President, Consulting

MJ Jensen

Vice President of Finance and Operations

Robert Fagan

Vice President

Dr. Asa Hopkins

Vice President

Jean Ann Ramey

Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of Business Management

Consultants

Divita Bhandari

Senior Associate

Dr. Erin Camp

Senior Associate

Max Chang

Principal Associate

Philip Eash-Gates

Senior Associate

Jason Frost

Research Associate

Nathan Garner

Research Associate

Devi Glick

Senior Associate

Danielle Goldberg

Associate

James Hall

Associate

Ben Havumaki

Associate

Doug Hurley

Principal Associate

Jennifer Kallay

Senior Associate

Patrick Knight

Principal Associate

Shelley Kwok

Research Associate

Courtney Lane

Senior Associate

Dr. Steve Letendre

Principal Associate

Erin Malone

Senior Associate

Alice Napoleon

Senior Associate

Caitlin Odom

Research Associate

Cheryl Roberto

Senior Principal

Sam Shen

Principal Bass

Kenji Takahashi

Senior Associate

Dr. Thomas Vitolo

Senior Associate

Dr. David E. White

Principal Associate

Melissa Whited

Principal Associate

Rachel Wilson

Principal Associate

Operations & Communications

Erin Ash

Senior Operations Lead

Janice Conyers

Office Administration

Eunice Depeña

Senior Accountant

Andrew Grandahl

Communications and Business Development Associate

Jenny Marusiak

Marketing and Proposal Manager

Bruce Biewald

Bruce Biewald is the founder and CEO of Synapse Energy Economics, a research and consulting firm specializing in energy, economic, and environmental topics. Since its inception in 1996, Synapse has grown to become a leader in providing rigorous analysis of the electric power sector for public interest and governmental clients.

Tim Woolf

Tim Woolf has more than 30 years of experience analyzing technical and economic aspects of energy and environmental issues. Before returning to Synapse in 2011, he served four years as a commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU), where he played a leading role in developing the Commonwealth’s aggressive clean energy policies.

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MJ Jensen

MJ Jensen is the Vice President of Finance and Operations at Synapse Energy Economics, where she oversees all aspects of finance and administration, including accounting, human resources, information technology, and facilities. Ms. Jensen oversees the administration team and assists in the development, tracking, and achievement of current and long-term organization goals, objectives, policies, and procedures.

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Robert Fagan

Bob Fagan is a mechanical engineer and energy economics analyst who has analyzed energy industry issues for more than 25 years. His activities focus on many aspects of the electric power industry, in particular: Economic and technical analysis of electric supply and delivery systems; wholesale and retail electricity provision; energy and capacity market structures; renewable resource alternatives, including on-shore and off-shore wind and solar PV; and assessment and implementation of energy efficiency and demand response alternatives.

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Dr. Asa Hopkins

Asa Hopkins, PhD, is an expert in the development and analysis of public policy and regulation regarding energy and greenhouse gas emissions, including cost-benefit analysis, stakeholder engagement, state energy strategy and planning, and utility planning. He has provided analysis and testimony supporting decision-makers in both legislative and regulatory contexts, including state utility regulation and state and federal rulemaking. Since arriving at Synapse in 2017, Dr. Hopkins has focused on utility and demand-side issues, including demand response in Quebec, rate design in Massachusetts, and utility performance metrics in Puerto Rico, as well as multi-state analysis of strategic end-use electrification across the Northeast region.

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Jean Ann Ramey

Jean Ann Ramey is a co-founder of the energy and environmental consulting firm Synapse Energy Economics. She is also founder and executive director of Climable.org, where she directs and supports projects focused on the impacts of energy use and climate change.

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Divita Bhandari

Divita Bhandari provides research and consulting services on a wide range of energy and electricity issues. Prior to joining Synapse, she worked at DNV GL quantifying the energy savings impacts associated with energy efficiency and demand response programs.

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Dr. Erin Camp

Dr. Erin Camp provides research and consulting services on a wide range of energy and electricity issues. She performs project management, data analysis and modeling, energy policy and economics research, and computer programming.

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Max Chang

Max Chang provides economic analysis of technologies and policies, performs electricity policy modeling, evaluates distribution system infrastructure, and evaluates air emissions of electricity generation. His projects at Synapse have focused on energy efficiency, consumer advocacy, environmental compliance, nuclear costs and risks, distribution system investments, and technology strategy within the energy industry.

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Philip Eash-Gates

Philip Eash-Gates joined Synapse as a Senior Associate in October 2019. He is a sustainability professional with a decade of leadership experience creating cost-effective policies and programs to mitigate climate change, strengthen local economies, and create resilient infrastructure.

Jason Frost

Jason Frost provides consulting and research services on a wide range of issues related to the electric industry. He recently earned his BS in Physics from Stanford University where he modeled optimal charging of electric vehicles on campus.

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Nathan Garner

Nathan Garner joined Synapse in 2019 as a Research Associate, where he focuses on benefit-cost modeling, wholesale electricity markets, and process automation.

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Devi Glick

Devi Glick provides consulting and research services on a wide range of energy and electricity issues. Prior to joining Synapse, she worked at Rocky Mountain Institute as a Senior Associate on their Electricity and Energy Access programs.

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Danielle Goldberg

Danielle Goldberg provides consulting and research services on a wide range of issues related to the energy sector. Prior to joining Synapse, Ms. Goldberg worked at Helping Overcome Obstacles Peru as an English teacher and school coordinator. Her experience also includes Co-ops with Amphenol Alden Products, Bose Corporation, and Allen Medical Systems. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University.

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James Hall

Jamie Hall has consulting and research experience on a range of topics in the energy sector, including: rate design, distributed energy resource (DER) policy, GDP and employment impact modeling, LMP markets, microgrids, and load forecasting. He has experience with econometric analyses, Excel modeling, and data analysis in a variety of software including R, MATLAB, and Stata.

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Ben Havumaki

Ben Havumaki consults on topics including benefit-cost analysis, industry restructuring, and rate design. Recent work has focused on the impacts of the increasing share of distributed energy resources in the electric power system, emphasizing new ratemaking approaches to maximize benefits on both sides of the meter.

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Doug Hurley

Doug Hurley assists Synapse’s clients in navigating the labyrinth of ISO and RTO market rules, especially regarding the participation of energy efficiency and distributed generation in wholesale capacity markets. His work includes representing the interests of consumer advocate, environmental, and renewable resource clients at numerous ISO-NE and PJM stakeholder meetings.

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Jennifer Kallay

Jenn Kallay has more than a decade of professional experience analyzing the benefits and costs of energy efficiency efforts for jurisdictions in the United States and Canada. Her work entails reviewing different regulatory approaches to spur energy efficiency; assessing the ability of utility energy efficiency plans to tap into cost-effective potential; evaluating energy efficiency components of integrated resource plans; researching best practice program designs and policies; analyzing energy efficiency as an alternative to new power plants; reviewing methods to account for energy efficiency in system planning; and conducting rate and bill impact, participant, and cost effectiveness analyses.

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Patrick Knight

Patrick Knight performs consulting, conducts research, and assists in writing testimony and reports for Synapse. Much of his work focuses on analysis and modeling of the New England electric system in light of new and existing laws and regulations, as well as U.S. coal unit economics and resources to displace coal units’ capacity, generation, and emissions. He plays a lead role in projects assisting New England energy efficiency program administrators participate in the Forward Capacity Market and analyzes the performance of energy efficiency plans and programs. Mr. Knight’s recent work has included developing free, open-source tools for assisting policymakers’ analysis of the national electric system.

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Shelley Kwok

Shelley Kwok is an experienced modeler with a background in utilizing software to illustrate complex data sets. At Synapse, she has developed Excel-based spreadsheet models to conduct cash flow analyses, performs electric sector capacity expansion modeling, and has contributed to reports and comments analyzing numerous IRP processes across the U.S. and Canada.

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Courtney Lane

Courtney Lane is an energy and environmental policy expert with over 15 years of experience in clean energy policy and electric markets. Her areas of expertise include policy and regulatory analysis, utility business models, performance incentive mechanisms, energy efficiency, wind energy, solar energy, and electricity markets.

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Dr. Steve Letendre

Steve Letendre, PhD, joined Synapse in 2019. He provides economic and policy analysis of technology solutions to clients seeking to accelerate the transition to clean energy.

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Erin Malone

Erin Malone specializes in assessing energy efficiency policy, program design, and implementation. Since joining Synapse in early 2012, much of her work has focused on energy efficiency cost-effectiveness, rate and bill impacts, participation analysis, and best practices for energy efficiency.

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Alice Napoleon

Alice Napoleon is an electric system policy analyst focusing on review of energy efficiency program design, administration, cost recovery, and cost-benefit analysis. In her 12 years at Synapse Energy Economics, she has co-authored dozens of reports and led major projects for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on quantifying the benefits of clean energy resources and for the U.S. Department of Energy on strategic energy management.

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Caitlin Odom

Caitlin Odom recently joined Synapse as a Research Associate. She has previously worked at Massachusetts Clean Energy Center where she worked on the ACES Program, other energy storage projects, and electric vehicle marketing.

Cheryl Roberto

Cheryl Roberto has more than 30 years of experience in consumer and environmental advocacy and protection, with extensive leadership background in strategic initiatives aimed at modernizing energy infrastructure in the United States using regulatory reform.

Sam Shen

Sam Shen is a bass from China. Shen loves nurturing Synapsters' love of music and collaboration.

Kenji Takahashi

Kenji Takahashi conducts economic, environmental, and policy analysis of electric system technologies, policies, and regulations associated with both supply- and demand-side resources. He has extensive experience in the analysis of integrated resource plans, load forecast, renewable energy policies, distributed generation, demand response, and electric and gas energy efficiency measures and programs.

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Dr. Thomas Vitolo

Tommy Vitolo is a senior associate at Synapse. He has more than 11 years of professional experience as a consultant, researcher, and analyst. Since joining Synapse in 2011, Dr. Vitolo has focused both on deeply technical issues requiring statistical analysis, computer simulation modeling, and stochastics, and on issues for which decisions are ultimately made by publicly elected officials.

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Dr. David E. White

David White has analyzed energy systems and been involved with computer modeling since the mid 1970s. A longtime consultant for Synapse, he officially joined as a Principal Associate in 2016. His work at Synapse focuses on the technical analysis and modeling of electric system operations and expansion, electricity industry regulation, demand and price forecasting, energy efficiency programs, renewable resource technologies, and clean air regulations and policies.

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Melissa Whited

Melissa Whited specializes in issues related to utility regulation and rate design, particularly in response to fundamental changes in the electricity industry spurred by declining energy use and rapidly increasing penetration of distributed energy resources. Ms. Whited consults on the tools to effectively address these changes, including performance-based regulation, revenue decoupling mechanisms, and innovative rate design.

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Rachel Wilson

Rachel Wilson conducts research and writes testimony and other publications relating to the policies and economics of energy systems and emissions regulations. She performs analyses of electric power systems using industry-standard optimization and electric dispatch models in support of a wide range of projects. Her work at Synapse focuses on power plant economics, utility Integrated Resource Planning (IRP), compliance with environmental regulations, and evaluation of the need for new energy infrastructure.

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Erin Ash

Erin Ash joined Synapse as the Operations Lead in 2016. She oversees the project lifecycle process including contract administration, project set-up and maintenance, resource allocation, project health reporting and forecasting, project closure and client follow-up, and time and expense system management.

Janice Conyers

Janice Conyers is an office administrator with Synapse Energy Economics. She has over 20 years of administrative and professional experience.

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Eunice Depeña

Eunice Depeña is a senior accountant with Synapse Energy Economics. She has over 20 years of experience in the accounting field.

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Andrew Grandahl

Andrew Grandahl joined Synapse in 2018. He is responsible for publishing Synapse work online, drafting and editing internal and external communications, helping to create and refine business processes, and assisting with hiring. He also writes, edits, produces, and conducts interviews for the Synapse podcast Behind the Switch, a collaboration with Climable.org.

Jenny Marusiak

Jenny Marusiak joined Synapse as the marketing and proposal manager in 2014. She oversees the firm’s proposal process from lead identification to proposal development and contracting, and also manages marketing projects and activities.

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