Women in Energy: Panel Discussion & Networking Reception

All are welcome to join Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability and the Center for Energy, Development, and the Global Environment (EDGE) at Duke's Fuqua School of Business for an event focused on Women in Energy*.

During this conversation, we’ll talk with industry professionals who have several different vantage points on the sector. What have their career journeys been like? What is exciting and challenging about working in the energy sector? What skills should students and young professionals cultivate in order to be successful? And, what can be done on the organizational level to encourage professional development and mentoring in the industry?

Join us! This event is open to guests of any gender, including Duke students, faculty, alumni, energy professionals, and students at other universities.

Panelists to include:

• Regan Fink (MEM/MBA '20), Transmission & Interconnection Policy Manager, Pine Gate Renewables
• Scarlett Harrod (MBA '13), Head of Strategic Deployment, NET Power
• Candise Henry (Ph.D. '18), Senior Energy Specialist, RTI International
• Anastasia Solovaniuk (MBA '18), Lead Product Manager, National Grid
• Alison Taylor (A.B. '83), Climate Leader in Residence, Duke University

This event is aligned with the Duke Climate Commitment, which unites the university’s education, research, operations, and public service missions to address climate challenges.

This is an in-person event with no virtual viewing option.

* The Women in Energy event aims to highlight the perspectives of woman-identified and woman-aligned people in the energy sector.

5:30 - 6:30 p.m. Panel discussion

6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Networking reception

Regan Fink is the transmission & interconnection policy manager at Pine Gate Renewables. For the past two years, she has advocated on behalf of her company on regulatory changes happening at FERC and the RTOs/ISOs where Pine Gate develops, particularly on interconnection reform. Prior to this role, Regan was a Development Associate for almost three years, focusing on Pine Gate’s pipeline strategy and new markets. She graduated from Duke's dual-degree MEM/MBA program with an energy and environment concentration in May 2020 and has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Kenyon College.

Scarlett Harrod is head of strategic deployment at NET Power, where she is focused on commercial origination of novel, utility-scale power generation. Prior to her current role, she held various global roles at ABB and worked in environmental consulting and finance. Scarlett earned her MBA from Duke's Fuqua School of Business and a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. 

Candise Henry is an energy expert and staff manager at RTI International. Her expertise is in energy systems analysis with a focus on understanding the interactions between electricity demand, power generation, and climate variability and extreme weather events. Dr. Henry has been involved in the development of various optimization-based models focused on the energy sector, including linking partial equilibrium with general equilibrium models, developing RTI’s capacity expansion model ALPSS, supporting modeling efforts to compare different power sector model outputs, among others. She completed her Ph.D. in earth sciences at Duke in 2018.

Anastasia Solovaniuk is a lead product manager at National Grid, where she focuses on implementing a new way of managing capital work deployment. Her past work includes diversifying Ukraine's gas supplies while working at Naftogaz, corporate strategy at ABB, and digital transformation at National Grid. Anastasia holds a political science degree from Smith College and a master of business administration degree from the Fuqua School of Business, where she served as co-president of the MBA Energy Club and co-chair of Duke's Energy Week.

Alison Taylor is a climate leader in residence at Duke University and serves on the board of the Nicholas Institute. She previously served as chief sustainability officer at ADM, overseeing the company’s global sustainability strategy and working closely with the Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Committee of ADM's Board of Directors. Her time at ADM followed more than a decade at the global technology company Siemens, where she was vice president and chief sustainability officer of the Americas. Taylor also worked on Capitol Hill as counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, and chief counsel of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. She earned an A.B. in biology from Duke in 1983.