SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct. 24, 2023 - Strategen Consulting, Inc. has named Matthew McDonnell and Edward Burgess as new firm partners.

"Matt and Ed are respected, well-known thought leaders in the clean energy space nationally. We are truly blessed to have them as our newest Partners," Janice Lin, Strategen Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said. "Their unique perspectives and skills will help us continue to grow and evolve as an organization operating at the leading edge of the clean energy transition."

Matt has been named Partner and Executive Vice President, Head of Consulting Services. He previously served as Commission Counsel at the Hawai'i Public Utilities Commission (HPUC). In this role, he supported the thought leadership, organization, and execution for critical projects from advanced Distributed Energy Resources (DER) program design, to establishing a statewide community solar framework, to articulating guidance for innovative grid modernization that earned the Hawaiian Electric Companies SEPA's 2018 Utility of the Year award. Matt also led the HPUC's investigation into performance-based regulation as process architect, project manager, and thought leader. He designed a regulatory process approach that won broad support from local stakeholders and national acclaim. After leaving the HPUC, Matt spent time at Navigant, now known as Guidehouse.

He is licensed to practice law in Arizona and Hawaii. He earned a Juris Doctor from the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona and a B.A. in Finance from Michigan State University.

"I'm honored to be a part of the Strategen team, and I look forward to continuing to contribute to Strategen's growth and evolution in this new capacity," McDonnell said. "Strategen is deeply engaged across a number of innovative and critical domains within the energy transition – including, clean energy systems planning and emerging technologies, DER integration and rate design, as well as regulatory innovation and strategy – and I'm excited about the opportunity to scale our impact alongside continued growth for the organization."

Ed has been named Consulting Partner. He is a leader within Strategen's Consulting Services group, where he oversees a large portion of the firm's utility practice and technical services. This includes work specializing in the evaluation and design of programs and plans to advance the grid integration of renewable energy, energy storage, electric vehicles, and DERs. Ed also helped launch and now serves as Policy Director for the Vehicle-Grid Integration Council. While at Strategen, he has provided expert testimony on more than 27 occasions before 11 state utility commissions on issues including utility resource planning, transmission planning, fuel and power purchase costs, rate design, and electric vehicle programs.

Prior to joining Strategen, Ed worked as an independent consultant, where he provided technical analysis to an Arizona-based law firm and supported the firm's clients in cases before the Arizona Corporation Commission. He also worked at Schlegel & Associates, where his technical analyses on demand-side management policies led to billions of dollars in new energy efficiency investment in Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and several other states. He began his career working on environmental policy at the Environmental Defense Fund in New York.

"I'm passionate about accelerating the clean energy transition, and I'm thankful to have the opportunity to meaningfully engage with a diverse set of clients to help them realize their goals in a manner that is technically sound while optimizing across multiple objectives," Burgess said. "As the policy, regulatory, and market design spheres continue to embrace a transition to clean energy, I expect the demand for Strategen's integrated, multidisciplinary approach to only increase."

Ed earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Princeton University and has two degrees from Arizona State University – Master of Science (M.S.) in Sustainability and Professional Science Master (P.S.M.) of Solar Energy Engineering and Commercialization. At Arizona State, he also helped to launch the university's Energy Policy Innovation Council and Utility of the Future Initiative.

About Strategen Consulting

Strategen Consulting advises and empowers leading organizations — utilities, government agencies, NGOs, and industry clients — to design innovative, practical solutions that capture the promise of a clean energy future, strengthen resilience and adaptability, and are equitable, collaborative, and impactful. Headquartered in Northern California, and with offices across the Western U.S., Strategen's mission-driven experts leverage a global perspective and market-leading capabilities to deliver novel, high-impact, stakeholder-aligned approaches across the policy, regulatory, and market design spheres that sustainably accelerate the deployment of low-carbon energy systems. Strategen's expertise spans corporate strategy, energy system planning, policy and regulatory innovation, and multi-stakeholder engagement. Visit www.strategen.com.

Media Contact:

Todd Zeranski
Director of Marketing
Strategen
tzeranski@strategen.com

SOURCE Strategen Consulting