2009 FEPA Conference Speakers

E. Russell Braziel is Vice President, Marketing and Sales Chief Technology Officer for BENTEK Energy: Your Source for Energy Market Fundamentals Data and Analysis.

Founded in 1985, BENTEK Energy specializes in bringing companies daily Energy Market Fundamentals that give them the analytical tools and competitive intelligence needed in order to make critical, bottom-line decisions in today's energy marketplace.

Rusty Braziel is one of the most respected authorities in the field of energy information systems. With a background in energy marketing, trading, and software, Mr. Braziel founded Altra Energy Technologies and in the late 1990s grew the company to become the second largest independent software company in Houston, Texas. He was previously Vice President of Business Development for The Williams Companies and Vice President of Energy Marketing and Trading for Texaco. Mr. Braziel holds BBA and MBA degrees in Business and Finance from Stephen F. Austin University.

In January of 2007, Sarah Rogers was named President and CEO of the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council (FRCC). She serves as the Chief Executive Officer over all activities of the FRCC, both statutory and non-statutory.

In her capacity as President and CEO, she also serves on the Regional Entity Management Group (REMG). The REMG is comprised of the presidents, chief executive officers or executive officers of those organizations that have delegation agreements with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. Sarah brings a wealth of experience in the electric utility industry to the FRCC.

Sarah was formerly with Progress Energy for over 22 years where she served in a variety of roles primarily in the electric transmission area. She was promoted to VP - Transmission in 1997 and had responsibility for planning, engineering, construction and maintenance of the transmission grid in NC and SC. In 2000, she was transferred to Progress Energy Florida. In Florida, she was responsible for improving transmission reliability by 25% and safety performance by 900%. In addition, Sarah led the restoration efforts for
transmission following the four hurricanes in 2004 where over 680 transmission structures were severely damaged. In 2005 she took on responsibility for the transmission grids in FL, NC, and SC.

Sarah holds a B.S. Degree from San Diego State University in electrical engineering, and an MBA from Duke University. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in the states of North Carolina and Florida.

Christina Johnson is president of On 3 Public Relations, LLC and has over 20 years experience in the political and communication field through numerous political campaigns and issues management projects throughout the country.

Joseph Mataich has been with the U.S DOT/PHMSA Southern Region office for 7 years and has over 27 years of engineering experience. In Joe’s position as Community Assistance and Technical Services (CATS) Program Manager he promotes public safety, environmental protection, and pipeline reliability by facilitating communications among all pipeline stakeholders. Prior to the CATS position, Joe worked as an Inspector/General Engineer in the Southern Region where he conducted standard inspections, operator qualification (OQ) inspections and incident/accident investigations of hazardous liquid and natural gas pipeline systems. Joe earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University. Joe has been an active member of NACE International for over 27 years, is a NACE Certified Cathodic Protection Specialist and a Registered Professional Corrosion Engineer (PE) in the state of California.