Curriculum Vitae
Executive Director
Crimson Rouge Studios, Inc.
March 2019 - October 2024 | Multiple locations in US & Canada
Founded this 501(c)3 nonprofit in Montréal and then in Portland that has evolved into a STEAM-focused social and support organization, bringing together Queer (i.e. LGBT) folks and Allies across North America through production of spectacular events, knowledge sharing and educational programming, mentoring and professional development, housing cooperative and mutual aid service in 4 locations between the US and Canada.
Inspired by QueerTech in Montréal, this social network brings together Queer folks and Allies throughout North America, to produce spectacular events and educational programs that inspire and engage with the general public on a broad array of sciences, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM), empowering individuals outside academia and industry that possess a curiosity that drives them to learn more — especially as technological developments occur with increasing rapidity and deeper entrenchment in our everyday lives.
Bringing people together to create and share magical moments, we pilot and deploy emerging technologies to create daring and novel events, constructing spaces that inspire learning and collective wonder, free the imagination, and unlock a change of connection to the world.
Managed 5 co-directors comprising the Crimson Rouge Studios Admin Collective
Built and maintained organization website to attract new members and sponsors, augment guests’ experience in key events, facilitate interaction among Collective members throughout North America, archive corporate documentation, orderly facilitate collaborative work processes and shared productivity tools, host webinar events, and showcase the creations of our members and affiliated artists
Produced annual Community Impact Report for sponsors, donors, stakeholders, and the general public, summarizing the organization's productions, finances, operations, and accomplishments
Established long-term strategic relationships with local foundations, legacy nonprofit organizations, Queer/LGBT groups, educational institutions, corporate philanthropy, etc. in Portland, Montreal, Louisiana, and Columbus
Developed and executed several community events and joint projects that have evolved into annual productions - e.g. Phantasm Retreat, Into The Weeds skillshare conference, Pride Hacks
Invention, product development, and sales of “WANDA” - Wireless Audio Nighttime Dance Assistant - a musical wand made to empower and improve visibility for pedestrians
Design, implementation, and product design for several simple mobile apps (habit tracker, sexual health journal, Street-SMART)
Operations Engineer
Transmission Reliability & Substation Maintenance
Central Louisiana Electric Company (CLECO)
June 2021 - June 2022 | Pineville, Louisiana, USA
Responsible for planning maintenance and emergency restoration activities for transmission and distribution substations throughout central Louisiana, in order to optimize performance. reliability, and service life of critical T&D assets, especially following extreme weather phenomena and adverse system events.
Supervised a 4-person construction crew of specialists and laborers on a variety of substation repair activities throughout the CLECO transmission system
Coordinated substation commissioning activities with high-voltage equipment specialists, relay technicians, and grid operators
Developed and refined asset management processes in SAP for tracking O&M costs, material reservations, spare parts, and standardization of components
Coordinated outages with transmission operations to safely facilitate construction activities while minimizing transmission system downtime, in order to improve overall system availability and reliability
Authored capacitor bank maintenance procedures for diagnosing and monitoring the condition of CLECO's substation capacitor banks
Kitchen Assistant
The Olde Oak
April - June 2021 | Columbus, Ohio, USA
Food preparation, cleaning, and line cook support for neighborhood pub, emerging from the end of COVID-19 shutdowns
Staff Engineer
Transmission Operations
Portland General Electric (PGE)
June 2020 - January 2021 | Portland, Oregon, USA
Performed engineering analysis and real-time support, maintained and analyzed network models, and provided operational recommendations, impacting real-time current flows and parameters throughout Oregon’s high-voltage (HV) electric transmission system.
Worked with grid operators, neighboring utilities, and regulatory agencies to ensure safe/reliable operating conditions for the bulk transmission system, notably during the 2020 Oregon wildfires
Routinely performed network analysis of transmission system, to forecast and mitigate potential system operating limit violations, coordinate outages with neighboring utilities, etc.
Performed contingency analysis of transmission system, to identify worst-case scenarios for system planners to address through potential infrastructure improvements
Produced weekly outage and transmission operations reports to internal T&D staff and compliance officers
Provided technical support to aid in field operations, switching procedures, and outage restoration
Program Manager
Electric Transmission & Distribution
Centre for Energy Advancement through Technological Innovation (CEATI)
February 2018 - March 2019 | Montréal, Québec, Canada
Drove business development and technical agenda for the Centre for Energy Advancement through Technological Innovation (CEATI), an advanced research consortium of 200+ collaborating electric power companies around the world. Managed T&D research portfolio to test and apply new technologies on the T&D system, and to share findings with the electric power industry.
Managed Power Systems Planning & Operations program, to improve transmission interconnection processes between utilities, regulatory agencies, and customers, and to help utilities interconnect rapidly emerging distributed energy resources (DER)
Managed Grounding & Lightning program, to improve grounding, lightning protection, and insulation practices at substations and transmission/distribution lines
Managed Protection & Control program, focused on adopting and refining modern protection standards IEC 61850 in a fully integrated “digital substation.”
Partnered with several dozen utilities around the world to develop asset management solutions for overhead lines, underground facilities, and substation equipment
Investigated electrical interference issues between transmission lines and adjacent underground pipelines.
Assembled industry experts and coordinated investigation of unusual equipment failures, software issues, etc. identified by member utilities. Presented research findings and conclusions to utility sponsors, prospective clients, and technical committees.
Senior Engineer
Substation Equipment Standards
American Electric Power (AEP)
November 2012 - November 2016 | Columbus, Ohio, USA
Responsible for overall safe/reliable operation of substation equipment rated up to 765 kV. Developed and maintained specifications, test standards, application guides, and design/engineering modules for HV substation equipment throughout the AEP T&D system. Established engineering specifications, continuous improvement processes, and corporate best practices for equipment design, installation, and operation.
Subject matter expert in the areas of station DC supply (batteries, chargers), grid-connected energy storage facilities, transformers, surge protective equipment, and capacitor banks. Experienced with circuit breakers, flexible AC transmission (FACTS) devices, HVDC facility design, remote asset health monitoring, and grid-connected energy storage facility design.
Witnessed factory type testing of new substation equipment models, approved for use on the AEP system
Served on several IEEE and IEC standards committees, to harmonize and modernize equipment testing standards and design/application guides
Specified and installed remote diagnostics for monitoring substation equipment in real time; co-developed enterprise-wise asset management suite for AEP system
Diagnosed equipment failures and malfunctions, occasionally in partnership with manufacturer and third-party high-voltage labs
Developed new substation capacitor bank design with remote diagnostics/monitoring, to aid in identifying and addressing equipment degradation prior to failure
Routinely performed site visits and facility inspections of energized electrical substations
Collaborated with field personnel to develop standardized commissioning procedures for substation equipment
Communicated changes in equipment design throughout substation engineering, field personnel, project managers, and other stakeholders
Technical Editor
Centre for Energy Advancement through Technological Innovation (CEATI)
May 2010 - June 2012 | Montréal, Québec, Canada
Revised research publications for grammar, readability, legality issues, and technical coherence for an electric utility research consortium. Subject matter includes transmission and distribution asset management, sustainable generation, power system operations, system monitoring software, consumer-level services, and dam safety.
Graduate Research Assistant
Electric Energy Systems Laboratory
McGill University
September 2009 - September 2011 | Montréal, Québec, Canada
Investigated the impacts of distributed energy resources on electric power system operations, with particular focus on distribution system modeling and DER impacts on equipment life and protection system response.
Built and simulated various distributed generation and power conversion equipment models, for application in designing wind and solar facilities, and researched protection relays to understand their role in forming stable microgrids. Performed hardware-in-loop power systems simulations, to test various relay packages for protection system response with distributed energy resources (DER).
Collaborated with Hydro-Québec distribution engineers to develop benchmark electrical system models for DER integration studies. Studied various topologies and distribution system types (e.g. rural, suburban, urban) to develop consistent procedures to aggregate utility’s raw data and easily generate local benchmark system models for a particular region’s distribution grid.
Developed expertise in power electronics design/integration, power systems planning and operations, HVDC system design, FACTS devices, energy markets, circuit simulation. Experienced in computational programming (e.g. MATLAB, C++, Excel) for rapidly sorting and analyzing large amounts of raw asset data.
Social Events Coordinator
Queer McGill
Students' Society of McGill University
September 2009 - May 2010 | Montréal, Québec, Canada
Organized social events for Queer McGill, the umbrella queer student society at McGill University, in order to facilitate positive interactions and networking among a diverse population of queer (e.g. gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) students and allies at McGill and throughout the Montreal community.
Coordinated events ranging from small-scale mixers (e.g. board game nights, field trips) to large dance parties and weekend retreats, with a strategic focus on using small weekly events to establish a consistent communal presence and to maintain a robust and engaged general membership.
Electrical Engineering Intern
Defense Research Associates, Inc.
September 2008 - June 2009 | Dayton, Ohio, USA
Researched and developed innovative methods of extracting energy locally from various available sources for a variety of covert military applications, including small surveillance drones. Tested and researched designs for a power supply that "siphons" energy from atop a high-voltage power line by absorbing the line's stray inductive losses wirelessly via inductive coupling.