Energy: Fossil Fuel Courses
Instructors
GP’s power plant instructors combine a deep knowledge of the fossil industry
with compelling instructional skills to help drive learning, retention, and a thorough
understanding of course content. Most of our instructors have upwards of 20 years
of hands-on experience in the power industry. You won’t find a more qualified
team for your team than GP.
Select an instructor’s name below to learn more about our staff:
- Operations Knowledge™ Series:
- Performance Knowledge™ Series:
GP’s Instructors
Roger Austin
Senior Training Specialist/Electrical Engineer—Workforce Development
Roger has over 16 years of training experience in the bulk power operations arena.
He is active in the development and delivery of various training programs for plant
personnel and transmission and distribution personnel. He participates in all phases
of bulk power training activities, including program design, materials preparation,
and on-site instruction.
Back to top of page
Bill Ballard
Senior Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Bill has over 30 years of experience in nuclear and fossil power plant chemistry
and operations, safety and environmental compliance, and training. He develops web-based
and instructor-led training programs for GP’s power industry and manufacturing
clients. His work on drinking water treatment for his Masters degree was published
in the Journal of Environmental Engineering. He also presented the
results of his work at the annual conference of the American Chemical Society. He
has instructed all levels of power plant personnel.
Back to top of page
Jeffrey B. Bitner
Manager—Performance Engineering Services
Jeff has over 23 years of experience in fossil power plant performance engineering
projects. He is responsible for carrying out performance tests and analyses of power
plant equipment, providing engineering services for plant betterment projects, troubleshooting
plant operational problems, developing and implementing operator training and qualification
programs, and instructing plant personnel in thermal performance improvement.
Back to top of page
Sandy Bradford
Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Sandy has over 27 years of power plant chemistry, environmental, and training experience.
As an instructor of Fossil Plant Chemistry for Operators, she presents
basic chemistry concepts and plant-related topics such as water treatment, corrosion,
and plant chemistry control to varied audiences at power generation stations. She
has experience in power plant systems chemistry, analytical techniques, chemistry
QA/QC programs, and environmental release monitoring.
Back to top of page
Kristina Brandt
Senior Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Kris has over 23 years of power generation experience in operations and optimization
training, plant management, project management, plant testing, plant operations
and maintenance, and plant diagnostics. She developed the PCS Heat Rate Awareness
for Executives course. Currently, she is active in the presentation and development
of various training and plant operational programs. She is an ASME Performance Monitoring
Committee member, co-author of the Performance Monitoring Guidelines for Steam Power
Plants, and Chair of the ASME Power Division Plant Operations & Maintenance
Committee.
Back to top of page
R. C. Booth
Principal Engineer—Performance Engineering Services
Rich has over 35 years of extensive performance, combustion, and emissions experience.
He has solved combustion-related performance and emissions
problems on a wide size range of industrial and electric utility boilers that include
stoker and pulverized coal-fired units as well as those that use natural gas, heavy
oil, and refuse. His experience includes diagnostic and unit performance testing,
development and implementation of intelligent soot blowing systems, on-site
plant performance assessments, and implementation of software based solutions for
performance and plant equipment condition monitoring.
Back to top of page
Marcus B. Caudill
Manager, Asset Engineering—Performance Engineering Services
Marcus has over 23 years of experience in fossil power plant performance optimization.
He is responsible for implementing equipment condition monitoring systems for early
identification of equipment degradation or failure, and has been involved in performance
testing, analyses and diagnosis of power plant equipment, implementation of performance
improvement programs, and development and presentation of heat rate related training.
He has presented numerous papers on power plant performance and has conducted heat
rate improvement seminars for hundreds of power plant personnel.
Back to top of page
Richard R. DesJardins, PE
Vice President—Performance Engineering Services
Rich has over 25 years of experience assessing and improving power plant performance.
As Vice President of GP’s Performance Engineering Services, he is responsible
for development and deployment of GP’s performance technologies: EtaPRO™
and VirtualPlant™. He has presented numerous papers on power plant performance
and regularly conducts thermal performance seminars. He is a member of the ASME
PTC Performance Monitoring Committee and is a registered professional engineer in
New York State.
Back to top of page
Brian Dodd
Principal Engineer—Performance Engineering Services
Brian has over 28 years of experience in the power industry. He provides engineering
services relative to power plant equipment performance and operation. He also conducts
plant and equipment performance tests, including thermal audits, plant assessments,
and acceptance testing. Brian has worked on projects throughout the US, as well
as in Canada, Korea, Pakistan, and Mexico.
Back to top of page
Ron Griebenow, PE
Director—Energy Services
Ron has over 25 years of experience in power plant performance and operations training
for the electric power industry. His primary focus is mergers, acquisitions, and
partnerships that will help to expand GP’s capabilities in improving performance
and availability of electric power generating facilities. Ron joined GP through
the acquisition of Performance Consulting Services, Inc., where he was the president
and one of the co-founders. He is a member of ASME’s Committee on Qualification
of High Capacity Fossil Fuel Fired Plant Operators (QFO) and a registered professional
engineer in South Carolina.
Back to top of page
Dr. Elmer C. Hansen, PE
Principal Engineer—Performance Engineering Services
Elmer has more than 16 years of experience in the power industry. He provides engineering
configuration and training for on-line condition monitoring software products and
trains the monitoring team staff. Before joining GP, he taught mechanical engineering
at the University of Florida for 19 years and directed a condition monitoring business
for 10 years. He has published many papers on condition monitoring and is a registered
professional engineer in Florida.
Back to top of page
Gregory Hitz
Principal Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Greg has over 30 years of power plant operations and training experience. He is
active in the presentation and development of various training and plant operational
programs. His project management responsibilities include quality assurance for
the development of training and operational materials. He participates in all phases
of fossil, industrial, nuclear, and management training activities, including materials
preparation and on-site instruction.
Back to top of page
Amy Hogevoll
Principal Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Amy has over 27 years of power plant chemistry and training experience. She has
experience in power plant systems chemistry, analytical techniques, chemistry QA/QC
programs, and environmental release monitoring. In addition, Amy is a project management
specialist who directs and participates in the development of custom training materials
for clients. She has extensive experience in all phases of the Systematic Approach
to Training (SAT), including job and task analysis, program and curriculum design,
training material development, classroom/laboratory/on-the-job instruction, task
qualification, and program evaluation. She also provides curriculum design assistance
to GPiLEARN portal clients and facilitates the development of web-based content
for www.GPiLEARN.com.
Back to top of page
Robert Lancaster
Senior Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Bob has more than 27 years of experience in fossil power plant operations, simulator
training, and training program development. He is responsible for developing, presenting,
and evaluating training programs for small and large power stations. His project
management responsibilities include quality assurance for the development of training
and operational materials. He has participated in the design, development, testing,
and implementation of high fidelity simulators for use in the qualification of large
utility control room operators.
Back to top of page
Greg Mallory
Senior Training / Project Management Specialist—Workforce Development
Greg has over 29 years of power plant operations and training experience. He participates
in all phases of fossil fuel training activities, including the development of high
quality training materials and on-site instruction. His project management responsibilities
include project oversight, scheduling, developer coordination, document quality
review, and material final presentation. He is a licensed stationary steam engineer
in Ohio.
Back to top of page
David C. McLaughlin, PE
Corporate Principal Engineer—Performance Engineering Services
Dave has more than 30 years of experience in engineering, operations, and maintenance
projects for fossil power and process industry plants. He is responsible for conducting
performance tests and analyses of power plant equipment, providing root cause analysis
of equipment failures and operating problems, and developing effective solutions.
Dave is an experienced instructor in power plant performance and heat rate improvement.
He is a registered professional engineer in New York State.
Back to top of page
Joseph R. Nasal, PE
Senior Vice President—Energy Services
Joe has more than 38 years of experience in fossil power plant operations, performance
testing and analysis, and engineering. As Senior Vice President of Energy Services,
he is responsible for a multitude of performance improvement products and services
related to heat rate improvement and workforce development. He has presented numerous
papers on heat rate improvement, co-authored two texts on power plant performance,
and has instructed all levels of power plant personnel in the United States and
abroad. He is an active member on the ASME Plant Operations Committee and a registered
professional engineer in New York State.
Back to top of page
Bob Neff
Senior Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Bob has over 20 years of commercial and military power plant operations and training
experience. He is active in the presentation and development of various training
and plant operational materials and programs, and is a licensed boiler operator
in Ohio.
Back to top of page
Daniel Nordmeyer
Principal Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Daniel has over 33 years of power plant experience in the operations, I&C, electrical,
and mechanical maintenance areas. He has developed and conducted training in the
fossil, nuclear, industrial, automotive, and pulp and paper industries. He is active
in the presentation and development of various training and plant operational programs.
His project management responsibilities include quality assurance oversight of the
training and operational materials developed.
Back to top of page
Daniel J. Oslé
Principal Engineer—Workforce Development
Dan has over 25 years of power plant operations and training experience. He is active
in the presentation and development of various training and plant operational programs.
His project lead responsibilities include quality assurance for the development
of training and operational materials. He participates in all phases of fossil training
and development activities, including industrial process control, relay protection,
material preparation, and on-site instruction.
Back to top of page
Dr. Jeff Parmar
International Operations Director—Performance Engineering Services
Jeff has over 25 years of experience in power plant performance assessment. As International
Operations Director, he is responsible for GP’s European, Middle Eastern,
and Asian clients. He is an accomplished performance engineer with proven success
meeting clients’ needs around the world. He is a certified European engineer
(Eur Ing), a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE), and a
chartered engineer in the UK. He is a member of the ASME PTC 47 and ISO 2314 committees
and has published numerous technical papers on the performance of gas turbines and
combined cycle power plants.
Back to top of page
Terry Scoble
Senior Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Terry has over 25 years of power plant operations and training experience. He is
active in the presentation and development of various training and plant operational
programs. His responsibilities include quality assurance and development of training
and operational materials. He participates in all phases of fossil generation training
activities, including materials preparation and on-site instruction.
Back to top of page
Jim Watson
Senior Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Jim has over 35 years of experience in the power industry, with 15 of those years
specializing in simulation for fossil and nuclear power plants. He has conducted
simulator training programs and presentations dealing with heat transfer, plant
systems, and operational plant transients for boilers, reactors, and combined cycle
power plants. He has a BS degree in physics and has held stationary engineer, senior
reactor operator, and reactor operator licenses and certifications for Westinghouse,
Combustion Engineering, and Babcock and Wilcox power plants.
Contact us today to learn more about GP’s instructors: