Bio, via Department of Energy:

For the previous five years, Mr. Walker was the Deputy County Executive for Putnam County, New York; a northern suburb of New York City. In this capacity, he was responsible for managing more than 20 diverse departments and 650 employees to ensure the health and safety of the constituents in Putnam County, New York. Mr. Walker is also the founder of Modern Energy Insights, Inc. (MEI), a boutique consulting firm which specializes in evaluating and identifying risk and developing mitigation and elimination strategies for critical infrastructure owned and operated by major Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) throughout the United States (US) and Canada. In addition, MEI works extensively providing subject matter expertise (SME) in various aspects of utility operations – including; all regulatory aspects associated with General Rate Case filings and complex operational and risk issues. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Hudson Valley FBI Infragard partnership where he acts as the Energy Sector Chief for the Hudson Valley region - focusing on the protection of critical infrastructure. He has been the advisor to the Chairman of SmartSenseCom, a private corporation utilizing US Navy technology to provide precision monitoring on electric systems for the detection of various electric phenomena including geomagnetic disturbances. Prior to founding MEI in 2011, Mr. Walker was an integral part of two IOUs in the Northeast US. He has held leadership positions in System Operations, Emergency Management, Asset Management and Regulatory Services. Most recently, Mr. Walker was the Vice President of Asset Strategy and Policy for National Grid - US. In that capacity, he was responsible for the development of asset strategies and regulatory policies for a $5 billion five-year investment plan in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. These strategies focused on mitigating and eliminating the risks associated with operating the critical infrastructure necessary to provide safe and reliable electric service to more than 3 million customers. To execute these strategies he was the lead corporate officer responsible to negotiate with respective state utility commissions and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In 2010, he testified on behalf of United States IOUs at the Congress mandated hearings conducted by the Federal Communication Commission regarding Smart Grid development. Prior to that position, he was the Director for Corporate Emergency Management at Consolidated Edison of New York (Con Edison). His responsibilities included all emergency plans, operations and responses for the electric, gas and steam systems in New York City (NYC) while coordinating with the NYC Office of Emergency Management. Additionally, he was solely responsible for leading the development of the Con Edison Coastal Storm Plan that was successfully utilized during Hurricane Sandy in 2011. He was an integral member of the Biological Chemical Weapons Response Team formed by Con Edison in partnership with NYC following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. In this position he was the SME designated to operate and control any portion of the Con Edison electric grid during times of crisis. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors for GridWise Alliance, Inc., and in 2008, he was appointed by then-Secretary of Energy, Samuel Bodman to the Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee, representing IOUs throughout the US. He was also an advisor for the development of the mega-watt scale integration lab developed by the Department of Energy in Golden, Colorado. He is the co-founder of the Global Smart Grid Federation (GSGF), a formal collaboration among 18 countries to modernize the world’s electric energy system. The formation of GSGF was announced in 2010 at the inaugural Clean Energy Ministerial hosted by US Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu. He holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Manhattan College and a Juris Doctor in Law from Pace University where he was the technical editor on the Environmental Law Review and received an Environmental Law Certificate. He has completed the Distribution Systems program from Siemens – Power Technologies International. He is a distinguished graduate of the United States Air Force Academy Preparatory School and received an Honorable Discharge from the United States Military Academy.