Dave Kepler, President, Four Lakes Task Force (FLTF)
SESSION 1 - WELCOME & INTRODUCTION | SESSION 5 - PATH FORWARD | SESSION 7 - CLOSING REMARKS

Dave's company, TCP Investments, focuses on regional economic development through local business investment and real estate development. These investments include Midland Brewing Company of which he is the president. Cottage Creamery, and the Lazy Turtle Ranch and Pathways Common apartments. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering. Today, he now serves on the Board of Trustees of the University of California, Berkeley Foundation.​ He's also a member of the board of directors of three public companies: TD Bank Group (TD), headquartered in Toronto, Teradata Corporation (TDC), an analytical data solutions company and Autoliv (ALV), a manufacturer, and supplier of automotive safety systems. Dave is a former executive vice president of The Dow Chemical Company for Business Services and was its chief information officer and chief sustainability officer. 

Paul Drew, P.E., Senior Water Resources Engineer and Project Manager, GEI
SESSION 2 - HYDROLOGY & HYDRAULICS OF THE TITTABAWASSEE & TOBACCO RIVERS

Paul is a senior hydraulic engineer with extensive water resource engineering and project management experience. Paul is a Senior Project Manager and currently serves as the GEI Program Manager for the FLTF reconstruction projects. He is responsible for efficient evaluation and design development throughout the project design phases and managing the quality control process of all analysis and deliverables. Paul provides technical expertise for hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, spillway design, civil engineering, design drawings and technical specification development. He has provided similar expertise for FERC licensed hydroelectric projects and state regulated dams in over 15 states.

Ellen Faulkner*, Water Resources Engineer, Ayres
SESSION 2 - HYDROLOGY & HYDRAULICS OF THE TITTABAWASSEE & TOBACCO RIVERS

Ellen has more than 30 years of experience in developing and executing studies in watershed hydrology and river hydraulics, with a particular focus on floods and dam safety. She completes floodplain and dam safety analyses for communities and dam owners. She has performed studies at hydro projects nationwide, and developed and performed technical analyses in support of hydropower license applications, including instream flow studies and analyses of alternative hydropower operation rules. Ellen has also developed and presented training seminars in watershed and dam break modeling for the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. Her areas of expertise: instream flow studies, floodplain analysis, dam safety analysis and hydro project analysis.

*Ellen co-created the presentation but will not be in attendance at the symposium.

Eric Holmstead, Water Resources Engineer, GEI
SESSION 2 - HYDROLOGY & HYDRAULICS OF THE TITTABAWASSEE & TOBACCO RIVERS
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Eric is a project professional experienced in civil design and hydraulic assessment. He holds degrees from Brigham Young University and Stanford University in civil and environmental engineering. His work experience includes civil design and layout, dam and embankment rehabilitation, hydraulic structure design and analysis, semi-quantitative risk assessment, and hydrologic hazard analysis. His work in hydraulic structures has included a wide array of complex geometries and hydraulic functions. Eric is skilled in the use of a number of hydraulic and hydrologic modeling software packages, including FLOW-3D for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling, HEC-RAS, and HEC-HMS.

Rick Anderson, P.E., Senior Vice President, GEI
​SESSION 3 - ENGINEERING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE PROPOSED REPAIRS & RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FOUR LAKES DAMS

Rick has over 36 years of consulting engineering and project management experience for hydropower facilities, dams, water supply, flood control, and transportation projects worldwide. Rick is a Senior Vice President with GEI and is serving as a Project Principal for the FLTF reconstruction projects. He is experienced in safety inspections, geotechnical analysis, design, and rehabilitation of embankment and rockfill dams. He is also experienced in analysis and design of retaining structures and foundations, seismic hazard and liquefaction potential evaluations, construction monitoring, and development and management of subsurface investigation programs. He is a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-approved Independent Consultant for Part 12D 5-Year Safety Inspections of Hydroelectric Projects, Facilitator for Potential Failure Modes Analyses, and Board of Consultants member as geotechnical engineering expert for the rehabilitation of State and federally-regulated dams and hydroelectric projects.

Bill Walton, P.E., S.E., Senior Vice President, GEI
​SESSION 3 - ENGINEERING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE PROPOSED REPAIRS & RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FOUR LAKES DAMS

​Bill is a senior vice president with GEI Consultants. He serves as the engineer of record for FLTF and is responsible for the overall design of the project. Bill has over 42 years of experience in the analysis, design, and construction of dam projects worldwide. He is a FERC- approved Independent Consultant and Facilitator for Potential Failure Modes Analyses.

Liesl Clark, Director, Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE)
​SESSION 4 - KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Liesl served as Director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) since January2019. She oversees a $500 million budget that supports a 1,200-person team dedicated to protecting Michigan’s environment and public health. Expanding and improving EGLE’s internal and external communications is a major focus for Clark as she strives to support and inspire the EGLE team, engage stakeholders, meet communities where they are, and better share EGLE’s work with Michigan’s 10 million residents –whom she refers to as her “10 million bosses.”

Maggie Pallone, Vice President, Public Sector Consultants
​SESSION 5 - PATH FORWARD | SESSION 6 - AN ECOSYSTEMS APPROACH TO LAKE RESTORATION

Maggie is a vice president at Public Sector Consultants. She specializes in environmental policy, natural resource planning, and community resiliency, as well as assisting organizations with strategic planning. In this role, she manages projects for public- and private-sector clients to facilitate solutions around organizational change, water infrastructure policy (in particular, water affordability), land use, resource management, climate and adaption, water use and quality, sustainable development, and other environmental policies. She provides strategic counsel and research services to clients at the local, state, and national levels to assist in formulating public policy for the sustainable use and protection of natural resources. Maggie also has extensive experience in creating and implementing state environmental regulations. Maggie holds a BA in Public Policy and Environmental Studies from Western Michigan University and is a fellow of Michigan State University’s Great Lakes Leadership Academy.

Dennis McCauley, President, Great Lakes Environmental Center
SESSION 6 - AN ECOSYSTEMS APPROACH TO LAKE RESTORATION

Dennis is a GLEC Senior Environmental Scientist with 30 years of experience performing environmental studies and assessments. He has first-hand experience leading and working on numerous laboratory studies and field surveys of contaminated water and sediment throughout the United States, including his role as manager for GLEC’s many work assignments concerned with USEPA’s National Aquatic Resource Surveys program and Michigan’s surface water quality monitoring and assessment programs. His experience as a project manager and principal investigator has ranged from participation in interlaboratory validation of specific test protocols to large complex field studies that assess the impact of complex effluents, sediments, storm water, and single chemicals on aquatic biota, water and sediment quality, fisheries, habitat, invertebrates and water and sediment quality. Dennis has also managed and successfully completed several studies in the Great Lakes that inventoried critical shoreline habitats, assessed water quality and forage fish abundance, and assessed the impact of storm water on water quality using bacteriological techniques. Dennis holds an MS-PD in Fishery Biology from the University of Wisconsin.​

Kelsea Sutton, Project Manager, Spicer
SESSION 6 - AN ECOSYSTEMS APPROACH TO LAKE RESTORATION

Kelsea’s primary focus areas are storm and surface water quality, the completion of Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE)/United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Joint Permit Applications, floodplain management, and Part 315 and 307 Dam Inspections. She received her Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Michigan Technological University.

Date: 10/20/2022
Time: 7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET
Location: Midland Center for the Arts, Midland, MI
Registration: Symposium is free to attend. Registration closes 9/30/2022

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