Speakers

Erika Kilgore

Director, Risk Management
Zachry Construction Corporation

Erika Kilgore serves as the director of risk management for HBZ, Inc., a privately-owned enterprise with diverse operations including; aggregate mining, cement manufacturing, hotel operation, real estate development, and heavy/civil construction. Erika and her team are responsible for risk management strategy, identifying new and ongoing exposures, and reducing and/or transferring the cost of risk for the enterprise. For Zachry Construction Corporation, she focuses on efficient risk management for their own operations, as well as joint ventures which they lead or participate in throughout the country.

Prior to joining Zachry in April of 2012, Erika served as risk manager for six years at Moss & Associates, a Fort Lauderdale based contractor. In addition to the traditional activities of a risk manager, Erika also managed and implemented Subguard and rolling CCIP programs for large residential projects.

Erika began her career with Allied North America, where she was an account manager. Erika worked in risk management for Skanska USA Building Inc. where she developed and implemented Skanska’s insurance training platform related to risk transfer and its impacts to project profitability. During her tenure with Skanska, she earned her Bachelors in Risk Management from Georgia State University.

Jason Bordoff

Founding Director, Center on Global Energy Policy

Jason Bordoff joined the Columbia faculty after serving until January 2013 as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Energy and Climate Change on the Staff of the National Security Council, and, prior to that, holding senior policy positions on the White House’s National Economic Council and Council on Environmental Quality. One of the world’s top energy policy experts, he joined the Administration in April 2009. At Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, Bordoff is a professor of professional practice and serves as founding Director of Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Bordoff’s research and policy interests lie at the intersection of economics, energy, environment, and national security. He is a frequent commentator on TV and radio, including NPR, Bloomberg, CNBC and BBC, has appeared on the Colbert Report, and has published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and other leading news outlets. Prior to joining the White House, Bordoff was the Policy Director of the Hamilton Project, an economic policy initiative housed at the Brookings Institution. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Petroleum Council, and serves on the boards of Winrock International (a leading nonprofit organization that works to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources) and the New York Energy Forum. During the Clinton Administration, Bordoff served as an advisor to the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department. He was also a consultant with McKinsey & Company, one of the leading global strategy consultancies. Bordoff graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, where he was treasurer and an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He also holds an MLitt degree from Oxford University, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar, and a BA magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University.

James Bowen

Co-Founder
Energetic Insurance

James Bowen is the co-founder of Energetic Insurance, an early stage startup focused on developing innovative risk management solutions for the commercial solar markets. Prior to Energetic, James was the co-founder and Partner of Vertex Energía México, a developer and investor in 200 MW of renewable energy projects in Latin America. He is also a Lecturer at the Olin College of Engineering where he teaches entrepreneurship to engineering students.

Previously, he was the Director of Business Development at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) where he helped direct the government agency’s activities to open new markets and create business opportunities for the state’s 5,000 clean energy companies. Prior to MassCEC, Mr. Bowen founded a company that imported fresh produce from Mexico, worked as a researcher on environmental issues at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and was an M&A due diligence consultant for large-scale private equity acquisitions at Stax, Inc.

He received a B.A. in Economics from The George Washington University and a JD from Suffolk University Law School. He is also a graduate of the Clean Energy Ventures Executive Education Program at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Stephen M. Gregoire, CPA, CFF

Vice President
Investigative Accounting and Litigation Support Services
Meaden & Moore, LLP

Mr. Gregoire has specialized over the last decade in providing investigative and forensic accounting services to the insurance industry related to the review of claims involving financial damages including business interruption losses, extra expense claims and property damage claims. In addition, he has assisted in various litigation support assignments including consultant to attorneys in damage claim analysis, preparation for depositions and information requests for discovery.

His experience includes work performed throughout the world involving petro-chemical and refining, conventional and renewable power generation, heavy industrial manufacturing, agricultural industries, steel manufacturers, private universities, food and product manufacturers, hospitality, small and large retail businesses and various service industries.

Education
University of Illinois, Champaign B.A. in Finance
Northeastern Illinois University M.S. in Accountancy
Colorado School of Mines Intro to Petroleum Refining & Economics

Neil F. Hershfield

Deputy Director, ICS-CERT
U. S. Department of Homeland Security

Neil Hershfield is the Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT). ICS-CERT operates within the National Cybersecurity and Integration Center (NCCIC), to bring a control systems focus to the mission of protecting the Nation’s critical infrastructure from physical and cyber threats.

The goal of the ICS-CERT is to guide a cohesive effort between government and industry to reduce the cyber risk to industrial control systems. The ICS-CERT provides guidance and reduces risk to critical infrastructure control systems by: leading the Common Strategy to Secure Control Systems; operating the ICS-CERT for control systems related vulnerabilities, threats and incidents; creating informational products and tools to assist vendors and owners/operators in designing, procuring, installing, and operating controls systems to mitigate risks; and performing outreach activities and improving awareness in the control system community through training and education.

Prior to his current role, Neil was Program Manager for the National Cyber Security Division Mission Support contract with SRA International, Inc. Previously, Neil was employed with The Dow Chemical Company and held a variety of managerial and leadership positions in Economic Development, the Chemical Sector Cyber Security Program, Global eCommerce, Marketing and Sales.

Neil received a BS in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and an MBA from Northwood University. Away from work, Neil enjoys golf and cycling.