(Source: Business Wire)
Juan Ontiveros of The University of Texas at Austin was elected 2009-2010 chair of the International District Energy Association (IDEA) at the organization's annual meeting held yesterday during its 100th Annual Conference & Trade Show in Arlington, Va. He will head a board with 21 directors from the United States and Canada.
David Toombs, Citizens Thermal Energy, was elected vice chair; Vincent Badali, Con Edison Steam Operations, was elected second vice chair; and Thomas Guglielmi, NRG Thermal LLC, was re-elected secretary/treasurer. Dennis Fotinos, Enwave Energy Corp., will serve as immediate past chair. Newly elected and re-elected board members to serve three-year terms are Joseph Brillhart, Johnson Controls Inc.; Kurt Liebendorfer, Stellar; Chris Lyons, Solar Turbines Inc.; Ann McIver, Citizens Thermal Energy; Stewart Wood, Veolia Energy North America; and Jeffrey Zumwalt, University of New Mexico. Stephen Swinson, Thermal Energy Corp., was elected for a one-year term completing the term of a recently resigned board member.
New chairman Ontiveros is executive director of utilities and energy management at UT Austin, where he oversees all planning, operations and maintenance for district energy, combined heat and power (CHP) and other systems serving 16 million square feet of space in 200 buildings. He has been an IDEA member since 1999 and has served on the association's board of directors since 2003.
During his 11-year tenure at UT Austin, Ontiveros has directed several major utility improvements, raising overall CHP system efficiency to exceed 80 percent and expanding capacity to serve 18 percent more square feet of building space while energy use increased just 2 percent. UT Austin operates one of the largest combined heat and power systems serving a U.S. institution.
"UT Austin's accomplishments under Juan's leadership are a testament to his vision and commitment to the tenets of energy efficiency as a means for environmental stewardship," says Robert P. Thornton, president, IDEA. "With his practical experience in district energy operations and skills as an engineer and utilities director, he has established a track record of managing large assets and motivating a large staff with outstanding results. Juan is the ideal industry leader to keep our organization on the right path as we move into our next 100 years of informing, connecting and advancing the district energy and combined heat and power industries."
"I am eager to engage with IDEA members from Denver to Dubai," says Ontiveros.
