New hires in the U.S. and Canada

Chase Gullekson

Engineer

Chase comes to us from Vensys Energy US, located in North Kingstown, RI. Vensys is a German gearless wind turbine manufacturer which is majority-owned by Goldwind. As a lead service technician at Vensys, Chase gained valuable experience in commissioning, troubleshooting, repairing and inspecting turbines. He is a 2019 graduate of the Northwest Renewable Energy Institute in Vancouver, WA. At DNV he joins the team of inspectors led by Malcolm Moore within the Asset Operations Section. When not inspecting wind turbines, Chase enjoys his time outdoors backpacking and woodworking.

Nicole Harrison

Senior Electrical Engineer​

Nicole joined DNV’s Electrical Team in January 2022 as a Senior Electrical Engineer.  She comes with a background of 17 years of work experience in solar, hydro, wind, and power systems for OEMs, design/engineering firms, and a utility.  She has a B.S. in Science, Technology, and International Affairs from Georgetown University, and a B.S. in Renewable Energy Engineering from Oregon Institute of Technology. Nicole is based in DNV’s Portland office, and outside of work enjoys running/hiking, paddleboarding, cooking and gardening with her two kids and husband, and seeing live music and comedy shows.

David DeLuca

Technical Sales Lead

Prior to joining DNV, Dave spent more than 17 years working at AWS Truepower/UL where he held various technical, commercial, and senior management roles. Most recently, he led their energy advisory, field services, and commercial teams in support of the wind and solar markets. Dave holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Atmospheric Science from the State University of New York at Albany. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family and working on various projects around the house.

Anna Raper

Renewable Energy Coordinator

Anna is the Renewable Energy Coordinator supporting commercial and market projects with the Energy Analytics and Measurements team as well as Office Administrator for the Seattle office. She received her bachelor’s degree at Western Washington University and returned to Seattle after spending two years in Ireland traveling and earning her master’s degree in Renewable Energy and Environmental Finance at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in 2021

Pooja Shah

Senior Consultant​

Prior to DNV, Pooja was part of the engineering and consulting team for emerging markets at Kiewit in Kansas City where she worked on engineering and design for utility scale renewable energy projects as well as business development for electric vehicle charging infrastructure and fleet electrification. Outside of engineering, she has had the opportunity to get involved in business development, client/vendor relationship building, process improvement and construction/startup field support.  Having seen the impacts of impacts of climate change firsthand, Pooja is committed to accelerating the energy transition by helping design innovative, affordable and reliable clean energy solutions. She is also passionate about increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in engineering and the energy industry. She is actively involved in the community volunteering on the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kansas City Emerging Leaders Council, Society of Hispanic Professionals – KC board, Women in Science, Tech, Engineering & Math - KC (WiSTEMM) executive committee and as part of Climate Action KC’s Equity and Policy Advisory team. In 2021, Pooja was honored as Kansas City Business Journal’s NextGen Leader for being an emerging leader making a difference in the community. She was also featured as part of 40 under 40 Mass Transit Magazine and 20 to know in Engineering in Kansas City last year. Pooja has a master’s in Energy Systems Engineering with a focus on renewable energy and sustainability from Syracuse University, NY. She is a Leader in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Associate. She has also been part of the Clean Energy Leadership Institute (CELI) Fellowship as part of their first National Cohort in 2021. In her free time, she enjoys reading, swimming and biking.

Brian Durham

GIS Principal - Strategic Markets

During Brian's 15 years as a GIS Professional, Brian has helped organizations determine how data can be used to make smarter decisions and increase efficiency. He specializes in using web-GIS technologies to quickly provide map-based insights to customers and is passionate about accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy. Brian has a MS from Johns Hopkins University in Energy Policy & Climate and a BS from Appalachian State University in Geography.

Olivia Beauregard-Harvey

Technical Project Manager

Olivia joined the Measurements team in March 2022 as a technical project manager, and is currently based out of the Montreal office. She was previously working for four years as an analyst at WPred, where she led the wind and weather data analysis, business development and client relations. She holds a bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics and a master's degree in Energy Engineering from Polytechnique Montreal, where she focused on developing statistical learning methods for improving short-term wind forecasts, in order to optimize maintenance operations on wind farms.

Andrea Quattrone

Technical Project Manager

Andrea joined the Measurements team in March 2022 and is based in the Montreal office. He is originally from Italy and he holds a Bachelor degree in Energy Engineering from Politecnico di Torino and a Masters Degree in Renewable Energy both from Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm and Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona. Before moving to Montreal, he worked for almost three years in Barcelona at GreenPowerMonitor (a DNV company) as a SCADA Engineer for solar power plants.

Roberto Bermudez

Pricipal Engineer​

Born in Nicaragua, Roberto started his renewables career in 2011 for a growing wind development and operations market. Roberto continued his career in the renewable consulting space in 2016 when he relocated to the greater Houston area. He enjoys the southern style of living with his wife and two children (15 and 19). Housekeeping, DIY projects, walking his dogs, and kayaking are amongst Roberto’s favorites activities outside of work.

Bertelsen Gagakuma

Engineer

Bertelsen has three years of experience in multi-disciplinary design optimization with applications in wind farm layout optimization under uncertainty. Bertelsen has a B.Sc. Physics degree from the University of Ghana, and an MS Mechanical Engineering (Fluid Mechanics) degree from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. He is passionate about using data to drive decision-making and renewable energy technologies, and is thrilled to be a part of DNV where here can grow professionally and make a positive impact. Bertelsen lives in the Atlanta Metro Area. He enjoys instrumental music and loves to run, cook, or learn new things in his free time.

Idalia Machuca

Engineer

Idalia joined the Offshore Wind North America team as Offshore Wind Analyst and is based in Oakland, California. Prior to joining DNV, Idalia was a Metocean Engineer at Principle Power, a technology and service provider of semi-submersible floating platforms for the global offshore wind energy market. Idalia holds a Master of Science in Physical Oceanography and a Bachelor of Science in Geophysics from the University of British Columbia.

Ryan Wu

Senior Engineer

Ryan is an experienced engineer specializing in power system modelling and protection. He graduated from University of Toronto Engineering Science program and worked at various distribution utilities in Ontario, Canada. In his previous role as distribution engineer at Elexicon Energy, Ryan was responsible for overseeing the technical DER connection process and managing the distribution protection and control system performance. Ryan also had experience implementing residential microgrid and performing various system fault investigations. In his free time, Ryan enjoys playing basketball/soccer and learning about mechanical systems such as cars and aircrafts. Ryan is a curious individual always looking to discover how things work. He is passionate about the integration of renewable energy and the transformation of the power system.

Karen Luo

Senior Product Manager

Karen joined us after working in product management roles that spanned sample management systems, business metric tracking for biologists, and business spend management software for supply chain management. Prior to being a product manager, Karen led application development at a power conversion test instruments company and also spent time as a technical expert for an investment bank. Karen’s interest in renewable energy goes all the way back to when she was working towards her master’s in electrical engineering and ran research projects on sensorless controls for wind turbines and fault analysis resulting from grid connected renewables on residential loads. She’s currently based in Los Angeles and will be frequenting the San Diego office.

Veronika Goldman

Senior Product Manager

Veronika joined us after working in digital product lead and business analyst roles across civil engineering, aviation, healthcare, and retail business domains. Most recently, Veronika was a product lead at WorkJam, where she was responsible for overseeing the engagement and communications portfolio within their global platform. She passionate about working in agile environments with customers and internal stakeholders to build product roadmaps, define strategy, and deliver digital solutions. She’s based in our Montreal office.

Nicholas Nemetz

Engineer

Nicholas joined DNV in late March after working at the University of Washington for a couple of years as the web developer for DEOHS, and before that as a Salesforce developer at IBM. He completed his Masters Degree in Computer Science at Northeastern University last year and is based in Seattle.

Gwendalyn Bender

Senior Consultant

Gwen is focused on Technical Sales for Solar and Storage in North America. Having spent 15 years focusing on wind and solar resource data in previous roles at Vaisala and GroundWork she’s looking forward to learning more about all the engineering components of getting a project built with the best team in the industry. Gwen lives in Seattle with her family and dogs.

William Holmgren

Senior Engineer

Will has been in renewables for almost 10 years studying solar and wind variability and developing forecasts of renewable energy. Prior to joining us at DNV, he was an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Arizona for the past 5 years where he was Co-director of the UA Institute for Energy Solutions, Lead of the UA Power Forecasting Group, Principal Investigator of a DOE Solar Energy Technology Office grant funded program called “Solar Forecast Arbiter,” Lead maintainer of the “pvlib python” software package and Author & co-author of over 30 papers & presentations with an h-index >12. Will earned a PhD in physics from UA, where he was also a DOE Office Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Postdoctoral fellow. In his free time he enjoys climbing and hiking around Tucson and spending time with his family.

Nowsherwan Sultan

Project Manager​

Nowsherwan Sultan works as a Project Manager with the Distributed Generation Solar Independent Engineering due diligence team and joined DNV in February 2022. He has worked in various aspects of commercial and industrial solar projects ranging from design, procurement, project management, construction management and QA/QC. Nowsherwan has experience in PV system design, inspections, site visits, proposal development and energy assessment. He also has research experience in thin film production and characterization used in solar cell manufacturing. Nowsherwan has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology with a concentration in thermal, fluid and energy systems and a bachelor's degree in Physics from Georgia College & State University.

Blair Beesley

Senior Project Manager

Blair Beesley joined DNV's Solar Independent Engineering group in February 2022 as a Senior Project Manager with the Distributed Generation team. Starting his solar career in 2004, he worked as Owner & General Manager of a design/build solar company managing sales, engineering and installation teams on over 4MW of residential and 15MW of commercial rooftops in Ontario, Canada under the FIT program. In October 2016, Blair and his team were acquired by a leading Ontario based EPC where he served as General Manager, Operations overseeing project management and field teams installing C&I rooftop and small ground-mount projects while overseeing the creation of an internal design and engineering department. Graduating with a BASc in Civil Engineering from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, Blair brings a strong, hands-on technical and analytical framework to solving problems and managing solar projects.

Jen Schultz

Senior Project Manager

Jen is a Senior Project Manager in DNV's Solar Independent Engineering team. She holds a B.S. degree in Architectural Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a M.S. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. She is a licensed Professional Engineer (Civil) in the state of California and joined the solar industry in December 2014. Prior to joining DNV, Jen served as a Senior Project Engineer at SunPower in their Commercial & Industrial group. Prior to joining the solar industry, Jen served as a structural analyst in Arup's Advanced Technology and Research Group. Jen’s interests include Disney, mid-century modern design, Polynesian histories/foods/cultures and “Polynesian Pop” (aka “Tiki Culture”). In her spare time, Jen enjoys cooking, exercising, hiking, travelling to new places and spending time with her husband (Ian) and her Vizsla fur-baby (Akamu).

Melanie Mullett

Senior Project Manager

Melanie joins DNV as Senior Project Manager with DNV's solar independent engineering team. She holds a B.S degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University. She has worked in the renewables industry for four years prior to DNV. Before this she worked at ENGIE on solar design as a Project Engineer in the C&I group. While in this role, she supported the solar project process from early concept designs to end construction and commissioning. Prior to joining ENGIE, she worked as a Senior Operations and Maintenance Engineer at AMS (Advanced Microgrid Solutions) managing the company's battery storage portfolio. Melanie is based in the Oakland, CA office and outside of work enjoys rock climbing, road biking, and ceramics. She also has a pet cat, Saison.

Rawan Shishakly

Project Manager

Rawan joined the DNV Utility Solar IE Team as a Project Manager in March of 2022 and is currently based out of the Dallas office. Prior to joining DNV, she was the Engineering Development Manager for utility-scale solar projects at Bridgelink Investments. She brings 3.5 years of experience in residential and utility scale solar project development and 6 years in infrastructure project management. Rawan received her Master of Science in Environmental and Earth Science from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2012, and a Master of Arts in Journalism from the University of North Texas in 2017. In her free time, she loves to travel, swim, and volunteer for the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation and UTSW Children’s Medical Center in Dallas.

Bhaskara Palle

Principal Engineer

Bhaskara has more than 15 years of experience in the design, manufacturing, and testing of power conversion equipment.  Prior to joining DNV, Bhaskara was Power Electronics Engineering Manager at Teco-Westinghouse Motor Company. He has worked there for 15 years and was a principal contributor in bringing several medium voltage power conversion products to market. He previously worked with Fronius USA as a Solar Applications Engineer. He has a Masters in Engineering Systems (Electrical Speciality) from Colorado School of Mines. He holds 5 patents related to power converters. He is also the author of several journal and conference publications. Bhaskara lives in Round Rock, TX with his wife and 8-year old daughter. In his spare time, he enjoys playing cricket and flag football. He currently does not have any pets but is planning on getting one soon.

Émilie Chénier

Engineer​

Émilie has been in the renewable energy sector for the last three years. She developed her passion for renewable energy when she was studying for her B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal. Furthermore, her passion for Renewable Energy motivated her to complete an M.Sc. degree in Energy Engineering from Polytechnique Montréal. After her graduation, she immediately started working at Enercon Canada as a Wind Farm Analyst providing the developers with yield estimations and site suitability verifications. Émilie brings a unique perspective to the Wind Energy Assessment team with her experience in a directly related role in a major turbine manufacturer. In her free time, she is passionate about any type of outdoor activities and she really likes to play ultimate frisbee.

Azuka Uzoma

Engineer

Azuka has been in the energy sector for over five years. Her experience cuts across gas-fired power plant project development and consultancy at ILF Consulting Engineers and solar project operations and performance analysis at Northwind Solutions working as an Asset Operations Analyst. She has extensive experience in designing and building data models and reporting dashboards for performance reporting along with carrying out training on analytical tools including PowerBI.  She holds a B.Eng. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, and an M.Sc. degree in Renewable Energy Technology from Cranfield University along with a Certificate in Sustainability Management from Ryerson University. Azuka is passionate about energy and the environment. Her interests include traveling, reading, and a newly found love for tennis!

Eva Topham

Senior Engineer

Eva was previously part of the Wind IE team in the DNV’s Spain office. Eva earned her MEng in Industrial Engineering and Specialization in Renewable Energy and the Environment from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Eva also holds a MSc in Offshore Renewable Energy from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK and is in the process of completing her PhD thesis on End of Life Strategies for Offshore Wind Energy.  In her free time, Eva enjoys spending time at the beach or nature, and loves doing any kind of sports, especially the ones related to water.

Matthew Reddy

Project Manager

Matt recently joined the Wind Independent Engineering group as a Project Manager. Matt is a professional mechanical engineer with eight years of maintenance, reliability, design and project management experience in power generation, renewables (in development, operations and maintenance of renewable assets), and mining. Matt earned his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Dalhouise University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. He will be working remotely from Fernie, BC. In his free time, Matt enjoys outdoor activities in the mountains with his partner Kirsten, particularly skiing in the winter and biking in the summer.