Mike Nispel is Senior Principal Engineer for Energy Storage with Comcast Cable’s Critical Infrastructure group. He has been working in the industrial battery field for over 30 years for several of the major industrial battery manufacturers in the US. He is experienced in the manufacture, use and maintenance of lead-acid and lithium batteries as well as the related fields of grid storage, renewables and battery monitoring. He has a BS and an MS in Chemical Engineering and is an active member of SCTE, the IEEE Energy Storage and Stationary Battery committee and the Battcon Technical committee.

Curtis Ashton is a degreed electrical engineer and a Master/Journeyman electrician (licensed in 3 states).  He works as a Training Director for American Power Systems LLC, which is a DC power services company and distributor owned by East Penn Mfg.  Curtis has over 35 years experience working for electric utility, telecom, and data center companies as a power and grounding SME.  He is a past chair of the IEEE PES ESSB, and still heavily involved with its battery standards.  Mr. Ashton is also the primary author of several ANSI ATIS standards on telecom power, grounding, and electrical protection.  He has had many peer-reviewed papers published, is a co-author of a patent on telecom line-powering, and has presented at conferences around the world.  Curtis is also a principal member of NFPA standards 800 and 855, and chairs several task groups therein.  He is the chair of the Battcon technical committee.  In his spare time, he enjoys speaking Spanish with others who do, and refereeing high school basketball and soccer.

Jim McDowall is an IEEE Life Fellow, cited for leadership in stationary battery standards and the energy storage industry. Currently an independent consultant working mostly in energy storage safety, Jim was a director of the Energy Storage Association (now American Clean Power Association) for 14 years, including two years as Chairman. Jim is a former Chair of the IEEE Energy Storage and Stationary Battery Committee, has led numerous standards projects, and is currently serving as the committee’s Standards Coordinator.