SECC’s Best Practices Awards recognize leadership from electricity providers in the shift to a more consumer-focused energy ecosystem. They focus on real examples of engagement and education success and provide a blueprint for other providers to follow. By focusing on applicable insights, thought leadership and innovation, it is our hope that these awards spark real change within the utility industry.
The 2025 Best Practices Awards Advisory Panel features:
Senior Consultant, The Shape Agency
Chris has fifteen years experience in the policy and communications of energy markets and infrastructure in crisis and transition.
He is currently a senior consultant with The Shape Agency which works with public interest organisations to achieve their communications goals. Chris is also a member of the Western Australian Expert Consumer Panel which represents the interests of household and small business consumers in electricity and gas policy and regulation.
Prior to joining The Shape Agency, he held senior positions in advocacy bodies and regulatory agencies in Australia and the United Kingdom, including with the Energy Security Board, Energy Consumers Australia, and Citizens Advice.
He has learned through experience that achieving policy and commercial outcomes in complex, uncertain and contested environments, requires bringing diverse people and perspectives together to ask the right questions, make sense of the evidence, and connect with the community.
Chris has a Bachelor of Economics (Hons)/Laws from the Australian National University and a Commonwealth Government Diploma in Government.
Project Leader--Clean Energy and Equitable Energy Transition at National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Sonja Berdahl is an innovative leader with 20+ years of experience in the electric power industry launching products and programs, overseeing million-dollar budgets with a focus on emerging technology and trends in the clean energy transition.
Vice President/Sector Lead, Powertrain Innovation & Energy Transformation at Escalent
K.C. Boyce is the vice president leading Escalent’s Cogent Syndicated Energy and EVForward practices. He works with energy providers and automakers to craft compelling products and programs that accelerate the energy transition. Throughout his career, K.C. has worked across industries and sectors to develop innovative solutions to complex problems and translate subject matter expertise into actionable insight. He is the co-host of the weekly Energy Matters radio show and a nationally-known speaker on topics such as electric vehicles and solar. Before joining Escalent, K.C. was senior vice president at Chartwell, where he led industry and consumer research, conference production and marketing. He also served as the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative’s assistant director, leading its consumer research program. K.C. holds an MBA from Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Colorado College.
Assistant People's Counsel, Office of the People's Counsel – DC
Attorney Laurence Daniels is currently the Director of Litigation for the Office of the People’s Counsel. He has an extensive background in the electric and telecommunications industry. Since January 2000, he has worked for the Office as a regulatory attorney advocating on behalf of telecommunications, electric and natural gas consumers. During his tenure with the Office, he represented the consumers’ interest in a number of electric rate cases and the smart grid pilot program, PowerCentsDC. Through the pilot program experience, he learned how digital technology is transforming the electric industry, that consumer education is essential to empower consumers’ ability to benefit from this new technology and that there is a need for new policies to be created to protect consumers. Prior to joining the Office, he obtained a solid understanding of cable television and telephony infrastructures while serving as a product manager of cable television and fiber optic enclosures while working for Reliance Comm/Tec. In 1997, Mr. Daniels received his law degree from Howard University School of Law. He and his wife Gilda, a voting rights attorney, reside in Mitchellville, Maryland with their two children Lauren and William.
Barbara Leary LLC
Barbara Leary is a management consultant specializing in strategic communication and change management for the electric power sector. Previously, Barbara was a managing director at FTI Consulting, a global business advisory firm. Before that, she was senior director of marketing and communications at Florida Power and Light Company. A former member of the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative’s Board of Directors, Barbara authored SECC’s "State of the Consumer" reports for 2021 and 2022. She serves on the adjunct faculty of Georgetown University, where she teaches graduate-level courses on communication.
Jane S. Peters Advising
Jane has 42 years of experience in energy-related program process and performance measurement and program evaluation research and training, customer research, market assessment, strategic planning, organizational analysis, and process re-engineering. She is well-known for her qualitative research, including process and market evaluations, focus group moderation, and quantitative assessment of behavioral and indirect impacts. As an environmental psychologist, she is particularly interested in figuring out how best to design and implement programs that spur individuals and organizations to reduce their energy use and their impacts on climate change.
Director of Rate Marketing at ICF
Leigh Winterbottom is the Director of Rate Marketing at ICF. She is an integrated marketing expert with 6 years’ experience managing and marketing innovative rates and 15+ years of experience evaluating, directing, and implementing integrated energy efficiency marketing campaigns. She possesses an extensive knowledge of the energy and utility industry, its challenges, goals, and key players. She has presented at numerous industry conferences, including Peak Load Management Association, CS Week, Association of Energy Service Professionals, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy Summer Study, and Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative
