About the Energy Center

Dan Domeracki joined UNC Kenan-Flagler energy faculty in 2019 and serves as an Energy Center Associate. Dan developed two energy courses for Energy Concentration and co-authored a third course for KFBS Undergraduate Program.  He retired from Schlumberger with 41 years of global energy industry experience. As a member of Schlumberger’s corporate team, he was responsible for its government affairs program, managing the non-lobbying, non-political, interactive working relationships with governments in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. He was also responsible for building Schlumberger’s first fully integrated social and environmental corporate responsibility function, Schlumberger Global Stewardship. He holds a master’s degree in geology from the University of South Carolina

As Senior VP, Energy Transition and Executive Director of the Houston Energy Transition Initiative, Jane leads the Partnership’s efforts to leverage Houston’s energy leadership to accelerate global solutions for an energy-abundant, low-carbon future. She leads a coalition of industry, academic, and community partners to ensure the long-term economic competitiveness and advancement of the Houston region towards a more sustainable energy future.

Prior to joining the Partnership, Jane spent over two decades at bp, where she held roles in marketing, corporate finance, governance, and compliance. Among her many accomplishments, she developed and delivered the 2019 National Petroleum Council study on carbon capture, use and storage in coordination with the U.S. Department of Energy.

Jane serves on the Board of Directors of BCarbon and is a contributing faculty member of the University of Houston’s Center for Carbon Management in Energy. She is a member of the Regional Advisory Board for the Energy Industries Council and the Advisory Board of the Houston Chapter of WRISE – Women of Renewable Industries & Sustainable Energy.

Jane holds a BA in Political Science from University of Maryland, Baltimore and an MBA from Loyola University.

Ray Brooks retired as the executive vice president, refining of Marathon Petroleum Corporation.

He is also the senior vice president of MPLX GP LLC.  He is a board member for the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers Association (AFPM), a subcommittee member and past chairman for the American Petroleum Institute (API), and member and past chairman of the AFPM/API Process Safety Advisory Committee. He is a member of the University of Cincinnati Engineering College Advisory Council.

Brooks joined Marathon in 1979 as a chemical engineering co-op. In 1983, he started a progression of technical and management positions at Garyville, Texas City, Robinson, Catlettsburg, St. Paul Park and Galveston Bay refineries. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from the University of New Orleans in 1988.

Dr. Thomas Foust is a leading expert in developing energy technologies. His expertise covers the gamut of electrical generation technologies as well as fuels and chemicals technologies. He has been involved in developing and scaling emerging energy technologies for over 2 decades including leading two emerging energy technologies from bench scale to successful commercialization.  He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School specializing in the business and technical aspects of developing, scaling and commercializing energy technologies.

He is the Director of the National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly National Renewable Energy Laboratory) Biotechnologies Program, a world leading organization of business, engineering and scientific staff performing cutting edge work to develop and scale energy technologies.  He is also a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Colorado State University, a position he has held since 2017.

Dr. Foust has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Idaho, a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer.

Vikas Bharathwaaj has over two decades of experience in the energy sector and is currently a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley.  He is a member of the Firm’s Global Power & Energy Investment Banking Division having held various roles in its Calgary, Houston and New York offices.  Vikas has led and executed several strategic advisory, M&A and capital markets transactions for his clients in upstream E&P, refining, chemicals and metals & mining, oilfield services and energy technology & OEM.  Vikas also oversees the Division’s Energy Transition and Decarbonization coverage efforts in North America, which includes distributed generation, geothermal, carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS), low carbon fuels, and other areas of circular economy.  Prior to Morgan Stanley, Vikas worked in various engineering and business development roles in the Offshore Oil & Gas Engineering and Construction Division of Larsen & Toubro Limited.  Vikas holds an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B. Engg in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Nagpur (India).

Bill Currens serves as senior vice president of integrated planning for Duke Energy in the Carolinas. He is responsible for coordination of planning and execution of the company’s clean energy strategy in both North Carolina and South Carolina. Before assuming his current position in May 2021, Currens served as senior vice president of financial planning and analysis for Duke Energy. He was responsible for the business and financial planning functions of the enterprise, including oversight of the company’s financial forecast. Since joining the company in 2002, Currens has served in a number of leadership positions including senior vice president, controller and chief accounting officer and vice president of investor relations.

Prior to joining Duke Energy, Currens spent more than nine years with the public accounting firm KPMG LLP.

A native of High Point, North Carolina, he earned a BSBA and a Master of Accounting both from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. In 2015, he completed The Executive Program at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

He is a CPA in North Carolina. He actively serves in the community on the board of directors for the Renaissance West Community Initiative, the United Way of Central Carolinas and the N.C. Zoological Society

David Fountain served as the executive vice president and general counsel for the Tennessee Valley Authority. He joined TVA in June 2020 after more than 20 years with Duke Energy and its predecessor companies Carolina Power & Light (CP&L) and Progress Energy. Before joining TVA, Fountain served as Duke Energy’s SVP – legal, chief ethics and compliance officer and corporate secretary.

He also served as Duke Energy’s North Carolina president where was responsible for the strategy and financial performance of the state’s largest electric utilities. At varying times in his career, he has led the legal functions supporting the company’s nuclear, commercial transactions, state and federal regulatory, corporate governance, human resources, litigation, EH&S, internal audit, and ethics and compliance departments.

A triple Tar Heel, Fountain earned JD, MBA and undergraduate degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Steve Newby is the owner and Chairman of Sunshine Solar LLC.

Previously, Steve was the founder, president and CEO of Summit Midstream and a member of the board of directors of Summit Midstream Partners, LP, and Summit Midstream Partners, LLC.

He is a graduate of UNC Kenan-Flagler with a BSBA and a concentration in finance. He is a board member of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Georgia, and in 2012, was named one of Forbes Magazine’s Most Powerful CEOs under the age of 40.

Chris Vlahoplus is currently Professor of the Practice, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and teaches the seminar “The Business of Energy Consulting” for MBA students.  He also holds a role as Senior Consultant to the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office.

Previously, he had a nearly 30 year career with ScottMadden as a management consultant to the energy and utility industry, serving 20 years as a partner. He led ScottMadden’s clean tech and sustainability practice including a role leading the firm’s nuclear consulting practice.

Chris earned a BS.in mechanical engineering from the University of South Carolina, an MS.in nuclear engineering from MIT and an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler.

Ed Finley practices law in Raleigh for clients in utility-related matters. From 2007 through 2019, he served as chairman of the North Carolina Utilities Commission after initially being appointed by Governor Easley. While on the commission, he served as first VP, a member of the executive committee and chair of the Electricity Committee of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners.

In addition, he served on the advisory council to the board of directors of the Electric Power Research Institute. He served as president of the Organization of PJM States, Inc. Between 1974 and 2007; he practiced law in Raleigh.

He has undergraduate and law degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Director of Renewable Business Development, Duke Energy
Charlotte, North Carolina

Laurel Meeks is responsible for a team of professionals managing strategy and project development of regulated microgrid and battery energy storage systems. Her role allows her to generate and execute opportunities for the utility to invest in clean energy technology. She covers the vertically integrated Carolinas region as well as Midwest market territories.

Laurel holds an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler with an emphasis in energy and real estate development. Prior to business school, she held a business development role with an energy efficiency contractor in the Charlotte area, allowing her to pursue growth in the green building space.

Laurel resides in Charlotte with her husband, John. 

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Paul leads and manages the closing and execution of solar tax equity investments for a leading solar tax equity team. NT Solar selects projects, manages deal structures, closes transactions, and provides asset management for our capital partners. In this role, NT Solar raises much needed tax equity capital to serve the solar industry.

Prior to joining NT Solar, Paul managed Project Finance and corporate finance for eight years at Distributed Sun, an active solar developer in community solar and other distributed markets. He raised development capital, managed development budgets, maximized project sale value for development or operating assets, and carried out corporate finance duties. In an earlier role, Paul was the Finance Policy Manager for the American Wind Energy Association (now American Clean Power Association), the nation’s primary wind advocacy organization in tax policy and wind industry data.

He holds both a BSBA and an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Jordan H. Mintz serves as the vice president-tax and chief tax officer of Kinder Morgan, Inc. The Ccmpany’s pipelines transport primarily natural gas, refined petroleum products, CO2 and crude oil. He overseas approximately 75 professionals responsible for administration of corporate and partnership tax planning, including property and indirect tax, compliance, audit and reporting functions. He previously held senior tax positions positions at publicly traded Centex Corporation, Enron Corporation, and Exxon Corporation. He was also a tax partner at Houston-based Bracewell LLP.

He earned his undergraduate degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, his law degree from the Boston University School of Law and his master’s in taxation from the NYU School of Law.

Alfred Y. Harper was the Upstream Treasurer in Exxon Mobil Corporation. He joined the company in June 1990 after various finance-related assignments in Dallas, Houston, Singapore and Coral Gables, he was named Assistant Treasurer of the ExxonMobil Chemical Company in 2000.

In 2001, Al became the Business Services Manager and Controller of ExxonMobil de Venezuela in Caracas, and in 2005, he was named Business Services Manager and Treasurer of ExxonMobil Qatar in Doha. In July 2008, he joined the ExxonMobil Development Company, where he held the titles of Controller and then Treasurer. His teams supported the development and financing of ExxonMobil’s major upstream projects around the world.

In January 2013, Al was named to his current position as Upstream Treasurer in Exxon Mobil Corporation where he manages a team that is responsible for delivering corporate finance support to ExxonMobil’s worldwide upstream business.

Al holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is married and has two children.

Josh Kmiec is a Partner at ScottMadden Management Consultants and leads the firm’s Transmission and Distribution practice.  Since joining the firm in 2014, Josh has supported myriad clients with efforts focused on grid transformation, rate case development, electric vehicles, due diligence, and integrated distribution plans.

Prior to joining ScottMadden, Josh served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force for eight years and continues to serve in the Air Force Reserve.

Josh has received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Oklahoma, and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School.

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Kim Duffley serves as the Senior Director of Energy Policy and Legal Counsel for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). In this role, she engages with the members, state Public Utility Commissions, in policy efforts relating to energy issues and engages with federal bodies to promote NARUC’s mission.
Duffley joined NARUC after more than 25 years working for the State of North Carolina. Before joining NARUC, she served as a Commissioner for the North Carolina Utilities Commission from 2019 through 2025. During her tenure, she served as Chair of the Electricity Committee of NARUC, Member of the Board of Directors of NARUC, Co-Chair of both the Joint Federal-State Task Force and the Federal and State Current Issues Collaborative, Member of the EPRI Advisory Board, and Board Member of OPSI, among other roles.
Duffley earned her BA in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her JD from Mercer University.

Tom Scoulios is a consultant in the energy industry focusing on global operations and technology.

Toms has worked in the oil and gas industry for 30 years. He has held roles such as chief operating officer and CTO-SVP technology in the geophysical industry. Preceding that, he spent 20 years at Schlumberger where he held positions such as hemisphere and region manager, managing multiple product lines as well as customer and government relations in North and South America, Asia, and Europe.

Tom also worked as global account director focusing on long-term strategic customer goals and collaboration with the executive team. He graduated from Texas A&M and currently guest lectures on Energy at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Energy Center.

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Ed Ahnert retired from ExxonMobil in 2005 after almost 28 years of service with the company, over 14 as head of the ExxonMobil Foundation and contributions manager for Exxon Mobil Corporation, and 13 years in various positions in the treasurer’s department.

Ahnert graduated from Rice University with a BA in English literature. He earned a master’s degree in international relations from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.