Lori Smith Schell, Ph.D., serves as President of Empowered Energy. Dr. Schell has over 15 years of experience in the energy industry, including policy analysis work done at the U.S. Department of Energy and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Prior to founding Empowered Energy, Dr. Schell was the Director of Energy Risk Management for Trigen Energy Corporation, a leading provider of district heating systems and energy-efficient combined heat and power solutions for large industrial firms, universities, governmental agencies, and municipalities. In this role, Dr. Schell orchestrated the hedging of electricity sales and natural gas purchases for Trigen's three dozen operating units, supported by in-depth commodity market analysis and commodity contract oversight. Aggregating Trigen's emissions allowances into a corporate portfolio, Dr. Schell negotiated and set the peak market price for vintage 2003/2003 NOx emissions allowances. Dr. Schell also represented Trigen on the Board of Directors of the Independent Power Producers of New York, Inc. (IPPNY).
Dr. Schell earlier served as the Manager of Regulatory Affairs & Market Analysis for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., a Fortune 300 global producer of industrial gases and chemicals. While at Air Products, Dr. Schell provided expert witness testimony in numerous natural gas pipeline proceedings at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), on behalf of a coalition of up to nine industrial natural gas end-users. Dr. Schell filed testimony opposing the first major natural gas pipeline to file for market-based rates, on the basis of inadequate market analysis and lack of adherence to FERC policy guidelines.
Dr. Schell received a Ph.D. in Mineral Economics and Operations Research from the Pennsylvania State University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Washington. After completing her Ph.D., Dr. Schell joined Benjamin Schlesinger and Associates, Inc., where she provided contractual, regulatory, and deliverability risk evaluation for a dozen project-financed natural gas-fired cogeneration projects.
