Energy: Fossil Fuel Courses
Instructors
GP Strategies’ power plant instructors combine a deep knowledge of the fossil
industry with compelling instructional skills to help drive learning, retention,
and a thorough understanding of course content. Most of our instructors have upwards
of 20 years of hands-on experience in the power industry. You won’t find a
more qualified team for your team than GP Strategies.
Select an instructor’s name below to learn more about our staff:
- Operations Knowledge™ Series:
- Performance Knowledge™ Series:
GP Strategies’ Instructors
Roger Austin
Senior Training Specialist/Electrical Engineer—Workforce Development
Roger has over 16 years of training experience in the bulk power operations arena.
He is active in the development and delivery of various training programs for plant
personnel and transmission and distribution personnel. He participates in all phases
of bulk power training activities, including program design, materials preparation,
and on-site instruction.
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Bill Ballard
Senior Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Bill has over 30 years of experience in nuclear and fossil power plant chemistry
and operations, safety and environmental compliance, and training. He develops web-based
and instructor-led training programs for GP Strategies’ power industry and
manufacturing clients. His work on drinking water treatment for his master’s
degree was published in the Journal of Environmental Engineering. He
also presented the results of his work at the annual conference of the American
Chemical Society. He has instructed all levels of power plant personnel.
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Jason Bannister
Operations Manager—Workforce Development
Jason has more than 11 years of experience providing consulting/training services
in fossil power plants, as well as operating power plants aboard US Navy nuclear
submarines. He participates in all phases of fossil fuel training activities, including
the development of high quality training materials and on-site instruction for plant
and scrubber operation. His project management responsibilities include proposal
writing, project pricing and finances, scheduling, developer coordination, document
quality review, and final delivery.
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Jeffery B. Bitner
Manager—Performance Engineering Services
Jeff has over 23 years of experience in fossil power plant performance engineering
projects. He is responsible for carrying out performance tests and analyses of power
plant equipment, providing engineering services for plant betterment projects, troubleshooting
plant operational problems, developing and implementing operator training and qualification
programs, and instructing plant personnel in thermal performance improvement.
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R. C. Booth
Principal Engineer—Performance Engineering Services
Rich has over 35 years of extensive performance, combustion, and emissions experience.
He has solved combustion-related performance and emissions problems on a wide size
range of industrial and electric utility boilers that include stoker and pulverized
coal-fired units as well as those that use natural gas, heavy oil, and refuse. His
experience includes diagnostic and unit performance testing, development and implementation
of intelligent soot blowing systems, on-site plant performance assessments, and
implementation of software-based solutions for performance and plant equipment condition
monitoring.
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Sandy Bradford
Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Sandy has over 27 years of power plant chemistry, environmental, and training experience.
As an instructor of Fossil Plant Chemistry for Operators, she presents
basic chemistry concepts and plant-related topics such as water treatment, corrosion,
and plant chemistry control to varied audiences at power generation stations. She
has experience in power plant systems chemistry, analytical techniques, chemistry
QA/QC programs, and environmental release monitoring.
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Richard R. DesJardins, PE
Vice President—Performance Engineering Services
Rich has over 25 years of experience assessing and improving power plant performance.
He is responsible for development and deployment of GP Strategies’ performance
technologies: EtaPRO™ and VirtualPlant™. He has presented numerous papers
on power plant performance and regularly conducts thermal performance seminars.
He is a member of the ASME PTC Performance Monitoring Committee and is a registered
Professional Engineer in New York State.
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Ron Griebenow, PE
Director—Energy Services
Ron has over 25 years of experience in power plant performance and operations training
for the electric power industry. His primary focus is mergers, acquisitions, and
partnerships that will help to expand GP Strategies’ capabilities in improving
performance and availability of electric power generating facilities. He joined
GP Strategies through the acquisition of Performance Consulting Services, Inc.,
where he was the president and one of the co-founders. He is a member of ASME’s
Committee on Qualification of High Capacity Fossil Fuel Fired Plant Operators (QFO)
and a registered Professional Engineer in South Carolina.
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Amy Hogevoll
Principal Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Amy has over 27 years of power plant chemistry and training experience. She has
experience in power plant systems chemistry, analytical techniques, chemistry QA/QC
programs, and environmental release monitoring. In addition, she is a project management
specialist who directs and participates in the development of custom training materials
for clients. She has extensive experience in all phases of the Systematic Approach
to Training (SAT), including job and task analysis, program and curriculum design,
training material development, classroom/laboratory/on-the-job instruction, task
qualification, and program evaluation. She also provides curriculum design assistance
to GPiLEARN portal clients and facilitates the development of web-based content
for www.gpilearn.com.
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Robert Lancaster
Senior Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Bob has more than 27 years of experience in fossil power plant operations, simulator
training, and training program development. He is responsible for developing, presenting,
and evaluating training programs for small and large power stations. His project
management responsibilities include quality assurance for the development of training
and operational materials. He has participated in the design, development, testing,
and implementation of high fidelity simulators for use in the qualification of large
utility control room operators.
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Greg Mallory
Principal Training / Project Management Specialist—Workforce Development
Greg has over 29 years of power plant operations and training experience. He participates
in all phases of fossil fuel training activities, including the development of high
quality training materials and on-site instruction. His project management responsibilities
include project oversight, scheduling, developer coordination, document quality
review, and material final presentation. He is a licensed Stationary Steam Engineer
in Ohio.
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David C. McLaughlin, PE
Corporate Principal Engineer—Performance Engineering Services
Dave has more than 30 years of experience in engineering, operations, and maintenance
projects for fossil power and process industry plants. He is responsible for conducting
performance tests and analyses of power plant equipment, providing root cause analysis
of equipment failures and operating problems, and developing effective solutions.
Dave is an experienced instructor in power plant performance and heat rate improvement.
He is a registered Professional Engineer in New York State.
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Joseph R. Nasal, PE
Senior Vice President—Energy Services
Joe has more than 38 years of experience in fossil power plant operations, performance
testing and analysis, and engineering. He is responsible for a multitude of performance
improvement products and services related to heat rate improvement and workforce
development. He has presented numerous papers on heat rate improvement, co-authored
two texts on power plant performance, and has instructed all levels of power plant
personnel in the United States and abroad. He is an active member on the ASME Plant
Operations Committee and a registered Professional Engineer in New York State.
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Bob Neff
Operations Manager—Workforce Development
Bob has over 20 years of commercial and military power plant operations and training
experience. He is active in the presentation and development of various quality
training and plant operational materials and programs, and is a licensed Boiler
Operator in Ohio.
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Daniel Nordmeyer
Principal Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Daniel has over 33 years of power plant experience in the operations, I&C, electrical,
and mechanical maintenance areas. He has developed and conducted training in the
fossil, nuclear, industrial, automotive, and pulp and paper industries. He is active
in the presentation and development of various training and plant operational programs.
His project management responsibilities include quality assurance oversight of the
training and operational materials developed.
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Daniel J. Oslé
Principal Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Dan has over 25 years of power plant operations and training experience. He is active
in the presentation and development of various training and plant operational programs.
His project lead responsibilities include quality assurance for the development
of training and operational materials. He participates in all phases of fossil training
and transmission and distribution (T&D) training activities, including industrial
process control, relay protection, material preparation, and on-site instruction.
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Dr. Jeff Parmar
International Operations Director—Performance Engineering Services
Jeff has over 25 years of experience in power plant performance assessment. He is
responsible for GP Strategies’ European and Middle Eastern clients. He is
an accomplished performance engineer with proven success meeting clients’
needs around the world. He is a certified European Engineer (Eur Ing), a Fellow
of the Institution of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE), and a Chartered Engineer
in the UK. He is a member of the ASME PTC 47 and ISO 2314 committees and has published
numerous technical papers on the performance of gas turbines and combined cycle
power plants.
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Terry Scoble
Senior Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Terry has over 25 years of power plant operations and training experience. He is
active in the presentation and development of various training and plant operational
programs. His responsibilities include quality assurance and development of training
and operational materials. He participates in all phases of fossil generation training
activities, including materials preparation and on-site instruction.
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Jim Watson
Senior Training Specialist—Workforce Development
Jim has over 35 years of experience in the power industry, with 15 of those years
specializing in simulation for fossil and nuclear power plants. He has conducted
simulator training programs and presentations dealing with heat transfer, plant
systems, and operational plant transients for boilers, reactors, and combined cycle
power plants. He has a BS degree in physics and has held Stationary Engineer, Senior
Reactor Operator, and Reactor Operator licenses and certifications for Westinghouse,
Combustion Engineering, and Babcock & Wilcox power plants.
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Contact us today to learn more about GP Strategies’ instructors: