Community Dinner: Measuring Grid Resilience Against Energy Ambition

As heat waves intensify, sea levels rise, and data centers expand across Virginia, the Southeast is confronting unprecedented climate and infrastructure challenges. Our Community Dinner will explore critical topics around grid and infrastructural resilience, highlighting the urgent need for actionable strategies in a rapidly evolving political and environmental landscape. Join market leaders and climate experts for an interactive session as they unpack the future of climate resilience and the energy transition, sparking meaningful discussions on practical roadmaps for a climate-proof Southeast. This is a unique opportunity to gain exclusive insights and connect with the foremost minds driving the region’s energy and resilience strategies—an event you won’t want to miss!

Open to current Duke students only.

Featured Speakers:

Will Supple (Duke MEM ’15) is a Senior Manager in Baringa’s US Utilities business, where he leads the asset planning team with a focus on climate resiliency and integrated system planning. With deep expertise in utility strategy, infrastructure analytics, and long-term investment planning, William helps clients navigate the evolving energy landscape and build systems that are both adaptive and future-proof. His work spans grid modernization, risk-informed planning, and cross-sector collaboration to ensure infrastructure decisions are grounded in data, equity, and resilience. William focuses studies on enhancing regulatory outcomes by aligning prudent investment strategies with evolving policy and stakeholder expectations. Known for bridging technical rigor with strategic insight, he partners with stakeholders across the value chain to deliver solutions that limit uncertainty and drive sustainable impact.

Clare Fieseler (Duke MEM ’10), Ph.D., is a journalist, marine ecologist and National Geographic explorer. She has written about climate change and oceans for numerous outlets including National Geographic, The Guardian, Slate, Vox, and The Washington Post. She is currently a reporter covering offshore wind for Canary Media, a non-profit news outlet. Prior to that she covered climate and clean energy for POLITICO and its sister sites E&E News. She was an investigative reporter covering the environment for The Post and Courier, South Carolina’s largest newspaper. In 2024, she won the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communications, the largest prize in science journalism. 

After a decade working as an ocean scientist, Clare discovered journalism in 2019 through a reporting fellowship at The Washington Post. She received a PhD in ecology from UNC Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in environmental management from Duke University. Prior to that, she conducted field research on coral reefs and climate-threatened marine mammals for over a decade. Her last research position was at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Clare is a graduate of Duke’s Nicholas School where in 2010 completed a masters in environmental management. Afterwards, she completed a one year ocean policy fellowship at the Nicholas Institute.

Reginald Bynum, Jr., originally from Halifax County, NC, is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in the BPO corporate sector and community development. He currently serves as the Community Relations and Zoning Manager for a SunEnergy1, where he oversees Special Use Permits (SUP), Conditional Use Permits (CUP), and Community Relations.

Before joining SunEnergy1, Reginald served as the Community Engagement Director at The Center for Energy Education, where he supported the Center’s mission of empowering rural communities through education and sustainable energy initiatives. His work continues to reflect a deep commitment to equity, access, and environmental stewardship.

Reginald combines technical expertise with a passion for service, helping bridge the gap between energy innovation and community empowerment.

Moderator: Brian Murray, Ph.D., is the director of the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University. Murray is also a research professor at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and the Sanford School of Public Policy. He has led the Nicholas Institute since 2021, when the organization was created by the merger of the Duke University Energy Initiative and Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. Previously, Murray led the Energy Initiative from 2016-2021 and was the director for economic analysis at the Nicholas Institute from 2006-2017. In 2015, Murray was a Fulbright Scholar in Environment and Economy at Canada’s University of Ottawa.

Murray is widely recognized for his research on the economics of energy policy, particularly as it relates to efforts to mitigate climate change risk. He has written about the design and assessment of economic incentive mechanisms for decarbonizing the economy such as carbon tax, cap-and-trade, directed tax credits, and tradable performance standards, as well as policies affecting the markets for renewable energy and sustainable land use. 

Murray is among the original designers of the allowance price reserve approach for containing prices in carbon markets that was adopted by California and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) cap-and-trade programs and served on a National Academy of Science panel to examine the effects of the U.S. federal tax code on energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. He was a convening lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report on greenhouse gas mitigation from land use change. 

Prior to working at Duke, Murray served as director of the Center for Regulatory Economics and Policy Research at RTI International. Murray earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance at the University of Delaware and a master’s degree and doctoral degree in resource economics and policy at Duke University.