Tyler H. Norris is a James B. Duke Fellow at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, where his PhD research focuses on bulk electric power systems. He was previously VP of Development at Cypress Creek Renewables, where he managed a multi-gigawatt project portfolio and hundreds of millions in capital investments.

Prior, he was Director at S&P Global Platts and Special Advisor for tech-to-market at the U.S. Department of Energy. He was invited to testify to the US House Energy & Commerce Committee in March 2025 based on his role as lead author of the Nicholas Institute study Rethinking Load Growth, and in 2024 he was invited by FERC to serve as an expert panelist at the Commission’s technical conference on generator interconnection reform.

He regularly advises government officials, NGOs, investors, and market participants, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, and elsewhere.

Jeff Hughes became a Duke Climate Leader in Residence in August of 2025. Hughes’ primary affiliations during his 18-month residency are with the Nicholas Institute and the Pratt School of Engineering, but he also will work across campus on other interdisciplinary initiatives. While at Duke, he will teach courses, work on curriculum development, and support students and faculty.

Prior to joining Duke, Hughes spent 6 years as a Commissioner with the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Mr. Hughes also spent nearly twenty years on the faculty of the University of North Carolina School Government where he was the Director of the UNC Environmental Finance Center. His professional experience includes economic regulation, consulting, academia, direct utility management, and international development.

Hughes has an undergraduate degree in engineering from Duke University with a focus on energy management and a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a focus on water engineering and economics. He has served on numerous boards and committees during his career including the NARUC Committee on Water, the USEPA Environmental Finance Advisory Board, the NC Water Treatment Operator’s Certification Board, the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance, and the North Carolina GreenPower Board.

Mark is Duke Energy’s North Carolina Energy and Environmental Affairs Director. In this role he represents Duke Energy on energy and environmental issues ranging from carbon reduction and offshore wind development to transportation electrification and nuclear power. He is accountable for Duke Energy’s engagement with environmental regulators, emergency management officials, and other elements of state government. Early in his time with Duke Energy Mark held several operational roles, including electrostatic precipitator engineer and strategic water engineer.

Immediately prior to joining Duke Energy, he spent seven years with GHD leading large infrastructure projects for USAID in the Middle East. He began his career with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality where he spent 10 years focused on water and wastewater permitting for large industrial facilities.

Mark represents Duke Energy on Governor Stein’s Energy Policy Task Force and serves on the boards of the Southeastern Wind Coalition and the Carolinas Air Pollution Control Association. He is a graduate of NC State’s College of Engineering, a licensed Professional Engineer, a member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers, and a certified Carbon Reduction Manager.

Sushma Masemore was named Deputy Secretary for Environment in May of 2021.  She guides DEQ’s regulatory divisions through the complex issues facing North Carolina and brings more than 30 years of public and private sector experience to the role. 

Masemore oversees the development and implementation of major policy initiatives for programs such as:  permitting of discharges to surface waters; issuance of air emissions permits; grant programs for wastewater and drinking water projects; remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater, permitting of coastal development; and regulation of animal operations, mining operations, and energy development projects.  

As the State Energy Director, Masemore led statewide initiatives related to energy and climate change, including the development of the NC Clean Energy Plan and Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan. 

Masemore joined DEQ as a permit engineer and has managed teams of engineers and scientists through program design, standards development, and implementation phases. Her private sector experience includes building partnerships with technology developers, industry representatives, and government officials to collaborate on environmental solutions that made good business sense while protecting public health.  

Masemore earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Maryland Baltimore County, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in North Carolina. 

Fabio Fracaroli leads business development and account management for a select group of enterprise accounts within Shell’s Low Carbon Solutions business. With over 24 years of international experience in manufacturing, project management, marketing, sales, and business development in the energy and power industries, he is a seasoned sales and marketing leader.

Fabio joined Shell in late 2022. He began his career at the Brazilian multinational WEG, followed by 12 years in the Power Grids Division from the Swiss/Swedish conglomerate ABB, which is now part of the Hitachi Group.

He holds dual engineering degrees and a master’s degree in business administration, along with two executive education courses. Fabio has lived and worked in Brazil, Germany, and the United States. He is married, has two children, and currently resides in Houston, Texas.

Annie is a Senior Manager of Market Development projects for medium and heavy-duty vehicles on the Clean Fuels and Infrastructure team at CALSTART. Her efforts focus on national and international collaborations for advancing the ecosystem of technologies, and their stakeholders, necessary for developing zero emission infrastructure for corridors, drayage operations and charging hubs.

Before CALSTART, Annie was Director of the DOE designated Triangle Clean Cities Coalition and Principal Energy and Transportation Planner at Central Pines Regional Council in Durham. She advanced the market in alternative fuel technologies across the region, including developing an educational partnership with the Southeast Hydrogen Energy Alliance (SHEA) and assisting with North Carolina’s Clean Transportation and National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) plans.

Her background is in science education; she brings a wealth of experience in communications and energy literacy. She spent time as an Information and Communications Specialist at the N.C. Division of Air Quality developing programming on energy and climate literacy in conjunction with the N.C. Clean Energy Plan and North Carolina State Climate Office and inventorying point source pollutants for submission to the EPA. The spark for a career shift came after spending 10 years as a STEM focused Environmental Science and Biology teacher.

Annie holds a B.S. in Science Education and a concentration in English from Campbell University, a Master’s in Scientific Literacy from Gardner-Webb University, and a professional certificate in Technical Project Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition, Annie completed two fellowships at the University of North Carolina’s in Climate Change and Energy Technologies.

Kate Jostworth is the Head of First Mile drayage products for USA for Maersk. Her scope includes solution design, pricing, and performance for customers needing trucking services for their intact ocean containers across 12+ trucking terminals and brokerage functions. This represents a portfolio of over 650,000 truck moves a year.

Kate has 19 years of experience within the Maritime Logistics Industry across Operations, Procurement, and Commercial functions. Kate holds a Master of Science in Supply Chain Management from the University of Tennessee, where she completed her master’s thesis on the operational considerations to balance a dual fleet of diesel and battery electric Class 8 trucks. Her research continues as she assists Maersk with the development plans to enable the transition from diesel to BEV to support Maersk 2040 Sustainability goals.

Kate believes in the power of collective giving to empower women and the communities they live and is a member of Together Women Rise and Women’s Impact Fund to bring this belief into practice.

Taj Ahmad Eldridge is a 25+ year investment professional with deep experience in climate, energy, and sustainability. He is the Founding Managing Director of Climate Innovations at Jobs for the Future (JFF), where he leads initiatives at the intersection of climate and workforce development, including CREST, a $25M Ares-backed project building a climate-resilient talent pipeline. Taj is also Venture Partner and Co-Founder of Include Venture Partners, investing in founders and fund managers advancing innovative and inclusive ecosystems.

Previously, Taj was Senior Director of Investments at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), where he launched the LACI Impact Fund I and the LACI Debt Fund to scale cleantech ventures. He also built programs connecting investors and entrepreneurs in clean energy, mobility, and the circular economy. Earlier, as Director of the UC Riverside Incubator, he established the region’s first venture fund, the Highlander Fund.

Taj has invested in and advised numerous climate and energy companies, including Form Energy, BlocPower, SparkCharge, and KIGT, alongside broader impact-driven ventures. He also serves on the Climate Finance Advisory Team of the Community Investment Guarantee Pool (CIGP) and the advisory board of VC Include.

He holds a Bachelor’s in International Literature & Poetry from East Texas A&M University, a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine’s Graziadio Business School, and a PhD in Geopolitical Economics from Claremont Graduate University.

Ray Spitzley is a Vice Chairman in Morgan Stanley’s Global Power and Utility Group and serves as Co-Head of the Firm’s Energy Transition banking efforts. Over the course of Ray’s 40-year career, he has worked with companies and governments throughout North America, Europe and Asia regarding power, energy and other essential infrastructure. Ray is currently helping lead Morgan Stanley’s ‘Powering AI’ initiatives, working with the leading hyperscalers, data center companies and power providers to address the immense electricity requirements of AI-dedicated data centers.

Ray joined Morgan Stanley in 1993 in Hong Kong where he established the Firm’s power, energy and infrastructure banking practice in Non-Japan Asia. In 1998 Ray moved to Sydney Australia where he continued in that role while helping build out Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division in Australia as the country Co-Head for IBD. In 2001 Ray returned to New York as a senior member of the Global Power and Utility Group.

Ray has led privatizations in Australia, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand; advised the Hong Kong Government on its $25 billion Port and Airport Development Scheme; helped lead the IPOs of Bloom Energy and Fluence Energy; led M&A transactions on behalf of a wide range of clients including Advanced Power, AES, Algonquin, CMS, Connectiv, CPV, Cypress Creek, Dominion, DTE, Duke, Dynegy, Enbridge, Engie, GIP, GPU, Hecate, ITC, Itochu, LS Power, Mitsui, National Grid, Noble, NRG, PSEG, Puget, RRI, Silicon Ranch, Singapore Power, Southern, and TC Energy; and worked on multi-billion dollar capital raisings for many of the aforementioned companies as well as Calpine, Equinix, Sempra and TVA.

Ray is a graduate of Denison University and holds a Master’s in Public and Private Management from Yale University.

Dr. Chris Wedding is an Executive in Residence at the Fuqua School of Business, Nicholas School of the Environment, Department of Economics, and Innovation and Entrepreneurship program at Duke University.

In addition, he is the CEO of Entrepreneurs for Impact (EFI), the biggest climate tech CEO peer group in North America; podcast host and newsletter author at Climate CEOs; cofounder of Terraset (carbon removal), Senior Advisor at Javelin Capital (clean energy investment banking), Board member at World Tree (regenerative forestry), Board Advisor at DG Matrix (solid-state transformer in power electronics), former environmental private equity investor, and former clean tech investment banker.