President & CEO
Ascend Analytics
Dr. Gary Dorris has been a pioneer of innovative solutions for portfolio management and resource planning for over two decades. He has delivered expert testimony on portfolio management, risk management, energy trading, asset valuation, and resource planning; including acting as a lead expert witness for Northwestern Energy and Hawaii Electric in reshaping of their energy supply portfolios to be renewable. In addition, he has served as principal portfolio and risk management advisor to the formation of multiple electric retailers including Duke Solutions, Entergy Solutions, and ConEd Solutions. He has been an advisor to the Board of Directors for Turlock Irrigation District and other utilities. He was also lead expert for Merrill Lynch in the prominent Enron proceedings and served as lead witness for portfolio management practices of Nevada Power.
Dr. Dorris has organically grown Ascend Analytics over the last two decades to be a leading provider of quantitative software solutions for energy portfolio management and data infrastructure. His analytic vision to bridge the physical models for production costing with the financial models of risk management has led to development of over a dozen software applications used by over 100 energy companies. He has been engagement director for major solutions of over two dozen for portfolio and risk management infrastructure solutions. In 2001, Dr. Dorris won distinguished recognition from the IPE for contributions to the field of energy risk management. 
Prior to founding Ascend, he served as CEO of e-Acumen, a 60-person energy analytics software firm. He began his career developing structured power transactions at Citizens Power & Light. Dr. Dorris holds a Ph.D. in applied economics and finance from Cornell University and a BS in mechanical engineering and BA in economics with Magna Cum Laude distinction also from Cornell University.
Thursday, September 22, 2022
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM