OUR TEAM

Greg is president of Xtensible Solutions and enjoys helping utilities architect, plan, design, and implement semantically coherent information systems solutions for integration and analytics.  He specializes in the development of the utility business and information architecture, pragmatically following the TOGAF Architecture Development Method and using Archimate notation for articulating business functions and business data objects that align well with IEC Common Information Model (CIM) and IEC 61850 standards.

He plays key roles in utility industry standards development organizations and user groups to enable these utilities to leverage and drive industry standards to their benefit while simultaneously aiding the standards development process.  For example, he has been on the DistribuTECH Planning Committee since 2003 and has been the convener of IEC TC57 Working Group 14 since its formation in 1997.  This working group is responsible for developing the CIM and associated standards in support of Enterprise Business Function Interfaces for Utility Operations.  In addition to facilitating the collaboration of industry experts, he performed much of the model development for the 61968 directory of the CIM in Unified Modeling Language (UML) notation and contributed to the development of the 61968-1 Interface Reference Model in ArchiMate notation.

Greg has a BSEE from Georgia Tech and a MBA from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Michael Covarrubias is a Managing Partner of Xtensible and the VP of Market and Solutions.  He previously served as Manager of Enterprise Architecture and Strategy at Arizona Public Service for nearly 7 years.  With over a decade of Utility background and experience, he has worked with various areas in the utility sector including Enterprise Architecture, Executive Management, Mobility, Operations, Customer Service, Field Service, and Generation across multiple different domains of technology and business areas.  As part of Xtensible he current serves as the Vendor Co-Chair for the IEC CIM User Group.

Phillip Jones is Vice President and Chief Architect, based in Florida. Phillip joined Xtensible Solutions in 2005 and leads the strategy and architecture for enterprise information management (EIM), data integration and analytics (DIA), generative AI (GenAI), and system integration (SI) initiatives. He is also a subject matter expert on all aspects of the asset lifecycle (from planning, design, construction, maintenance, and operation). Phillip also actively participates in several industry organizations, including IEC TC57 WG14, UCA/CIMUG. Phillip’s experience includes enterprise architecture, service orientated, decoupled, microservice architectures and semantic-based system integration, implementation of a variety of utility applications. Phillip is also deeply involved in the product development of Affirma, Xtensible’s software product for metadata and data lineage management, data governance and model-driven design.

Dr. Gerald R. Gray is the Vice President of Professional Services. In this role Dr. Gray ensures that consultants who serve our clients exceed expectations. Dr. Gray also engages with clients for strategy development, change management, architecture development, and business capability assessment.   

Dr. Gray is a member of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Technical Committee 57 and has led the development of the IEC 61968-14 MultiSpeak-CIM Harmonization and IEC 61968-5 Distributed Energy Optimization standards. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, formerly a member of the GridWise® Architecture Council, and member of the board of directors for the Utility Communications Architecture International Users Group (UCAIUG).   

Prior to joining Xtensible Solutions, Dr. Gray was a Senior Program Manager at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), where among other research initiatives, led the development of the Utility Business Capability Model, created, and led the enterprise architecture research program, and created various utility maturity assessment models. Prior to joining EPRI in 2011, he spent 12 years at Consumers Energy, an electric and gas utility in Michigan.    

Dr. Gray has earned a Master of Administrative Sciences degree from the University of Montana and a PhD in Organization and Management, with an IT Management specialization, from Capella University.   

Dr. Gray is the author of the book, Blockchain Technology for Managers (2021) Nature Publishing and is an expert is various facets of distributed ledger technology and how these may be applied to the utility (and other) industries.   

Gustav Brand has 25 years’ experience in designing and implementing data-driven software platforms for financial services and electrical utility clients worldwide. He is a specialist in leading digital transformation programs and teaching businesses how to deliver new value with digital platforms and solutions.

Gustav holds a postgraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pretoria and MIT and Columbia Business School have certified him as an expert in digital transformation and platform design. Gustav is also a TOGAF certified Enterprise Architect. 

In March 2004, Harry Garton joined Xtensible Solutions as account manager for the California ISO. As Mr. Garton’s project list expanded to include ONCOR and Progress Energy, he distinguished himself as a forward-thinking, planning visionary. Mr. Garton became the Vice President of Professional Services in 2005 and has been instrumental in hiring, managing, mentoring, and promoting professional and individual growth among the Xtensible family. His daily responsibilities entail advising external and internal clients on goals, objectives, and strategies. Mr. Garton’s support for the utility industry extends to his commitment to standards groups, including the IEC TC57 Working Group 16, which focuses on deregulated energy market communications.

Nicole Garton is an Operations Manager who works with Xtensible employees and clients to help everything run smoothly. After spending over a decade working in sports and events industry, Nicole knows how to balance having fun with working hard, staying on budget and creating a memorable experience. Nicole started with Xtensible in 2020 during the transition of Xtensible becoming entirely employee owned. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance and in Sport Management from the University of Florida and currently resides in Chicago. When Nicole isn’t keeping busy with hosting and playing trivia, you can find her at a Chicago Cubs game.

Terry Saxton is Vice President, Standards and Special Projects and co-founder of Xtensible Solutions. Terry provides professional consulting services to the international energy/utility industry in the development of Enterprise Information Management (EIM) solutions and integration strategies based on the IEC Common Information Model (CIM) and related standards. He served for many years as Convener of IEC TC57 WG13 responsible for development of the IEC 61970 CIM standards for power system network models and associated information exchange. He was also a founder and co-chair of the CIM Users Group until recently taking partial retirement. He has over 45 years of experience in the analysis, design, development, implementation, and training for a wide range of system integration solutions for electric utilities and the US Department of Defense. Prior to starting Xtensible Solutions, Mr. Saxton worked for BearingPoint, KEMA Consulting, Siemens Power Systems Control, Honeywell, Information Exchange Systems, and Bell Telephone Laboratories. He received an MSEE from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and BSEE and BS Math with Honors from California State Polytechnic University.

Steve Van Ausdall is a Principal Consultant for Xtensible Solutions, with three decades of experience in the utility integration arena focusing on network connectivity, data modeling, integration, and analytics. He provides full software development lifecycle support, insight, and leadership, using agile, standards-based, model-driven methodologies. He has worked on many large utility integration projects for clients including SCE, Exelon, Sempra, NYISO, CAISO, and TVA; involving numerous standards including IEC CIM, SEP 2.0, UML, SQL, NoSQL, XML, and JSON; and applications including GIS / Design, OMS / Outage, EAM / Asset, WMS / Work, AMI / Metering, SCADA / Operation, and DW / BI / Analytics.

Steve holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science Engineering from the University of Colorado, has published numerous papers at DistribuTECH, IEEE, CBI, and GITA, and received an Excellence Award from SGIP in 2010 for his work on the OpenADE / NAESB ESPI / Green Button Standards.

Shawn Hu is a principal consultant with more than 20 years of utility industry experience in enterprise integration, data warehouse design, interface design, software design/implementation, and system deployment.  He is a member of IEC CIM WG14, NAESB, and Zigbee Alliance. He has been the lead & co-lead of the IEC 61968-1 standard Ed.2 and Ed.3, and currently leads the IEC 61968-4 standard Ed.3. He is also the model manager for the OpenFMB data model which provides an overall top-down approach from business use cases, requirements to data model and implementation artifacts (XSDs & IDLs) generation. His business expertise also includes data analytics, SOA implementation and services design (SOAP & REST).

Tim Duval is a Principal Consultant with expertise in Business Model Development, Strategic Planning, Enterprise Architecture, Graph and Data Science, Ontologies, automation and the creation of data-to-value chains.

Mr. Duval provides big picture and system-of-systems thinking along with excellent leadership, coaching, facilitation, presentation and analytical skills. He has been immersed in UML since 1996 and Model Driven Development and Code Generation since 1999.

Having spent the most recent 15 years of his career in the electric utility industry, Tim also brings extensive knowledge of Transmission processes, systems and data (Planning, Asset Management, Project Management, Engineering, Outage Management and System Operations), FERC Pro-Forma Tariff, Transmission Products, NERC Reliability Standards (including NERC CIP), Institute for Asset Management Framework (ISO 55000) and the IEC Common Information Model (CIM).

James has been in the IT industry for more than 20 years.  He has performed in roles such as solution architect, business analyst, data analyst/researcher, tester and test lead, project manager/scrum master, and helpdesk/operations support.

His current focus has helping organizations better understand how to derive maximum benefit from their data through processes such as data governance, metadata management, and semantic reconciliation.  A big part of this work has been in creating processes to help ensure the longevity of the investment in the data management work.

Luis Alarcon is a solution development consultant based in Houston Texas with 27 years of Experience in IT industry working in different Areas like software development, SOA Design and implementation and Instructor. He joins Xtensible Solutions in 2013 working in the design and implementation of solution development of semantics-based systems integration and Service Oriented Architecture using ESB and SOA Monitor tools. Before Join Xtensible Mr Alarcon works at SOA Vendors companies like Aurea, Progress Software USA, Progress Software Mexico, and in Software development Companies based in Mexico like Neitek Solutions and Miramar Technology. While is not working Mr Alarcon enjoy playing Guitar and family trips.

Stephanie Souvenir is the Human Resources Manager based in Chicago. She specializes in training and development, employee relations and DEI initiatives. Stephanie provides support and coaching for all things related to the human experience in the workplace.

Stephanie has over 14 years of experience in various industries including sports and fitness, hospitality, and nonprofits. Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication – Organizational Communication from the University of Wisconsin – LaCrosse and a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from DePaul University. She also holds certifications in Senior Professional of Human Resources and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace.

When she is not working, Stephanie is usually traveling or being active. She has completed multiple road races including flying to Germany to run the Berlin Marathon.

Chris Kardos is an independent consultant in the utility and information technology industries. He is currently providing systems integration services for transmission, distribution, and generation system projects at Southern California Edison and the Electric Power Research Institute.

Chris served as the technical lead for numerous information technology projects and consulting engagements and has achieved high levels of customer satisfaction through delivery of successful solutions, service excellence, and innovation.

Prior to his current engagements, Chris developed innovative solutions to integrate advanced metering and outage management systems at BC Hydro. He also developed and conducted a 4-hour course on AMI-OMS Integration at DistribuTECH’s Utility University.
Chris is a subject matter expert and has actively participated in the development of a series of IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standards involving the CIM (Common Information Model).

In past roles, Chris served as the Director of Product Strategy for Ecologic Analytics, LLC, a leading provider of meter data management systems and as the Chief Architect for the energy practice at Electronic Data Systems (now an HP Company).

Chris has an MS in Nuclear Engineering and a BS in Interdisciplinary Engineering, both from Purdue University. He is also the principal inventor on five US patents.

Jaco Roesch is an electrical engineer with more than 2 decades experience within the electrical utility market. He has extensive knowledge in the electricity transmission and distribution industry with emphasis on power system analysis, expansion and maintenance planning as well as the implementation of automated planning and facilities management applications to support planning.

He has in-depth knowledge of business processes implemented at wires companies operating in the utility environment which is then interpreted into IT system architecture requirements used to specify integration framework plans for system implementation.

Patrick Diaz is an Associate Principal Consultant responsible for collaborating with organizations to help them understand how to gain maximum benefit from their data through processes such as data governance, metadata management and semantic understanding.  In conjunction with this, Patrick is responsible for supporting the strategic direction of Xtensible as well as advising clients and Xtensible management on key project operational processes. 

Prior to joining Xtensible Solutions, Patrick was a Business Systems Consultant at Arizona Public Service (APS), where he worked on several major project solutions including the delivery of a new Customer Care and Billing solution for APS. He was the technical lead for multiple efforts provisioning multiple non-production and production test systems. He supported the marketing and trading teams at APS by delivering application support and real time and day ahead data needs. Patrick spent several years as a software engineer collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver requirements, design documentation, code and testing artifacts. 

Patrick has earned a Master of Engineering degree from Arizona State University with an emphasis on Software Engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas at El Paso. 

When he is not working, Patrick likes to spend time with his family hiking, traveling and enjoys cheering his kids on the football field or the golf course. 

Jeffrey Wang is an independent software consultant and developer with over 30 years of professional experience based in the Boulder Colorado area.  He specializes in software design and development, systems integration and SOA implementation.  When he’s not working, you can often find him chasing and photographing wildlife.

Erika Ferguson has over 20+ years of utility industry experience. She spent 10 years at Idaho Power Company working with control system dispatch to ensure reliable delivery of power. In her career she has worked for EMS vendors, OSIsoft, Doble Engineering, with small local solution providers as well as large global consulting companies, in short, the utility ecosystem and beyond. She has solved problems, implemented new solutions to support ever changing business needs. Her experience includes Software Development, Project Management, Process Improvement, Enterprise Analytics, SCADA/EMS/DMS, Smart Grid, Renewable Energy, Asset Management, Partner Management, Business Strategy, Procurement, Recruiting and Client Management.

Working with clients she is positioned to understand, appreciate and embrace opportunities, drives results through bringing people and ideas together, applying solid practical and theoretical experience. Most recently the circular economy, its related concepts and positive impacts is of particular interest for her. She has served as the WECC EMS Working Group Chair, has been a member of several other WECC working groups. She has a B.S Degree in Physics.  When she is not working with Xtensible related activities, she likes to enjoy the great outdoors in the Pacific Northwest.

Kim Kelln is a data architect, data modeler and data analyst, contributing expertise to a broad spectrum of businesses since 1983. He has been instrumental in delivering effective and practical solutions to satisfy all of his customers’ needs as they have evolved over the years. Kim’s clients have included many of the major oil and gas operators, both upstream and downstream, service companies and data vendors. He has also designed information systems for business and engineering domains as diverse as electrical generation, transmission and distribution, rail transportation, pipelines and retail data management. Kim is recognized for his capabilities in information and data architecture, analysis, modeling, quality and integration, and for his background, knowledge and understanding of industry standard data models such as the Public Petroleum Data Model (PPDM), the ARTS Retail Operational Data Model, and the Common Information Model (CIM) for electric utilities.

Kim is a registered Professional Engineer (Lifetime P.Eng.) in the province of Alberta.

Kim is an experienced data analyst and IT project leader with over 25 years of information technology experience.  She has 6 years of consulting experience with Accenture with a focus on the Utility industry, and 19 years as an independent contractor at Exelon Corporation.  Kim has extensive proven experience in system development methods and best practices, she has participated in multiple organizations through the complete systems development life cycle. Kim aligns the business technology strategy and future state application roadmap to the business goals and drivers leveraging lean and agile transformational methodologies.  Functional background includes customer information systems, full meter to cash lifecycle, automated metering infrastructure (AMI), data analytics, smart meter, and net energy metering.   Technical background includes CIS implementations, workflow management systems, full data warehouse build and implementation, Oracle ODI, Oracle CCB, SAP / CRM, CIMS.  She specializes in data modeling, data profiling, offshore team support / management and data mapping / ETL design.

As a member of the Business Intelligence / Data Analytics team at Exelon Corp, Kim is responsible for data modeling and producing data lineage mapping documents.   Kim is also a Certified Public Accountant (inactive license) in Ohio, and has an accounting / finance background.

Attie is an electrical engineer with more than 25 year’s experience, of which more than 20 years were focused on technology and information systems for electrical T&D utilities, specifically in the wires (power system networks, power system network model management and asset management) and customer value chains (customer care, billing & vending, with a lot of experience in utility revenue loss management). He is highly experienced in utility technology and information system architecture and design, business process and requirements analysis, detailed design, system integration and analytics.

Attie holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and is a registered professional engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and a member of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE). He is also registered as a certified asset management assessor (CAMA) with the World Partners in Asset Management (WPiAM) organization.

Sutton is a dynamic and collaborative Enterprise Program and Project Manager with 20 years of results-driven experience. She has extensive knowledge of Electric Utilities’ Transmission Business Line Operations and is well versed in/working knowledge of IEC standards 61970, 61968 as well as OpenFMB. Sutton is a certified PPM (Professional Project Management) by Baldwin-Wallace University, an excellent communicator and is highly skilled in client engagement/relationship management. She puts a priority on collaborating with clients to define and initiate, coordinate, monitor performance, and deploy using best practices in order to ensure value delivery and alignment with all levels of management.

Mr. Wang is a consultant and engineer with over 16 years of professional experience. He is responsible for the ongoing product development at Xtensible Solutions and providing consulting services to electrical utilities. He specializes in data integration, software design and development, SOA implementation, XML and RESTful technologies, semantic analysis and modeling, and IEC CIM modeling.

Ray Schaefer is a solutions developer in the Denver Colorado metro area.
He has been doing software development at Xtensible since 2012.
Before Xtensible, Ray worked developing real estate software.
Ray enjoys the outdoors on his time off such as hiking and biking.

Charles is a self-directed, “roll my sleeves up”, project management professional with accomplishments leading project delivery, client relations, business intelligence, and cross-functional teams to ensure success and achieve goals. With 14+ years of experience in the energy industry he is an innovative thinker with a strong background in power generation, utilities, commodities trading systems support, and consulting industry acumen.  Charles is a certified PMP (Project Management Professional) and brings over a decade of database development experience and served as a technical lead during his time working in power generation.

He enjoys golfing and spending time with his children’s baseball and soccer youth athletics.