Amber Bieg is an energy strategist and decarbonization leader with more than two decades of expertise turning ambitious climate commitments into measurable results for global and industrial companies, as well as governments.

Over the course of her career, she’s led multimillion-dollar projects, built firms across various industries ― including tech, energy, and consulting ― and lent her insight and experience on boards and to other industry professionals.

Bieg holds an MBA and worked in a variety of business and entrepreneurial roles before her current position at Micron Technology. For example, she was the founder and CEO of Open Tree Map, the development director for Friends of the Urban Forest, worked for more than a decade as a sustainability consultant for Green Ideas, and then served for over seven years at Warm Springs Consulting, where she was a partner and principal energy and sustainability consultant.

With multiple degrees, including a master’s degree in medical physics and a PhD, MS, in nuclear engineering, Shannon Bragg-Sitton has used her knowledge and passion to cultivate a career that creates space for the innovative application of nuclear energy. Today, she serves as the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) associate laboratory director for the Energy and Environment Science and Technology (EES&T) directorate ― a role she’s held since 2024.

Before this, Bragg-Sitton was the director of the Integrated Energy and Storage Systems Division for the directorate. In her role, she manages EES&T’s 350-plus member team dedicated to a diverse energy agenda and guides steers INL’s research efforts. In total, she’s served with INL for more than 14 years.

Bragg-Sitton is an internationally esteemed leader in coupling nuclear energy with other energy sources and has played key roles in advancing energy systems integration. Before her time at INL, she was an engineer at Marshall Space Flight Center at NASA and was an assistant professor for Texas A&M for three years.

Leif Elgethun has more than 15 years of experience helping organizations achieve energy goals, with more than 1 gigawatt of project development and 100 megawatts of renewable energy projects delivered.

He founded Retrolux in May 2016, a software-as-a-service company providing utilities, electrical distributors and contractors with comprehensive product supply chain logistics and energy efficiency solutions. The cloud-based platform helps small to midsize contractors and energy service companies improve efficiency, accuracy and scalability while shortening sales cycles.

Since September 2018, he has served as principal owner of Sprout Energy, providing sustainability consulting and turnkey clean energy projects for commercial, industrial and agricultural customers including St. Luke’s Hospital, Treasure Valley YMCA, Boise State University and the City of Boise. He holds bachelor’s degrees in chemical engineering, mathematics and chemistry, and a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Idaho. He is a licensed professional engineer in Idaho and LEED-accredited for new construction.

Dr. David Estrada is a professor and a deputy director for two different organizations, putting his training and education to maximum use.

At Boise State University, Estrada is a professor at the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering, while at Idaho National Laboratory, he holds the position of Advanced Manufacturing Deputy Director for Academic Research.

A U.S. Navy veteran who served as an electronics warfare technician from 1998 to 2004, he earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Boise State University in 2007. He holds master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earned in 2009 and 2013, respectively. He received NSF and NDSEG graduate fellowships and completed postdoctoral research before joining Boise State’s Laboratory of Integrated Bio Medical Micro/Nanotechnology Applications under Prof. Rashid Bashir as a visiting postdoctoral researcher. From there, he moved into his current position.

A distinguished business leader with expertise in business development, curriculum design, strategic planning, budget administration, workforce development and much more, Christi Gilchrist joined the team at Idaho Advanced Energy Consortium (IAEC) in June 2025.

With more than two decades of aligning educational ecosystems with industry needs, she is poised to lead IAEC into a new era. Gilchrist is already well underway in spearheading the region’s combined effort to bolster advanced energy innovation, raise up new talent, and strengthen the economic infrastructure needed to reach energy goals.

Gilchrist’s career history demonstrates commitment to Idaho and its people, working for the Idaho Department of Education as an educational technologist, Idaho Student Management System as a implementation specialist, and the University of Phoenix as the director of academic affairs. She also worked for more than 11 years in leadership for the College of Western Idaho.

Chad Gordon has led J&M Sanitation for 26 years, providing solid waste collection for the cities of Kuna and Melba. His most significant recent accomplishment was converting the company’s residential trash and recycling fleet from diesel to 100% electric vehicles, making them the first city in the United States to achieve complete electric collection.

“We are the first city in the United States to have all of our residential trash and recycling picked up by 100% electric vehicles,” Gordon said.

Gordon began working in the industry at age 9, riding on garbage trucks when his father bought the company 38 years ago. After briefly exploring other industries in his late teens, he returned to waste management.

“I ultimately decided that being a garbage man was what I wanted to do,” he said.

His goals include completing installation of 10 solar panels to power the electric fleet. The biggest challenge has been competing as a small family-owned company against the nation’s second- and third-largest waste haulers while maintaining competitive pricing and top-notch service for Idaho communities.