Forest Button is the manager of project development and key accounts, and manages the development of alternatives to diesel generation for AVEC. He also manages relations with AVEC’s customers and is the project manager for AVEC’s many construction projects funded by various state and federal agencies.

Mr. Button has 25 years of experience in management and engineering. He has successfully negotiated contracts and managed projects throughout Alaska in various industries. He has worked for State and Federal agencies, private corporations, and been self-employed. He came to AVEC in 2012 as a contract project manager charged with management of capital projects.

Mr. Button holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and is a Licensed Professional Land Surveyor in the state of Alaska.

Gwen is the Director of the Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP), which is an applied energy research program based at the University of Alaska Fairbanks focusing on both fossil and renewable/alternative energy technologies. ACEP is a highly interdisciplinary program with over 30 affiliated faculty spanning a wide range of energy-related disciplines. Prior to joining the University of Alaska, Gwen served as the Vice President of New Development at Chena Hot Springs Resort near Fairbanks. While at Chena, Gwen oversaw the construction of the first geothermal power plant in the state, in addition to numerous other innovative energy projects ranging from hydrogen production to cooling a 10,000 ft² ice museum year-round using 150°F hot water.

Pam Mendelson is the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lead for the Remote Alaska Communities Energy Efficiency (RACEE) Competition. Pam’s current work focuses on rural and low income energy issues. Her work with the Department spans nearly two decades of implementing community clean energy projects, including the execution of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program, an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act program that achieved $5.2 billion of total cumulative savings on energy bills, 70% of which was realized by residential consumers and 29% in the public institutional sector. Ms. Mendelson was also a founding contributor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s voluntary Green Power Partnership Program. Pam holds a B.A. from Middlebury College in Vermont and a M.S. in Natural Resource Policy from the University of Michigan School Of Natural Resources.

Dr. Cheryl Rosa is Deputy Director and Anchorage-based Alaska Director of the United States Arctic Research Commission (USARC), an independent federal agency of Presidential appointees that advises the White House and Congress on Arctic research matters and works with executive branch agencies to establish and execute a national Arctic research plan. The Commission also facilitates cooperation with local and state governments and recommends means for developing international scientific cooperation in the Arctic.

Dr. Rosa is trained as a Wildlife Veterinarian and Wildlife Biologist and has worked with subsistence communities on the North Slope and in the Russian Far East on a wide range of studies involving wildlife health and zoonotic disease, marine mammal stranding response, subsistence food safety and oil spill/offshore discharge research. She is a member of the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee, as well as numerous other federal and non-federal boards and steering committees.

Presently, she is involved in running USARC’s Alaska Rural Water and Sanitation Working Group, the Arctic Renewable Energy Working Group and the Arctic Mental Health Working Group.

She received a PhD in Biology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Tufts University and a BS in Animal Science and a BS in Zoology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.