Energy Seminar: The Changing Landscape of Electric Vehicle Charging

Electrification of transportation continues to accelerate as incumbent and new vehicle companies commit hundreds of billions of dollars to developing and producing electric cars and trucks.  The impending arrival of a plethora of EVs in all shapes and sizes has created a pressing need for a ubiquitous and robust charging network.  Enhanced EV capabilities, evolving utility grids, broadened driver demographics, and government imperatives that place addressing climate change at the center of the energy equation are affecting how EV charging infrastructure must develop and be deployed.  EVgo, the US’s largest public fast charging network, is at the center of this growth.  EVgo CEO Cathy Zoi and CTO/COO Ivo Steklac will lead a seminar discussing the dynamic landscape of charging infrastructure and its critical role in creating a transportation sector that is sustainable, both economically and environmentally. 

Speaker bios

Cathy Zoi is a distinguished executive with decades of experience in the energy industry, government, academic, and non-profit sectors. Prior to EVgo, she was President and co-founder of Odyssey Energy, a distributed generation software company she continues to chair. Zoi served in the Obama Administration as Assistant Secretary and Acting Under Secretary at the Department of Energy, where she oversaw more than $30 billion in energy investments. In the early 1990s, she was Chief of Staff for Environmental Policy in the Clinton White House and she pioneered the Energy Star program while at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

During her career Zoi has served as the founding CEO of several organizations focused on climate solutions, including Frontier Power, a rural electrification company incubated by SunEdison; the Alliance for Climate Protection, established and chaired by U.S. Vice President Al Gore; and the Sustainable Energy Development Authority, a $50m fund to commercialize clean energy technologies in Australia. Prior roles include energy investor at Silver Lake and Bayard Capital; management consultant at ICF and Next Energy; and adjunct professor and Precourt Energy Scholar at Stanford University. Zoi has a B.S. in Geology from Duke University and an M.S. in Engineering from Dartmouth.

Ivo Steklac is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer at EVgo, responsible for network engineering, construction, and operations, as well as the company’s technology roadmap and supplier relationships. With more than three decades of experience in the energy sector, Steklac joined EVgo most recently from True North Venture Partners, where he served as an Operating Partner and CEO of AquaHyrdrex. Prior roles include General Manager of SunPower Corporation, Chief Customer Officer at C3 Energy, and COO of Tendril.

Steklac holds degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Admission Info

Free and open to all. Register here.

https://energy.stanford.edu/energy-seminar/upcoming-energy-seminars