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MCR Team

Frank Craig, President and CEO

Frank is a co-founder and President of MCR. He has over 40 years of management consulting and business experience in the utilities industry. His has worked extensively for electric and gas utility clients advising them in areas of financial and operational processes and information systems, financial planning, budgeting, capital planning and rates and revenue requirements.

Prior to founding MCR, Frank was Senior Vice President at Utilities International, Inc., where he led the financial forecasting and modeling solutions group. Before that he was at Navigant Consulting where he specialized in facilitating management audits, improving accounting, financial and operational management processes; and implementing business management technologies. Frank began his energy career at Public Service Company of New Mexico, where he was Director of Corporate Financial Planning and Investor Relations.

Frank has authored numerous articles and white papers for Electric Light & Power Magazine and Energy Central. He holds an MBA in information technology and a BBA in finance and economics from the University of New Mexico.

Tom Crooks, Vice President

Tom Crooks has more than 30 years of energy industry experience and is the Vice President of MCR’s Energy Efficiency practice. Tom possesses a comprehensive understanding of the technical, financial and programmatic approaches to energy-efficiency and direct load control. Tom planned, implemented and evaluated energy efficiency programs for utilities located throughout the U.S. He has been retained by utilities,  generation cooperatives, state agencies, industry associations and large end-use energy consumers located throughout North America.

Cindy Menhorn

Cindy Menhorn, Vice President

Cindy is a Vice President of Regulatory Services at MCR. She has over 35 years of experience in rates, energy efficiency, load research, revenue forecasting, cost allocation and regulatory affairs, including work on over 100 regulatory proceedings before numerous state commissions. She has directed a multifunctional rate department, managing all aspects of rate case development, including revenue requirement development, cost of service studies, revenue allocation and rate design, rate case strategy, testimony development and interrogatory response development.

Ron Kennedy, Vice President

Ron Kennedy is a Vice President with MCR. He has 20 years of experience in consulting to the utility industry. His expertise includes transmission formula rates, Section 205 rate changes, transmission rate incentives, economic evaluation of RTO membership and financial evaluation of transmission projects. Ron is experienced in presenting to executive teams and Boards of Directors.

Tim Schlimpert, Vice President

Tim is a Vice President at MCR and leads the Nuclear Generation practice. He has more than 30 years of utility industry experience in nuclear power plant operations, maintenance, work control, business operations, process improvement and technology solutions, and has achieved significant performance improvements for his clients. Tim provides the often elusive connection between corporate strategy, long-range planning/budgeting, work management and technology through industry-leading life cycle management practices.

Dave Thompson, Vice President

Dave is a Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis at MCR. With over 20 years of management consulting experience to utilities, Dave has developed significant expertise in crafting innovative business solutions and sophisticated analytics in connection with strategic planning, risk management and financial planning initiatives. Dave played a key role in developing MCR’s Financial, Regulatory and Strategy Tool, which has been implemented at electric, gas and water utility IOUs, G&Ts and municipals.

Sam Brothwell

Sam Brothwell, Vice President

Sam is Vice President of Strategic and Financial Advisory. Sam’s background includes a decade in utility industry corporate planning and investor relations, fifteen years on Wall Street as a senior equity and credit financial analyst and nearly a decade as a utility and pipeline investor. His background includes electricity, natural gas, and renewable energy. Sam has worked extensively with federal and state policy makers as well as non-government organizations involved in the energy and utility sectors, and he has spoken at numerous industry conferences and investment forums.

Mike Murphy, Vice President

Mike has over two decades of experience in the development and implementation of business management software, data warehousing and document management applications. As a Vice President at MCR, he designs, develops and deploys data warehouse and reporting solutions, using MCR technology and client-specified tools and technology. Mike has deep expertise in working with and implementing information systems for nuclear generation plants, including equipment reliability, system health management, work management, long range planning, budgeting and reporting.

Melanie Gillette, Director

Melanie Gillette is a Director in MCR’s Energy Efficiency practice. She has over 25 years of experience in utility industry, demand response, energy efficiency and distributed energy resources policy as well as a strong background in project management. Melanie has led policy teams; formed strong industry coalitions; written legal briefs and expert testimony; advocated at numerous state commissions; managed large, multi-year efficiency and transmission projects; and represented a variety of interests within the energy industry.

Ed Schmidt, Director

Ed is a Director in MCR’s Energy Efficiency practice. He has 25 years of experience in energy efficiency and resource planning, forecasting, rates and regulation in both gas and electric utilities. His expertise includes all aspects of energy efficiency program policy, planning, program design and implementation, as well as utility regulatory policy analysis and testimony. He has presented to a variety of audiences, including The Executive Office of the President, US Department of Energy, US Environmental Protection Agency, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and The Energy Foundation.

Jacob Hannan, Manager

Jacob is a Manager in the Energy Efficiency practice at MCR. He has over 10 years of experience in energy efficiency, data analysis, and research. His expertise includes demand side management (policy, planning, and management) and data science (wrangling, modeling, and visualization). He has served on the Planning Committee of DOE’s Technical Information Network for Solid-State Lighting, committees for the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, and several other national and regional organizations focused on energy efficiency.

Patrick McDermott, Manager

Patrick is a Manager at MCR. He has 9 years of experience in the nuclear energy industry in the areas of reliability engineering, design engineering and probabilistic risk assessment. Patrick uses his expertise to respond to client issues through application of technology, analytics and data-driven solutions. He has played an important role in advancing MCR’s capabilities in driving cost-effective nuclear operations.

Dan Rupp, Manager

With over 20 years of industry and consulting experience, Dan is a Manager at MCR. Dan transforms client financial forecasting capabilities by implementing MCR’s Financial, Regulatory and Strategy Tool and other sophisticated modeling applications. He helps provide management with insights on the impacts of alternative short- and long-term strategies and changing business and market conditions. A recognized industry expert in the area of financial and economic modeling, Dan has worked with numerous energy companies in over 30 engagements, including IOU’s, G&T’s and municipalities.

Richard Milward, Lead Consultant

Richard Milward is a Lead Consultant in MCR’s Energy Efficiency practice. He has over 20 years of electric utility industry experience in evaluating energy efficiency program impact in all sectors employing a variety of evaluation techniques; implementing and administering Strategic Energy Management (SEM) in industrial facilities; evaluating industrial and commercial SEM programs; empirical energy modeling using regression techniques for utility reporting; and teaching all varieties of technical, mathematical, and statistical concepts to trainees possessing a wide range of subject knowledge.

Ian MacDougall, Consultant

Ian is a Consultant at MCR. He has over 15 years of experience in rates and regulatory affairs, energy efficiency, and revenue decoupling. His MCR experience includes the development of cost of service, revenue allocation, lead/lag studies, rate design, gas and electric energy efficiency programs, and testimony development. He also has prior experience at multiple gas and electric utilities managing and implementing rate design pilot programs, cost recovery mechanisms, revenue decoupling and unbundling procedures, and interrogatory response development.