Keynote Speeches

Jedidiah Bentz

VP Engineering, Electromech Technologies

Jedidiah Bentz is the Vice President of Engineering at Electromech Technologies. He has held this position from 2022. Prior to that, they worked at Smiths Interconnect from 2017 to 2022, serving as the Director of Global Platforms and then as the Director of Enabling Technologies. From 2006 to 2017, they worked at Johnson Controls, where they held various roles including Director of Advanced Technologies, System & Controls Engineering Manager, and Systems & Controls Engineer. Jedidiah began their career as a Mechanical Apprentice at Thermal Comfort Air in 2001. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, and Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree with a concentration in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, both from Wichita State university.

Corey Linville

Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of Power Supply and Generation, Sunflower Electric Power Corporation

Corey is the Sr. Vice President and Chief Operations Officer – Power Supply and Generation for Sunflower Electric Power Corporation.  His current responsibilities include generation operations, generation maintenance, generation engineering, generation environmental compliance, system operations, market operations, power contracts, resource planning, billing, member services, and economic development.  Corey has been with Sunflower for 32 years, beginning his career with the company as a generation engineering intern.  Corey holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Kansas State University, and he is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Kansas.

Dr. Mostafa Sedighizadeh

Senior Engineer, Planning Policy & Research, Southwest Power Pool

Mostafa Sedighizadeh (PhD, PE, SMIEEE, and CIGRE Member) is currently part of the Planning Policy & Research team at Southwest Power Pool (SPP) in Little Rock, AR, USA. He has over 23 years of experience in the electric power systems industry, spanning substation and transmission line design, as well as transmission system planning and research. Before joining SPP, he contributed extensively to these fields. Dr. Sedighizadeh has authored over 230 publications in prestigious journals and international conferences, including IEEE, IET, and Elsevier. His research interests focus on optimization, artificial intelligence, and their applications in electric power transmission and distribution systems. Additionally, he is involved in developing planning requirements for HVDC interconnections, IBRs, and FACTS at SPP.

Dr. Gregory Hand

Dean, College of Health Professions, Wichita State University

Dr. Gregory Hand, PhD MPH, serves as the Dean for the College of Health Professions at Wichita State University. He also serves as a Founding Director of the Kansas Center for the Advancement of Healthcare, a data analytics program with a mission to accelerate health research through a collaborative data and resource sharing model to improve the health of Kansans.

Previously, Dr. Hand served as Founding Dean of the School of Public Health, and Professor of Epidemiology at West Virginia University, and as Associate Dean for Research, Practice and Information Technology at the Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina. He trained in physiology, public health and exercise science at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the University of South Carolina, and the University of Arizona. He was awarded a National Institutes of Health-sponsored postdoctoral fellowship at the Moss Heart Center in Dallas studying the physiology and neurobiology of blood pressure regulation.

His research work has spanned the physiology and psychobiology of exercise and stress, HIV/AIDS, physical activity and energy utilization, and practical applications of lifestyle medicine for chronic conditions. He has received over $20 million dollars in research and educational funding from federal and state agencies, foundations and corporations and industry. He currently serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Clinical Medicine, and as Commentary Editor for the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. He is also an Elected Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and the European Society for Preventive Medicine.

Dr. Al Tamimi

Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of Transmission, Sunflower Electric Power Corporation

Al Tamimi joined Sunflower in 2001 and was promoted to a senior vice president and chief operations officer of transmission and now leads transmission planning, Policy, operations, and transmission engineering. He has been involved and served on several Southwest Power Pool (“SPP”) stakeholder groups and committees. Currently he serves as a voting member on the Economic Studies Working Group (“ESWG”), Markets and Operations Policy Committee (“MOPC”), The SPP Board Membership Committee and the Finance committee. He holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Wichita State University and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in electrical engineering from Kansas State University. He has earned a senior member status in the IEEE society, and became a licensed professional engineer in Kansas in 2005.