CERAWeek 2023 Speaker Bios
Bill Newsom
Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc.
President & Chief Executive Officer
William “Bill” A. Newsom, Jr. was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Mitsubishi Power Americas on December 1, 2021. He leads two global businesses headquartered in the United States and three regional businesses in North, Central, and South America.
Mitsubishi Power Americas, headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida, employs more than 2,500 power generation, energy storage, and digital solutions experts and professionals. The company’s employees are focused on empowering customers to affordably and reliably combat climate change while also advancing human prosperity throughout North, Central, and South America. Mitsubishi Power’s power generation solutions include gas, steam, and aero-derivative turbines; power trains and power islands; geothermal systems; PV solar project development; environmental controls; and services. Energy storage solutions include hydrogen energy storage, battery energy storage systems, and services. Mitsubishi Power also offers intelligent solutions that use artificial intelligence to enable autonomous operation of power plants.
Mr. Newsom has been with Mitsubishi Power for 19 years and has extensive leadership and wide-ranging experience across the core gas turbine combined cycle business and new growth segments such as renewable fuels. He began his career at Mitsubishi Power with the power generation service team, holding various leadership roles, from service sales manager to director of service sales and transactional sales.
During his tenure Mr. Newsom has been instrumental in reaching number one market share for advanced class gas turbines in the Americas and for launching new growth initiatives, including hydrogen infrastructure, that now define the path to the company’s decarbonization strategy. Mr. Newsom is well known for his customer focus and ability to build partnerships, which are key to executing Mitsubishi Power Americas' long-term strategy and driving the organization towards a decarbonized future.
Mr. Newsom has spent more than 29 years in the power generation industry. Prior to joining Mitsubishi Power, he held several leadership positions at Westinghouse, Siemens, and Calpine.
Mr. Newsom holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME) from the University of Florida, and he completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
Bill Newsom
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Javier Cavada
Mitsubishi Power
President and CEO – EMEA Region
Javier Cavada was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Mitsubishi Power, from January 2022. Dr Cavada’s mission is to expand Mitsubishi Power’s business in the region, accelerate decarbonization and provide total solutions that empower its customers to affordably and reliably combat climate change.
With more than 20 years of global experience in the energy sector, primarily in senior executive roles, Dr Cavada has led companies through all phases of corporate development and growth. Before joining Mitsubishi Power, he was President and CEO of Highview Power, developing and leading the long duration energy storage industry. Prior to that, he spent 17 years with Wärtsilä Corporation serving as President of the energy division and member of the executive board, leading its transformation into renewables integrator including energy storage.
Dr Cavada received his doctorate Cum Laude (With Highest Honors) in Industrial Engineering from the University of Cantabria, Spain in 2012, where he held a professorship at the School of Industrial Engineering and Telecommunications, and was recognized as Distinguished Alumnus in 2015, joining a group of 20 distinguished alumni along the 50 years of history of the University.
All of this has ultimately led to Dr Cavada becoming a renowned and award-winning leader who successfully moves large companies forward in the energy transition.
Javier Cavada
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Michael Ducker
Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc.
Senior Vice President, Hydrogen Infrastructure & Chief Operating Officer, ACES Delta LLC
Michael Ducker is an energy industry executive with commercial, entrepreneurial, and technical experience in public and private roles. Michael is currently the Senior Vice President, Hydrogen Infrastructure at Mitsubishi Power Americas, where he leads the team responsible for developing and deploying clean hydrogen production, storage, and delivery infrastructure to enable large-scale availability of renewable energy and decarbonization options in the power, transportation, industrial, and commercial sectors.
He is also the Chief Operating Officer of ACES Delta LLC, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Power and Magnum Development, which develops, owns, and operates commercial-scale green hydrogen production and storage projects and is currently developing the world’s largest renewable hydrogen hub. He oversees the joint venture’s commercial activities, project development, engineering, and operations.
Michael has held various other roles at Mitsubishi Power, including serving as a founding member and contributor to the division that develops, launches, incubates, and turns over new businesses; establishing and leading the Market Analysis division; and contributing as an applications and performance engineer.
Before joining Mitsubishi Power, Michael worked for the U.S. Department of Energy, where he developed market models to evaluate advanced energy technologies being pursued by the DOE. Michael earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the George Washington University.
Michael Ducker
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Kai Guo
Mitsubishi Power
Vice President, Hydrogen Infrastructure Development - West Region
Kai Guo is VP responsible for Mitsubishi Power’s hydrogen infrastructure development activities in the western US. Prior to joining MPWA, Kai held leadership roles with a top EPC firm in areas including engineering and consulting services, EPC commercial strategy, and energy transition market development. Kai worked in the financial services industry prior to transitioning to the energy sector. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Missouri -Kansas City and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Kai Guo
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Samir Vora
Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc.
Vice President, Market Intelligence, Strategy and Pricing
Samir Vora leads the Market Intelligence, Strategy and Pricing team at Mitsubishi Power Americas. He has 25 years of experience across different functions including sales, PM, proposals, and business development. Prior to joining MPWA, he was with GE covering different roles in the life cycle value and pricing team for the region, owning competitive intelligence, evaluation and bid pricing strategies. Prior to joining GE, Samir spent 10 years with Alghanim International – an EPC and O&M provider based in Kuwait, where he held various roles spanning the entire project life cycle. His two decades of experience in the Power Generation industry across different functions have helped him develop key analytical and commercial skills enabling a data-driven, critical mind-set to evaluate and compare different solutions on a life-cycle costs basis. Samir holds a BE in Mechanical Engg from Saurashtra University, India & an MBA from University of Liverpool, UK. He lives in Bristol, UK with his wife and children.
Samir Vora
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