Navigating an era of ‘energy turbulence’ : How utilities and energy developers can collaborate to support the airport energy transition – lessons from US airport case studies

Author's Biography

Juan Macias leads AlphaStruxure, a company that designs, builds, finances, owns, operates and maintains energy systems that meet customer’s comprehensive goals with no upfront capital cost – empowering organisations to control their energy future and achieve energy cost predictability, reliability, resilience and sustainability. Today’s energy infrastructure investments require a different way of thinking and innovating. AlphaStruxure was created to set the standard for what the energy transition requires. As a veteran with 30 years’ experience in the electrical transmission and distribution industry, Juan pairs his expertise of energy markets and technology, along with his passion for leadership, to dynamically grow AlphaStruxure. Juan joined Schneider Electric in 2015 as the Country President of Canada. Before this, he spent ten years at General Electric (GE) leading several of its industrial systems and digital energy business units in both the USA and Canada. Preceding GE, he spent 15 years at ABB Power T&D in various sales and business leadership roles. Juan holds a Bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from New Mexico State University and an MBA from Rollins College.

Christine Weydig is a recognized expert in energy and sustainability, and served as Vice President of Transportation at AlphaStruxure (ASX), an energy-as-a-service joint venture of Schneider Electric and the Carlyle Group. Before joining ASX, Christine was Executive Director of the Coalition for Reimagined Mobility. She also spent over a decade as Director of Sustainability at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where she led decarbonisation of airports, seaports, buildings and other transport infrastructure. Christine has also held roles at the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of State, as well as in management consulting. Christine holds a Master’s degree from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University.

Eli Mangold holds marketing and communications experience across academia, non-profits and global business, along with two years of teaching experience at university level. He is now the Strategic Communications and Marketing Leader at AlphaStruxure, where he delivers thought leadership, branding, messaging, research and public relations (PR) to a company innovating at the intersection of decarbonisation, technology and finance. Previously, Eli worked at Schneider Electric, holding various global marketing roles. Most recently, he served as Schneider’s US Thought Leadership Editorial Lead. In this role, he created the first thought leadership programme for Schneider Electric North America. Eli has a Master’s in communication from San Diego State University, where he taught communication theory and public speaking skills. There, published three peer-reviewed journal articles in rhetorical theory. In 2024, his first book, Children as Rhetorical Advocates in Social Movements, was published by Routledge Press.