Talen Energy
Talen Energy is a leading independent power producer and infrastructure company focused on safe, reliable power generation while delivering the most value per megawatt of energy we produce.
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Talen Energy
Jennifer Mansh serves as Senior Vice President, Regulatory and External Affairs for Talen Energy. She is responsible for the development and implementation of federal regulatory and policy strategies, as well as overseeing regulatory and NERC compliance for Talen and its subsidiaries.

Ms. Mansh has worked in the energy industry for almost 20 years. Most recently, she served as Counsel with Vinson & Elkins, where she represented electric utility companies, merchant transmission companies, wholesale power marketing companies, financial institutions, and generation companies in rate, licensing, and enforcement proceedings before FERC. Prior to joining Vinson & Elkins, she was a Senior Associate Attorney with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP for almost a decade, where she was recognized in “The Best Lawyers in America: One to Watch” for Energy Law.

Ms. Mansh began her career working at Exelon Corporation’s wholesale marketing division at the time, called Power Team, where she was a Senior Financial Analyst.

Ms. Mansh graduated cum laude from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. She received her Juris Doctorate with honors from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. She is a member of the Pennsylvania and District of Columbia Bar Associations and is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.

In the community, Ms. Mansh is a member of the Board of McLean MOMs.

Sergio Castro serves as Vice President, Treasury for Talen Energy. In this role, he leads the company’s treasury and capital markets functions.

Mr. Castro has significant experience in financial leadership roles within the energy sector. Prior to joining Talen, he served as Chief Financial Officer for Otto Energy where he oversaw all areas of the Finance organization. During his tenure with Contango Oil & Gas Company, Mr. Castro held positions of increasing importance, including Assistant Treasurer, Vice President & Treasurer, and Chief Financial Officer, and played key roles in several mergers and acquisitions, capital raises, and asset divestiture transactions.

A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Houston, Mr. Castro holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner. He also proudly served in the United States Navy prior to pursuing his undergraduate studies.

Mr. Schaefer currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Talen Energy Corporation. He also serves as a Member of the Board of Directors for Just Energy, GenOn Energy and Mountain Creek Power, LLC. He previously served as Chairman at GenOn Energy and at Texgen Power LLC and was a member of the Board of Directors for Homer City Holdings LLC and Element Markets LLC.

Mr. Schaefer has been actively involved in the deregulated natural gas and electricity markets since 1993. He was a Partner with Riverstone Holdings, a private equity firm focused on energy investing, from 2004 to 2015. While at Riverstone, he served on two of its investment committees and was primarily responsible for conventional power and renewable energy investments. Prior to joining Riverstone, Mr. Schaefer was a Managing Director with Huron Consulting Group, where he founded and headed its Energy Practice. From 1998 to 2003, Mr. Schaefer was Managing Director and Vice President with Duke Energy North America responsible for mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Schaefer is a Chartered Financial Analyst and received his B.S., magna cum laude, in Finance and Accounting from Northeastern University in 1987.

Mr. Abbas has nearly 30 years of energy and investment experience. He is a Founding Principal of Direct Invest Development and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the New York Independent System Operator as Chairman of the Commerce & Compensation Committee and a member of the Reliability & Markets Committee. Over the last 11 years, Mr. Abbas has served on the Board of Directors of Crown Electrokinetics as Chairman of the Compensation Committee and as a member of the Audit and Governance Committees, as an Audit Committee member at Aranjin Resources Ltd., Chairman of the Compensation Committee and as an Audit Committee member at KLR Energy Acquisition Corporation, and as an Audit Committee Member at Handeni Gold.

As a long-term outspoken proponent of environmental engagement, Mr. Abbas has successfully invested in green power, biofuels, and emissions credits. Before his service on public company boards, Mr. Abbas was a founding partner of the commodity investment business at Apollo Global Management, a Vice President at Goldman Sachs, an investment associate at Morgan Stanley, a Senior Project Engineer on oil and gas construction projects for Exxon Mobil Corporation, and a Co-Op Power Engineer at Southern Company as a field and plant engineer.

Mr. Abbas holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University and a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business.

A 33-year veteran of the energy industry, Mr. Nigro is an advisor to the Exelon CEO until March 31, 2023, and was most recently Exelon’s Chief Financial Officer from May 2018 to October 2022. He was also a member of the Exelon Executive Committee and served as Chair of Exelon’s Corporate Investment Committee. Previously, Mr. Nigro served as Chief Executive Officer of Constellation, an Exelon operating division, from 2013 to 2018 and as senior vice president, portfolio strategy, prior to that.

Before joining Constellation, he was the senior vice president, portfolio management and strategy, for the Exelon Power Team. In addition, Mr. Nigro led the merger integration for the Exelon Power Team wholesale trading and marketing organization with Constellation Energy. Mr. Nigro’s previous roles include: vice president, structuring and portfolio management; director, commercial transactions; manager, Northeast Region, responsible for the trading and marketing of Exelon’s assets in New England; integration lead – Power Team/Sithe New England Holdings; manager, financial trading – hedge book; and financial transaction. Mr. Nigro started with PECO Energy, now an Exelon company, in 1996 and also spent seven years prior with Phibro Energy, Inc., an independent oil trading and refining company.

Mr. Nigro received his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Connecticut. He has also completed the Exelon Leadership Institute Program through the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, the University of Chicago Executive Development Program, and the MIT Reactor Technology Course for Utility Executives.

Mr. Nigro also serves on the board of directors for the Chicago Public Library and previously served on the Advisory Board for FM Global Mutual Insurance Company – Philadelphia/Washington region.

Ms. Benson has nearly 20 years of experience in natural resources risk management, capital markets, and investing. She previously served as a member of Orion Infrastructure Capital’s Senior Advisory Board after retiring as a Managing Director and Investment Principal in 2022.

Before joining OIC, Ms. Benson spent 17 years in various roles at Goldman Sachs. Most recently, she was a Managing Director in the Financing Group on the Structured Finance and Risk Management team in the Investment Banking Division; there she was responsible for the firm’s commodity structured finance efforts within Investment Banking. Prior to that, Ms. Benson was a Managing Director on the Energy Sales and Structuring teams in the Securities Division. She began her career at Goldman Sachs in 2004 as an analyst on the Energy team.

Ms. Benson serves as co-chair of a Harvard School Committee in New York City and previously served on the Board of Directors for the Women’s Energy Network – Greater New York City Chapter, Inc. Ms. Benson received an A.B. in Earth and Planetary Sciences, magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 2004. There she focused on Structural and Economic Geology and published research on earthquakes in Southern California.

Ms. Hyde served as Senior Vice President, Chief Compliance & Ethics Officer, Chief Audit Executive, and Chief Risk Officer of Xcel Energy until her retirement in 2022. Across her 30 years with Xcel Energy, Ms. Hyde served in various roles with increasing responsibility, including roles in rates and regulatory affairs, resource planning and acquisition, and risk management. She was also responsible forecasting and production cost, expansion plan modeling, and evaluating the effectiveness of compliance programs, control frameworks, and Ms. Hyde spent approximately a decade negotiating structured power purchase arrangements, including Xcel Energy’s initial renewable energy contracts, and was responsible for renewable energy compliance.

Prior to joining Xcel Energy, Ms. Hyde was a lead nuclear engineer as a civilian employee of the United States Department of Defense where she was responsible for overhauling submarine reactors.

Ms. Hyde has a Bachelor of Science in Metallurgical Engineering from Lafayette College and a Master of Science in Mineral Economics from the Colorado School of Mines.

Andrew “Andy” Wright was appointed as Talen Energy’s first Chief Administrative Officer in June 2023 after having served as the Company’s General Counsel and Corporate Secretary since June 2018. In this capacity, Mr. Wright oversees the Company’s Human Resources, Information Technology, Facilities, and Corporate Security functions.

Prior to joining Talen Energy, Mr. Wright spent 14 years as in-house counsel for Energy Future Holdings (EFH) Corp., most recently as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.

Mr. Wright has a wealth of experience in the power generation space with an intimate knowledge of the financial, operational, and regulatory challenges facing the industry. He has led numerous fleet and balance sheet restructuring efforts, complex acquisitions and divestures, high-stakes litigation, and regulatory reviews. His experience includes being involved in the largest leveraged buyout in U.S. history and some of the largest financial restructurings in the industry. He also has worked closely with the board of directors at Talen Energy and EFH.

After receiving his juris doctorate from the University of Notre Dame, Mr. Wright went into private practice with Vinson & Elkins in both Dallas, Texas and London, England with a focus on corporate securities, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance.

Prior to pursuing his law career, he received a degree in Accounting from Southern Methodist University, obtained his CPA and practiced as an accountant with KPMG in Chicago, Illinois.

Brad Berryman serves as Talen Energy’s senior vice president and Chief Nuclear Officer, responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s Susquehanna nuclear power plant, a two-unit, approximately 2,500 megawatt station in Salem Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Berryman joined Talen Energy in early 2017 in the role of site vice president for its Susquehanna Nuclear, LLC division. In this role, he was responsible for all plant operations and personnel. During his tenure as site vice president, Mr. Berryman was central to the Susquehanna’s performance improvement in the areas of operations, finance and safety.

With over two decades of extensive commercial nuclear experience, Mr. Berryman has held positions of increasing importance spanning various technical, operational, training and financial capacities. Prior to joining Talen, he served as general manager at Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station. He also held leadership roles at: Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation, Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, and Arkansas Nuclear One.

A summa cum laude graduate of Central Baptist College, Berryman holds a B.S. in Organizational Management. In addition, he proudly served his country in the U.S. Navy as part of the submarine fast attack fleet.

In the community, Mr. Berryman serves on the board of directors of the Berwick Area United Way and actively participates in a variety of company volunteer initiatives.

John Wander joined Talen Energy in June 2023 as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. In this position he leads the Company’s Legal and Regulatory and External Affairs functions, oversees corporate governance, and serves as the primary point of contact for its Board of Directors.

Mr. Wander has nearly 30 years of experience in commercial law with cases primarily pertaining to finance, accounting, and shareholder issues. Prior to joining Talen, he served as Partner – Shareholder Litigation & Enforcement for Vinson & Elkins and as the firm’s General Counsel. Since joining the firm in 1994, he worked on some of its most high-profile, high-stakes litigation matters, and focused his practice on commercial litigation in the accounting, securities, manufacturing, and insurance industries, routinely representing issuers and accounting firms before the Securities & Exchange Commission. He also tried numerous corporate governance cases in the Delaware Chancery Court. Mr. Wander variously held several leadership positions, including Managing Partner of the Dallas office, Co-Department Head of Litigation and Regulatory, Co-Practice Group Leader of Complex Commercial Litigation, and a member of the Management Committee.

Throughout his career, Mr. Wander has received a variety of accolades including multi-year recognition from Chambers USA in the areas of Litigation: Securities (Texas) from 2014–2022 and Litigation: White Collar Crime & Government Investigations from 2017–2022. He also was named one of the “Best Lawyers in Dallas” by D Magazine, one of The Best Lawyers in America® Commercial Litigation (Dallas) by BL Rankings, LLC from 2013–2023, as a top attorney in Texas from 2011–2020 and 2022 by Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters), and as a member of its Texas Rising Stars list from 2004–2006. He also was named to the Global Investigations Review (GIR) 100 in 2020.

A graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, Mr. Wander received his Juris Doctorate with honors in 1994. He also received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. He is a member of the American Bar Association and Dallas Bar Association. Mr. Wander is admitted to practice in Texas, all U.S. District Courts in Texas and Arkansas, and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In the community, Mr. Wander has served on the Board of Directors for Vogel Alcove, which provides services for Dallas’ homeless children and families, since 2009 and as its Chair from 2018- 2020. He has served as a member of the Board of Trustees for The Center for American and International Law, the University of Texas School of Law Alumni Association Executive Committee, and the University of Texas Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee.

Dale Lebsack serves as Chief Fossil Officer leading Talen Energy’s approximately 10-gigawatt fossil generation fleet. He also is President of the Company’s Talen Montana division.

Mr. Lebsack joined Talen in 2015 as part of its acquisition of RJS Power from affiliates of Riverstone Holdings, LLC. Since joining the Company, he has taken on roles of increasing importance, including business unit leader for Talen’s generation assets in Montana, ERCOT, and the Northeast and Senior Vice President Fossil Operations.

Prior to joining Talen, Mr. Lebsack held various leadership roles with RJS Power and its affiliates in asset management, project development, plant operations, and environmental, health and safety. In those roles, Mr. Lebsack led the technical planning and permitting related to a $1.2 billion repowering of three power plants in Texas; managed the conversion to biomass of a coal-fired plant in North Carolina; and led the technical due diligence related to the acquisition of a gas asset portfolio in New Jersey and a coal asset portfolio in Maryland. Apart from his roles with RJS Power, Mr. Lebsack’s experience includes plant-level positions with Duke Energy North America and Entergy.

A graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology, Mr. Lebsack earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.

Olivia Sigo serves as Talen Energy’s Vice President of Risk Management. She is responsible for the risk management function, including market risk, trade control activities, position reporting, P&L reporting, enterprise risk management, and credit risk management activities for the overall Company.

Ms. Sigo has over a decade of experience in the energy and power industry, with responsibilities including financial analysis, business management, and derivative sales. She began her career at Merrill Lynch, where she held various roles, including serving as an analyst for the commodities sales team. After Merrill Lynch, she spent over eight years at Deutsche Bank, where she was responsible for the overall management of the North American power and gas trading business, including facilitating growth initiatives, managing risk, and ensuring best practices and infrastructure were in place. Ms. Sigo joined Talen Energy in January 2018, where she eventually served as finance lead for over 3GW of generation.

Ms. Sigo holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Houston-Downtown.

Mr. Horton currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of AR Horton Advisors, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Just Energy, Independent Director for Neiman Marcus’ Mariposa Holdings, Travelport, Seadrill Partners, and Arena Energy, and Independent Director and Chairman of the Board of NanoLumens.

Mr. Horton has more than 25 years of energy and technology experience and was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Energy Future Holdings and Senior Director of Corporate and Public Policy at TXU Energy. He also has experience serving on various boards of directors and committees of companies involved in turnarounds and restructuring matters.

Mr. Horton holds a Masters of Professional Accounting and Finance from the University of Texas at Dallas/Arlington and a BBA in Economics and Management from the University of Texas at Arlington. He is a Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Financial Analyst, Certified Management Accountant, and Certified Financial Manager.

Mark (“Mac”) McFarland is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Talen Energy Corporation. He was appointed to the role in May 2023 and concurrently joined the Company’s Board. In this capacity, Mr. McFarland oversees all aspects of the Company’s long-term strategy and overall performance including leadership of its wholesale power generation business, commercial operations, and its Cumulus growth businesses.

Mr. McFarland previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer as well as Chairman of the Board of California Resources Corporation (CRC), an independent energy and carbon management company committed to energy transition. He continues to serve on the Board of CRC and Chairs Carbon TerraVault, a wholly owned subsidiary of CRC. Prior to his roles with CRC, he was Executive Chairman of GenOn Energy, an independent power producer. He also served as their President and Chief Executive Officer from April 2017 to December 2018 and continued on as a member of their Board the until September 2022. From 2013 to 2016, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Luminant Holding Company LLC, a subsidiary of Energy Future Holdings Corporation, a large independent power producer. From 2008 to 2013, he served as both Chief Commercial Officer of Luminant and Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy of Energy Future Holdings. From 1999 to 2008, Mr. McFarland served in various roles at Exelon Corporation, including as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development.

Currently, Mr. McFarland serves on the Board of Directors of the Nuclear Energy Institute, and previously served on the Boards of TerraForm Power, Bruin E&P Partners, and Chaparral Energy.

Mr. McFarland earned his Master of Business Administration Degree from the University of Delaware and a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering (Environmental Concentration) from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He received his professional engineer license in 1995.

Tim Woodland serves as Senior Vice President of Talen Energy’s Information Technology function. In this capacity he oversees all information technology and systems for the Company including networking, cybersecurity, hosting, development and client services.With over 20 years of experience in the energy industry, Mr. Woodland has been with Talen Energy since 2017. Prior to his current role, he served as Senior Vice President – Commercial and Vice President of Risk Management and Commercial Analytics. Mr. Woodland also worked for Topaz Power Management, a predecessor company of Talen, where he was responsible for overseeing the commercial analytics function. Mr. Woodland was an integral member of the merger and acquisitions teams for both the formation of Talen Energy as a public company and its subsequent go-private transactions. Prior to his roles with Talen and its predecessors, Mr. Woodland spent over a decade in various leadership positions with Dynegy, including five years serving as Vice President of Commodity Risk Management where his efforts included rebuilding and establishing Dynegy’s risk management framework.

Mr. Woodland received his B.S. in Accounting from the University of Houston.