Christopher Cavanagh is a Principal Program Manager in Future of Heat team at National Grid and is responsible for developing programs to modernize National Grid’s US natural gas distribution services. He has supported the development of a variety of efficiency and renewable gas technologies for customers to support National Grid’s goals and is a member of the board of directors of Utilization Technology Development, a national gas distribution industry research collaborative, Mr. Cavanagh has thirty-one years’ experience in product development at National Grid and its predecessor companies. Mr. Cavanagh previously managed research programs in the areas of alternative fuel vehicles, advanced heating & cooling and distributed generation, including fuel cells. Mr. Cavanagh was a senior engineer with the New York architect-engineering firm, Gibbs & Hill on nuclear power and building HVAC projects. Mr. Cavanagh is a licensed professional engineer and a Member of the American Society of Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning Engineers and has been a mentor and judge in the CleanTech Open and Powerbridge NY programs. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Cooper Union, an MS from Polytechnic University (now NYU) and an MBA from Dowling College. Mr. Cavanagh resides in Hazlet, NJ where he has held several volunteer appointments for the township and is the Chairman of the Land-Use Board and is a Commissioner of the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority and serves on its engineering subcommittee. Mr. Cavanagh is a member of the Advisory Board of the Clean Energy Business Incubator Program at Stony Brook University and also partnered with the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC) to create the new Institute of Gas Innovation and Technology at the AERTC. He helped develop a STEM program for NYC Middle School students considering Brooklyn Tech HS and is also a head state judge and Assistant Problem Captain in NJ for the structure problem in the annual international Odyssey of the Mind competitions for school age children and was a regular judge at the NYC FIRST Robotics Competition.