Joe Grimes

CEO & President of GrimesEnergyLeadership, LLC

Joe Grimes has extensive experience in the Energy Industry, holding many key positions in both Nuclear and Non-Nuclear organizations. He has held Senior Executive leadership positions responsible for Constructing and Operating single and multiple Nuclear Power Stations, Combined Cycle Gas plants, Solar, Biogas, and Combined Heat & Power units, as well as Hydro, Pumped Storage and Coal Facilities.

David Hamilton

Energy Harbor Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Nuclear Officer - Retired

David Hamilton was the Chief Operating Officer and the Chief Nuclear Officer for Energy Harbor, responsible for the oversight and the safe and reliable operation of the nuclear and coal electrical generation segment, including over 33 million megawatt hours of carbon free generation at four nuclear units in Ohio and Pennsylvania. His responsibilities as COO included an executive role on the company’s Retail Development Committee and key oversight of Energy Harbor’s shared services organizations. Recognized as an industry leader, David has held several advisory roles for both technical and business operations for other industry corporations and organizations.

In March 2024, Energy Harbor successfully completed its sale to and acquisition by Vistra Energy; David was Energy Harbor’s integration lead through this transition. Prior to Energy Harbor, David was the Chief Nuclear Officer for the FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC). Other executive positions held within FENOC include Site Vice President of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant, General Plant Manager of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant, and Director of Fleet Project Management. Prior to joining FirstEnergy, David worked for Entergy at Waterford 3 Nuclear Station where he was Nuclear Safety Assurance Director, and at Palisades Nuclear Plant as General Manager Plant Operations.

David also worked for Exelon Generation (now Constellation Energy) at Limerick Generating Station, Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station and Quad Cities Station in various management roles. David has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Delaware, a Bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and has a Senior Reactor Operator License Certification.

Paul Fessler

DTE Senior Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer DTE Electric - Retired

Paul Fessler, retired from DTE as senior vice president and chief nuclear officer. DTE is an electric utility serving 2.2 million customers in Southeastern Michigan.

Fessler previously served as chief nuclear from 2014 – 2017 and has more than 28 years of experience in the nuclear industry and has served in several senior leadership roles during his 41 years. DTE Electric is one of three major business units of DTE (NYSE: DTE), a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. Fessler is responsible for DTE’s nuclear power generation, which includes the Fermi 2 Nuclear Power Plant, a 1,200-megawatt boiling water reactor located in Newport, Michigan.

Fessler joined the company in 1976 as an associate engineer and held a variety of leadership positions in operations, engineering, maintenance and training. He became director of nuclear operations in the Nuclear Generation Fermi 2 Organization, responsible for all operations at DTE’s nuclear facility. In addition, he was vice president of fossil generation, responsible for the operation of the company’s fossil-fueled electric power plants, including engineering and capital projects. Most recently he was senior vice president of Electrical Operations, responsible for the operation of DTE’s fossil generation, distribution operations and distribution engineering organizations.

Paul is a registered professional engineer and current member of the Engineering Society of Detroit and the American Nuclear Society. He served on the EPRI Generation Executive Committee, AEIC Power Generation Committee and the University of Michigan Tauber Institute Advisory Board.

He was selected as sole U.S. representative for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) missions to review reactor operations for Russian and East German nuclear reactors. He also served on the Safety Review Board for the Clinton nuclear power plant. Fessler has held senior reactor operator licenses for multiple nuclear facilities

Sam Belcher

Chief Nuclear Officer

Belcher brings over 30 years of progressive operational experience with demonstrated capacity to lead large complex facilities and organizations. In his last role, he led a team of nearly 10,000 employees and was responsible for the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity to 6 million customers. In this role, he oversaw 3 billion dollars in annual capital investment including routine maintenance, system upgrades and large project development to improve reliability and the resiliency of the electric system across 5 states to ever increasing customer and regulatory expectations. He was responsible for all facets of operations, maintenance and construction and was accountable to state and federal regulatory agencies to ensure prudent investments were made to benefit customer reliability while ensuring profitability and expected shareholder returns.

Belcher has served as the Chief Nuclear Officer of a four-unit nuclear fleet and was responsible for the safe generation of electricity using special and unique nuclear technology. His operations experience is broad and includes obtaining a Senior Reactor Operators license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He has served many roles including the daily hands-on operation of the facility from the control room to setting the overall strategic direction of a facility and ultimately multiple facilities. He has demonstrated the ability to engrain safety as a core value and deliver reliability from one to multiple facilities.

An engineer by education, Belcher maintains a Professional Engineers license in Arkansas.

Andrew C. Kadak

Nuclear Science Professor and Engineering Professor at MIT

Dr. Andrew C. Kadak’s has a diverse background ranging from day-to-day operations of nuclear plants to senior executive utility management to teaching in the Nuclear Science and Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Kadak has led license renewal of operating reactors, systematic evaluation of older plants to allow them to demonstrate compliance to new regulations, financial rate proceedings to assure adequate capital for safe operation, innovative fuel purchase agreements, high level nuclear waste disposal, and storage solutions.

His technical actively directed regulatory strategy dealing with reactor vessel embrittlement, safety analyses, boiling water reactor pipe replacements and how to manage aging of nuclear plants. He presently consults on decommissioning of nuclear plants and has served on safety review boards of nuclear utilities.

Dr. Kadak also served on the Senior Nuclear Safety Oversight Board of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Stations in Guangdong Province and the Ningde Nuclear Plants in China. Internationally, he participated in an IAEA inspection of the Onagawa nuclear Power Station post the Fukushima nuclear accident. Dr. Kadak was formerly President and CEO of the Yankee Atomic Electric Company (YAEC) that operated the Yankee Atomic Nuclear Power station. Dr Kadak was President of the American Nuclear Society in 1999-2000. He has served as a board and executive committee member of the Nuclear Energy Institute and the industry’s Advisory Committee on High Level Waste. He has served on many nuclear industry committees including Edison Electric Institute, Electric Council of New England, and the Electric Power Research Institute.

In 2005 Dr. Kadak was named by President Bush to serve on the US Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board for two four year terms. From 1998 to 2010, Dr. Kadak was a Professor of the Practice in the Nuclear Engineering Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests include the development of advanced He is currently a consultant to the Diablo Canyon Independent Safety Committee.

Brad J. Adams

Nuclear Executive - Retired

Brad Adams is a retired Nuclear Executive with 40 years of executive and managerial experience in the commercial nuclear power industry. Significant experience gained in team driven environments with setting, achieving, and maintaining high levels of performance. Specific career expertise gained in the areas of fleet executive management and leadership development, design engineering, project and new construction management, merger integration, regulatory compliance, and contract administration. Demonstrate excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Brad was inducted as an American Nuclear Society (ANS) Fellow in 2021, a prestigious honor recognizing outstanding accomplishment in advancing the science or art of nuclear technology. Induction as an ANS Fellow is the highest membership grade awarded by the Society.