Speakers

Leslie Gioja

Lead - NexGen Energy Group , University of Illinois

Education:

BS and MS in Civil Engineering @ University of Illinois
Nuclear Officer Qualification @ Naval Nuclear Power School

Experience:

Nuclear submarine Officer - 4 years
Civil/structural consultant - 13 years
College instructor/lecturer - 5 years
Municipal engineer - 8 years
Head of Army Corps of Engineers Public Works at research center - 11 years
PI / researcher at University of Illinois, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center - 6 years

Advisory Comittee participation

Nuclear Energy Institute Workforce Working Group

Awards and Honors

Lean, Clean and Green Award for Sustainability; U.S. Army Corp of Engineers 2018
FEDS Spotlight Award; Department of Energy 2018

Sessions

21-Jan-2026

03:15 PM – 04:15 PM

303C

Keeping the Lights On: Tackling the Grid Reliability Challenge

POWERGEN has been really helpful in identifying the industry scale of what’s going on behind the scenes, and how that affects each and every one of us across different divisions, levels, and inputs in the industry itself [...] That’s something not everybody gets to experience at other conferences.

Sarah White

Associate Electric Co-op, Inc.

The most valuable part of POWERGEN is networking with peers, walking the exhibit floor, and seeing all the activity and energy across the industry. For me, the level of engagement is a strong indication that the future of this industry is in a good place, and I’m excited to be representing this event.

Raj Katamreddy

Vistra

I love the networking. Everyone who’s part of POWERGEN is here, and it’s great to collaborate, meet new vendors in the market, see who’s doing what, and learn about the projects that are happening. It’s a great place for intel.

Sarah Hoelzen

The Williams Companies, Inc

POWERGEN is really important to us. It's an ideal opportunity to come meet existing customers and partners, meet new customers and partners, and showcase the new products that we bring to market.

Sarah Nicholls

STAMFORD | AVK

POWERGEN gives us the opportunity to meet prospective engineering firms, EPCs, and customers, and to share insight into our capabilities in manufacturing centrifugal pumps and supporting the nuclear industry.

Santosh KulkarnI

ANDRITZ

POWERGEN allows us to connect with all of our peers and it brings in folks that are maybe not quite familiar with everything in power, and they get to come to one place and see it all in one place and make new connections.

Sammy Haggar

Wildcat Power Gen

Speakers

Leslie Gioja

Sessions

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Wishlist

Speakers

Leslie Gioja

Sessions

ABOUT

USEFUL LINKS

OFFICIAL MEDIA PARTNER

HOST UTILITY

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Website Search

Wishlist