Venkat Banunarayanan is the Vice President of Integrated Grid at Business & Technology Strategies at the National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association. He has twenty-five years’ experience in leading and executing energy-related projects involving power system analysis, data analytics, grid optimization, renewables integration, techno-economic feasibility and benefit-cost studies. At NRECA, his role is to lead the development of tools, resources and partnerships for member cooperatives to successfully evaluate opportunities for electric grid optimization and value extraction, enabling reliable and cost-effective grid planning and operations with high penetration of distributed energy, and business models for cooperatives to function as the trusted energy advisor for their communities. Venkat holds a doctorate in Electrical Engineering and an M.B.A in Finance, is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP®), has worked previously at the United States Department of Energy, ICF International, and General Electric in their Energy division.