Featured Speaker(s)

Maria Lacal is Senior Vice President, Nuclear Regulatory & Oversight for Arizona Public Service Company (APS), Arizona’s largest electric company. Based in Phoenix, APS serves more than 1.1 million customers and is one of the fastest-growing investor-owned electric utilities in the United States.

Lacal works at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, the nation’s largest power producer. Lacal is responsible for nuclear regulatory and environmental areas, the nuclear assurance division, the performance improvement department, the employee concerns and safety culture areas, and the site programs department. Before her current role, she served as the Vice President of Operations Support. In this role Lacal was responsible for emergency preparedness, nuclear security, fire protection, supply chain, records management, information services programs, and associated organizations at the plant.

Lacal joined APS in 2007. She previously served as Director of Operations Support for the Nuclear Division of Florida Power and Light Company. In this capacity Lacal’s responsibilities included the Corporate Functional Area Manager and Accredited Training programs across the fleet. She has held other management positions including Training Manager and Operations Manager at Turkey Point Nuclear Plant. As the Operations Manager, Lacal was responsible for site operations, radiation protection, chemistry programs and associated organizations.

Lacal obtained a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Senior Reactor Operator License in 1996. She has also served as Chairman of the Academy Council for the National Academy for Nuclear Training.

Lacal earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Miami. She also completed the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program in May 2015.

Ann Orr is Director, IT Management for Arizona Public Service Company (APS), Arizona's largest electric company.

Orr works at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, the nation's largest power producer. Orr is responsible for the information technology that directly supports the plant. This includes the telecommunication network, radios, phones, computers/laptops, and printers to support 2500+ employees, as well as the software applications that are specifically designed to support the nuclear industry.

Orr has worked at APS for over 25 years, the last 20 years in a leadership position. She began her IT career as a programmer/analyst at a large grocery chain in Ohio, and then worked at the Centerior Energy Company supporting the Perry and Davis Besse nuclear plants as a business analyst and project manager.

Orr has served on the Executive Board of the Nuclear Information Technology Strategic Leadership (NITSL) organization, a topical area within the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. NITSL establishes a forum to provide leadership and strategic guidance for information technology in the nuclear industry.

Ann Becker is Vice President of Environmental and Chief Sustainability Officer for Arizona Public Service Company (APS). Based in Phoenix, APS is Arizona's largest electric company and serves nearly 1.2 million customers across the state. APS owns 6,394 megawatts of generation capacity, including nuclear, gas, coal, oil and solar.

Ms. Becker is responsible for environmental policy and strategy for APS, as well as integrating the company's sustainability strategies into core business operations. She also is responsible for industrial safety, corporate security, facilities management, water resources management, health services, corrective action and human performance.

Prior to her current position, Ms. Becker served as Associate General Counsel for APS's parent company, Pinnacle West Capital Corporation. In this role, she had responsibility for the environmental, labor and employment, commercial and litigation legal teams. Prior to joining the Pinnacle West law department in 2001, she practiced with the law firm of Foley & Lardner in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Ms. Becker is on the board of the Downtown Phoenix Partnership. She is the executive sponsor of Women in Search of Excellence, an APS employee networking group that promotes the professional and personal development of women in the company.

Ms. Becker graduated magna cum laude from Marquette University Law School and from the University of Northern Iowa with highest honors. She completed the Executive Program for Women Leaders a Stanford University, and the Nuclear Reactor Technology Program at MIT.

Barbara Lockwood is Vice President of Regulation for Arizona Public Service (APS). Based in Phoenix, APS is Arizona's largest electric company and serves nearly 1.2 million customers around the state.

Lockwood manages federal and state regulatory activities for APS. Prior to moving into regulatory, she served as general manager of energy innovation, where she managed technology and renewable energy programs, including the operation and maintenance of the utility's solar generation fleet. Lockwood began her career at DuPont in chemical engineering and management roles. She then spent a number of years in environmental consulting providing property development and business acquisition services to national and global companies in a variety of industries. Lockwood joined APS in 1999.

Her policy and regulatory experience includes testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming as well as a field hearing with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on the Federal Investment Tax Credit and its effect on solar development in the Southwest.

Lockwood served on the Western Governors' Association Solar Task Force and the Arizona State Renewable Energy Task Force. She has also served on the Solar Technical Advisory Board for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Research Advisory Committee for the Electric Power Research Institute and the Board of Directors for the GridWise Alliance.

She currently serves as chair of the Board of Trustees for the Arizona Science Center and is the past president of Keep Phoenix Beautiful.

Lockwood holds a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from Clemson University and a Master of Science in environmental engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a registered professional chemical engineer in Arizona.