The Midwest Energy Research Consortium has opened a new office in Madison.
The Milwaukee-based organization’s new office is at the Grainger Institute for Engineering on the University of Wisconsin campus.
MWERC his hired Dan Ebert to serve as managing director of the Madison office. Ebert runs a Madison consulting firm, assisting businesses in adapting to changes in the energy sector. He previously served as senior vice president of government affairs and external relations at Sun Prairie-based WPPI Energy, and as chairman of the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. Ebert also worked in policy roles in Washington, D.C., for 15 years, including legislative director for Sen. Maria Cantwell.
“We’re excited about the addition of Dan to our team,” said Alan Perlstein, chief executive officer and executive director of MWERC, in a statement. “We look forward to his role supporting our regional expansion, connecting with energy, power and control companies in the Madison area and around the Midwest, and helping strengthen our partnership with two key M-WERC partners in research activities — UW- Madison and the Grainger Institute for Engineering.”
Bruce Beihoff, technical director of industrial and systems research at the GIE, also will work out of the new space. He has more than 35 years of experience in engineering and research for major energy, power and controls companies like Eaton Corp., Rockwell Automation and Whirlpool Corp. Beihoff holds 44 patents and seven major technical achievement/innovation awards, and was integral in the expansion of the Wisconsin Energy Institute at the University of Wisconsin. He currently leads MWERC’s Technology Innovation committee.
“This partnership will more closely align M-WERC and our members to the premier research institution in the University of Wisconsin System and represents another significant step in reaching across the Midwest to foster industrial collaboration and realize our goal of more quickly transitioning technology innovation into economic growth and job creation in the energy power and controls sector,” Perlstein said.
