Shotaro Sakai
Shotaro received a Master of Molecular Design and Engineering degree from Nagoya University in March of 2016.
He belongs to Chubu Electric Power Grid, one of the electric power transmission and distribution companies in Japan, since 2016, and has been responsible for the application of IEC 61850 and the realization of digital substations. He is also studying the technical specifications of protection and control systems. He has been engaged in substation PAC system maintenance and construction work for about 5 years.
Shotaro loves nature and in his spare time he enjoys playing soccer and fishing.
Daniel Abetz
Daniel has worked in the electrical industry for over 15 years, graduating from Curtin University in 2006 with Computer Science and Electronics & Communications bachelor’s degrees. Initially spending over ten years in project, operational and asset management roles in the utilities division of a mining company, he joined Siemens in 2018. At Siemens he has worked in the protection and automation products team in Australia, giving him experience from the perspectives of both customer and vendor.
With a growing family, he doesn’t get much spare time, but you’ll find him riding his mountain bike, doing renovations or walking the dog in between family and work duties!
Craig Wester
Craig is a Senior Technical Application Engineer for the protection and control division of GE Vernova for the South Region of North America. He was previously a Senior Regional Sales Manager for the south region of GE in North America for protection and control. He joined GE in 1989 as a Transmission & Distribution Application Engineer. He received his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a senior member of IEEE.
Outside of work, Craig enjoys model railroading, woodworking, home renovation and is a big fan of the Green Bay Packers and Wisconsin Badgers.
Richard Marenbach
After getting his diploma in electrical power systems in 1990 from Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, Dr. Richard Marenbach was an assistant of the technical director of a local utility. From 1994 until 1998 he was a research assistant at the institute for electrical power systems at Technical University of Kaiserslautern. He got his Ph.D. with a research work about optimized testing of digital distance protection relays. From 1998 until 2000 he was working as a consultant at the association of electrical power utilities in Germany. In 2000 he joined OMICRON. He is process manager of Engineering Services of the Business Unit for Secondary Assets.
His hobbies are making music and restoration of classic cars.
