DENVER, CO--(Marketwire - January 6, 2009) - Energy Central, the leading resource in the global power industry for news, events, databases, insight and analysis, announced today that Dan Reicher of Google.org and Jim Rogers of Duke Energy will join T. Boone Pickens as keynote speakers at the first annual EnergyBiz Leadership Forum (http://www.energybizforum.com) in Washington, D.C., on March 8-10, 2009.

The Forum, to be held at the Renaissance Mayflower, is the first post-inauguration gathering of the major influencers shaping new energy policy and will bring together legislators, energy consumer representatives, businesses, utilities, regulators, and the energy vendor community. The agenda will focus specifically on the looming energy crisis and will contain discussion and analysis of energy production, consumption, and policy in the United States.

Considered a leading expert in energy innovation, technology and finance, Dan Reicher currently serves as director for Climate Change and Energy Initiatives at Google.org. The organization has been capitalized with $2 billion of Google stock to make investments and advance policy in the areas of climate change and energy, global development, and global health. Mr. Reicher also is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, a member of General Electric's Ecomagination Advisory Board, co-chairman of the board of the American Council on Renewable Energy, and a member of the board of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.

At the helm of one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, Jim Rogers serves as chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of Duke Energy. In addition to testifying numerous times on energy and environmental policies before congressional committees, Rogers has also served as deputy general counsel for litigation and enforcement for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); executive vice president of interstate pipelines for the Enron Gas Pipeline Group; and as a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. Rogers is chairman of the Edison Foundation and co-chair of the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency and the Alliance to Save Energy. He serves on the board of directors of the Executive Committee of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Rogers is also a member of the Honorary Committee of the Joint U.S.-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUCCCE).

"With these two keynote additions to an already strong lineup, the Forum will certainly be a definitive event in the discussion of a national energy policy," says Mark Johnson, Energy Central vice president of knowledge services and publisher of EnergyBiz magazine. "By bringing together all the involved parties, including luminaries such as Dan Reicher, Jim Rogers, and T. Boone Pickens, the Leadership Forum will provide the most objective and strategic view of the unique drivers shaping energy."

In addition to the keynotes, other speakers include:

  --  Dr. John Anderson, President and CEO, Electricity Consumers Resource
      Council
  --  Ray Beavers, General Manager and CEO, United Cooperative Services
  --  Jacques Besnainou, President, AREVA, Inc.; President and CEO,
      AREVA NC Inc.
  --  Kevin Burke, President and CEO, Con Edison
  --  Fred Butler, Chairman and President, National Association of
      Regulatory Utility Commissions (NARUC); New Jersey Regulatory
      Commissioner
  --  Michael Chesser, Chairman and CEO, Great Plains Energy; Chairman,
      Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
  --  Mark Crisson, CEO, American Public Power Association (APPA)
  --  Bart Gordon, US Representative, 6th District Tennessee,
      United States Congress
  --  Richard Kelly, President and CEO, Xcel Energy
  --  Tom Kuhn, President, Edison Electric Institute (EEI)
  --  Michael Mudd, CEO, FutureGen Alliance
  --  Kim Saylors-Laster, Vice President, Energy, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
  --  Steven Specker, President and CEO, Electric Power Research
      Institute (EPRI)
  --  Marc Spitzer, Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory
      Commission (FERC)
  --  David Springe, President, National Association of State Utility
      Consumer Advocates, Consumer Counsel of the Citizens' Utility
      Ratepayer Board of Kansas
  --  Steve Winn, CEO, Nuclear Innovation North America
  --  Barry Worthington, Executive Director, United States Energy
      Association

Energy Central is joining with media partner USA TODAY to present the EnergyBiz Leadership Forum. The Forum invites all utilities, regulatory representatives, legislators, policymakers, financiers, technology suppliers and other business professionals responsible for future energy policy creation, design, implementation and rollout to attend this precedent-setting discussion. See the EnergyBiz Leadership Forum Web site (www.energybizforum.com) for details, including a full schedule of speakers and topics for the event.

About Energy Central:

Energy Central, headquartered in Aurora, Colorado, and established in 1996, is the leading resource connecting professionals in the global power industry to news, events, databases, insight and analysis. Encompassing web sites, e-newsletters, direct marketing channels, events and print publications, Energy Central delivers critical information to top executives, managers, leaders and industry influencers. Energy Central currently publishes EnergyBiz and Intelligent Utility magazines. Sierra Energy Group is the research and analysis division of Energy Central, providing trusted, high-value, accurate information on global power issues. EnergyCentralJobs.com is the most-used job web site in the global power industry, connecting job seekers and employers.