Ellen S. Smith

Ellen S. Smith specializes in the energy sector. Ms. Smith has more than 30 years of operational experience, specifically in power and utilities, and has provided regulatory and litigation testimony in the areas of storm response, infrastructure improvements and power reliability. She has extensive industry expertise in energy, power and products, particularly in the design, engineering, purchasing, construction, system operation, and maintenance of electric, gas, LNG and power generation plants and systems.

Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Ms. Smith was the Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice-President at National Grid. Reporting to the President, and as a member of the U.S. Executive team, Ms. Smith improved safety and reliability of all gas, electric, generation and LNG operations. She completed significant restructuring initiatives, including integrating electric distribution and transmission and subsequently integrating gas operations with electric operations.

Ms. Smith also was instrumental in launching end-to-end process teams focused on working across organizational silos and keeping customers at the forefront. In addition, she chaired the Strategic Response team, was Incident Commander in system-wide emergencies and was the senior authorized person for NERC/CIP compliance. While at National Grid, Ms. Smith also worked with Labor Relations to develop labor strategies.

Before National Grid, Ms. Smith was Vice President of Refining Optimization and Planning at Hess Corporation. During Ms. Smith’s tenure she completed a “cold eyes” review project of the HOVENSA Joint Venture Refinery (500,000 Bbls/day) on St. Croix, USVI. The project outcomes included a refinery wide performance review, including a focus on energy management, and restructuring the Power and Utilities team to better support the overall refinery operations. Ms. Smith also served as the in-house gas turbine subject matter expert during the construction of a new 50 MW Nuovo Pignone/GE Frame 5 power plant.

Ms. Smith also served as President of Hess Microgen, LLC, providing cogeneration solutions to small industrial and commercial clients. In addition, Ms. Smith served as President of Pratt & Whitney Power Systems for three years and completed the development of the upgraded FT 8+ aero derivative power package.

Ms. Smith began her career at GE Energy and held a number of positions of increasing responsibility, beginning with various roles on large turnkey gas, steam and combined cycle power plant and substation projects in the U.S. and in Egypt under USAID contracts. Ms. Smith was also the General Manager of GE Operations & Maintenance, providing third-party services to asset managers/owners of GE power plants. Before leaving GE, Ms. Smith led the GE Energy 6 Sigma program for three years prior to being named to Vice President of Energy Services Sales.