Agenda

6:30 a.m.

Breakfast for golfers and volksmarchers
(pre-registration and additional fee required for golf tournament and Crazy Horse Volksmarch)

Buses depart for the Golf Club at Red Rock and Crazy Horse Memorial Volksmarch

7-8 a.m.

8-8:30 a.m.

Continental Breakfast for Guests Attending Tours
Washington – Convention Center I

8:15 a.m.

Welcome
MARC President Steve Kolbeck, Chairman, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission
NARUC President Tony Clark, Chairman, North Dakota Public Service Commission

8:30 a.m.

Energy CEO Roundtable
A player well known to the utility industry, Bob Gee, founder of Gee Strategies Group, will facilitate a discussion with chief executive officers from leading electric and natural gas utilities in the MARC region and an investment representative from Wall Street. Gee's experience as a state commissioner and assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy will be evident as he guides the discussion about the utilities' business strategy and how variables such as credit ratings, allowed and earned rates of return, and regulatory policy influence the investment outlook for these companies.

9 a.m.

9:45 a.m.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions
Water Breakout: You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But How You Gonna Pay for It?
The prospect of replacement of aging infrastructure and compliance with increased water quality standards will pose financial and managerial challenges for water and wastewater utilities.  Meeting the needs of increased investment and compliance while attracting capital will require new emphasis on operating efficiencies, innovation and regulatory practices. This panel will look at innovative tools financially sustainable water utilities can implement.

Moderator:	Commissioner Carolene Mays, Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission
Panelists:	Steve Klick, Executive Policy Manager, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Dave Parker, Senior Utility Analyst, Robert W. Baird & Co. Kimberly Joyce, Manager of Regulatory Affairs, Aqua America, Inc.

Electric Breakout: Can't We All Just Get Along?
This discussion will focus on how MARC states can effectively work together on transmission projects that will crisscross our region. In recent years, commissions have committed substantial resources to regional planning groups like the Eastern Interconnection States' Planning Council and the Upper Midwest Transmission Development Initiative. Panelists will brainstorm about common ground and efficiencies that can be gained among MARC stakeholders in these regional planning efforts.

Telecommunications Breakout: Walk a Mile in My Shoes
This session will compare and contrast goals set at the federal level and those established by states. Recent NPRM proceedings have revealed a glaring need for help and understanding between state and federal commissions on common issues. Panelists will dig into big picture problems faced by the Federal Communications Commission and local challenges state commissions must overcome.

Moderator:	Charles Davidson, Director, Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute, New York School of Law
Panelists:	Commissioner Donna Nelson, Public Utility Commission of Texas Curt Stamp, Director – Regulatory Affairs, Cox Communications Raymond Gifford, Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP

11 a.m.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions
Natural Gas Breakout: Keep Her Steady, Scotty
Panelists will discuss how new procedures and technologies are changing the rules in the natural gas pricing game. Developments in hydro-fracking and horizontal boring have changed drilling in America forever. The sudden shift has resulted in regulators and industry members looking at production, supply, consumption, storage and prices from a slightly different angle.

Electric Breakout: This is Going to Screw Up Everything!
This panel will focus on generation in a dynamic electric world. Will the recent natural gas discoveries just lead everyone to the other side of a sinking ship and swamp us? The conversation will focus on tenets of electricity: affordability, reliability, sustainability, environmental compatibility and immunity to foreign manipulation. Will generation built today be the "right" form of generation needed tomorrow? Commissioner Hanson will root out why companies and experts believe their portfolio of natural gas, coal, nuclear and renewable are the best decisions for the future, not just for today. How do we know what is short-sighted and what is true wisdom?

Telecommunications Breakout: I'm Rubber, You're Glue …
This session will address the end game in telecommunications. Telecom companies have been struggling with each other, state and federal regulators, and consumers for decades. Will it all stay the same or will this FCC be the one that changes the landscape? Can the industry ever find a sense of normalcy or is the current state of flux the new normal? Is it possible to make new rules that will help those who need it and unleash the companies who want to run? Is a telecom love fest even possible?

12:30 p.m.

2 p.m.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions
Professional Development Breakout: The Effective Emailer
Employees now spend more than 40 percent of their workday on email and they consider more than a third of that time a waste, according to a new survey on email issues and trends from Cohesive Knowledge Solutions. We all have the daily task of writing several email messages a day, but most of us have never been taught how to write more effective email messages. This session focuses on all aspects of writing more effective emails, both as a sender and as a recipient. Email can help, or hinder, your professional image as well as the image of your program and organization.

Presenter:

Meredith Cash Weber, Trainer, South Dakota Bureau of Personnel

Electric Breakout: Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I Love Ya, Tomorrow! You're Always a Day a Way!
Twenty years ago there was no such thing as a "tweet" and a "friend request" meant passing a note to a cute girl in third grade. What's going to happen in the electric arena now that "data" is beginning to creep in? With Smart Grid, smart meters, and even smarter kids these days, what will the electric industry look like 20 or 30 years from now? Will we still be using fossil fuels? Will checking our usage be as common as checking our email? Will supporting distributed generation be the ticket to a company's viability? How will issues like regional haze and the EPA affect the future of electric generation? This panel will don their George Jetson suits in an attempt to explain the trajectory of the electric industry in a world of bits and bytes.

Natural Gas Breakout: I Need to Know, Exactly
Panelists will discuss pipeline safety. The aging pipeline infrastructure affects all MARC states. Determining if a pipeline is safely operating is crucial to the three commandments of regulation: safe, affordable, reliable. Is the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration being overtaxed? With recent calls for budget cuts, are safety programs in question? How do we know we are doing all we can?

3:15 p.m.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions
Professional Development Breakout: The Effective Emailer (repeated)
Employees now spend more than 40 percent of their workday on email and they consider more than a third of that time a waste, according to a new survey on email issues and trends from Cohesive Knowledge Solutions. We all have the daily task of writing several email messages a day, but most of us have never been taught how to write more effective email messages. This session focuses on all aspects of writing more effective emails, both as a sender and as a recipient. Email can help, or hinder, your professional image as well as the image of your program and organization.

Telecommunications Breakout: Sit Right Back and You'll Hear a Tale. A Tale of the FCC.
Set sail with Wireline Competition Bureau Chief Sharon Gillett for a one-hour tour of the Federal Communications Commission. We'll hear how her crew is handling the sometimes calm, sometimes rough waters surrounding the National Broadband Plan. We'll also learn how the bureau keeps afloat as it steers through intercarrier compensation, forbearance and other challenges.

Water Breakout: Thousands Have Lived Without Love, Not One Without Water

Water supply and water quality are becoming increasingly stressed. How do financially sustainable utilities serve as environmental stewards? Are there enhanced watershed approaches utilities can take to improve the environment? As consumers implement conservation practices and state policies direct both consumer and utility towards conservation, what are the economic effects to the financial sustainability of utilities? Additionally, in the next few years, the U.S. water supply industry can face complex compliance challenges from potential greenhouse gas emissions controls. Since GHG policies will introduce new regulatory changes to all facets of water utility operations, they represent a challenge of unparalleled scope and complexity. This panel will address how can water utilities, government officials and other stakeholders work together and collaborate on effectively addressing these issues.

5:30 p.m.

President's Reception and Dinner
Sponsored by CTIA The Wireless Association

Youth Dinner  

The Richest Man in Town – V.J. Smith
Noted speaker and humorist V.J. Smith will share the story of Marty, a wonderful man who ran a cash register at Wal-Mart. Marty was considered rich because he was loved and respected, but most of all, because he was content with every aspect of his life, no regrets. Marty's simple philosophies show what happens when you take the time to be kind and compassionate. All that you give, you get back, and more.

Illusionist Show – Reza
Recognized as one of the nation's top illusionists, Reza has been featured before millions of people on television, radio and live shows in more than 30 countries. Astounding audiences from Denver to New York and Orlando to Los Angeles, critics hail Reza as "One of the Nation's Top Illusionists," leading the way in a new era of magic.

Continental Breakfast

MARC Commissioners Only Business Meeting

8:30 a.m.

There's No Place Like Home. There's No Place Like Home
Rapid City native Jonathan Adelstein, administrator of the USDA's Rural Utilities Service, comes back to his old stompin' grounds to share stories of the RUS over a cup of morning Joe. He'll put a down-home spin on how the programs of the RUS impact the rural residents in the MARC region and the utilities that serve them. We'll hear how loan programs are helping bolster rural electric infrastructure, what's shaking with Community Connect and about successes achieved with the agency's water and environmental programs.

Presenter:

Jonathan Adelstein, Administrator, USDA Rural Utilities Service

9:45 a.m.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions
Personal Development Breakout: Pants on Fire
The difference between right and wrong is easy, most kids can figure it out, but it's the application that is difficult. Drawing on multiple anecdotes from his childhood and work career, V.J. Smith offers a unique perspective on why it's often difficult to do the right thing. The presentation is filled with amusing and sometimes hard-hitting stories – all designed to have the listener ponder ethical questions in their lives.

Presenter:

V.J. Smith, Life's Greatest Moments

Telecommunications Breakout: This is the One Right Here! I Swear!
Sylvan 1 & 2/Sheridan – Convention Center II
Panelists will discuss the new NPRM for which the FCC is currently seeking comment. The panel will look at issues concerning the nation and MARC states, specifically.

Natural Gas Breakout: Will You Marry Me, Juliet?
This panel will discuss the merits of what some call a perfect marriage: natural gas and renewable energy. What are the environmental and economic benefits of this marriage? Is natural gas really the best partner of renewable?  Are we just swapping one fossil fuel for another? If this is a match made in heaven, we need to make sure the devil is not in the details.

11 a.m.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions
Personal Development Breakout: Pants on Fire (repeated)
The difference between right and wrong is easy, most kids can figure it out, but it's the application that is difficult. Drawing on multiple anecdotes from his childhood and work career, V.J. Smith offers a unique perspective on why it's often difficult to do the right thing. The presentation is filled with amusing and sometimes hard-hitting stories – all designed to have the listener ponder ethical questions in their lives.

12:30 p.m.

Afternoon Prep
Please use this time to catch up on emails and prepare for our evening events. You'll want to wear comfortable shoes for exploring Mount Rushmore National Memorial and a light jacket for cool evening temps at the Custer State Park Cook-out.

2 p.m.

10 p.m.

Buses return to the Ramkota
Save some energy to enjoy downtown Rapid City or a cocktail at Minerva's Bar at the Ramkota Hotel. If you're worn out from the day's events, hit the hay and be ready for more stimulating sessions on Wednesday!

9 a.m.

10:15 a.m.

Effective Regulators, Effective Regulation: What are the Paths to Success?
In this session, Scott Hempling, the executive director of the National Regulatory Research Institute will lead a series of discussions on how regulators and commissions can achieve excellence. Topics will include: What is regulation's mission? How do we know when we've succeeded? What personal characteristics make some regulators better than others? What are the positives and negatives of "politics" in regulation? Protect the consumers – from what? Smart grid: a maze of missions and market structures.

Presenter:	Scott Hempling, Executive Director, National Regulatory Research Institute
	Presentation Outline

11:15 a.m.