Electric Vehicle Adoption in Montana: Understanding Opportunities and Issues
Speaker Biographies
Nick Shrauger, EV owner, Retired Associate Professor of the MSU Electrical Engineering Department
Nick Shrauger has been driving a hybrid electric vehicle since 2010, and a battery electric vehicle since 2017. His interest in electric propulsion began when servicing Milwaukee Railroad electric passenger trains in 1952 in Deer Lodge. He obtained an M.S. degree in electrical engineering at Montana State University and has helped automate hydro generation plants on the Missouri River, and taught NorthWestern Energy grid operators about electric grid systems while helping them become NERC Certified Grid Operators. He also makes hay using biofuel propulsion.
Larry Flynn, Administrator, Montana Department of Transportation
Mr. Flynn has been part of the MDT team since 1994, serving in various capacities throughout the Department. He has been involved in agency leadership since 2001 and has represented the Department in Legislative committees for the past 12 Legislative Sessions. Since 2007 he has been serving as MDT Chief Financial Officer, overseeing the agency’s $800 million annual budget and motor fuel tax administration for the State of Montana. Mr. Flynn holds a Business degree from Montana State University and lives in Helena with his family.
Kyla Maki, Montana Department of Environmental Quality
Kyla Maki is an Energy Resource Professional in the Energy Office at the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. She has been with DEQ for six years and in this role focuses on electric vehicle, alternative fuel, and energy planning and policy. Prior to coming to DEQ, Kyla worked in the nonprofit sector on energy policy and advocacy. Kyla has a B.S. in wildlife biology and political science from the University of Montana.
Trevor Graff, Montana Legislative Interim Transportation Committee
Trevor Graff is the energy research analyst at the Legislative Services Division of the Montana Legislature. He staffs the Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee, the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee, and the House Energy Technology, and Federal Relations Committee. Trevor has served the legislature for 5 years focusing on energy policy. Prior to joining the legislative staff, he worked as a journalist, and communications professional focused on energy and agriculture policy in the Kansas, Wyoming, and North Dakota statehouses. Trevor has a B.S. in Journalism and History from the University of Kansas.
Maureen Bock, Office of Innovation, Oregon Department of Transportation
Maureen Bock is ODOT’s Chief Innovation Officer, where she oversees Oregon’s Road
Usage Charge Program (OReGO). Maureen has an undergraduate degree in accounting from
California State University-Fullerton and her juris doctor from the University of
Arkansas. Maureen’s passion is developing new programs based on innovative policies
and her background in operations.
Maureen was formerly the ODOT fuels tax manager, where she began to automate the manual
methods of collecting millions of dollars in fuels tax revenue. The system is in place
today and enhances compliance and administrative capacity. Maureen left ODOT in 2011
to work with the Oregon Department of Energy, where she redesigned its tax credit
programs. She returned to ODOT in 2014 to become the Road Usage Charge Business Implementation
Manager. In that role, she used her background in fuels tax and tax administration,
as she worked with a team of business and IT professionals, as well as commercial
vendors, to design and implement the nation’s first road usage charge system. The
system is the first to validate mileage and fuel consumption, and to calculate and
collect taxes according to state policies and statutes. She continues to lead the
evolution of the OReGO Program, in order to make it a more sustainable, agile and
resilient funding mechanism.
David Kack, Executive Director, MSU Western Transportation Institute
David Kack is the Executive Director of the Western Transportation Institute (WTI) at Montana State University-Bozeman, where he also serves as the Director of the Small Urban, Rural and Tribal Center on Mobility (SURTCOM) a Tier I University Transportation Center (UTC). David has twenty years of experience in public transportation coordination, management, and planning, and has worked on numerous projects to develop and improve rural passenger transportation systems, including conducting intercity bus service studies in both Montana and Wyoming. Mr. Kack has helped three communities in Montana start public transportation systems and has an on-going management role with two of those systems.
Dan Rausch, Northwestern Energy
To Be Determined, Montana Electric Cooperatives’ Association
Neal Ullman, Energy Resource Professional, Montana Department of Environmental Quality
Neal Ullman is an Energy Resource Professional in the Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s Energy Office focusing on Clean Transportation. Working with the State’s portion of the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust and federal funding sources, the Energy Office works with public and private entities to deploy clean transportation alternatives as well as electric vehicle charging stations.