Smart Cities Committee

Dr. Scyller Borglum serves as Vice President for WSP USA’s Underground Storage Market in the Energy National Business Line. In addition to salt cavern development for temporary gas storage, Dr. Borglum involved in carbon dioxide sequestration projects with injection wells and depleted reservoirs, hydrogen storage, and compressed air energy storage. She brings more than two decades of experience in ground-up petroleum engineering, geological engineering research, oil and gas/energy industry, and professional experience.

Dr. Borglum worked in oil fields up and down the Rocky Mountain Front, in Texas, and in the Bakken, North Dakota. Her petroleum engineering work focused mainly on upstream activities as she worked for a service company, an independent, and a major. Dr. Borglum conducted geomechanical studies on various salt and rock types while in graduate school and while working at RESPEC, a world renowned geomechanical testing laboratory. She served as an Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education Fellow at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, WV. Dr. Borglum is not only published in her academic fields, petroleum and geological engineering, but she also co-authored the textbook, The Fossil Fuel Revolution: Shale Gas and Tight Oil.

During her time as elected Representative in the South Dakota State Legislature, Dr. Borglum worked on policies and legislation addressing cradle to grave solar and wind energy development and decommissioning requirements. Dr. Borglum lives in Rapid City, South Dakota with her husband and travels frequently to Houston, Texas for work.

Mr. Silva was a Senior Advisor and manager of compliance for Southern California Edison, a Fortune 250 company with 25+ years of combined operational, external and public affairs, community relations, and project management experience.

Leadership track record as a top manager change agent and industry thought leader in mission critical roles. Strategy driven; proven thought and inspirational leader within demanding, fast paced environments. Exceptionally motivated with unwavering commitment to mission and team while advancing strategic relationships and meeting corporate goals. Superior communication skills; motivational and keynote speaker with experience in International affairs.

Mr. Silva has extensive background and relations with business executives, industry leaders and elected officials from all branches of government. With this experience, communication skills and personal relationships, he was a welcome addition to the Department of Energy, Office of Economic Impact and Diversity as the newest Senior Advisor to help manage and execute the Workforce Development Pillar of the Initiative ‘Equity in Energy’. His wealth of experience provided valuable insight to the many opportunities to help shape and build upon the program and the challenges ahead.

Currently serves as a Board member of the Hispanic 100, International Visitor Council of Los Angeles, and recently served 10 years as a Governor Appointee to the Professional Engineer and Land Surveyor Commission. The prestigious leadership program, ‘the White House Fellows program’, Jerry served for over 10 years as a regional judge and chair for the LA panel. Jerry was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley region, attended Rosemead High School, earning his degrees from Rio Hondo College and the University of La Verne.

Mr. Silva was intimately involved with the restructuring of the energy industry meeting with State Wide legislators to support legislation changing the industry. He led direct initiatives to engage employees, retirees and community organizations to serve as advocates on behalf of SCE legislation. Mr. Silva also served as the Senior Project Manager securing licenses and permits from federal, statewide, and county agencies for the largest renewal project from Nevada and California. Mr. Silva has been recognized by many organizations for his public affairs and community outreach, advocacy programs and the renewable project completed at the Nevada/California state line.

Kevin R. Frost hails from two tribal nations, the Navajo and the Southern Ute. He is an enrolled citizen of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. The Southern Ute Indian Tribe is well known for its natural resource development and is one of the energy leaders in Indian Country. He has seen, first-hand, the positive
and transformative effects energy development can bring to a community. His experiences growing up, on and off the reservation, helped shape his approach to utilizing energy development as one of the pillars to tribal sovereignty and self determination.

As a Southern Ute Councilperson, he worked tirelessly on issues confronting his tribe and Indian Country. These issues included rural infrastructure, health, finance, and energy. These are complex topics with many obstacles and solutions require cooperation from the local to national levels. He has participated in and led discussions with tribal citizens/governments, local/state stakeholders, NGOs, Congresspersons, Cabinet Secretaries, and the President of the United States. He was also an Indian Country Energy Infrastructure Working Group delegate. In that role he worked with the Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to apprise them of real-time issues affecting tribal development.

Kevin joined the Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs first as the deputy director, then became the director. He was the Chair of the White House Council on Native American Affairs– Energy Subgroup, Co-chair of the Indian Country Energy and Infrastructure Working Group, a member of the Indian Minerals Steering Committee, and a DOE Equity in Energy Champion, ensuring diversity and access for all in energy. Working in these vital groups helped hone his vision for the office and Indian Country.

As director, he led a talented, focused, and hard-working team that was tasked to maximize the development and deployment of energy solutions for the benefit of American Indians and Alaska Natives through financial assistance, technical assistance, and education. Under his directorship, $21M of DOE funding for 23 tribal projects valued at $49M was approved. This funding resulted in 17MW of power generation and $31.5M in savings for over 1,000 tribal buildings. Equally important, he implemented the first formalized cost share reduction process in the office’s history during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping past, present, and future tribal projects reduce their financial contributions so they can repurpose those savings to positively benefit their communities.

Presently, Kevin is also a Co-founder and Principal of Right Energy Services and a Partner of Right Energy Group. He is also Vice-Chair of the Smart Cities Committee, World Green Growth Organization and he is a member of the Energy Leadership Institute Advisory Board.

Marco V. Ávila, P.E. is a registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) in the State of Maryland. He has been practicing his Civil Engineering Profession for over 36 years (23 Years with WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff). He has experience providing engineering and program/project management services for major infrastructure projects in the public and private sector; including transit, highways, bridges, Public-Private Partnership (P3) and telecommunications. He has a consistent track record of cost-effective project delivery under demanding circumstances. Marco is fluent in Spanish and speaks Portuguese.

While working as a Director/Civil Engineer/Program Manager for WSP-USA, Marco has gained the trust of his clients and peers. Apart from loving engineering, Marco is an active member of local chapters of several societies: including American Society of Highway Engineers (ASHE), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), American Council of Engineering Companies-Maryland (ACEC/MD), The Engineering Society of Baltimore (ESB), Engineers Without Borders, and Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (MDHCC), Advisory Council for St. Jude-Baltimore, Board Member at Sail Baltimore.

Apart from the engineering world, Marco dedicates his free time to volunteer in other organizations. Marco is currently the Chairman of the Board and President of the Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (MDHCC). He took over MDHCC in April 2019 and his term will be three (3) years. With the help of the new leadership at the Chamber, Marco has big plans for the Chamber including bringing the membership from 425 members to 1,000 members by the end of his term. The new programs that he created and implemented for the MDHCC members include: Mentoring, Educations, Growth, Partnership, Promotion/Marketing, Procurement Advisory, International Business Marketing and Networking. In addition, Marco and his team created the NEW Maryland Hispanic Chamber Scholarship Program. The Scholarship Program will provide scholarships for high school students, college student, graduate students, trade School students and special charitable projects. Organizations will have the opportunity to team up with the MDHCC to provide these scholarships. Furthermore, Marco plans to bring more businesses to Maryland from all over Latin America through the Maryland Sister States Program (in partnership with the Maryland Secretary of State office).