Contents
- 2026 Conference Overview: 35 Years of Powering Tomorrow
- WTUI Leadership: Foundation for Success
- 2025 WTUI Recap: LM Engine Breakout Sessions
- 2025 WTUI Recap: Special Technical Presentations
- Acronyms to remember for aeroderivative gas turbine equipment
Western Turbine’s leadership team consists of the officers, directors, conference chairpersons, and support personnel who plan and execute the world’s largest and most comprehensive technical meeting on GE aeroderivative engines for electric power production, gas compression, and ship propulsion. Day-to-day operations are managed by an experienced support staff.
The individuals in this army of volunteers dedicate hundreds of hours of personal time annually to keep you informed on engine technology, operation, and maintenance.
The material presented by owner/operators, the OEM and its authorized service providers, and independent third-party providers of products and services is important and conducive to your success. Participation in WTUI meetings will help you manage your plant in a manner that maximizes revenue, efficiency, and availability/reliability, and minimizes pollutant emissions—all while maintaining the highest degree of safety.
Leadership Team 2026
Officers
President, Ed Jackson, Missouri River Energy Services
Vice President, Garry Grimwade, Riverside Public Utilities
Vice President, Al Van Hart, Parkway Generation/CAMS
Vice President, Dennis Johnson, Sentinel Energy Center
Secretary, Andrew Robertson, Wellhead Services Inc
Treasurer, Wayne Feragen, Noresco
Historian, Mike Raaker, Raaker Services LLCBoard of directors
Austin Berrigan, Chevron
Tyson Chambers, Lincoln Electric System
Derek Harvey, Evergy Energy
Paul Pudar, ENMAX, Cavalier Energy Center
Luis Sanchez, TransAlta Corp
Gilbert Shupe, Salt River Project
David Wells, Sentinel Energy CenterConference chairpersons
LM2500, Joshua Svejcar, Ever-Green Energy
LM5000, Perry Leslie, Wellhead Services Inc
LM6000, Luis Sanchez, TransAlta Corp
LMS100, Larry Wilson, Onward Energy
New users, Andrew Gundershaug, Calpine CorpSupport staff
Conference coordinator: Charlene Raaker, Raaker Services LLC
Webmaster: Wayne Feragen, Noresco
Tech support: Matt Nicosia, Nicosia Holdings
Acknowledgement
The heart and soul of WTUI, Jim Hinrichs, the organization’s second and longest-serving president, told the editors years ago, is the dedicated user who understands that helping a colleague is an investment in his or her own company and expertise. “What’s Joe’s problem today, could be mine tomorrow,” he said.
In the opinion of the editors and others, it is unlikely the aero engines served by WTUI would have achieved commercial success as quickly as they did without dedicated owner/operators
contributing to the solutions implemented by the OEM and others to improve their operability and maintainability.
The Honor Roll below salutes the WTUI officers and members of the board of directors, who have contributed mightily to the success of this organization since its founding in 1990, and to the industry at large. If you see the nametag of anyone on the list in your travels, please thank them for their productive and unselfish contributions to the successes enjoyed by the greater LM community.
Strategic Power Systems, led by CEO Salvatore A DellaVilla Jr, is due special recognition for its work in tracking and reporting accurate and unbiased availability and reliability data since WTUI’s founding. SPS’s Operational Reliability Analysis Program (ORAP®) provides users the data and metrics they need to extract top performance from their aero engines.
