Ben Wender

Ben Wender is a Special Advisor to Commissioner Patty Monahan at the California Energy Commission (CEC), where his priorities include electric vehicle charging deployment and strategies to integrate EV charging into electric grid operations and planning.  Prior to serving as Special Advisor, he worked in the CEC’s Research and Development Division funding technology advancement and demonstration projects including several focused on bidirectional charging. Before moving to California, he worked at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington DC where he managed studies on electric grid modernization, electricity system resilience, and vehicle fuel economy technologies. He received a Masters and PhD in Sustainability Engineering from Arizona State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Hampshire College.