Board of Directors Voting
🗳️ Geothermal Rising 2026 Board Elections
Voting Period: Sunday, September 6, 2026 through Sunday, October 18th at 5PM CST.
Shape What Comes Next
The future of Geothermal Rising is built by the people who step forward to lead, serve, and strengthen our community.
The Board Election is an opportunity to help shape that future. Your vote helps determine the individuals who will represent our community, contribute to the direction of the association, and help advance geothermal energy in the years ahead.
Take a moment to get to know the candidates. Explore their statements, learn about their experience and perspectives, and watch their videos, when available. Each candidate brings their own ideas and vision for the future of our industry and our association.
This election is about more than selecting leaders—it is about continuing to build a strong, connected, innovative geothermal community.
Explore. Engage. Vote. Help shape what comes next.
Robin Zuza

Robin Zuza serves as Vice President, Subsurface at Ormat Technologies, where she leads the company's geoscience, reservoir engineering, and project management organizations. In this role, she is responsible for integrating the technical, commercial, and project execution functions that support Ormat's global geothermal growth portfolio. Her responsibilities span exploration, reservoir management, drilling project management, project development, portfolio governance, capital planning, and execution of geothermal development projects across multiple regions.
Robin joined Ormat in 2016 as an exploration geologist working on East African Rift prospects and has since held leadership positions across exploration, reservoir engineering, project development, and organizational management. During her tenure she has helped advance numerous geothermal projects, supported acquisitions and due diligence activities, expanded technical capabilities, and contributed to the growth of Ormat's global geothermal development portfolio. She has been involved in all stages of geothermal project development, including resource assessment, exploration drilling, reservoir testing, development drilling, operations support, and reservoir optimization.
A significant focus of Robin's career has been building and developing high-performing multidisciplinary teams. Throughout her leadership journey she has been passionate about promoting diversity within the geothermal workforce and fostering collaboration across disciplines and cultures. She has led teams in both North America and Indonesia, while supporting the growth of geothermal resources worldwide.
Robin currently serves on the Geothermal Rising Board of Directors and has actively contributed to several committees and leadership initiatives. She has held leadership positions supporting financial stewardship, governance, strategic planning, education, and industry outreach. She currently serves as Chair of the Business & Finance Committee and is an active participant in broader board initiatives focused on strengthening Geothermal Rising's long-term sustainability and industry impact.
Robin believes geothermal energy is entering a transformational period. The convergence of growing energy demand, advances in drilling and subsurface technologies, enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), thermal energy networks, and increasing interest from investors presents unprecedented opportunities for industry growth. As both a technical leader and executive, she is passionate about helping the industry responsibly scale while maintaining technical excellence, strong governance, and long-term sustainability.
If elected, Robin will continue working to ensure Geothermal Rising remains the leading voice for the geothermal industry while providing meaningful value to members through education, collaboration, workforce development, advocacy, and industry leadership.
Read her entire Submission HERE
Brian Krause

My name is Brian Krause, and I am the Global Sales and Marketing Director for San Joaquin Bit Services, based in California. This month, we are celebrating our 45th anniversary. With 30 years of experience in the geothermal industry worldwide, I bring extensive expertise to the table. I have been actively involved in significant industry innovations, including recent projects like Forge, Fervo, and Eavor, and I am excited to contribute to future technological advancements.
I first got into geothermal energy in the mid-'90s when I was delivering tools and parts to Coso during my days off from working on drilling rigs. My experience with geothermal drilling began around 1997 when I started working as an MWD engineer for Halliburton. I was fortunate to have access to several geothermal hotspots, including Coso, the Salton Sea, the Geysers, Puna, and Newberry Crater. Since then, I’ve expanded my experience to include work in geothermal hotspots around the world, including Milford, Utah, Hawaii, Lightning Dock, New Mexico, Guatemala, Japan, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Iceland, the Caribbean, and more.
I am the former President and current Board of Directors member for The Geothermal Golf Tournament, which is celebrating its 38th year this year. Additionally, I have served as the President of the American Association of Drilling Engineers (West Coast Chapter) and continue to serve as a Board member. I am also engaged with several other nonprofits in California.
I would like to join the GR Board to contribute to the growth of this incredible Association. I am eager to help raise awareness about our industry and the positive impact we are making on the planet through clean energy initiatives. I’m also excited about the opportunity to network, have fun, and engage with
others who share these goals.
Read his entire submission HERE
Josh Soble

I am a geologist by training who has spent my career moving projects from concept through feasibility, design, and construction, and building the commercial case that gets them financed and built. In my current role I lead business development for Green Therma in the Northeast US, working to develop the company's US commercial pipeline for its Advanced Closed Loop (ACL) / Deep Direct-Use (DDU) well system, Heat4Ever™. ACL/DDU is where I spend a growing share of my time, because it fills the gap between shallow geo-exchange and geothermal power generation — delivering high-temperature thermal energy at scale, from a single well pad, in district/networked and campus settings where surface area is the binding constraint. Alongside that work I advise institutional owners, developers, and lenders on geo-exchange and ground source heat pump (GSHP) projects, including independent technical review on behalf of lenders underwriting them.
That last category matters to me: capital does not flow to a technology it cannot diligence, and much of that work is translating subsurface risk into terms a credit committee can act on. I was previously the US Country Manager for Celsius Energy, SLB's (formerly Schlumberger) shallow geothermal heating and cooling business, where I led the US business and its deployment across existing-building retrofits and new construction. In that role, I contributed to the Eversource networked geothermal project in Framingham, Massachusetts — the first utility-owned thermal energy network in the United States, and still the reference case for regulated utilities evaluating thermal infrastructure as a rate-based asset. Working that project from the inside highlighted how much of this industry's future depends on questions that are not technical at all: regulatory classification, cost allocation, workforce, and who is permitted to own what.
Understanding both ends of that spectrum across our industry — a 400-foot geo-exchange borefield and a multi-thousand-foot production well — is the perspective I try to bring to the Board.
Read his complete Submission HERE
Matt Garlick

I'm Matt Garlick, CEM, CCP, BEMP- an energy nerd, a communicator, and an unapologetic evangelist for heat pumps and district systems. The goal of my career is simple: advocate for better technologies and help get the word out about how awesome heat pumps are. I'm running for the Heat Pump seat because Geothermal Rising shares these goals and sitting on this Board offers an opportunity to enlarge the tent and advance the industry. I came up on the buildings side of this industry as an energy modeler and commissioning agent. From this unique background I learned the conceptual and practical sides of HVAC systems as well as the most important lesson of all- that good designs only get implemented when aligned with the client’s budget and ambitions.
Telling the right story, one that acknowledges what’s really important, is what I’ll bring to this board position. Today I lead The GreyEdge Group, a consulting engineering firm specializing in district-scale geothermal and ambient temperature loop systems. I'm fortunate to work alongside some of the pioneers who built the ground-source industry, but this candidacy isn't about my firm's resume. It's about the role I play personally, which is best described as translator and connector. I'm equally comfortable talking with a city council about the economic benefits of thermal energy networks, with a driller about rate of penetration, and with an engineer about the virtues of hybrid system architectures. Different rooms, different vocabularies, same mission. My job is to bring the right people to the conversation, speak their language and help align them toward our common goals. I'd argue that's the core job of a board member, too.
My work as a communicator has taken me deep into the Thermal Energy Network conversations happening across the nation. TENs are having their moment: pilots are becoming utility programs, states are writing enabling legislation, and communities that never gave geothermal a second thought are suddenly asking good questions. I've spent the last several years helping towns, utilities, hospitals, and campuses move from "what's a TEN?" to funded feasibility work and real designs. I’m actively and intentionally crafting a message that lands with audiences far outside our usual circles including the Department of Defense, regional sustainability coalitions and international geothermal technology showcases.
Read his entire submission HERE
Ken McIntush

Ken McIntush graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas in 1990 and shortly thereafter did his first work in geothermal – a project for PG&E to investigate H2S-abatement issues at The Geysers in California. Now, as president for the last 23 years of Trimeric Corporation, a 24-person process-engineering-focused technical services company, Ken performs and directs work for geothermal clients around the world. Ken has over 80 past technical publications, about 16 of which were geothermal focused, including 11 published in GRC Transactions (nine of which Ken presented at GRC meetings, earning a GRC Best Presentation Award in 2016). Ken has attended most of the GRC Annual Meetings / Geothermal Rising Conferences in the past 15-20 years.
Ken has also done informal geothermal presentations, for example, the presentation on H2S abatement that Ken gave to the Geysers Geothermal Association in March of 2015. Ken has conference/board experience that may be of good use to the Geothermal Rising Board. For example, Ken has helped organize the long-running Laurance Reid Gas Conditioning Conference (LRGCC) since 2014, served as conference chair in 2016, and currently actively serves on the Senior Advisory Committee (the "advisory committee" functions as the 'board' for LRGCC), the Fundamentals sub-committee, and the Moderators sub-committee.
Ken has also been active in the GPA Midstream Association, organizing and leading the Sour Gas and Sulfur Symposium (half-day training session) for the annual convention the last few years. These connections to industry organizations with conferences outside of geothermal will allow Ken to provide useful outside perspective to the Geothermal Rising board.
Read his complete Submission HERE
Julian McDowell

Julian McDowell is a geothermal professional with over 16 years of global experience, including 5 years directly in operational leadership, bridging subsurface strategy, reservoir modeling, commercial due diligence, and drilling operations. He currently serves as the Geothermal Team Lead for ResFrac, a fully integrated fracturing and reservoir simulator for simulating hydraulic fracturing and long-term circulation in multistage EGS designs and hydrothermal resources, supplementing its well-established use in the oil and gas sector. Prior to this, Julian was the Geothermal Resources Market Lead (North America) at Jacobs, where he co-led the establishment and growth of Jacobs’ regional capability serving global clients. Based in Calgary, Alberta, his work provides a natural cross-border perspective between the U.S. and Canadian geothermal sectors.
His career spans major international project developments and technical advisory roles across North America, New Zealand, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean. As Reservoir Lead at Contact Energy in NZ, Julian guided the appraisal and development drilling programs for the 174 MWe Tauhara project. He also served as Modelling Lead for the Te Mihi expansion and managed the reservoir modeling portfolio for over 400 MWe of operating assets. Additionally, Julian stepped into operational execution as Acting Drilling & Interventions Manager, leading a 9-person team to deliver wells safely, under budget, and above production targets.
Julian holds a PGCert in Geothermal Energy Technology and a CoP in Energy and Resource Economics from the University of Auckland, an MSc in Applied Environmental Geology from Cardiff University, and a BA (Mod.) in Environmental Science from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
Read his full Submission HERE
Watch his Video to hear from him directly HERE
Aroha Campbell

Aroha Cambell (Aotearoa New Zealand) brings more than three decades of geothermal governance, leadership, and community development experience, including her long-standing roles as Trustee of Tauhara North No. 2 Trust (TN2T), Director of the Rotokawa Joint Venture, Board Member of the New Zealand Geothermal Association, and adviser to geothermal communities around
the world. Her expertise spans governance, stakeholder engagement, strategic leadership, indigenous participation, and the successful integration of cultural values within major geothermal developments.
Aroha grew up living within a geothermal environment and Māori community at Ohaki, where these precious natural resources were used for bathing, cooking and community connection. But a
power station development had a significant negative impact, causing subsidence and surface feature destruction with subsequent loss of access, knowledge and connection for her tribe, Ngati Tahu. This personal experience has driven Aroha’s lifelong passion for raising Indigenous voices in geothermal development — because at Ohaki in the 1980s the Māori landowners were not involved in decision-making for the power station development and operation.
Since the 1990’s Aroha has continuously built her skills and knowledge in geothermal development (across both the operator/ industry and Māori perspectives), which she takes into each subsequent project and shares with others. She is widely recognized for helping to transform TN2T from a small landowner trust into one of New Zealand’s most successful indigenous geothermal enterprises, with assets now exceeding $1BN. She has played a key role in enabling the development of significant geothermal power projects, including overseeing the stand up of four geothermal power stations, while ensuring benefits flowed back to owners through education, health, cultural, and community initiatives. Her leadership has demonstrated how geothermal resources can create lasting economic and social outcomes for Indigenous communities.
Aroha continues to advocate for the Ohaki community and has negotiated mitigation agreements and access to burial sites and the ngawha (hot springs). Her 35+ year relationship with Contact Energy for Ohaki and with Mercury for Rotokawa and Nga Tamariki geothermal fields is a lived experience that has resulted in strong, positive relationships and effective communication between industry and Indigenous landowners. These relationships are built on shared principles of trust, kaitiakitanga (guardianship), and sustainability, with agreement to do what is best for both parties. Real value creation includes 300+MW, Māori geothermal leadership, knowledge, training and aligned long-term plans.
See her full submission HERE
Watch her Video to hear from the candidate herself HERE
Max Nikolaev

I am running for the International Seat because the fastest way to scale geothermal is to connect what the world already knows how to do with the places that need it most, and I have spent my entire career doing exactly that. I am Chief Commercial Officer of CARBO, a US manufacturer of advanced ceramics and engineered proppants with plants in Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana and customers on every continent where wells are drilled.
My job is to take industrial capability built for oil and gas and put it to work in new markets. Geothermal is the one I care about most. Under my direction, CARBO built a dedicated geothermal product line engineered for high-temperature well conditions, created a Geothermal Champion role and staffed it, and became a Geothermal Champion Member of Geothermal Rising.
We did that because we believe geothermal is where oilfield materials, manufacturing discipline, and commercial infrastructure can do the most good, and because the people who will deploy geothermal at scale are increasingly outside the United States.
Read his full submission HERE
Watch to hear from the Candidate himself HERE