About Us
Energy regulation is at a crossroads.
Mounting concerns over affordability, safety, and greenhouse‑gas emissions are broadening the regulatory mandate, while growing competition between gas and electric systems for the same end‑uses is upending a century‑old paradigm. Left unmanaged, these pressures put utilities—and the customers and workers who depend on them—at significant risk.
The Future of Heat Initiative provides state utility regulators, policymakers, and public interest intervenors with independent research, legal analysis, and technical support to advance the effective regulation of gas utilities.
By equipping decision‑makers with rigorous analysis, evidence‑based insights, and practical tools, we support policies and investments that safeguard consumers, empower workers, and accelerate the transition to a modern energy system.
The Team
Michael Bloomberg
(the policy nerd)
Executive Director
Mike Bloomberg is the co-founder and Managing Partner at Groundwork Data, an energy advisory and technology firm dedicated to tackling regulatory and infrastructure challenges in the evolving energy sector. With deep expertise in urban technology, policy, and data-driven solutions, Mike brings a unique perspective to the Future of Heat Initiative as its Executive Director. His background includes serving as Chief of Staff to a mayor, advising on political transition teams, and working as the urban technology researcher at Cornell Tech.
Mike’s work is grounded in advanced data analysis and a practical approach to infrastructure maintenance and modernization, making him well-suited to address the complexities of energy regulation. A resident of Washington, DC, Mike is an avid pickleball player and enjoys reading depreciation studies in his spare time. He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an MBA from Cornell Tech.
Justin Gundlach
(the legal nerd)
General Counsel & Director of Research
Justin Gundlach is an experienced attorney, policy advisor, and legal researcher. He has published and presented extensively on energy law and public policy topics, with a focus on issues of energy transition and interactions between energy systems and the causes and effects of climate change. His expertise in policy, law, and economics reflects his experience in state government as well as his work as an advocate and academic researcher. Justin brings a pragmatic perspective to issues facing policymakers and advocates.
Justin was previously a member of the senior staff of New York State’s Department of Public Service, and before that worked as senior manager at the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a senior attorney at NYU Law School’s Institute for Policy Integrity, a project manager at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and a staff attorney at the Sabin Center for Climate Change at Columbia Law School. He holds a J.D. from NYU Law, an M.Sc. in economic history from the London School of Economics, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University.
Bruce Biewald
(the energy nerd)
Director & Board Chair
Bruce Biewald is the co-founder and Board Chair of the newly launched Future of Heat Initiative. With over 28 years of experience leading Synapse Energy Economics, Bruce established Synapse as a trusted leader in rigorous, data-driven analysis and expert testimony across a wide range of energy and environmental issues. During his tenure as CEO, he grew Synapse from a small team to a 50-person organization renowned for its integrity and commitment to public interest research.
An accomplished expert witness, Bruce has testified in over 100 cases—including utility regulatory proceedings across 25 states, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, and state and federal courts—as well as in Canada. Today, he serves as Synapse’s Board Chair and Chief Scientist, continuing to provide strategic guidance to mission-driven organizations tackling some of the most pressing energy and climate challenges of our time.
Bruce is the co-host of the Energy Nerd Show podcast, where he dives into the latest developments in the energy world. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Art and Design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Kai Salem
Legal Fellow
Kai Salem is a third-year law student at Columbia Law School pursuing a career in utilities regulation. Before law school, Kai was an energy and climate policy advocate in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. At law school, she is the Executive Managing Editor of the Human Rights Law Review and has interned at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Commissioner Allison Clements' Office at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the General Counsel's Office at the California Air Resources Board. She is a recipient of High Honors at Columbia Law, the Max Berger '71 Public Interest/Public Service Fellowship, and the Columbia Global Energy Fellowship. Kai graduated from Brown University with honors in Environmental Studies.
Josh Lappen
Research Fellow
Josh Lappen is a historian and engineer who studies the growth and collapse of energy networks and the political economy of infrastructure. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Notre Dame, where he works with Dr. Emily Grubert on the political economy of contemporary fossil energy systems and strategies for a just energy transition. He received his doctorate from the University of Oxford, where his dissertation won the Society of American Historians' Allan Nevins Prize.
Josh regularly writes on the political economy of decarbonization in outlets including Heatmap, The Nation, and the Los Angeles Times. He is currently serving as an author of the Mitigation chapter of the Sixth National Climate Assessment.
Advisory Board
Dale S. Bryk
Senior Advisor
Dale Bryk is Director of State & Regional Policy at the Harvard Environmental & Energy Law Program and a Senior Fellow at the Regional Plan Association. She helped launch the Conveners Network, which supports state efforts to develop climate and clean energy strategies and access and deploy federal resources to advance them. She served as New York State’s Deputy Secretary for Energy and Environment from 2019-2020. As the Governor’s top energy and environment policy advisor, she oversaw New York’s nation-leading climate agenda and directed the agencies and authorities responsible for developing and implementing the state policies and initiatives needed to build a just and sustainable clean energy economy, including the landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. She sits on the boards of NYSERDA and VEIC.
Prior to these roles, Dale was the Director of Programs at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Throughout her 21 years at NRDC, she worked to develop and implement climate, energy efficiency, renewable energy and clean transportation policies. From 2002 to 2010, she also taught the Environmental Law Clinic at Yale Law School. Before joining NRDC, she practiced corporate law at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York. Dale holds a bachelor's degree from Colgate University, a master's from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She is based in New York City.
Abe Silverman
Senior Advisor
Abe Silverman is a research scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI) and principal of SilverGreen Consulting. Abe focuses on bringing academics, business leaders, and state and federal regulators together to solve the most pressing barriers to the clean energy transition.
Before coming to Hopkins, Abe served in a variety of senior positions at the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and at NRG Energy, Inc., one of the largest owners of power plants in the country, and at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Abe currently serves as the facilitator for the Northeast States Collaborative on Interregional Transmission, which is made up of representatives from ten states that have come together to coordinate on transmission grid expansion efforts in coordination with the U.S. Department of Energy. He also works on a variety of other initiatives aimed at enhancing the capabilities of state policy makers. Abe holds a Bachelor of Science in environmental geology and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Maryland and a juris doctorate degree from George Washington University School of Law.
Jack Lewnard
Senior Advisor
Dr. Jack Lewnard is an independent consultant and senior advisor to the Future of Heat Initiative. He most recently served as a Program Director at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA‑E), where he focused on methane production, distribution, and use. There, he created and led the $38 million REPAIR program, which aims to dramatically reduce the cost of gas pipeline rehabilitation by enabling advanced, non-invasive repair technologies.
Prior to ARPA-E, Dr. Lewnard was Vice President of Business Development at Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, where he led new initiatives in natural gas, alternative fuels, combined heat and power, and renewable energy. Earlier in his career, he served as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at the Gas Technology Institute (GTI), directing the Office of Technology and Innovation and overseeing the organization’s internal R&D program.
A recognized leader in pipeline technology and system safety, Dr. Lewnard’s work spans pipeline rehabilitation, methane mitigation, and advanced materials. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.