Leadership Team
Learn more about the expertise and technical skills of the water research team and staff at NREL.
Albert LiVecchi
Laboratory Program Manager, Water Power
Al LiVecchi helped establish NREL's Water Power Program and built the technical team that focuses on marine and hydrokinetic technologies. He is responsible for planning and executing NREL's portfolio of U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored marine and hydrokinetic and hydropower projects and has primary responsibility for establishing productive partnerships with external organizations.
Tessa Greco
Strategic Innovation and Outreach Subprogram Manager, Hydropower and Water Systems Deployment
Tessa Greco is a project and portfolio manager with 13 years of experience, including 10 years leading marine energy, hydropower, wind, solar, batteries, and power systems engineering research. Greco specializes in relationship management, mentorship, process improvement, and project management best practices application in academic and research organizations resulting in maximum impact for individual projects and research portfolios.
Mike Lawson
Marine Energy Subprogram Manager, Water Power Research and Development
Michael Lawson focuses on the areas of wave and water current energy research and development as the principal investigator of the Wave Energy Converter SIMulator (WEC-Sim) project, the co-principal investigator of a laboratory-directed research and development project to study advanced control methods for variable geometry WEC devices, and a contributor to several other projects on the design, analysis, and economic evaluation of marine energy devices.
Jennifer Daw
Hydropower Subprogram Manager, Senior Water Power Researcher
Jennifer Daw is a group manager and senior researcher with over 20 years of domestic and international experience in the water and energy sector. Daw works with organizations to develop strategies, programs, and operational improvements to achieve their workforce and sustainability goals. Daw develops tools and resources to support the growth of the domestic hydropower and marine energy industries and provides technology and policy guidance to support the integration of energy, water, and food systems.
Robert Thresher
Research Fellow
Bob Thresher has more than 40 years of research, development, engineering, and management experience in wind technology, plant engineering, and aerospace systems.
Jochem Weber
Chief Engineer
Jochem Weber is the chief engineer of NREL's Water Power Program, where he pursues a holistic deductive system approach to problem solving in research, science, engineering, technology, innovation, and management. He holds degrees in mechanical engineering (design) and physical engineering (fluid and system dynamics), and a Ph.D. in modeling and optimization of wave energy converters.