NORCROSS, Ga., Dec. 8, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Comverge Inc., the leading provider of demand management solutions for electric utilities, today announced the appointment of Art Beckman as Chief Technology and Information Officer. Mr. Beckman has a strong history in the energy and technology industry, having led successful teams at Hewlett Packard (HP), Indus International, and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). At Comverge, Mr. Beckman will be responsible for setting product strategy and driving innovation across Comverge's demand response, energy efficiency and customer engagement solutions, as well as managing the company's information technology (IT) operations.
"Art has a proven track record delivering solutions that map to current industry requirements, while driving innovation to outpace the competition. He also brings tremendous industry experience, having worked at PG&E and Indus International, that allows Comverge to stay the leader in energy management solutions," said Gregory J. Dukat, Comverge chairman, president and CEO. "With the convergence of demand response, energy efficiency and customer engagement, the demand management industry is undergoing significant change. With his strong background, we're confident that Art will help us stay ahead of those developments and deliver solutions that exceed our customer's requirements."
Prior to joining Comverge, Mr. Beckman was the Program Director of the HP Software Innovation Program, where ideas were born and incubated to support solutions for cloud computing, IT energy management, business intelligence and long-term project strategies. He was also responsible for spearheading the Management of Change framework to support the HP Software Operating Model Transformation and HP Marketing Process Transformation. Before joining HP, Mr. Beckman was with Indus International, a software company with asset and customer management solutions serving the utility industry, where he was responsible for product development, the technology roadmap, customer support, and IT. Prior to Indus, he spent 15 years at PG&E, managing various technology areas and development teams in support of creating PG&E's distributed computing environment and developing applications in support of construction, materials management, and payables functions.
"I'm very excited to join Comverge at such a pivotal time for the demand management industry," said Beckman. "Comverge has a proven history of innovation in demand management and is perfectly placed to help electric utilities of all sizes address complex supply and demand issues. I look forward to working closely with the team to deliver the kind of innovations that will continue to set the industry benchmark for demand management."
Mr. Beckman is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Computer Science. He is also a graduate of the Program for Management Development at Harvard University. He has been a board member of innovation and technology groups including Intel Corporation's Corporate Advisory Board and the Nuclear Leadership Council.
About Comverge
Comverge is an industry-leading provider of integrated demand response, energy efficiency and customer engagement solutions that enable electric utilities to ensure grid reliability, lower energy costs, meet regulatory demands and enhance the customer experience. Through its combination of software, hardware and services, Comverge helps utilities optimize every aspect of a demand management program, from participant recruitment and device installation to call center support, control events and measurement and verification. Comverge has worked with hundreds of electric utilities to deploy nearly six million energy management devices and enroll more than 1.6 million residential customers into mass-market demand management programs. For more information, visit www.comverge.com and follow us on Twitter at @Comverge.
For Additional Information Jason Cigarran Vice President, Corporate Marketing and Communications Comverge, Inc. 678-823-6784
