Carissa is the Director of Transmission Interconnections and Solutions at Eversource. She has a key strategic role in the Transmission organization with the direction and oversight of all aspects of transmission interconnections, including implementing federal and state rules; negotiation with developers of wind, solar, storage and other resources; administering existing and new agreements, including financial and operational terms and conditions; and managing relationships with ISO-NE staff and third parties such as generators, utilities, public power and select large customers. Primarily, she is responsible for the early-stage development of grid solutions, including those emerging from competitive solicitations or investments to co-optimize clean energy upgrades and reliability needs. With more than 30 years of experience, Carissa is familiar with the New York and New England utility industry.
Before joining Eversource, Carissa was the Director, Planning Services at ISO New England, Inc. (ISO-NE) where she was responsible for the development of the New England Regional System Plan (RSP), Economic Studies, ten-year load forecast and Installed Capacity Requirements used in the multi-billion Forward Capacity Market (FCM). She managed long-term resource adequacy assessments, fuel diversity analyses, and resource mix evaluations to ensure reliability into the future. Between 2006 and 2019, she led the FCM qualification process with emphasis on the design and implementation of market rules for qualification of both new and existing generators and demand response resources. Her work on generator availability has been published in the IEEE Power Engineering Review. Prior to joining the ISO in 1999, Carissa worked at the New York Power Authority’s Niagara Power Project, providing engineering support to ensure the 2,500 MW hydroelectric facility and its associated transmission system operated reliably.
Carissa earned her Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University and Master of Business Administration from State University of New York at Buffalo. Carissa is an active member of the New England Woman in Engineering and Environment (NEWIEE) and holds a leadership role as a member of the Mentorship Committee. She is also a member of the Society of Woman Engineers (SWE) and IEEE