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Dan Waddle is senior vice president of NRECA International, leading efforts that promote cooperative development and designs programs that offer access to modern electric service in developing countries. He directs programs in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and Central and South Asia. The programs focus on low-cost electric service expansion through establishing and strengthening rural electric utilities using conventional and off-grid solutions.
With more than 30 years of experience, Dan is an expert in electric power supply and demand-side efficiency and in the design and implementation of renewable energy projects. He has hands-on experience in designing small and micro-hydro projects; biomass combustion and gasification for power applications; solar photovoltaic applications; and wind-diesel hybrid projects. He has managed numerous projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development; U.S. Dept. of Energy; the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and Asian Development Bank.
Dan has a B.S. and M.S. in agricultural engineering and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University.
Contact: dbwaddle@nreca-intl.org
Nicholas Allen is the International Projects Director overseeing NRECA International’s electrification projects and also the country director for Ethiopia. Nick has worked for NRECA for 14 years as an electrification engineer, project manager and electrification expert on a series of projects in South Sudan, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Liberia and Ghana. He led integrated electrification planning tasks for the Uganda Accelerated Rural Electrification Program and was a key participant in the electrification planning activities in South Sudan and Liberia.
Nick is currently leading a massive data collection and geospatial planning project in Ethiopia. This effort is digitizing more than 20 million household structures, over 60,000 kilometers of MV infrastructure and evaluating electrification expansion planning (grid and off-grid) throughout Ethiopia. Nick is an expert in geographic information systems applied for electric power distribution systems and off-grid energy solutions. He also has extensive experience in technical, financial and sustainability analysis of grid and off-grid rural utilities.
Nick has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University and an M.A in International Environmental Policy from Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
Contact: nhallen@nreca-intl.org
NRECA 
Frank Bergh is a Senior Electrical Engineer, supporting NRECA International’s electrification projects with an emphasis on energy access in off-grid and microgrid contexts. Frank joined NRECA in 2020 and brings more than 12 years of experience in renewable energy, energy storage, electrical transmission planning, and microgrids.
Since 2005, Frank has served on several overseas projects as a volunteer with Engineers Without Borders, USA, and previously served as a member of the organization’s Board of Directors. Prior to NRECA International, Frank served as an independent consultant working on projects in Africa and the Caribbean with his firm Beyond The Grid, PLLC. Frank began his career as a transmission planning consultant with Burns and McDonnell, where he was responsible for grid integration of utility-scale wind and solar projects. He later led grid-interconnection projects for Nordex wind turbines in North and South America. He has also worked extensively on solar energy and battery projects with SoCore Energy and Edison Energy.
Frank is an instructor in Technology & Community Based Development at Colorado State University and a former contributing editor for Engineering for Change. Frank also co-founded JustDesign Cooperative, a multi-disciplinary design cooperative in 2017. In 2015, Midwest Energy News named Frank one of the Top 40 Under 40 Energy Professionals in the Midwest.
Frank has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Spanish from Washington University in St. Louis.
Contact: frankbergh@nreca-intl.org
Ingrid Hunsicker is the NRECA International’s Senior Program Manager. She has worked for NRECA International Programs for 21 years, both in the Guatemala Regional Office and at headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. She manages the recruitment of volunteer professionals from electric co-ops throughout the United States for voluntary assignments in developing countries to train line workers, local staff as well as to encourage on-going working relationships among US and foreign cooperatives.
In addition, her portfolio includes the stewardship of hundreds of donors throughout the country whose contributions assist NRECA International in its international initiatives. Her previous professional experience includes 10 years with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Guatemala working with internally displaced, returnees and refugees of Guatemala’s civil war that ended in 1996.
Contact: Ingrid.Hunsicker@nreca.coop
Jim is the director of engineering, overseeing the construction of 110 substations in Bangladesh, and updating construction standards and material specifications for the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board. Jim also is playing a key role supporting projects in Ethiopia and Mozambique and Liberia.
Jim began his career almost 50 years ago as a Peace Corps volunteer working in planning, design and construction of rural electrification projects in Ecuador. He continued to work in rural electrification with electric cooperatives in the United States, as well as utilities in Africa, Latin America and South and Central Asia. His area of expertise includes system planning, loss reduction, low cost distribution technology development, integration of distributed generation, and design and construction of transmission and distribution lines and substations. Jim at one time also managed a transmission and distribution research group at the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Jim holds a Master of Engineering degree in Electric Power Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
Jim Walsh is the director of business development, responsible for securing funding for new projects to fulfill NRECA International’s mission to increase electricity access in developing countries. Jim is an experienced project manager with expertise in project planning, risk evaluation, and business development. He has extensive experience in project conceptualization, mobilization, and international contracts and grants for a variety of development interventions, including electrification projects.
He started his career more than 25 years ago as a project development officer for the U.S. Agency for International Development and has lent his expertise and work experience in countries across all continents. In addition, Jim has received specialized training in a variety of areas including environmental assessment, new cooperative start-up, and project finance.
Jim has a BA in Political Science from the University of Chicago and attended graduate-level classes in economics from the George Washington University.
Contact: James.Walsh@nreca.coop
For more information about the work we do, or how you can help us improve the quality of life for people around the world, contact us at nreca.international@nreca.coop