Meet the Speakers

JAMES THALACKER
Managing Director, BMO Capital Market’s U.S.Equity Research team

Based in New York, James is primarily responsible for coverage of the domestic utility, renewables and power sectors. James began his financial career in 1995 on the sell side, as a quantitative analyst, working in the Investment Strategy Group at Dean Witter Reynolds. After several years, he moved over to Dean  Witter’s fundamental equity research platform, working in one of the street's top ranked utility teams. James transitioned to the buy side in 1999 as a senior analyst within Bass Brother Taylor’s market-neutral equity platform. Within his five-year tenure at Bass Brothers he added merchant energy and select energy sectors to his coverage and began investing in the credit of many of the merchant energy names. In 2004, James left Bass to take a position as Portfolio Manager at Highbridge Capital Management, continuing his focus on North American infrastructure with gross assets under management approaching $1.5bn. Prior to joining BMO Capital Markets in 2019, James spent 10 years as a Portfolio Manager with Millennium Partners, expanding his utility and energy investment focus to the industrial complex. His assets under management peaked at almost $1.2bn. James, originally from Wisconsin, resides in Far Hills, NJ, with his wife and four children. He holds both a Master of Science and Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Director of Regulatory Strategy and Solutions, Alliant Energy (parent company of Wisconsin Power and Light)

Previously, Jeff worked for the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in a variety of roles including as the administrator for the division of energy regulation and as the assistant administrator for water. His previous work experience includes the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources, the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with an M.S. in water resource management and a B.S. in chemistry and environmental studies.

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