Lithium Valley Panel

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Erik Stokes is the Chief of Staff to California Energy Commissioner Noemi Gallardo, advising the Commissioner on key clean energy policy initiatives including Lithium Valley. Prior to joining the Commissioner Gallardo's Office, Erik held several roles in the Energy Commission's Research and Development Division, most recently as the Deputy Director. 

Erik has extensive experience managing clean energy programs and initiatives, including working across sectors and disciplines to develop innovative approaches to longstanding challenges facing the cleantech sector. Erik has spearheaded several programs to commercialize breakthrough clean energy technologies; these programs have helped start-up companies attract over $10 billion in private investment. 

In addition, Erik has worked to address barriers to broader deployment of emerging clean energy technologies, particularly in underserved communities; including pioneering a design-build competition to transform low-income neighborhoods into technologically-advanced clean energy communities. 

Erik has also overseen a number of engagement activities and events for the California Energy Commission including the Lithium Valley Symposium and the EPIC Symposium; an annual event that draws over 800 people to Sacramento to discuss the latest innovations in clean energy. He has spoken at over 150 events and forums on a variety of energy and climate change topics including clean energy entrepreneurship, renewable energy, energy storage, microgrids, energy efficiency and electric vehicles. 

Ryan E.  Kelley was elected to represent District #4 (Brawley, Bombay Beach, Calipatria, Desert Shores, Niland, Salton City, Salton Sea Beach, Vista Del Mar, and Westmoreland) in 2012. He is a lifelong and third generation resident of Imperial Valley. His civic commitment began as an Eagle Scout with Troop 22, Boy Scouts of America, and continued as Exalted Ruler of the Brawley Elk’s Lodge #1420. It was his desire to make a positive change that prompted him to become involved in local government; and today, he strives to make decisions that benefit our communities.   In addition to being the Imperial County Supervisor, Ryan is a past president and current member of the Salton Sea Authority, member of the Imperial County Local Health Authority, member of the Local Area Formation Commission, and Vice Chair of the California Lithium Valley Commission.

Brian is the Managing Principal at Rick Engineering Company and has over 45 years of professional experience specializing in planning, public outreach, environmental analysis, research, and development of public policy. His extensive experience includes preparation, coordination, and completion of comprehensive urban and rural master plans for counties, cities, towns, and tribal governments that integrate environmental and cultural values into the policy and design framework. Brian regularly is a lecturer at the University of California, San Diego, Urban Studies Program and is an Adjunct Professor at the New School of Architecture and Design in San Diego California. He currently serves as Chair of the San Diego Tijuana Chapter of the Urban Land Institute, past President of the Association of Environmental Professionals and a member of Lambda Alpha International. Brian has been elected the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners for his work in urban and environmental planning and mentoring.

Chief Operating Officer, CTR - As a former senior executive with global oil and gas company bp, Rob has achieved decades of commercial and operational success with an outstanding track record for building sustainable businesses and delivering high-quality outcomes. Most recently, Rob was Chief Operating Officer of Branded Markets for bp's 7,000 site, North American branded fuel network, setting record annual network growth rates of over 200%. With a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Clemson University in South Carolina, Rob joined CTR in 2023 as Chief Operating Officer, with a mandate to build people-focused solutions to achieve operational excellence.

El Centro local Corban Dillon is known for his expertise in Geothermal Processes and Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE). He’s one of the first to graduate from IVC with their Plant Operator Certification Program and is currently enrolled in their Chemistry Tech course focusing on Lithium and currently is a teachers assistant at IVC for the Plant Operator Program. He is featured in the documentary “White Gold in Lithium Valley” while performing duties as a Production Assistant. He finished a successful internship at BHE (CalEnergy) and continues to work towards a clean energy future for Imperial Valley.

Prof. McKibben is a geochemist and economic geologist at U. C. Riverside who studies mineral and energy resources. He received his Ph.D. degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1984. He completed his earliest graduate work on metallic mineralization in the Salton Sea geothermal field in the 1970s and was involved in deep scientific drilling and research in the field in the 1980s and 1990s. He was a consultant on early zinc and lithium extraction projects in the field in the 2000s. He is a Lindgren Life Fellow with the Society of Economic Geologists; a Senior Member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration; and a Geothermal Icon Member of Geothermal Rising. He retired in 2021 but was recalled part-time as a UCR Research Professor in 2022 to work on assessing Salton Sea geothermal lithium resources with colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and is co-author of a 370-page 2023 DOE-sponsored report characterizing the Salton Sea's Geothermal Lithium Resources (https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4x8868mf). He also serves as a technical advisor to the geothermal industry on Li extraction efforts and was a member of a Cornell-Utah-UCR research group competing as one of five finalists for the Dept. of Energy’s $4M Geothermal Lithium Extraction Prize. He recently served on a General Accounting Office/National Academy of Sciences national panel of experts to assess the Recovery of Critical Minerals from Nontraditional Resources (https://www.gao.gov assets/880/870385.pdf). He has a new book chapter on the Recovery of Minerals from Geothermal Brines in an Elsevier textbook on Geothermal Power Generation (https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-24750-7.00029-4.. He serves as a member of a CIM subcommittee to write updated Lithium Brine NI 43-101 Guidelines for companies seeking to be listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange.