David Manning

David J. Manning was a Senior Vice President and Energy Practice Leader for Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., a Boston based engineering firm with offices throughout the Eastern United States. The firm’s primary areas of focus, in addition to energy, include environment, transportation, and land use.

Manning also advised M.J. Bradley & Associates, an engineering and consulting firm which focuses on the convergence of energy and the environment.

Previously, Manning was Executive Vice President of External Affairs and Chief Environmental Officer for KeySpan/National Grid, the second largest gas & electric utility in the United States. Mr. Manning had responsibility for all external affairs, including government relations on the local, state, and national level, public relations and communications, as well as community strategy. Manning also managed both environmental policy and environmental operations for KeySpan. KeySpan operated throughout the U.S. Northeast, and was acquired by National Grid, the London based utility.

Prior to his role with KeySpan/National Grid, Manning was the President of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the industry trade group representing the entire Canadian upstream, including Alberta’s Oil Sands. In that capacity, he was a delegate to Kyoto and introduced the first industry-led voluntary CO2 reduction program in 1995.

In addition to Manning’s corporate and trade association leadership, he served in government as the Deputy Minister of Energy for Alberta in the early 90’s, following five years as Alberta’s International Trade Counsel and representative in the United States. In that capacity, he was actively involved in the creation of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the North America Free Trade Agreement on behalf of the province. He also participated in the successful efforts to develop infrastructure and significantly expand Canadian energy exports to U.S. markets.

On January 1, 2011, Manning was named Executive Director of the New York Smart Grid Consortium in addition to his duties with VHB. The Consortium is made up of New York State's leading Utilities, Universities, Research facilities including Brookhaven National Labs, and technology developers including Computer Associates, GE and IBM. The Mission of the consortium is to increase Smart Grid investment in New York State with collaborative initiatives from some of the nation's top companies and research institutions.

At VHB, Manning served large utilities and energy providers, as well as governments and developers on energy issues. Alternative energy, transportation, infrastructure, policy, and funding are all areas of expertise that occupy the VHB team for multiple clients, primarily in the Eastern United States.