Note: The next session of Essentials of Utility Finance is scheduled for March 2010. The material below is from the most recent (July 2009) session.

To receive information on the March 2010 session as it becomes available, click here.

Primary Instructor

Dr. Roger A. Morin

Dr. Morin is Emeritus Professor of Finance at the College of Business Administration, Georgia State University and Distinguished Professor of Finance for Regulated Industry at the Center for the Study of Regulated Industry at Georgia State University. Dr. Morin is also chairman and CEO of Utility Research International, an enterprise engaged in regulatory economics/finance consulting and formal training activities.

 Dr. Morin has taught at the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, Drexel University, McGill University, and Georgia State University, among others. In addition, he has developed and conducted numerous executive development programs for professional trade associations, corporations, and universities. Dr. Morin was a faculty member of Advanced Management Research International, and is currently a faculty member of SNL Center for Financial Education.    

Dr. Morin has authored or co-authored several books, monographs, and articles in academic scientific journals on the subject of finance. They have appeared in a variety of journals, including The Journal of Finance, The Journal of Business Administration, International Management Review, and Public Utility Fortnightly. He has published three widely-used treatises on regulatory finance: Utilities' Cost of Capital, Public Utilities Reports Inc., Arlington, Va. 1984, Regulatory Finance, Public Utilities Reports Inc., Arlington, Va. 1994, and more recently, The New Regulatory Finance, Public Utilities Reports 2006. His most recent book, Driving Shareholder Value: Value-Building Techniques for Creating Shareholder Wealth, published by McGraw-Hill is widely used as a reference text in executive education training programs.    

Dr. Morin has engaged in extensive consulting activities on behalf of numerous Fortune 500 corporations and legal firms in matters of financial management and corporate litigation. He is a leading expert witness in matters of corporate finance, and has appeared as an expert witness in some 200 cases before some 50 federal and provincial/state regulatory boards in United States, Canada, and abroad, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.   

He holds a Bachelor of Engineering Physics degree, an MBA in Finance from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and a Ph.D. in Finance and Econometrics from the Wharton School of Finance, University of Pennsylvania. 

Guest Instructor

Mr. Ron Knecht

Ron Knecht is an economist at the Nevada Public Utilities Commission. With experience as economist and financial and policy analyst, Registered Professional Mechanical Engineer (in California), and law school graduate, Ron has spent half of his 38 working years in public service and half in private entrepreneurial small business, all in professional and managerial positions.

He conducts a wide range of economic, financial, technical and policy analyses as an Economist at Nevada’s Public Utilities Commission, and he has written and testified extensively as an expert witness in all those areas. He has been a founder, executive or board member for six business firms and various charitable and public interest groups. He was elected to the Nevada Assembly for the 2002-04 term, representing District 40.

Ron was elected to the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education in 2006, representing the Lake Tahoe area of Carson City, Douglas, Lyon and Storey Counties and southern Washoe County. He currently chairs the Budget & Finance Committee and serves on the Audit Committee, which he previously chaired, as well as the Board Development and Investment Committees.  Ron has a lifetime record in public, community, charitable and professional services, and in writing, speaking and teaching.

Ron holds a J.D. from the University of San Francisco Law School, and M.S. in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University and a B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.