The Retool ’22 Planning Committee has announced its master of ceremonies and moderator for the Retool’22 Climate Tech Conference for Manufacturers and the manufacturing industry Oct. 18-19 at the Northwest Arena in Jamestown.

Mike McKay, a corporate support account executive for WNED PBS TV and WBFO NPR Radio in Buffalo, will be the master of ceremonies for the conference. McKay was a radio news reporter and anchor at WJTN in Jamestown in the 1980s and then held similar positions at WBFO, WGR and WBEN in Buffalo, before taking on his current role at WNED and WBFO.

McKay has three Associated Press awards for Excellence in Radio Reporting and he has helped raise more than $3.3 million in support of public broadcasting. In addition to his broadcasting work, McKay has served as an adjunct instructor at SUNY College at Buffalo, Cornell University’s School of Management and Labor, and Niagara County Community College.

Dan Testa, news editor for S&P Global Commodity Insights and a co-host for Energy Evolution Podcasts, will serve as moderator for three sessions. Testa is a financial journalist with more than 10 years’ experience covering U.S. power, electric utility and renewable energy industries and providers. S&P Global Commodity Insights is a division of S&P Global Inc., the leading power finance coverage for the S&P Capital IQ Pro platform. In his role as a co-host of S&P’s Energy Evolution podcast, Testa interviews leading experts to provide key insights about the energy transition and industry trends.

He began covering power and utilities in 2011 as a reporter for SNL Financial before it was acquired by S&P Global in 2015. Previously, he was senior reporter for, and part of a team that launched the Flathead Beacon, a weekly newspaper serving northwest Montana. Testa began his career in news at CNN in Atlanta, working as an associate producer on programming including News Night with Aaron Brown. He grew up in New York’s Hudson Valley in Warwick, and currently lives in Asheville, North Carolina.

The Retool’22 Conference is expected to bring more than 200 manufacturers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and educators to Jamestown to listen to speakers who represent companies with early success stories in the climate tech/clean tech sector; large companies which need to increase suppliers for new or improved product lines; educators who are transforming and introducing new programs to address changing educational needs in the manufacturing sector, and entrepreneurs and financial experts who will outline programs that are available in the public and private sector to help build up this new economic development sector.

Two keynote speakers, Clint Wilder, the editorial director of Clean Edge, and John Ellis, a futurist and global technologist, are scheduled for appearances Oct. 18 and 19.

Registration is open at: https://bit.ly/Retool22. A full schedule and registration information also is available at jamestownbpu.com. Retool’22 is one part of a multi-year initiative developed through a partnership of regional economic development organizations, foundations, and government entities. The initiative is being led by the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities and supported by the New York State Energy Research Development Authority.