CCUG – Combined Cycle Users Group

The Combined Cycle Users Group (CCUG) was launched in fall 2011, at its first meeting in San Antonio, as an independent, user-directed group to serve owner/operators of combined-cycle, combined heat and power (CHP), and cogeneration plants. The CCUG is distinguished by the logo shown here and not affiliated with any other group of the same or similar name, nor is it associated with any other industry event.

The organization’s meetings are dedicated to formal presentations and attendee-driven discussion sessions focusing on the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the integrated plant. Additional topics addressed include NERC and other regulatory impacts on planned operation, environmental rulemakings, plant mods to achieve performance goals, safety initiatives, professional development, skills training, etc.

Combined Cycle Users Group Steering Committee

2025 Conference at the Marriott Marquis Washington, DC

Left to right: Steven Hilger, Jon Mongold, Aaron Kitzmiller, Jonathan Miller, Jason Jauregui, Robert Mash, and Phyllis Gassert. Not in picture: Ben Stanley

2026 Chair: Robert Mash, GE, River Road Generating Plant
2026 Vice Chair: Jonathan Miller, CLECO, Acadia Power Station

The success of our user group is due to our members and to the industry leaders who have volunteered their time.

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Olivia Ambuehl
Engineer, Dominion Energy

Bio coming soon…

 

 

 

Committee member since 2025

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Phyllis Gassert
Program Director – Operations Excellence, Talen Energy

Phyllis’s career began as a design engineer for WorleyParsons in Reading, PA in the mechanical engineering department. She then joined Ontelaunee Energy Center in Reading, PA, owned by Dynegy, as the Senior Plant Engineer. Her knowledge grew with a shift in 2014 to Talen Energy located in Allentown, PA, where she has had many roles such as Fossil and Hydro Group Outage Manager, Asset Manager of the Northeast Region and Regional Business Manager for PJM Gas and Asset Manager for Sapphire and the Pennsylvania CTG’s within the PJM region. Phyllis current position is Program Director – Operations Excellence. Her overall power experience spans 24 years in combined-cycle activities, such as HRSG upgrades, outage planning, LTSA management, business/budget planning and decommissioning. Phyllis holds a BS degree in Mathematics from Davis & Elkins College as well as a BS in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University.
Committee member since 2012

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Steven Hilger, P.E.
Plant Manager – NAES Corporation, Dogwood Energy Facility

Steve started his career in the power industry in 1993 with Black & Veatch as a Mechanical Engineer. Steve has since held various roles while working for Calpine, Aquila, KCP&L, AECI, and NAES. Steve currently works for NAES where he serves as the Plant Manager at Dogwood Energy Facility, located South of Kansas City Missouri.

Steve has been involved in many components of power plant operation throughout his career, including design, construction, startup, operations, and layup. Most of his experience and work has been focused on combustion turbines and combined cycles. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas State University and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Kansas and Missouri.
Committee member since 2018

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Jason Jauregui
Production Lead – Woodbridge Energy Center, CAMS

Jason has been working in the power industry for 16 years. His experience began at a coal fired power plant, as a fuel handler. Over the course of 3yrs, Jason demonstrated the ability and willingness to learn anything his senior coworkers had to teach. This ultimately led to Jason becoming CRO qualified and then being promoted to a shift supervisor position. Since that time, Jason has expanded his knowledge from coal, to hydro, refuse burning and finally combined cycle. Jason is currently the Operations Manager at the Woodbridge Energy Center in Keasbey, NJ.
Committee member since 2022

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Aaron Kitzmiller
Principal Engineer – Vistra, Fayette Power Company, LLC

Aaron has worked in the power industry for 19 years. He has worked at two coal fired power plants in his past as an engineer and is presently at a Combined Cycle Power Plant in Masontown, Pennsylvania for the past 10 years where he is the Principal Engineer. He specializes in water treatment, environmental compliance, safety and day-to-day operational challenges.
Prior to the power industry Aaron was involved in many aspects of water/sewer design and has been a manager of a water and sewer utility. He has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from West Virginia University.
Committee member since 2018

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Robert Mash – 2026 Chair
Plant Manager, GE Power O&M Services, River Road Generating Plant

Robert is the Plant Manager at the River Road Generating Plant in Vancouver, WA and has 34 years of power generation experience. He started his career in U.S. Navy propulsion engineering. Robert spent several years with Calpine, Puget Sound Energy and General Electric Gas Power O&M participating in the construction, commissioning and commercial operation of simple cycle and combined cycle plants ranging from 310 MW to 1214 MW. Working with teams to support Root Cause Analysis and Failure Mode Effects & Analysis is combined with his passion for sharing knowledge, best practices and lessons learned. He is also a member of the Clark County Local Emergency Planning Committee.
Committee member since 2017

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Jonathan Miller – 2025 Vice Chair
Maintenance Manager, CLECO, Acadia Power Station

Jon Miller joined Calpine in January 2025 as an Outage Director. Jon lives in Louisiana. He is a proud husband and father to four children. Jon began his career in 1994 performing NDE inspections in the chemical and oil and gas industry, later earing his API inspection certifications for pressure vessels, tanks and piping. In November 2000, Jon joined Calpine as an assistant project engineer providing construction oversight for the HRSG’s, BOP, and piping construction at Acadia power station. Acadia is a 4X2 combined cycle with four Siemens 501FD’s and two Siemens KN’s with Nooter Ericksen HRSG’s. Upon completion of plant construction/commissioning, Jon joined the operations and maintenance team and was later hired as the Acadia Maintenance Manager. Calpine subsequently sold their interest in Acadia to Cleco. At that time, Jon joined Cleco as a full time employee. Over the past 24 years, Jon has managed Acadia outages from CI’s to Majors, managed capital projects, and facility budgets. Jon has had the privilege of attending power industry conferences, joining the CCUG steering committee in 2019 and was voted the Vice Chair of the committee last year.

Committee member since 2019

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Jon Mongold
Maintenance Manager, NAES Corporation, Hill Top Energy Center

Jon’s career consists of 24 years in the power generation industry. His career started as a tradesman in the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers L.U. 45, working his way from Apprentice to Craft Superintendent over a 12-year period while training and developing skills in Project Management. Jon’s career then shifted to Electromechanical Supervisor working throughout the fleet of GenOn and NRG where his focus was rotating equipment, as well as balance of plant. Following this, Jon’s career shifted once again, moving from a maintenance discipline to that of Plant Operations where he managed coal yard, rail yard and FGD Operations for a large super critical coal fired generation facility.

In 2020, Jon directed his career to the way of Combined Cycle Generation where he has held positions as Maintenance Planner/Coordinator & Operations Manager at the NAES operated Hunterstown 3×1 combined cycle facility and in 2023 took on the role of Maintenance Manager, at NAES Hill Top Energy Center in southwestern Pa, where he manages day to day maintenance & outage planning/execution for a newly constructed GE 7HA.02 Single Shaft combined cycle facility.
Committee member since 2024

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Brady Parscale
Plant Engineer, NAES Corporation, Dogwood Energy Facility

Brady Parscale is a Plant Engineer at a 2×1 combined-cycle facility in the Pleasant Hill, MO. He entered the power industry in 2023 after various engineering roles at Stuppy Greenhouse designing commercial and educational greenhouse projects. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology (2018).

Committee member since 2025

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Marih Salvat
Operations Manager, Tenaska, Virginia Generation Station

Bio coming soon…

 

 

 

Committee member since 2025

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Ben Stanley
Vice President – Operations, DGC Operations, LLC, CPV Valley Energy

Ben is the VP of Operations for DGC Operations, LLC (a subsidiary of Diamond Generating Corporation). Ben oversees the DGC Operations fleet of GE and Siemens GT / Combined Cycle Plants on the East and West Coast. Ben has over 28 years of power generation experience. Over his career Ben has been lucky enough to move up in roles of increasing responsibility with Calpine, Roseville Electric, Pacific Gas and Electric, CAMS and DGC Operations. Ben has worked with multiple technologies and OEMs such as Mitsubishi, Pratt and Whitney, GE, Siemens, and Toshiba.
Committee member since 2021

Mission Statement for the Combined Cycle Users Group

Our aim is to be the predominant combined cycle users group by serving in an exceptional manner the interests of Users, customers and the public by pursuing progressive business strategies by integrating our growing knowledge on plant operations and maintenance, customer needs, user-industries and engineering applications.

This site is managed by Users for Users!

2026 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

August 24 – 27, 2026
San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter on the River Walk
101 Bowie St
San Antonio, TX 78205

Conference details will be available in late 2025.

Contact: SV Events
Email: Planning.Team@SV-Events.net

Requesting nominations for the 2025 Combined Cycle Users Group (CCUG) Individual Achievement Award.

Do you know of a co-worker who should be recognized for their achievements over the past years? Please consider making a nomination for the Individual Achievement Award.

The Combined Cycle Users Group (CCUG) recognizes individuals who have demonstrated excellence in the development, design, construction, management, operation and / or maintenance of combined cycle facilities throughout their careers with this Individual Achievement Award.

Please return the completed form by Friday, June 6, 2025 to:
CombinedCycle@PowerUsers.org

The award will be presented at the annual CCUG conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

Thanks for your help,
CCUG Steering Committee

2025 Individual Achievement Award Nomination Form

 

Meet our Past Award Winners: