Tim Knowd ([email protected]) is a project manager in SDG&E’s transmission and distribution division. Most recently he has managed several large capital projects as part of the utility’s wildfire mitigation program, including the Cleveland National Forest power line replacement project and electric system hardening projects. Knowd has a bachelor’s degree in forestry and natural resources management from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo. He started his career working as a wildland firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service during college and after, before joining SDG&E’s vegetation management team in 1998 as an area forester with additional duties as a fire coordinator, where he was able to serve as the liaison between responding fire agencies and SDG&E’s first responders like electric troubleshooters and electric line crews. Knowd also worked as a construction manager at SDG&E’s Orange County and Northeast Operating Centers as well as the safety and compliance manager on the sunrise powerlink project, a US$1.8 billion, 117-mile (188-km) transmission line project built to access renewable resources like solar and wind in the Imperial Valley.