Michael Winka is a senior policy advisor in the NJBPU Office of Policy and Planning. He advises the NJBPU President on clean-energy issues, including developing a system of combined heat and power facilities and advanced microgrids for storm response and emergency preparedness and smart grid/distribution automation. Serving under ten New Jersey governors, Michael Winka has worked for the state of New Jersey for nearly four decades, first at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and then for the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJPBU). Mike drafted and adopted NJDEP’s solid waste disposal engineering and environmental impact regulations, including the recycling regulations that helped to establish the first statewide mandatory curbside recycling program nationwide. He served as a member of the New Jersey Solid Waste Task Force that established the solid waste disposal and recycling plans in each New Jersey county. He was part of an interstate agency team that developed the first statewide Sustainability and Greenhouse Gas Action Plan in the United States and the initial New Jersey team that developed the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) CO2 cap and trade program among the ten northeast states.