From the Desk of Executive Director Richard Putnicki

We are so excited to host RMEL’s Virtual 2021 Spring Management, Engineering & Operations Conference in just one week…May 18-20. Get full details about the robust program of timely & relevant sessions by downloading the brochure or visiting the Conference Grid online.

Here are some quick links:

Former U.S. Navy SEAL Rear Admiral Scott Moore to Keynote RMEL's 2021 Spring Conference

Having served 30 years as a SEAL leader, retired Rear Admiral Scott Moore is a master in organizational leadership and teambuilding. He served in every leadership position in the SEAL teams, including the former commander of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, and closed out his career as the number two leader in the entire SEAL organization. He led the military’s elite forces through more than 2,000 of our nation’s most extreme, high-stakes missions and was deployed on SEAL team operations across the globe. He understands the importance of leadership and cohesiveness like few others can, and his experience runs the gamut from leading small groups to large-scale tactical planning. From the mountains of Afghanistan to briefings in the Oval Office, Moore is the man our leaders trusted when failure was not an option. Moore shares what it takes to lead high-performing teams. Believing that the art of leadership is empowering an organization’s ground-level employees to drive solutions and results, he focuses on how to tailor leadership to different groups, build truly cohesive teams, and develop real trust – the ultimate key to success. What makes the Navy SEALs so effective is also what makes them difficult to lead, and Moore offers a practical framework for leadership that works and shows audiences how to apply his insights to their own organizations with military precision. Larger than life, his presentations are a hard-hitting look into what makes the SEAL teams effective, told through exciting and entertaining stories that leave audiences on the edges of their seats. Read Admiral Moore's Full Bio.

May 20th Keynote Dr. Joti Samra, R.Psych., CEO & Founder, MyWorkplaceHealth - Enhancing Individual & Organizational Change: Actionable Steps to Cultivate Psychologically Healthy & Safe Work Environments

The global pandemic has underscored the critical importance of enhancing our psychological health, wellness and resilience - as individuals, and as organizations. Statistics don't lie - in 2017, the World Health Organization identified mental health issues as being the leading cause of global disability. Over the past 8 months, we have witnessed increased rates of alcohol use, rates of depression have doubled, and rates of anxiety have quadrupled. Now, more than ever, we have a critical imperative to take action. In this session, you will learn evidence-based, actionable steps that can be taken to enhance the psychological health and safety of work environments; equip our people leaders with the skills, strategies and approaches to effectively support the workforce; and steps to enhance your own personal wellness and resilience. Dr. Joti Samra, R.Psych. is a national thought leader on issues relating to psychological health, wellness and resilience. She is the CEO & Founder of MyWorkplaceHealth, a full-suite national workplace consulting firm and Dr. Joti Samra, R.Psych & Associates, an in-office and online (virtual) clinical counselling practice with offices located throughout BC. Learn More About Dr. Samra.

Get full details at http://www.rmel.org/spring! We hope to "see” you at the Spring Conference soon!

Congratulations to All 2021 Emerging Leader Nominees – Winners Will be Announced During the Spring Conference!

When the Emerging Leader Awards Program was first developed back in 2014, it was because the RMEL Board of Directors was in awe of what their new employees were already accomplishing in early careers. They wanted a way to recognize people with 5-10 years of experience in the electric energy industry who were showing up in a big way for their organizations and for the entire industry! It’s these rising leaders who will set the course for how we all stay resilient in any and all circumstances. These folks see the challenges, roll up their sleeves and do the hard work. That’s going to take them far, and it will be exciting to see what these new leaders accomplish. The Board of Directors wanted a way to recognize them NOW. The high number of applicants each year is a testament that these people are all across the industry. This year, we wanted to recognize not only the winners (who will be announced at the Spring Conference),but all of the nominees because there’s some tough competition out there. To even be nominated for this Award is a great honor from the companies that sent in the application. I am very happy to present to you now, ALL 2021 RMEL Emerging Leader Award Nominees:

Rebecca Afsar
Asset Management Civil Engineer, Western Area Power Administration
7 Years in the Industry
Civil Engineer in WAPA's Office of Asset Planning and Management where she is responsible for transmission line assets and the asset consequence scoring process.

Royal Antles
Mechanic Specialist, Colorado Springs Utilities
7 Years in the Industry
Journey level mechanic specialist for Colorado Springs Utilities Energy Supply Department. Provides mechanical maintenance for multiple sites throughout Energy Supply including coal plants, natural gas plants, and hydroelectric facilities.

Andrew Astudillo
Interim Senior Manager, CPS Energy
8 Years in the Industry
Serves as Generation Duty Officer for the Power Generation team

Tyler Bain
Planning Engineer II, United Power, Inc.
8 Years in the Industry
Performs studies for new and existing members to determine their impact and identify when loads exceed the capacity of the existing infrastructure.

Dave Bowen
Technology Innovation Manager, Ulteig
6 Years in the Industry
Technology Innovation Manager and member of the Power Technical Services business unit. Leads emerging technology efforts, including partnering with industry technology leaders, developing and testing new technology applications.

Scott Clausen
Project Engineer, Burns & McDonnell
6 Years in the Industry
Project manager for the FirstEnergy substation design team, overseeing five multidiscipline engineers and drafters. He has completed 37 projects worth more than $4.1 million in revenue in the last three years.

Grist Devriese
Project Engineer, POWER Engineers, Inc.
7 Years in the Industry
Project Engineer for one of POWER’s largest clients, successfully growing and leading a team of twenty engineers for the last three years.

Alejandra Doresky
Renewable Energy and Distributed Energy Proposal Manager, Black & Veatch
6 Years in the Industry
Lead the pursuit team and provide input to pursuit strategy, technical solutions, preparation and submittal of EPC Distributed Energy and Renewable Energy solutions to meet client's needs.

Michael Eugenis
Supervisor, System Protection, Arizona Public Service
6 Years in the Industry
Supervisor of System Protection Engineering group which is tasked with engineering protective relay settings throughout APS's Transmission and Sub-transmission systems. He also is responsible for ensuring Regulatory compliance with multiple NERC requirements.

John Hansen
Transmission Maintenance Field Support Supervisor, Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association
7 Years in the Industry
Manages a team of technical support specialists that works closely with transmission maintenance management helping to develop, maintain and improve standard field operations and maintenance practices.

Kaitlyn Honey
Manager, Equipment & System Analytics, Xcel Energy
9 Years in the Industry
Responsible for leading a team of engineers to implement transformational change across the organization through standard and optimized maintenance practices, expansion of condition based maintenance, and integration of advanced analytics into business processes to optimize risk versus cost across power generation facilities.

Luke Karels
Power Delivery Project Manager Department Manager, Stanley Consultants
9 Years in the Industry
Manages 11 of the firm’s top power delivery senior project/program managers. Part of Stanley Consultants’ new Project Management Center of Excellence (PMCE).

Jenny Jones
Senior Environmental Analyst, Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc.
9 Years in the Industry
Acting supervisor of the Land and Water Resources Team. Her tenure as AECI started as a college intern and progressed to be a Senior Environmental Analyst.

Chris Marquez
Electrical and Instrumentation Manager, Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc.
5 Years in the Industry
Provides leadership, technical direction, and general oversight of electrical and instrumentation shops at the New Madrid Power Plant, a two unit, 1200 MW generation site located in Marston, MO.

Kate McDevitt
Associate Engineer II, Electrical Consultants, Inc.
10 Years in the Industry
Associate Engineer II in ECI’s Civil/Structural Department. As a team lead, Kate is responsible for the civil design on a myriad of substation projects, overseeing engineering designs and project schedules.

Nicholas Miller
Engineering Supervisor, Colorado Springs Utilities
9 Years in the Industry
Supervisor of the Performance and Reliability Unit within the Operating Engineering Group of the Energy Supply Department of Colorado Springs Utilities.

Peter Ottoson
Supervisor, Engineering Projects, Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc.
7 Years in the Industry
Supervisor of Engineering Projects within the Power Production division of Associated. In this role, he supervises six team members with expertise in electrical, mechanical, and civil engineering.

Bradley Palu
Corporate Safety Manager, Nebraska Public Power District
8 Years in the Industry
Provides strategic direction, leadership, and oversight to ensure NPPD achieves continuous improvement in all aspects of safety as measured by industry benchmarks.

Lukas Rowland
Electrical Engineer, HDR
8 Years in the Industry
Lead project engineer or project manager on a wide variety of battery storage projects ranging from 500 kilowatts to 100 megawatts.

Matthew Scoffone
Senior Consulting Engineer, TG Advisers, Inc.
10 Years in the Industry
Senior consultant, where he provides engineering analysis related to turbine and generators for utilities worldwide. This includes direct client interface onsite during inspections, followed by engineering analysis, and then presentation of results.

Daniel Sierra
Substation Business Development Manager, Burns & McDonnell
8 Years in the Industry
Substation business development manager for the Transmission & Distribution (T&D) Group. Responsible for the overall management of substation business development, marketing and positioning for emerging business opportunities.

If you know any of these individuals, please thank them and congratulate them for being nominated. Thank you to everyone who sent in a nomination this year!

2021 RMEL Foundation Golf Tournament

After taking a COVID-year hiatus, the 2021 RMEL Foundation Golf Tournament will be held June 23rd, 2021, at Arrowhead Golf Club in Littleton, CO! We have sure missed seeing everyone in person, and as we all navigate the vaccination rollout, travel restrictions and all the "next normals,” we want to start getting back to what we do best, in-person networking and education. For those that are able to participate it will be a great time to see some familiar and new faces in an open environment.

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