Valero Energy Corp. has elected two women — H. Paulett Eberhart and Kimberly Greene — to its board of directors, both of whom have been CEOs of companies.
Valero’s (NYSE: VLO) announcement comes on the heels of reporting its second-quarter financial results, in which the San Antonio-based company saw its revenue and net income decline but nevertheless exceeded expectations.
AWE Boardmember Lindsay Sander lead an informative panel on PHMSA Nuts and Bolts at the NARUC Conference that recently concluded in Nashville. The panel covered Increases in U.S. natural gas production, usage and commercialization of natural gas are changing the regulatory landscape for the U.S. natural gas industry and its customers.
The safe, reliable and cost effective operation of the natural gas pipeline infrastructure in critical to our economy and security. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline Hazardous Material and Safety Administration’s mission is to protect people and the environment by advancing the safe transportation of energy and other hazardous materials that are essential to our daily lives. To do this, PHMSA’s stated mission is to establish national policy, set and enforce standards, educate, and conduct research to prevent incidents. PHMSA also prepares the public and first responders to reduce consequences if an incident does occur. In this two part Nashville moderated series we will explore all that is happening at PHMSA specifically as it concerns the proposed regulations and rules surrounding the safety of natural gas distribution and transmission pipelines. Attendees will be provided with the framework and tools necessary to explore and understand their respective roles and responsibilities in ensuring the delivery of natural gas to our communities safely, reliably, responsibly and affordably.
View more information and download the panel presentation here: https://www.naruc.org/summermeetings/agenda/comm-gas/
One of our esteemed AWE Board Members, Karen R. Johnson, passed away on June 5, 2016. She was a devoted wife, loving mother, caring mentor, and dear friend to many.
Karen was a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and St. Mary’s Law School, and she served in many roles throughout her forty-year career opening doors to young women serving as a “first” in leadership positions, including President of the Travis County Bar Association (first elected woman) and Executive Director of the State Bar of Texas (first woman chosen). She was also a member of the Texas State Bar Board of Directors (serving on the Executive Committee), special assistant in the Texas Governor’s Office, Assistant Comptroller for Bob Bullock (holding many leadership positions in that office), President of Entergy Texas, Executive Director and CEO of United Way of Texas, and CEO of Power Across Texas. She served as a board member for many professional organizations including the Electric Power Research Institute, Power Across Texas, Texas State History Museum Foundation, Care International, Global Impact, and of course, our own, Association of Women in Energy.
To say she was a trail blazer and an empowered leader is an understatement. Her laugh, her smile, her quick wit, and her eager willingness to serve others, in both her professional and personal life, will be greatly missed. Though words cannot express our sense of loss in the passing of our friend, we all have many great memories of her, and we know that Heaven has opened its doors to another great Texan.
Last year’s conference was a great success. Mark your calendars for another amazing conference, full of insights into what matters in the energy industry.
Network reception to be held on October 5th. Please check back for more information as we finalize the speakers and agenda.
KOKOMO, Ind. — Growing up with a “mad scientist” as a father, Karrie Welker began bucking stereotypes from a young age, falling in love with electricity as girls her age were starting down far different, and more expected, roads.
Not surprisingly, Welker’s road led to a unique position, one not often traveled by her female counterparts. And it’s a position she hopes to open to more women like herself, a line of work she says they simply don’t think about joining.
It is that position – an apprentice line worker for Duke Energy’s Kokomo branch – that has reinvigorated Welker and brought her back to her roots, where she confronts electricity daily and solves the physical puzzles she’s always enjoyed.
In fact, Welker, 41, is soon to be the only active female line worker employed by Duke Energy in Indiana. Currently, she is a second-year apprentice, nearly halfway through the process that will make her a fully qualified line worker.
In part, line workers are responsible for building, maintaining and restoring electrical service, most often during inclement weather or following an accident that has destroyed a power line. Duke Energy supplies electrical service to 69 Indiana counties, according to a press release.
That isn’t to say, however, that she hasn’t already experienced the oddities that come with being a woman in a field long dominated by men.
“Sometimes it’s a freak show, because everybody looks twice,” she said. “I know I’m not a freak show, I know it’s more because it’s an oddity, but that’s how it feels sometimes.
“I don’t like being the center of attention, so I probably picked the wrong thing to do,” added Welker, laughing.
However, it is those double takes, those obvious looks of doubt that have motivated Welker to be at the top of her field and show her co-workers that the job is, in fact, a gender neutral one.
“Determination, the more people tell me, ‘This is a man’s field, how are you going to do it?’ the more determined I am to do the best I can so they respect me for doing a good job,” she said. “And not just because I’m a woman, the company wants me to do well, so they’re going to push me through. I want the guys to know I’m trying.”
After taking some “basic electricity classes” directly out of high school in an attempt to continue her adolescent hobby, Welker’s life took an extended detour, which included five years as an employee at BioLife and 15 years at a dental lab.
It was about three years ago, though, that Welker heard about the Southeast Lineman Training Center in Georgia, and saw the opportunity to cure her professional unhappiness. While she had in the past tried unsuccessful to apply at Duke, Welker was finally seeing the door open.
There was only one obvious hurdle – Welker didn’t even know if the school accepted women. After learning SLTC would make special accommodations, Welker traveled to Georgia, ready to delve back into an area she already knew well.
Her initial experience, however, would be different from that of her classmates.
“It was very intimidating. The first day I walked into the room full of guys, one big gymnasium room,” explained Welker, who was the only woman in a class of 180. “I got there early enough I thought I could get a seat high in the corner, but the room was already full.
“I walked in and of course everybody just looks at me, and I felt like I was going to throw up. I just kind of smiled and looked for an empty chair.”
As the classes began and the hands-on work started, Welker says she was widely accepted as an important, and talented, member of the team – even if the men sometimes did offer to carry her bags.
“It was very sweet, but I said, ‘No, I want to carry my own bag,'” she said. “I think that’s the only way they treated me different, was to be respectful that I was a woman in that way, to hold the door for me as we were going through the line. Just nice little things, gestures.”
After completing school and being hired at Duke, Welker has seen much of that same respect, but she does wonder why more women aren’t working by her side.
One explanation she has found is that women simply aren’t aware of the opportunity. Another is the aspect of electricity, which she says keeps both men and women away from position.
“Somebody mentioned it to me, or I would never have thought about working on power lines,” she said. “I would think when I had classes at the community college right after high school about electricity that this would have stood out to me, but it didn’t. I don’t know if it was mentioned at that time.”
And while Welker doesn’t believe the line worker community is consciously holding a stereotype in place, she does see the physical aspect of the job possibly driving some woman away from the profession.
“They’re crazy, or I’m crazy,” she said, laughing again. “It is an extremely physical job; you’re climbing up and down off trucks, you’re climbing poles, you’re lifting very heavy objects. You have to keep control of heavy wire as you’re untying it or moving it.
“And I don’t know of many women that are as physical as I am.”
Even with that said, Welker is sure to point out that any woman interested in the position’s physicality is equally qualified as the men applying, a fact she has proven since her career began in Georgia.
“Any stereotypes that someone might have, I’m happy to squash them and explain how, while it’s still physical, it’s not impossible.”
To help promote that fact, Welker believes further female participation in job fairs or female pictures on promotional material could help raise the number of female line workers.
She also sees the opportunities for schools and other educators to increase their focus on females, similar to a man in Texas who started a line worker school and has been traveling to high schools and various locations to recruit women.
One of his tactics, in fact, is to give interested women Welker’s phone number. And while she hasn’t yet received a call, she is eager to promote the profession to young women.
“If any girl had come to talk to me . we could go out to some pole, and just step on the pole, not climb the pole or anything, just feel it and see if that’s anything that (they would) be comfortable with,” she said. “And I would just explain the different things that you do.”
___
Source: Kokomo Tribune, https://bit.ly/1qCziyJ
Join AWE for a mini-conference on Tuesday, May 24th, 2016 from 1-4 pm. The conference will be held at LCRA’s RedBud Center, 3601 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin and feature a panel of 4 to discuss “Challenges/Opportunities for Solar Energy” – How to value this resource from multiple perspectives.
We are still assembling the panel, but Tom Oney, General Counsel for LCRA, Debbie Kimberly, Vice-President, Customer Energy Solutions, Austin Energy, and an official with SunPower will be members of the panel. The cost is free to AWE members and $25 for non-members.
Registration is open, and space is limited to the first 100 people to sign up. Click the link below to register.
[um_loggedin show_lock=no] AWE Solar Energy Conference 2016 Registration [/um_loggedin]
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AWE Solar Energy Conference 2016 Registration [/um_loggedout]
There are nearly 50,000 women working in U.S. solar jobs of all types, the Solar Foundation reports, accounting for nearly a quarter of the workforce in the sector. That’s an improvement, but the statistic also belies a broader lack of diversity.
Many think tanks, academics and activists have pointed to a green jobs gap in solar and other clean technologies, where economic gains linked to renewable energy go mainly to white men. Take solar installer demographics as an example of that criticism.
Women account for 21 perent of solar installers, which pencils out to 25,305 jobs. African Americans hold 5,877 solar installation jobs (5 percent), while Latinos hold 16,191 of those jobs (13 percent) — roughly on par with minority representation in oil and gas extraction jobs.
“The industry has made numerous proclamations that they intend to be more diverse,” Luecken said. “Compared with other energy sectors, we’re doing OK. Compared with the overall economy, we have a lot of work to do.”
KOKOMO, Ind. — Growing up with a “mad scientist” as a father, Karrie Welker began bucking stereotypes from a young age, falling in love with electricity as girls her age were starting down far different, and more expected, roads.
Not surprisingly, Welker’s road led to a unique position, one not often traveled by her female counterparts. And it’s a position she hopes to open to more women like herself, a line of work she says they simply don’t think about joining.
It is that position – an apprentice line worker for Duke Energy’s Kokomo branch – that has reinvigorated Welker and brought her back to her roots, where she confronts electricity daily and solves the physical puzzles she’s always enjoyed.
In fact, Welker, 41, is soon to be the only active female line worker employed by Duke Energy in Indiana. Currently, she is a second-year apprentice, nearly halfway through the process that will make her a fully qualified line worker.
In part, line workers are responsible for building, maintaining and restoring electrical service, most often during inclement weather or following an accident that has destroyed a power line. Duke Energy supplies electrical service to 69 Indiana counties, according to a press release.
That isn’t to say, however, that she hasn’t already experienced the oddities that come with being a woman in a field long dominated by men.
“Sometimes it’s a freak show, because everybody looks twice,” she said. “I know I’m not a freak show, I know it’s more because it’s an oddity, but that’s how it feels sometimes.
“I don’t like being the center of attention, so I probably picked the wrong thing to do,” added Welker, laughing.
However, it is those double takes, those obvious looks of doubt that have motivated Welker to be at the top of her field and show her co-workers that the job is, in fact, a gender neutral one.
“Determination, the more people tell me, ‘This is a man’s field, how are you going to do it?’ the more determined I am to do the best I can so they respect me for doing a good job,” she said. “And not just because I’m a woman, the company wants me to do well, so they’re going to push me through. I want the guys to know I’m trying.”
After taking some “basic electricity classes” directly out of high school in an attempt to continue her adolescent hobby, Welker’s life took an extended detour, which included five years as an employee at BioLife and 15 years at a dental lab.
It was about three years ago, though, that Welker heard about the Southeast Lineman Training Center in Georgia, and saw the opportunity to cure her professional unhappiness. While she had in the past tried unsuccessful to apply at Duke, Welker was finally seeing the door open.
There was only one obvious hurdle – Welker didn’t even know if the school accepted women. After learning SLTC would make special accommodations, Welker traveled to Georgia, ready to delve back into an area she already knew well.
Her initial experience, however, would be different from that of her classmates.
“It was very intimidating. The first day I walked into the room full of guys, one big gymnasium room,” explained Welker, who was the only woman in a class of 180. “I got there early enough I thought I could get a seat high in the corner, but the room was already full.
“I walked in and of course everybody just looks at me, and I felt like I was going to throw up. I just kind of smiled and looked for an empty chair.”
As the classes began and the hands-on work started, Welker says she was widely accepted as an important, and talented, member of the team – even if the men sometimes did offer to carry her bags.
“It was very sweet, but I said, ‘No, I want to carry my own bag,'” she said. “I think that’s the only way they treated me different, was to be respectful that I was a woman in that way, to hold the door for me as we were going through the line. Just nice little things, gestures.”
After completing school and being hired at Duke, Welker has seen much of that same respect, but she does wonder why more women aren’t working by her side.
One explanation she has found is that women simply aren’t aware of the opportunity. Another is the aspect of electricity, which she says keeps both men and women away from position.
“Somebody mentioned it to me, or I would never have thought about working on power lines,” she said. “I would think when I had classes at the community college right after high school about electricity that this would have stood out to me, but it didn’t. I don’t know if it was mentioned at that time.”
And while Welker doesn’t believe the line worker community is consciously holding a stereotype in place, she does see the physical aspect of the job possibly driving some woman away from the profession.
“They’re crazy, or I’m crazy,” she said, laughing again. “It is an extremely physical job; you’re climbing up and down off trucks, you’re climbing poles, you’re lifting very heavy objects. You have to keep control of heavy wire as you’re untying it or moving it.
“And I don’t know of many women that are as physical as I am.”
Even with that said, Welker is sure to point out that any woman interested in the position’s physicality is equally qualified as the men applying, a fact she has proven since her career began in Georgia.
“Any stereotypes that someone might have, I’m happy to squash them and explain how, while it’s still physical, it’s not impossible.”
To help promote that fact, Welker believes further female participation in job fairs or female pictures on promotional material could help raise the number of female line workers.
She also sees the opportunities for schools and other educators to increase their focus on females, similar to a man in Texas who started a line worker school and has been traveling to high schools and various locations to recruit women.
One of his tactics, in fact, is to give interested women Welker’s phone number. And while she hasn’t yet received a call, she is eager to promote the profession to young women.
“If any girl had come to talk to me . we could go out to some pole, and just step on the pole, not climb the pole or anything, just feel it and see if that’s anything that (they would) be comfortable with,” she said. “And I would just explain the different things that you do.”
___
Source: Kokomo Tribune, https://bit.ly/1qCziyJ
EL PASO, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The El Paso Electric Company (EPE) (NYSE:EE) Board of Directors announces that Mary Kipp, President of EPE, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), today, December 15, 2015.
Thomas V. Shockley, who has served as CEO for EPE since 2012, has fulfilled his contract and will continue to play a vital role as a Board member. Shockley has been instrumental in positioning EPE as an industry leader and establishing succession planning that promotes local leadership and diversity, as he looks forward to the future of EPE.
“As a native of this region, Mary understands the diverse community we serve and the future needs of this region,” says Shockley. “She values the importance of working with and developing our talented employees who continue to provide our customers with safe and reliable energy. During her time here, Mary has proven her leadership and commitment to our unique region, and understands the need to foster strong economic development and growth. As she takes on this new role, I am confident that she will continue to enhance the Company’s performance in order to best serve our customers.”
Mary Kipp was born in El Paso and raised in southern New Mexico. Kipp has been with EPE since December 2007, and has overseen several departments at the Company.
“I am extremely honored to step into this role and continue on the path that Tom has set to lead El Paso Electric into a successful future,” said Mary Kipp, President of El Paso Electric. “We are dedicated to the success and well-being of our service area, in which we all work and serve. We continue to plan ahead for the exciting growth and innovation that we are experiencing, and as EPE invests in cost-effective new technologies we are ensuring that we meet our region’s future needs.”
Background:
Prior to joining the Company, Kipp was a senior attorney in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Office of Enforcement in Washington, DC.
Kipp received a Bachelor of Arts cum laude from Williams College, a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Texas School of Law, and is an alumnus of Exeter College, University of Oxford. She is a member of the Texas Bar (1994) and Colorado Bar (2002). Kipp is active in numerous community organizations, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, El Paso branch (Board of Directors), Borderplex Binational Economic Alliance (Leadership Group), Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce (Board of Directors), Executive Women in Energy, the Women Corporate Directors Greater New Mexico Chapter, and the Sun Bowl Association (Board of Directors).
El Paso Electric is a regional electric utility providing generation, transmission and distribution service to approximately 400,000 retail and wholesale customers in a 10,000 square mile area of the Rio Grande valley in west Texas and southern New Mexico. El Paso Electric has a net dependable generating capability of 2,010 MW.
When someone mentions executives in the energy industry, a female executive is probably not the first image that pops into your mind.
That stigma doesn’t ring true in Houston, where there are hundreds of women in executive positions at energy companies of all sizes. Hence, Houston Business Journal’s first-ever Women in Energy Leadership Awards were born to honor these accomplished and deserving professionals.
A panel of judges have selected HBJ’s inaugural Women in Energy Leadership honorees. The 26 women were judged on their career achievement in energy, contribution to company success, community involvement and leadership.
Applicants had to be based in the Houston area and employed in a leadership position at an energy company.
The judging panel included Crystal Ashby, former executive vice president of government and public affairs for BP; John Hofmeister, former president of Shell Oil Co. who is on numerous boards, including Lufkin Industries; Becky Klein, principal at Klein Energy LLC and chair of Power Across Texas; Katie Mehnert, the founder and CEO of Pink Petro; and Peggy Montana, who just retired as CEO of Shell Midstream Partners. Judges recused from voting on an executive if there was a conflict of interest.
The women will be honored at an event on Oct. 20 at the Houstonian Hotel and in a special section of HBJ on Oct. 23. Click here to register for the event.
Think you know a Women in Energy Leadership who should be nominated for next year’s awards? Click here to read the eligibility requirements. And click here to nominate.
