From the Desk of Richard Putnicki, Executive Director, RMEL

I hope you all had a very Happy Independence Day! It was certainly a day of reflection for me, and I am so thankful to have this opportunity to be involved in the American Power industry. You all ensure the reliability, affordability and safety of this country’s electricity. Thank you for that!

I also want to thank those who took the time out of your busy schedules to complete the RMEL member surveys that went out over the last couple of weeks. We sincerely appreciate your thoughts and perspectives on how we can continue to improve your association. It has been a great experience working with WestGroup Research, and I am excited to share the results of this project and future initiatives stemming from this market research with you all in upcoming issues of RMEL’s eNewsletter. We are going to put your ideas to work immediately by using the research results as a cornerstone of our strategic discussion at the 2018 RMEL Board Retreat this summer. We’ve certainly got an exciting couple of months ahead leading up to our Fall Convention in September…

RMEL’s 115th Annual Fall Executive Leadership and Management Convention is coming up September 16-18, 2018 at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio, in San Antonio, TX. Register and look for more details soon at www.rmel.org/fall. The theme for this year’s Convention is Building Our Future Toward the New Energy Paradigm. The electric utility industry is at a crossroads of change and moving towards a new paradigm. We will explore what’s happening in the energy world markets and take a peek at what our future might hold.

The Fall Convention is the venue for leadership to discuss new ways to leverage existing technology while delivering solutions that are more aligned with evolving customer expectations.

The Fall Convention is your opportunity to:

• Explore what’s happening in energy markets outside the U.S.
• Hear about innovative customer experience strategies
• Discover electric utility business model possibilities
• Get Price Formation/Market Structure Best Practices and Resources
• Gain strategies to respond quickly in a fast-paced environment
• Leverage the RMEL professional network with executive attendees
• Learn from CEOs sharing their insights and vision for the future

Fall Convention Day 1 keynote speaker is futurist Jim Carroll, who is going to help you ride critical fast-paced trends in order to achieve dramatic market success. Carroll is one of the world’s leading global futurism, trends and innovation experts, with a massive global blue chip client list that ranges from NASA to the PGA, Disney to Johnson & Johnson, the Swiss Innovation Forum to the National Australia Bank. Over the last 20 years, more than 2 million people have shared his insight with his events on stage, taking in his ability to inspire audiences through a combination of deep insight, on-stage humor and motivational guidance, all grounded in deep observations on future trends.

Fall Convention Day 2 keynote speaker is Dr. Michael Webber. As Deputy Director of the Energy Institute, Co-Director of the Clean Energy Incubator, Josey Centennial Professor in Energy Resources, Author, and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Michael E. Webber trains the next generation of energy leaders at the University of Texas at Austin and beyond through research and education at the convergence of engineering, policy, and commercialization.  His recent book, “Thirst for Power: Energy, Water and Human Survival,” which addresses the connection between earth’s most valuable resources and offers a hopeful approach toward a sustainable future, is receiving wide praise. His television special, "Energy at the Movies," was in national syndication on PBS stations 2013-2015, and a suite of energy literacy tools titled Energy 101, including videos, online courses, and an interactive ebook, is available globally.  He was selected as a Fellow of ASME, has authored more than 300 publications, holds four patents, and serves on the advisory board for Scientific American.  Webber holds a B.S. and B.A. from UT Austin, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford.  He was honored as an American Fellow of the German Marshall Fund, an AT&T Industrial Ecology Fellow, and on four separate occasions by the University of Texas for exceptional teaching.

The Convention will also include the popular CEO Panel, featuring Mike Hummel, CEO & General Manager, SRP; Lisa Johnson, CEO and General Manager, Seminole Electric Cooperative; Mary Kipp, President & CEO, El Paso Electric; and Bill Magness, President & CEO, ERCOT. The CEO Panel will be held on Tuesday, September 18, and will be moderated by Scott Fry, Managing Director, Mycoff, Fry & Prouse LLC.

The road to the Fall Convention is paved with many other great topics and speakers at conferences, workshops and roundtables this summer, including:

RMEL MEMBER-HOSTED REGIONAL EVENT
Introduction to the Electric Utility Workshop
July 18, 2018 – Columbus, Nebraska
July 19, 2018 – Columbus, Nebraska

We value the opportunity to bring events to all RMEL member regions, and we’ve got an Introduction to the Electric Utility Workshop coming up this month in Nebraska, thanks to a request from RMEL member company representatives at Nebraska Public Power District. This is the same workshop on two different days. Choose the one day that works best for you to attend.

This course is designed to acquaint non-technical utility employees with the basics of their industry from the generation to the distribution of electricity. We have a few registration spots left, so call us at (303) 865-5544 to register.

Please also remember that you can always reach out to me at rickputnicki@rmel.org or (303) 865-5544 if you’d like RMEL to bring an event to your company or region. The content is completely up to you. Choose the content or topic for an event in your region and we will work with RMEL’s extensive network to find you the expert(s) who can help!

Plant Management, Engineering and Operations Conference
August 1-2, 2018 – Farmington, New Mexico

Get details on construction, operations, maintenance, emissions, water quality, plant personnel, fuels, planning, security, safety, technologies, regulatory and policy issues and strategies and procedures that plant personnel can use to optimize plant operations and performance. RMEL members will share best practices to improve efficiencies, reduce costs and extend the life of their existing plants. The conference will include a tour of the Navajo Coal Mine.

Project Management Workshop
August 8-9, 2018 – Golden, Colorado

The 2018 Project Management Workshop will review the basics, build on the methodologies, and share tools and apply them to new case studies to assist you with continuing down the path of successful project management. Regardless of the types of projects you work on, they all require you and your team to have sound project management skills and understanding in order to successfully plan, manage and control the projects. This workshop will further the in-depth discussions and applications to help you become a more disciplined, well-organized and highly effective project manager.

Future Utility Emerging Leaders (FUEL) Workshop
August 15-16, 2018 – Lone Tree, Colorado

This workshop will feature Keynote Speaker Mark Eaton, Former NBA All-Star & President, 7ft4.com LLC. He’ll discuss The Four Commitments of a Winning Team and Nine Steps to Winning Leadership. RMEL’s Future Utility Emerging Leaders Workshop is focused on those first time and early leaders who want to develop their leadership abilities, make career plans, and create their own development path. What are you doing to manage your career development and prepare yourself for future leadership opportunities?

Safety Roundtable – August 2018
August 24, 2018 – Golden, Colorado

RMEL’s August Safety Roundtable will kick off with a presentation by Matthew Hallowell, Presidential Teaching Scholar and Endowed Professor, University of Colorado at Boulder. He’ll introduce the topic of precursor analysis and field safety engagements. Based upon three years of research, this talk will cover: the objective and purpose of precursor analysis; definition of key terms; description of research conducted to identify and validate precursors; lessons learned from 100+ field engagements;  method to employ field safety engagements as a way to identify precursors and perform pre-accident root cause assessments; and a description of the present EEI research being conducted to customize precursor analysis and field safety engagements for electrical generation, transmission, and distribution.

We’ve got A LOT to look forward to this summer, all leading up to the Fall Convention in San Antonio. The Spring Conference in May was a really strong catalyst for all of the new events in June. From the full-house and innovative ideas at the Steam Generation Cycling Symposium in Omaha, to the life-saving best practices shared at the Transmission Resiliency, Response and Restoration Symposium in Austin, and back here to Colorado, where we explored self-awareness and team-building at the Effective Teams and Myers Briggs Workshop. We rounded off June with the annual RMEL Foundation Golf Tournament sponsored by the RMEL membership, with proceeds going to the RMEL Foundation Scholarships. Thank you to everyone for your continued participation, ideas and involvement.

I look forward to seeing you soon!