From the Desk of RMEL Executive Director Rick Putnicki

RMEL Fall Leadership & Management Convention - FINDING SOLUTIONS TO TOMORROW’S CHALLENGES

The RMEL Fall Leadership & Management Convention - "FINDING SOLUTIONS TO TOMORROW’S CHALLENGES" is just one week away! Download the brochure for full details. This is your opportunity to turn off the day-to-day noise and uncertainty, pool your RMEL resources and discover solutions together as an industry. It is the commitment and perseverance of our industry that have always been the secret to finding solutions in times of uncertainty. The open dialogue and the collaboration of our membership instills confidence throughout our electric energy community. Join us and share your success stories, best practices and lessons learned at RMEL’s Fall Convention.

One Week Until the Virtual Fall Convention - Register for Individual Registration or a Company Package!

One of the advantages of a virtual format is it allows our membership to take advantage of a great opportunity to share the quality and relevant content deep into our member organizations. The RMEL Corporate Registration Package is an economical way to allow ALL employees to sign up for any, or all, of the Fall Virtual sessions. Check to see if your company has already signed up for a Corporate Registration Package – your registration cost may already be covered! We’ve had 16 companies sign up so far. If you don’t see your company on that list, there is still time to take advantage of the Corporate Registration Package for our member companies. Individual registrations are also available at $395 to allow members to take advantage of our quality programing. Tuesday and Thursday provide our educational programing, while Wednesday will feature a Disaster Response Roundtable Discussion and the Technology Showcases. Join us! Here is a quick look at our program:

Fall Convention Keynote: Seeing Around the Corner – A View of What’s to Come
John Ellis, Technology and Futurist Keynote Speaker, Best-Selling Author, Software Expert, and Former Global Technologist with Ford Motor Company

John Ellis is a top technology and futurist keynote speaker, best-selling author, and expert in new and emerging transportation technology. His work in the field inspired the book The Zero Dollar Car: How the Revolution in Big Data will Change Your Life, a #1 Amazon Best Seller (Auto Industry Book). For the past 25 years, he has been the managing director of the industry consulting firm JTE Consulting. 

John speaks around the world about how data—from cars and all kinds of devices—will transform industries, business models, and our lives. As a former executive at Motorola and Global Technologist at Ford Motor Company, he led or participated in teams that built many of the innovations we see today in connected vehicles on the ground and in the air. Since then he has helped businesses and organizations understand how technology is affecting the way they operate now and into the future.
Sponsored by Black & Veatch

CEO Panel
Panelist: Aram Benyamin, CEO, Colorado Springs Utilities 
Panelist: Gary Hoogeveen, President and CEO, Rocky Mountain Power
Panelist: Tracey LeBeau, Administrator and CEO, Western Area Power Administration
Panelist: Barbara Sugg, President & CEO, Southwest Power Pool
Moderator: Neal Walker, President, Texas New Mexico Power & RMEL 2022 President 
Sponsored by POWER Engineers, Inc. 

Data Mining – From the Utility and Developer Perspectives
Dave Perrill, CEO, Compute North
Nicole Sedlacek, CEcD, Economic Development Manager, Nebraska Public Power District

What the Heck is Going On: A Guide to the Climate Debate in Washington
Phil Musser, VP Federal Government Affairs, NextEra Energy, Inc.

Cost-Effective Resiliency-As-A-Service: A Critical Facility Microgrid Case Study at Salt River Project
Dan Sowder, Co-Founder and Principal, Sound Grid Partners
Tess Williams, Co-Founder and Principal, Sound Grid Partners 

Tapping into Your Untapped Resource: Unconscious Bias
Dr. Regina Lewis, ReginaSpeaking, LLC 

Grid Security: Key Questions and Answers with PacifiCorp
Daniel Marvin, Director, Cyber Security, Berkshire Hathaway Energy 

Renewable Policy and the Implication to Energy Markets
Eva Liu, Manager, Market Analysis, NextEra Energy Resources 

Anirban Basu and the Chamber of Data (Economic Update)
Anirban Basu, Chairman & CEO, Sage Policy Group, Inc. 

Powering Decarbonization: Strategies for Net-Zero CO2 Emissions
Geoffrey J. Blanford, Ph.D., Senior Technical Executive, EPRI 

Disaster Recovery – it is not “if”, it is “when” Roundtable Discussion
John Bowerfind, COO, Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association
Ruth Marks, VP of Transmission Maintenance, Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association
Art Wiese, VP Energy Delivery, Nebraska Public Power District
Moderator: Ken Wilmot, Sr. VP and Chief Operations Officer, Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. 

Complimentary Technology Showcases and Other Sponsorship Opportunities are Available

Don’t miss the opportunity to promote your organization through Sponsorship opportunities throughout the event. Complimentary Technology Showcases are available and come with a dedicated landing page on the platform for your company. Please contact us at info@rmel.org if you are interested in a Fall Convention sponsorship.

*Topics and presenters are subject to change.

RMEL to Honors 2021 Award Recipients During the 118th Fall Convention

RMEL is honoring six individuals with RMEL’s top awards on Tuesday, October 19th during RMEL’s 118th Fall Convention. Please click their names to read more about each of these inspiring leaders in the industry. Thomas J. Kent, President & Chief Executive Officer, Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), will receive RMEL’s highest honor, the 2021 Distinguished Leadership Award. This award recognizes an individual that has demonstrated significant contributions to the electric energy industry, their respective organization, and an advocate for the RMEL Mission.

Doug Bennion, Retired, PacifiCorp, will receive RMEL’s Honorary Life Membership Award. Honorary Life Membership is conferred upon an individual “whose knowledge and accomplishments in the electric energy field entitle him/her to special recognition.” This award recognizes their years of service and dedication.

Four individuals will receive the Industry Leadership Award. The Industry Leadership Award recognizes individuals whose leadership has made an impact within their organizations. The 2021 recipients are: Keith Carman, Vice President of Transmission Operations, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association; Nicholas Peters, Manager, Operating Engineering Group, Colorado Springs Utilities; Angela Piner, Vice President, HDR, Inc.; and John Quintana, Supervisory Electrical Engineer, Western Area Power Administration.

RMEL Foundation Scholarship Fundraising
Help Grow the Industry by Participating in the Silent Auction or Making a Cash Donation

It wouldn’t be an RMEL Fall Convention without an Auction! This year is no different! The virtual RMEL Foundation Auction will open this week, and we encourage you to bid high and bid often! Please SHARE the Auction list of items with colleagues. Everyone is invited to participate whether they are a RMEL member or not! The Auction raises scholarship dollars for students pursuing electric energy careers. Over the past 21 years the Foundation has awarded 461 scholarships totaling more than $1 million. If you have an item you’d like to donate, contact us.

Upcoming Educational Hybrid, In-Person and Virtual Programs

We recognize the desire of our membership to “get back together”! RMEL couldn’t agree more! We are proceeding cautiously, as safety is paramount. We tested the water with our first hybrid event on September 30th at Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association with a Generation Workshop and Roundtable. Thank you to Tri-State for allowing RMEL members to experience your state-of-the-art facility. We received high marks from both virtual and in-person attendees. Please contact us if you’d like us to bring an event to your region. We will continue to provide complimentary webinars, roundtables and low cost workshops to our members.

Hybrid RMEL Safety Roundtable
LIMITED TO 35 IN-PERSON ATTENDEES AT THIS TIME – SIGN UP TODAY
October 28, 2021, 10:00 a.m. - 2 p.m. MDT, Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, Westminster, CO

Chris Ukowich, Region Safety Officer for the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), will share his extensive knowledge of traffic control and commercial vehicle operations and licenses to lead a discussion of situational and traffic awareness best practices. He will speak to move-over laws for utility workers, load securement, inspection issues, helpful checklists and the amount of time electronic inspection should take, electronic inspection logs. From there, he will go into more of an in depth discussion on specific items including CDL, pre/post-trip inspections and traffic control.

We Hope to See You at the Fall Convention and upcoming RMEL Events!