Written by: Andrew Penner, Chapter President and AEE Regional VP for Canada
The world event for 2023 kicked off today with a round of business meetings. First up is the Global Leadership meeting. The AEE Board and Executive leaders along with special directors and Regional VPs gathered to take the temperature on the Association and discuss opportunities to build upon and enhance member experience.
As with any international association, there needs to be value. From my perspective, the value of AEE wears a few suits.
- Network. As an internationally health association, the ability to connect to and learn from practitioners working in energy efficiency, decarbonization, renewable energy, energy services, and the like is tremendous. For some reason – likely as a result of Al Thumann; the founding father of AEE – the AEE really and truly behaves like an extended family. For that reason, building a network takes very little effort. By simply being present you are set up for success.
- Certification. For many of us, clients and employers are looking for a bar from which to measure us. The AEE has a long legacy of identifying a need and responding with a robust training and certification regime to demonstrate legitimacy of professionals.
- Knowledge. Reference books, journals, conference proceedings, and more recently, member webinars, podcasts, and social media… All of this material represents a wealth of experience and knowledge. For any young professional looking to carve a career in an energy related field need look no further than the AEE to get obtain their knowledge-based foundation.
- Recognition. As an organization with the pedigree of AEE, boasting more than 17,000 international members is well positioned to evaluate and recognize achievement with awards.
As chapters, we need to clearly articulate value to our members and prospective members. This is how we grow.
Chapter Leadership
As chapter leaders, it’s important to share ideas. The Chapter Leadership meeting is our opportunity to create a meaningful exchange with leaders from other chapters from around the world. Attended by several AEE Canada East board members, our goal will be to continue to grow our chapter, tapping into AEE value proposition I touched on above.
Our chapter was also fortunate enough to receive recognition for our overall chapter performance!
Regional Awards
The first set of awards issued were the Regional Awards. In alignment with the AEE’s operating regions, awards were issued for the following categories:
- Energy Engineer of the Year
- Energy Manager of the Year
- Energy Innovator of the Year
- Energy Professional Development
- Young Energy Professional of the Year
- Corporate Energy Management
- Institutional Energy Management
- Energy Project of the Year
- Innovative Energy Project of the Year
With some 14 regions, there were many presentations and awardee stories of thanks!
Legends
As is customary, the evening before the opening sessions is celebrated with the Legends in Energy networking gala event. The AEE did not disappoint this year. Attendees were bussed from the Orange County Convention Center to Universal Studios where we spent the evening exploring the world of Harry Potter.
Up Next…
Day 1 is about to begin. The opening session features form US VP Al Gore. Should make for a great way to formally kick off AEE World 2023