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2010 has brought with it changes and new opportunities for the Alliance, and I’d like to highlight a few of those for you. First, with the start of the new year, we welcome new industry leadership on our Board of Directors as Peter Darbee, the president and CEO of PG&E takes over the gavel from our out-going industry co-chair, Jim Rogers, chairman, president and CEO of Duke Energy. The Alliance has been blessed over the past several years with incredible leadership and I am certain that the level of excellence will be maintained during Peter’s tenure!
While we are not saying “good-bye” to Jim, as he has agreed to continue to serve as a Board member, I do want to take a moment to thank him, profusely, for his service to the Alliance, its staff, its Associates, its Board and its mission. He has been very involved in the progress that we as a country have made in spreading awareness, building policy infrastructure, and driving business innovation to ensure that energy efficiency becomes the "first and best fuel" powering our economy in the 21st century.
Jim's drive, intellect, and passion were no less apparent in the Alliance Board Room. Under his leadership, the Alliance launched our international conference and exposition, EE Global, which has become the world’s premier gathering for the energy efficiency industry; the Congress enacted the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA 2007) which is the most significant energy efficiency legislation passed in more than three decades; the Alliance’s budget grew by more than 25 percent and its staff by more than 20 members; the list goes on and on. And, all of this is not to mention his incredible abilities as a spokesperson and public champion of efficiency. We are most fortunate that he will continue to lend his many talents to our Board and our organization.
Though Jim's leadership will be missed, we are lucky to be replacing one efficiency icon with another. Peter Darbee is a proven energy efficiency champion and, importantly, leads a company which is internationally recognized as an energy efficiency pioneer. Peter and I began working last year to devise his platform as Alliance co-Chair, and (as you might suspect, given the innovation he has brought to PG&E) he will be leading our efforts to design new policies and programs that can “ramp up” deployment of energy efficiency not just in the United States, but around the world. 2010 promises to be a banner year for the Alliance under Peter’s guiding hand.
The new year also has presented a new opportunity for one of our Board Members, Dr. Marilyn Brown, who has been nominated by President Obama to serve on the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Board of Directors. Sadly, by taking on this new role, Dr. Brown has opted to step down from her position on the Alliance Board. But before she goes, we’d like to send her off with a fitting tribute for all that she has accomplished in the name of energy efficiency and the Alliance.
2010 finally will see the return of EE Global to the United States. Online registration for the 2010 EE Global Conference in Washington, D.C., is now “up and running”! As always, we offer an early bird registration discount – but this year, there’s even more reason to beat the crowds. We’re holding a registration sweepstakes in which we randomly choose two winners a month to receive complimentary passes to EE Global. Here's what you have to do: tell us in 3-4 sentences why you are looking forward to coming to EE Global 2010 (and there’s a place for your answer built right into the online registration form. It’s that simple!). The applicant pool is cumulative, so the earlier you register, the better your chances of winning the free pass. Don’t put this one on the back burner – register online as soon as you can!
A few more highlights for this week. As part of our ever-expanding portfolio of Alliance-related resources and literature, we’ve created a series of one-pagers for each of our programmatic teams. These documents will give you and other visitors to www.ase.org a high-level look at the compelling activities and programs we’re leading, as well as the staff members responsible for their execution. I encourage you to view these documents, which we are putting out in advance of our 2008/2009 Annual Report – another piece to be on the look-out for!
Until next week, friends!
Kateri Callahan
President, Alliance to Save Energy
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