AABE
Tracey Woods is VP of American Association of Blacks in Energy.
Felicia Kelly is the Director — Membership Services and Events at American Association of Blacks in Energy.
Shortly after taking office, President Jimmy Carter established a task force to study the energy challenges facing the country in 1977. This group ultimately set in motion the nation's policies in utility regulation, natural gas prices and use, energy efficiency, renewables, and related areas for decades, in many cases through to the present day. The group however didn't include persons of color, compelling some of the most distinguished blacks in the energy field at that time to get together at the Watergate Hotel that July, in Washington D.C., to figure out how the African American community can have a voice in energy policymaking.
The American Association of Blacks in Energy, or AABE, was thus formed. By the next meeting two months later at the Mayflower Hotel, in Washington once again, AABE was already growing fast. Two key decisions were made there about who could become members. First, energy professionals could be members, but their corporations couldn't, so that AABE's independence wouldn't be questioned. Second, persons of any ethnic background would be eligible for membership, not only African Americans.