Utilities, Contractors, Subcontractors Team Up
Inspired by the keynote address’ title, this annual event adopted “Beyond Ordinary” as its theme. That when utilities, their contractors, and subcontractors are thinking about increasing the diversity of the workforce across the companies that help them engineer, construct, modernize, and maintain the nation’s energy infrastructure, that this thinking breaks out and goes beyond the tried and true.
This is exactly what keynoter Terry Malone eloquently urged at the conference. This also is what the conference’s panel discussions came back to again and again. Such as the panel of diverse subcontractor leaders. Such as the panel of utility diversity leaders. And such as in the remarks of the host organization, the engineering firm Burns & McDonnell.
That panel discussion among four diverse subcontractor leaders was inspiring, as well. The CEO of Trice Construction, the Presidents of APC Construction and EVS, and the Business Development Director of Blaze Contracting all brought to this discussion stories of their small but growing businesses and unique perspectives on how they and similar companies nationwide can take on increasing roles in the energy transformation. Their stories and perspectives can be found here too.
'Equity in Energy' articles at fortnightly.com:
- Tremese Davis, Nicor Gas VP of Operations and Taiwan Brown, Entergy VP of Diversity and Workforce Strategies
- Cornell Johnson, Center for Energy Workforce Development Director of DEI
- Keith Porta, APC Construction President
- Gayl Turk, Blaze Contracting Director of Business Development
- Stephanie Hickman, Trice Construction CEO
- Andy Kim, EVS Engineering President
Image: A few high school and college students talked about what they learned from their WeWorkKC experience.