RederI thank the PES members for the confidence that you have placed in me during the election last fall when I was selected to be the Division VII Director-Elect. What an honor! I look forward to being a member of the IEEE Board of Directors in 2014 and 2015 and to returning to the IEEE Power & Energy Society Governing Board through 2015.

I have been fortunate to develop many friendships throughout the world because of IEEE. My involvement on the IEEE PES Governing Board spanned from 2002 – 2011 where I was a Member-At-Large and then became the first female PES President in 2008. As a leader in the organization, I have focused on repositioning PES to be relevant during a period of significant change, increasing the pipeline of power engineering students to prepare for significant workforce attrition and fostering increased collaboration between industry, academia and government and across IEEE at-large. With the support of many there have been successes that have contributed to these far-reaching aspirations. To name a few, I:

  • Launched the IEEE Smart Grid effort in 2010 and continue to provide leadership. This initiative facilitates collaboration for those throughout IEEE having Smart Grid interests and provides a trusted voice for the domain. It has monthly e-newsletter containing timely, technical articles and now has nearly 3000 Twitter followers and over 13,000 Linked-In participants. Learn more at http://smartgrid.ieee.org.
  • Led the movement for the PES name change from Power Engineering Society to Power & Energy Society to better represent the breadth of our activity and to attract a broader audience. Supporting initiatives included a PES web-site redesign, new transactions on Smart Grid and Sustainable Energy and new conferences that provided increased presence in Regions 8 – 10. The conferences and transactions are doing well and our PES membership has grown over recent years just surpassing 30,000 members!
  • Launched and currently co-chair the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative which is a unique effort sponsored by IEEE PES and the IEEE Foundation that establishes scholarships and career experiences for undergraduate engineers students pursuing a career in power and energy. It includes 100+ volunteers and the focused attention of several key staff. The program, made possible by donations to the PES Scholarship Fund, is just starting its third year and has supported a total of 265 undergraduate students attending 109 universities across the US. To date, over $4.4M has been raised toward a $10M philanthropic goal in support of the Initiative. Fundraising and global expansion are underway – see www.ee-scholarships.org for more details.

For my “day-job” I am the Vice President – Power Systems Services at S&C Electric Company headquarted in Chicago, Illinois. I am responsible for a group that does studies, engineering, procurement, project management, construction and field service in the US. In addition, I provide governance for global service development in other regional businesses. My group focuses on advanced distribution automation systems, energy storage, wind farms, solar facilities and more. I have always been drawn to advancing new technology in the power industry. Prior to S&C I held numerous positions at US-based utilities — Exelon and Xcel. Early in my career at Xcel (then Northern States Power), I pioneered one of the industry’s first large-scale automation load management and control technology programs that advanced what now underlies Smart Grid investments. I also developed and implemented one of the first comprehensive Asset Management organizations at Exelon, reducing system outage frequency and cost per customer while bringing customer satisfaction to an all-time high.

During my term as Division VII, I will build upon my IEEE and career experience to foster collaboration by working with Division and Region directors and the IEEE Board of Directors to expand IEEE global services and share knowledge between industry, academia and government in the power and energy sector.

Thanks again for bestowing your confidence in me. I look forward to the opportunity to serve you. Together, we can make a significant difference.

Sincerely,
Wanda Reder