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MYSTIC, CT – Women in Energy hosted its Annual Conference in Mystic, CT, September 10-12, 2024

Beth Tocco, President of Women in Energy commented, “This year’s conference was our strongest to date, drawing people from all over the country. The sessions were varied thus providing all attendees with choices. I personally want to thank all our Sponsors, particularly our Conference Sponsors, NEFI, and Taco Comfort Solutions, who supported our event.”

The conference kicked off with an icebreaker-Bingo. This event allowed people to connect and learn about each other.

Wednesday was a day packed with presentations and panel discussions followed by a wonderful networking event at the Mystic Aquarium sponsored by EBI (Electrical Builders Inc), Cargas, Chevron Renewable Energy, Buckeye and iRely.

Thursday started the day with a Yoga event followed by our popular Power Panel. This year’s panelists included Jessica Netter, CEO, Electrical Builders; Esther Angell, VP Cargas Systems; Cheryl Perkins, Director Global Supply and returnee, Leslie Konsig, Sr Marketing Rep, Federal Insurance.

Our final event was the Awards Brunch and program. One of the announcements was the retirement of Judy Garber, Executive Director effective January 1 and our new Executive Director, Deena Doyle.

Our 2024 Woman of the Year Award Winner was Jacqueline Hart, Hart Home Comfort, Oakdale, NY. The two Judy Garber Rising Star winners were Nicole Glase, Clyde S Walton, Lansdale PA and Hailie Newman, EV Charging Stations, Kentucky. You can read more about these amazing women by visiting www.wewomeninenergy.com.

Perhaps one of the most significant milestone of the conference was the announcement of the retirement of Judy Garber, Executive Director effective January 1 and the introduction of the new Executive Director, Deena Doyle.

View photos from our 2024 Conference.

Many people ask how Women in Energy came about. Frankly, it was a missing piece within the energy industry – especially for the northeast. Judy Garber, Executive Director, previously was the director of OESP, Oil and Energy Service Professionals. This Association is dedicated to the mission of education. After 20 years, she wanted to step back but before doing so wanted to leave the Association in good hands. Knowing the oil heat market was shrinking and impacting their annual trade show, she looked at consolidation with another show. After speaking with a couple of other association execs, one rose to the top. But more was gained than a smooth transition. The expression, “great minds think alike” came into play. The woman that managed the other trade show thought as Judy did that a track should be added just for women that work “behind the scenes”. After that event a meeting with some of those that attended the event took place and we agreed that we would move forward with our own Association.

We then learned that a couple of people had been trying to offer something for women in New England. They already had a logo and offered it to us. We still use that logo.

The podcast tells the story of the history and progress of Women in Energy. This group was founded by a dedicated group of volunteers who became our 1st Board – Roberta Fagan, Erin Holohan Haskell, Marjorie Feinman, Lisa Scuderi, Sue Hammond and our sitting President, Beth Tocco.

We thank everyone who has supported us! And I will end with . . there is more to the story, just ask!!

CLICK HERE

A quote by: Brian Sullivan, Assistant Professor of Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Technology, New England Institute of Technology

The United States needs more skilled tradespeople, particularly in the HVAC workforce. Part of the reason is demographics: as the Baby Boomers retire, there are fewer Millennials and Zoomers to replace them, and the number of skilled trade jobs continues to outpace the supply of qualified workers to fill them. But that shortage is compounded by a historical cultural push towards students getting traditional, four-year liberal arts bachelor’s degrees, few of which are necessary for a successful career as a skilled tradesperson.

Advances in HVAC-R practice are driving HVAC education forward, toward an understanding of greener systems and components, and connected and embedded technologies such as Nest thermostats that control advanced heating and cooling systems in ever more sophisticated ways. New HVAC certification and degree programs focus on preparing technicians to install, maintain and repair modern HVAC-R systems, often device-controlled and incorporating progressively greener technology. This blog surfaces the best modern HVAC programs across a number of dimensions, along with the professors that are pushing HVAC education forward, and the apps and technologies that are emerging as future HVAC-R standards. As licensing and certification requirements evolve to incorporate new advancements in the field, and as active HVAC educators and practitioners share their stories, the www.hvacclasses.org team will publish that information here.

In the age of AI, with the nature and definition of work continuing to change, America needs more robust pathways to different forms of education. Students need easier access to opportunities in skilled trades like HVAC. If some of this education could start early, at the high school level, students, industry, and the general public would all benefit.

Take the time to share these stories with family, schools and others looking for wonderful opportunities!

President of WE, Beth Tocco, recently announced the creation of an exciting new Mentorship Program. “We are thrilled to announce the creation of an inspirational new Women in Energy Mentorship Program! And we are thrilled that member, Pam Morrissey, Cargas, is spearheading this program.” You can learn more about it by visiting this page on our website.

Judy Garber, WE Executive Director commented, “The energy industry shapes the world we live in, and women play a pivotal role in creating that future. That is why we’re bringing together a circle of empowered female mentors and mentees who will uplift one another to new heights.”

Morrissey added, “The mission of the Women in Energy Mentorship Program is to embolden rising stars and encourage them to harness their innate strengths, amplify their voices with courage and step into their calling as leaders in the energy revolution.

“When women support each other, magic happens. We can’t wait for you to be part of this spark and this sisterhood.”

Pre-launch tools on the site include a mentee and a mentor survey and a video of our initial launch webinar. At our April 17th event to be held in Peddler’s Village, PA, attendees will also learn more about the program.

We have a goal of late May to be able to pair the mentees with a mentor. To get started, please complete the appropriate survey. You can view the webinar presentation here.

The Spring Edition of our Newsletter, Connect and Empower is available to view. We hope you enjoy looking back to 2023. It is wonderful to see the many faces of our Organization! Let’s make more memories in 2024.

Click here to view the newsletter.

Women in Energy hosted its Annual Conference in Hershey, PA, September 20-22, 2023. The event featured an empowering program filled with education, networking, and tabletop displays.

We want to thank our major sponsors – Utilities Employees Credit Union, ADD Systems, Beckett, FW Webb, National Grid, Saul-Ewing, Tevis Energy, Hedge Solutions, Chevron Renewable Energy Group, Cargas Systems and Carlin-Hydrolevel as well as our other smaller sponsors.

An important piece of business occurred at this event, the election of a new Board. With growth, our Board was expanded as well. The Board is guided by new President, Beth Tocco, Tevis Energy; Senior VP, Liz Hill, PriMedia; VP, Pam Giordano, Lake Region Energy and Cetane Associates; Secretary, Nicole Glase, Clyde S Walton; Treasurer, Marjorie Feinman, FMA and Trustees include Loreli Headley, HOP Energy; Allison Heaney, Skaggs-Walsh; Katrina Ohl, Scully Signal Corp; Stacy Papa, F.W. Webb; Steph Schreyer, Cargas Systems and Charlene Tennison, Buckeye Energy.

President Tocco introduced the board at the dinner and made this point, “As we embrace this year, and each year after, in the Women in Energy journey, let us remain steadfast in our commitment to empowering women working in the energy industry. Together, we will continue to break down barriers, open doors of opportunity, and light the way for future generations of women in this field.”

In addition to an entertaining magic act, we announced key awards at our Dinner: Woman of the Year – went to two women, Elaine Levin, President & Principal of Powerhouse and Kris DeLair, Executive Director Empire State Association. Mentorship Awards went to Lianna Faber, HVAC Technician with the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 30 and Patti Hartman, Operations and Finance Manager of R. F. Ohl Co. and the Rising Star Award went to Jessica Reeder, Pennsylvania Petroleum Association and Shelby Schwartz, also with R.F. Ohl Company.

The Mission of Women in Energy is to connect and empower women working in the energy industry. We do this by providing career resources, creating networking and mentoring opportunities, promoting educational courses, and developing strategies to minimize obstacles women may face in the industry.

Next year’s event location and date will be announced shortly. We encourage you to visit our website wewomeninenergy.com to learn more about membership and upcoming events.

What better way is there to celebrate our first 5 years than a good old fashioned newsletter?

We wanted to put together everything into a format that gave our readers an opportunity to learn more about Women in Energy and to celebrate some of our wonderful and talented members. It is also a way to promote our Annual Conference that will be held in Hershey, PA, September 20-22nd.

READ THE NEWSLETTER

Women in Energy and Pennsylvania Petroleum Association want to thank all who supported our 1st Annual Golf Tournament – as golfers and sponsors.

The weather was OUTSTANDING! We are very pleased with the support we had. We know that we couldn’t accommodate all the golfers that wanted to play but there is always next year – so save the date for October 9th, 2023 at the Out Door Country Club, York PA.

The instructional session apparently was a hit and we hope everyone got a few tips that helped their game.

We want to thank our wonderful member volunteers – Shawn Franklin and Amber Luzi, Tevis Energy, Rosemarie Bartchak, Columbia Boiler/Boyertown Furnace and Nicole Glase, Clyde S. Walton Co.

We also want to thank all of our Wonderful Sponsors who supported this event. To view more photos from our event, click here.

Winners were recognized after the event at Troegs Independent Brewery – thanks to the sponsorship of Cenovus Energy.

Save the Date for 2023 – October 9th

Women in Energy is celebrating its 5th Anniversary this year. In the five years since it was established, Women in Energy (WE) has grown dramatically and continually strives to deliver programming that strengthens the skillset and knowledge base as it relates to members’ careers in the energy industry. The organization now has over 350 members nationwide and is on a steady growth trajectory.

According to WE President Erin Holohan Haskell, “Our mission is to connect and empower women working in the energy industry. We do this by providing career resources, creating networking and mentoring opportunities, promoting educational courses, and developing strategies to minimize obstacles women may face in the industry. We follow this mission in everything we do.”

“Our latest project is our new online Learning Center which is launching on September 15, 2022,” Holohan Haskell announced.

Judy Garber, WE Executive Director stated, “With all our recorded Webinar Wednesday sessions, our educational library has grown to be pretty expansive. Over the past half a year we have consolidated all this content in the easy-to-access Learning Portal on the WE website. We have also included programming from our 2022 Annual Conference and members can access this material wherever and whenever they wish.”

The material covers everything that someone relatively new to the industry – or someone who just changed positions – may benefit from: soft skills, leadership, financial wellness, Welcome to the Energy Industry, sales and marketing, personal development, etc.

“We love identifying needs and providing meaningful solutions,” said Holohan Haskell, “For instance, some of our members in marketing and customer service roles expressed an interest in learning more about the technical aspects of our industry to better assist their customers and expand their knowledge. This feedback gave us real direction in regard to the learning opportunities we wanted to create next.”

As a result, WE developed material on a wide variety of energy technologies. A small sample of the courses offered include Residential Heating 101, Heating System Basics, Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel 101, Heat Pumps 101, Introduction to Solar, Wind Energy 101, and Geothermal Basics. These intro sessions can be found under Welcome to the Energy Industry section.

This content is a great resource for business owners and managers to bring new employees up to speed, or for members to learn on their own.

Members gain Early Access to the Learning Portal on September 15th; after that, it is open to both members and non-members. Our Annual Subscription has a member price and a non-member price. Income generated allows WE to maintain the product and continually add new material.

Garber said, “For those that are not yet a member, the savings for the annual subscription provides another good reason to join. We have various levels of WE membership, from individual to a tiered corporate structure.”

Women in Energy's 5th Annual Conference