Happy new year! I hope that this note finds you healthy and enjoying a nice start to the year.  

The Columbia River Chapter (CRC) board was pleased to wrap up a successful 2021 and we look forward to a great 2022. We kicked off January with a half-day annual retreat to map out the year and here’s some news about upcoming initiatives and events that we have in store.  

We were happy to meet in person for our October board meeting

Here’s your first look at the new board for 2022 (you can find photos and bios of each board member on our website here):  

  • President: Elin Shepard 
  • Vice-President: Gertrude Villaverde 
  • Secretary: Candice Norton
  • Treasurer: Bill Kostich
  • Membership: Bill Henry
  • Marketing and Outreach: Tom Prevish
  • Website Committee: Bryndon Light & Tanner McCue
  • Social Media: Roxanna Magallanes
  • Wrench of the Year: Kristen Ige

These dedicated board members didn’t waste any time. They are revved up and ready to keep CRC the vibrant, informative, and fun organization that it is. Please save these dates:

  • Energy Engineering Forums: we have two EEFs this year – 
    • April 27 will be virtual (registration coming very soon) and 
    • Oct 12 will be in person. 
  • Holiday party – in person on Dec 7 at Level Beer. 

Tina Schnell, Candice Norton and Eric
Braddock at the 2021 Holiday Party

In addition to the events, here are a few exciting initiatives for this year: 

CWEEL: We plan to expand our connection with the AEE Committee on Women in Energy Efficiency Leadership (CWEEL). The CRC plans to hold CWEEL events and build a network in the local community. Our chapter VP, Gertrude Villaverde, is our CWEEL Lead and she’s working hard on upcoming events and programming.  

• Publications: AEE National publishes three quarterly journals that members may submit  for consideration to be published. If a chapter member is interested in writing a paper, we would like to offer authors a chance to have peer review before the submission. These  submissions can be made to our chapter Treasurer, Bill Kostich, or through our submission portal on the website. Authors also could have the opportunity to present these papers to a live or virtual audience. I was honored to have an article published in an AEE journal last spring and it was a great experience. We look forward to seeing many more papers published from our members.  

• Wrench of the Year: we plan to continue to recognize the amazing work of the “wrench turners” out there with our annual Wrench of the Year awards. We are accepting nominations from April to September. We’ll send out more information when they go live, but please feel free to visit our website here for more information.  


Ken Kelso, the 2021 Wrench of the Year award winner, with nominators and board members

Please connect with us on our website or LinkedIn. We’d love  to hear from you.  

Sincerely,  

Elin Shepard – CRC Board President – elin.shepard@clearesult.com