Happy Lunar New Year 2026, Year of the Fire Horse!

It’s the year of the Fire Horse: a year that is to be fast-moving, energetic, and action oriented. It’s to be a year of transformation and growth. This year, AE2C is riding the Fire Horse as we gallop into 2026.

We launched the Lunar New Year with a networking reception in February in Washington DC scheduled to coincide with the winter meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners {NARUC). We were honored to have over 90 guests celebrate with us, including Commissioner Judy Chang and Commissioner David Rosner from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and a variety of state utility commissioners from all over the country. It was certainly an energetic evening!
 
AE2C Board members and FERC Commissioners: (L to R)
Jane Park, Judy Chang, David Rosner, Bob Gee, Anand Subbiah, Jenny Hou
 

Transformation  

The Fire Horse is a symbol of transformation. It is believed to bring major changes that will inspire new growth in AE2C. Below are several examples of the exciting changes in our organization.
As part of our transformation, we are expanding our board and adding two new members – Jane Park and Puja Vohra. 
Jane is currently EVP, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary at Summit Utilities, Inc. She is responsible for Summit's overall legal, regulatory, and corporate governance functions, which span six jurisdictions nationwide. We hope to use her 25+ years of legal, strategy, and operations expertise as AE2C grows and transforms into a larger national and global organization.
Puja is a long-term member of AE2C and serves as the Massachusetts Chapter Leader. Puja is currently the Managing Director at VEIC.  Her 20+ years of experience in clean energy and climate sustainability have proven to be very helpful in growing our Massachusetts Chapter. We look forward to building on those efforts nationwide, particularly as we start new chapters.
Also, within the Board transition, Rasheq Rahman stepped away from his Board seat at the end of 2025. Rasheq dedicated over 14 years to our organization and served in many different capacities, including the Events Committee Chair and Program Committee Chair. As the Technology Committee Lead, he helped us expand our social media presence and led the expansion of our website. We sat down with Rasheq to gain his perspective on his service to AE2C. To read that interview, click here.
We would like to thank Rasheq for his years of dedication to AE2C, specifically his work on leading our website activities, mentoring our intern teams over the past several years, and assisting with our communications and outreach efforts overall and wish him all the best as he grows his business and expands into new adventures.
From left to right: Jane Park, Puja Vohra, Rasheq Rahman.

 

Growth

In addition to transformation, growth is also an important part of a Fire Horse year. We have several activities planned for this year, including several networking events, our annual AANHPI Month celebration to be held at the Pepco Gallery on May 19, 2026, from 3-7pm and launching two chapters in northern and southern California. Keep an eye out for more details as dates and locations are set.

To accelerate our growth this year, in 2025 we expanded our networks around the United States by hosting three networking receptions – two in Washington DC in February and November and one in Boston in July.
Last year, our annual AANHPI Heritage Month Celebration was sponsored by Pepco Inc.  taking place in their Edison Place Gallery in Washington DC. There we learned how leadership of the AANHPI community might address and impact federal energy policies within the utility industry and how the resiliency of our community can enable the skills required for future work force development along the energy transition. It was an informative discussion, setting the stage for our 2026 activities.

We also held a Winter Holiday Panel Discussion and Networking Celebration in December focusing on Energy Workforce Development. Sponsored by EEI and held at their facilities, the discussion included how AI and Machine Learning are rapidly reshaping all sectors in the power industry and how utilities are transforming and modernizing their operations to accommodate for this major evolution. 

Congratulations

We are very pleased to announce that AE2C president, Robert Gee has been selected to the Washington Post Intelligence Council on Energy & Climate. “WP Intelligence convenes leaders shaping the future of energy, climate, and infrastructure. Bob’s decades of experience across policy, regulation, and innovation bring a valuable and deeply informed perspective to the council.” From the Washington Post press release.