IAMU would like to introduce Jeremy Caron, who recently joined the staff as the new Regional Energy Services Specialist. To get to know Jeremy, take a few minutes to read over the Q&A below.

Question: What attracted you to IAMU?

Answer: As the Regional Energy Services Specialist at the IAMU, I have the rare opportunity to manage energy efficiency and renewable energy efforts at the nexus between the building and utility scales. This is something I am passionate about, and an area of the industry that I believe deserves more focus. It’s also clear that our members are passionate about public power and the relationships they share with their customers, many of whom just so happen be their neighbors. I look forward to helping our members identify creative ways to generate savings, increase reliability, and improve their communities all at the same time.

Question: What is your background, and how does it fit with what you’ll be doing in this role?

Answer: With over 20 years of experience in the architecture, engineering and construction industries, I provide comprehensive program and project management services. Most recently, as a Sr. Energy and Sustainability Project Manager with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I managed the study, design and construction of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects at universities, state office buildings, corrections centers, power plants and other facilities. My work also focused on improving building performance and operations through retro-commissioning, building performance evaluation, O&M planning and deferred maintenance work. As the agency lead on sustainable design and resilience, I managed the LEED Certification process for all state buildings designed and constructed by the agency and recently completed the statewide resilience master plan, evaluating the vulnerability of state facilities to natural hazards and developing solutions to address deficiencies.

Prior to my work in Massachusetts I worked for the State of Maine, managing public policy issues and legislative affairs for the Commissioner of Administrative and Financial Services, with much of my work focusing on state facility operations, building design and construction issues, fleet services, and environmentally preferable procurement. I have also worked in various project management and trade positions for public utilities, design, and construction companies at both the commercial and residential scales.

Question: What is the scope of your duties/responsibilities?

Answer: My primary focuses at the IAMU will be to develop, implement, and administer energy services programs and tools, identify new opportunities for our members, and act as a technical and planning resource to the Association’s 137 electric and 51 natural gas utilities. This work will include training and workshops on various topics, developing toolkits and resources for members, assisting with customer relations. I will be a resource on energy efficiency, distributed renewable generation and interconnection, rate design and analysis, and will be working with members to use data to help drive decisions related to investments in utility and customer systems and facilities.  Most importantly though, I’m interested in hearing what you would like to see. If you have some ideas or a project you are interested in at your utility please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly.

Question: What do you look forward to the most about your new position?

Answer: Having spent much of my time in recent positions focused primarily on improving the efficiency and performance of individual buildings and portfolios I look forward to the opportunity to engage with projects at the utility and grid scale. More importantly though, I look forward to being a resource for our rural and underserved members. It’s important that all of IAMU’s members are able to take advantage of efficiency opportunities and clean energy solutions while providing reliable energy to their customers. Identifying savings opportunities that can be reinvested in our communities will certainly be a motivating factor in the work I will be doing for all of our members.

Jeremy can be reached at jcaron@iamu.org or by phone at 515.289.1999.

In today’s world, the median tenure for U.S. workers at a company is 4.2 years. That statistic alone makes Melody Taninies’ time at IAMU impressive. Melody has been delighting members with her smile and her service for 25 years.

Melody was drawn to the IAMU because she wanted to work for a service organization. As she recently explained, “I like to help people and IAMU just felt right. It was a good fit from the very first day.”

Melody started at IAMU in April 1992 as a receptionist, and after two years settled into her role as the administrative assistant for the Job Training and Safety (JT&S) area, which recently changed to Safety Services. Melody is now transitioning into a new administrative role at IAMU.

“Being part of how IAMU has grown into what it is today has been quite a ride!” Melody said.  “It doesn’t seem at all like twenty-five years.”