It wouldn’t be November if I didn’t open my message with a declaration of gratitude, so here are three: 1) drinkable water in Asheville, 2) Wicked finally in movie theaters and 3) educators who exposed me to career opportunities in public service. I never looked back.
On Nov. 19, our team launched registration for the 2025 Emerging Issues Forum: Future Forward Energy. Planning this forum has been illuminating (pun intended) and I’m excited to share the agenda and initial lineup of speakers for this important convening of community and industry leaders to examine North Carolina’s energy future. We look forward to announcing additional forum speakers in the coming weeks! Be sure to sign up for our updates and follow us on social media for the latest news.
I want to send a huge “THANK YOU!” to those who made this forum possible, including our Energy Infrastructure Advisory Council, everyone who attended our summer community focus group meetings and all of our partners who have had a hand in planning this event.
This forum is the first in our three-year series on North Carolina’s infrastructure and we’re already seeing just how much energy, water and housing weave together with other critical areas such as broadband, transportation and more. Hurricane Helene has put those interconnections on a public stage in recent months. In the session, “Lessons Learned from Hurricane Helene,” attendees will hear from Duke Energy North Carolina President Kendal Bowman, U.S. Department of Energy Senior Advisor to the Undersecretary for Science and Innovation Henry McKoy, Land of Sky Regional Council Executive Director Nathan Ramsey – who was also just named to Governor-Elect Josh Stein’s Rebuilding Western North Carolina Advisory Committee – and other rural utility providers about the resiliency of our electric grid in the wake of this and other significant storms that have hit our state, it’s interconnectedness to other critical infrastructure and how lessons learned are being reflected in investments.
While we’re so pleased to hear that Asheville’s water is once again safe to drink, streets are continuing to reopen and communities are welcoming visitors for tourism, there’s still a long road ahead to recovery across all of Western NC and a nagging fear of “what will happen next time?” Our 2026 forum on water and our 2027 forum on housing will examine these important areas and bring attention to best practices from communities impacted by severe storms and policies that are helping them achieve greater preparedness and economic resiliency.
I knew interest in the energy forum would be high across a large number of sectors, including our state’s educators. Building our energy workforce is a key theme of the forum and as I mentioned earlier, who better to expose and nurture interest in future careers than our educators (check out what the Kenan Fellows at NC State are doing to inspire the next generation about clean energy sector jobs!). It’s imperative that the voices of educators are involved in these conversations! But educators are telling us that substitute teacher pay, travel and more add up, making the cost of attending a barrier. If you or your organization is interested in sponsoring an educator’s attendance at the forum, please reach out to IEI Policy and Program Specialist Julia Kardos at jkardos@ncsu.edu so we can turn this wish into a reality.
On behalf of the entire team at IEI, and all of the educators that have inspired us, we wish you a safe and healthy start to the holiday season!
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