PES Award: M. Michelle Blaise is the recipient of the 2020 IEEE PES Leadership in Power Award
M. Michelle Blaise is the recipient of the 2020 IEEE PES Leadership in Power Award “for exceptional mentorship and leadership in promoting active engineering participation and growth that enabled higher levels of electrical system resilience, reliability, and sustainability”. IEEE PES Leadership in Power Award recognizes industry leaders for exceptional contributions to the promotion of the electric power engineering profession. The award is particularly intended to highlight actions that have encouraged the development and growth of electric power engineering practitioners and the recognition of the contributions electric power engineers have made to society.
M. Michelle Blaise is the senior Vice-President of Technical Services at ComEd where she is responsible for Engineering, Project Management, and Smart Grid & Technology. She has led her team in actualizing the smart grid transformation and providing more than 4 million homes, businesses, and public institutions with industry-leading power reliability. She has executive responsibility for constructing the first utility-operated microgrid cluster in the Bronzeville community on the South Side of Chicago. She sponsored the creation of a team that develops and implements STEM programs throughout northern Illinois, with a particular focus on underserved communities.
Ms. Blaise and her team have led to the development of this living laboratory of the Community of the Future. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Women’s Business Development Center, the leadership advisory group of the IEEE PES Women in Power and the Industry Advisory Boards of the IEEE and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. She also serves on the board of the Energy Foundry and as Executive Sponsor for the Network of Exelon Women, Chicago Chapter. She has received the Legend Award from the National Society of Black Engineers, and the Deborah M. Sawyer Award from the Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce for her work sponsoring and growing diverse business enterprises’ participation in ComEd contracts. She received her BSME from the Illinois Institute of Technology and her MBA from DePaul University.