Edison Electric Institute board presents Owens with Thomas A. Edison Legacy Award
The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Board of Directors presented retiring EEI Executive Vice President David K. Owens with the Thomas A. Edison Legacy Award on Monday in recognition of his contributions to the electric power industry during his career.
“David Owens has been an invaluable leader for EEI for nearly four decades,” EEI Chairman Tom Fanning, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company, said. “Throughout his career, David has helped to shape critical public policies and has worked to achieve results that benefit EEI’s member companies and our customers.”
Owens began working with EEI as director of rates and regulation in 1980. Since then, he has played a key role in forging EEI strategy in major public policy debates, including wholesale and retail market restructuring, federal and state regulation, environmental regulation and grid modernization.
Owens has testified in more than 50 proceedings on energy issues before state bodies, lectured at universities across the nation and made hundreds of presentations in business forums. He also served as the embedded liaison to the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the response to Superstorm Sandy.
“In so many ways, David Owens has been the heart and soul of this organization, and his legacy to EEI will be profound and enduring,” EEI President Tom Kuhn said. “David is a consensus builder and a terrific leader. He knows how to bring people together to tackle problems and coalesce around solutions.”
Owens made history as the first African-American to hold an officer title at EEI and played an important role in the founding of the American Association of Blacks in Energy.
“No one I know more strongly personifies the importance of giving back to the community than David Owens,” Kuhn said.
Before joining EEI, Owens worked as chief engineer of the Division of Corporate Regulation at the Securities and Exchange Commission, an engineer in the Division of Rates and Corporate Regulation at the former Federal Power Commission and a design and test engineer for General Electric and Philadelphia Electric Companies.
He earned his Bachelors and Masters of Engineering degrees from Howard University and has a Masters in Engineering Administration from George Washington University.
Owens plans to retire from EEI on June 30.
