2024 Award WINners

Article Author:

Maryanne Stasko

October 9, 2024

The Awards and Recognition Committee would once again like to congratulate all the 2024 Award Winners! Those who earned awards are:

Networking – Small Chapter Southern Company – Corporate
Networking – Large Chapter Southern Company -Vogtle 1&2
Professional Development – Small Chapter Dominion Energy – Innsbrook
Professional Development – Large Chapter Palo Verde
Public Outreach – Small Chapter Constellation – Clinton Power Station
Public Outreach – Large Chapter Westinghouse- Pittsburgh
Overall Student Chapter University of Illinois – UC
Overall Small Chapter Energy Northwest – Columbia
Overall Large Chapter Entergy (EWIN)

U.S. WIN LEADERSHIP AWARD

We would like to again congratulate Jhansi Kandasamy, Net Zero Program Director for the Idaho National Laboratory, as the 2024 U.S. WIN Leadership Award Winner.

Jhansi started her career in the nuclear industry as an electrical engineer working for Bechtel Corporation, being inspired by her father who was also a renowned nuclear industry technical expert. Jhansi has been a dedicated nuclear professional and visible leader in the industry for nearly 40 years, serving in numerous technical and leadership roles across numerous sectors in the industry. Jhansi currently serves as the Director of the Net Zero Program at Idaho National Laboratory, where she is responsible for leading strategic programs to reduce carbon emissions for the national labs, including the use of innovative nuclear energy solutions. Jhansi has been an active member and supporter of the U.S. Women in Nuclear organization since its inception in 1999 and has served in numerous leadership roles in the U.S. WIN organization. She previously served as Chair for the U.S. WIN organization, is currently serving as the U.S. WIN liaison to the WIN Global organization as well as leadership roles on several U.S. WIN initiative committees.

Jhansi’s personal passion and commitment to supporting the development and advancement of women in the nuclear industry is remarkable. She has consistently served as a mentor for countless numbers of individuals within the industry throughout her career through sharing of experience and guidance for those she mentors. Jhansi is an amazing connector of people and is well-known for connecting U.S. WIN members to help them expand their networks and grow their skills and experience. Jhansi has a knack for embracing and bringing together people from all walks of life, and cultivating an environment where people can connect and capitalize on their diverse backgrounds and experiences. As Jhansi continued to take on roles of increasing responsibility throughout her career, she has continued to invest time serving the U.S. WIN members through mentoring of students, technical experts, developing managers, and developing executives, and connecting industry professionals in a meaningful way.

Jhansi has been a key contributor to the vision and launch of several formal programs launched by U.S. WIN in recent years, including the NEXT Leadership Development Program and the GROW Mentoring program. During her tenure as a leader for U.S. WIN, she helped the organization transition toward a more results-oriented focus to achieve the vision, which has resulted in the above-mentioned programs providing tangible results and value to the industry and the U.S. WIN membership. She continues to drive for results by creating development opportunities for U.S. WIN members to connect and advance their skills year over year. Most recently as one example, Jhansi curated the “Accelerating the Energy Workforce Development Workshop” which will be facilitated by U.S. WIN at the Powergen International 2024 Conference.

Jhansi Kandasamy – 2024 U.S. WIN Leadership Award Recipient

U.S. WIN CHAMPION AWARD

We also would like to congratulate Kelvin Henderson, Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer for Duke Energy.

Kelvin has supported our Women in Nuclear since he was Site Vice President at Catawba Nuclear Station when the site chapter was initiated by holding a quarterly professional development and networking event. At the event, Kelvin provided the opening statement and has continued supporting the chapter by being a mentor and sponsor for many members throughout his time at Catawba.

His support has continued with promotions to Corporate Vice President, Senior Vice President, and Chief Nuclear Officer (CNO). As CNO, Kelvin has been committed to our Chapter’s success, ensuring we had representation at Region II and National Conferences even as other companies were limiting engagement.

Kelvin has been instrumental to the U.S. WIN NEXT program, nominating two of our members for the initial cohorts. These two nominations have resulted in NEXT20 graduations and promotions for both members to Plant Manager and then Site Vice President. Our NEXT23 nomination successfully completed the program and currently supports our Chapter as Management Sponsor.

After NEXT was established, an opportunity to address the needs of women in middle management presented itself in the NEXTUp program. Kelvin was supportive of the development of this program and provided a nomination from Duke Energy for the pilot cohort, currently underway.

Internal to Duke Energy, Kelvin has been an advocate of Amplify, a program designed to accelerate the development of high-performing, high-potential female leaders in the Nuclear Generation organization. Amplify supports our strategy to build a diverse, innovative, and engaging culture with a succession pipeline of female leaders. To date, Duke has sent over 70 women through this program.

Kelvin is a strong supporter of diversity and inclusion, as noted by his support of Amplify, NEXT, and NEXTUp. He was also instrumental in implementing the DEI Committee within U.S. WIN and is an Executive Sponsor. This new committee is designed to ensure members understand the components of DEI, have tools to support DEI at their companies, championing women being promoted to middle management, and foster a safe work environment for our LGBTQIA+ members and teammates.

Kelvin is an active and engaged member of the U.S. WIN Executive Advisory Council (EAC). This Council is comprised of executives in the nuclear industry who advocate for U.S. Women in Nuclear and provides strategic advice.

Kelvin Henderson – 2024 U.S. WIN Champion Award Recipient

CHAPTER AWARDS

To earn an award, Chapters must submit their metrics for all four quarters and within the specified timeframe for each quarter to be considered for an award. Chapter awards are determined based on the following criteria: the number of activities held under a particular U.S. WIN core initiative, the number of active chapter members, the number of individuals, and the public groups reached during the event and the quality of the events. The “Overall” Award takes into consideration all three core initiatives.