WOWE - Women of Wind Energy

Three founders – Lisa Daniels, Trudy Forsyth, and Mia Devine – hatch the idea to create an organization for women in the wind industry. They call it "Women of the Wind."

WoWE holds its first annual luncheon at WINDPOWER in Denver, attended by 120 guests. We announce the Rudd Mayer Memorial Fellowship, honoring a pioneering woman of wind, and introduce six inaugural Fellows.

Windustry, the renewable energy nonprofit, offers the first home for our fledgling program. Discovering that "Women in the Wind" is a name already taken by motorcycle enthusiasts, we pick "Women of Wind Energy" as our permanent name.

We hold our first meet-up, a gathering in Spokane at the Harvesting Clean Energy conference, extending women’s networking beyond our once-a-year luncheon.

160 WoWE participants gather at WINDPOWER in Pittsburgh for our second national luncheon. We make the surprise announcement of WoWE’s first Woman of the Year honoree, NRG Systems CEO Jan Blittersdorf, and welcome five Rudd Mayer Memorial Fellows.

WoWE’s launches inaugural chapters – first in Portland, then Seattle – and small local gatherings begin popping up regularly.

WoWE’s third national luncheon in Los Angeles attracts 200 attendees. Jan Hamrin, president of the Center for Resource Solutions, is named Woman of the Year and we introduce ten Rudd Mayer Memorial Fellows.

At WoWE’s fourth luncheon in Houston, attendance has grown to 250. We announce the new Rising Star Award, which goes to Elizabeth Salerno of AWEA, and celebrate Rachel Shimshak of the Renewable Northwest Project as our Woman of the Year. We applaud six new Rudd Mayer Fellows.

We launch WoWE’s on-line mentoring program, the only program of its kind geared specifically to women in the wind energy field, connecting 60 mentors and mentees.

Over 400 women and men attend our biggest-ever luncheon. We honor Woman of the Year Karen Conover, Rising Star Sarah Wright, and six Rudd Mayer Fellows. We announce WoWE’s incorporation as an independent nonprofit, launch the search for our first fulltime Executive Director, and unveil WoWE’s new look and logo.