Earth Month is right around the corner!

Jennifer Buchanan is the Assistant to the President and CEO at We Energies, where she was recently recognized for 25 years of service.

We Energies is one of KEEP's six utility funding partners. It serves more than 1.1 million electric customers and 1.1 million natural gas customers in Wisconsin. It also provides steam to customers in downtown Milwaukee.

KEEP staff have worked with Jennifer through the Wisconsin Energy Workforce Consortium (WEWC), a statewide partnership of utilities, contractors, educators, and public agencies working together to build and sustain Wisconsin's energy workforce. Buchanan was recently named as WEWC chairperson.

Where'd you grow up and what did you want to be when you grew up?

I grew up in the city of Milwaukee and graduated from Riverside University High School. Ever since I was little, I knew that I wanted to help people. I was especially interested in sociology and thought I might want to be a teacher when I grew up.

How did you get involved in the energy sector?

My mom had a career in energy and growing up watching her come home happy every day, I decided to follow in her footsteps. She loved being able to help people, and told me her co-workers felt like family.

I started my career at We Energies working in the care center, helping customers who called in with questions. It was a great place to get to know about all aspects of the company, because customers expect you to have the answers to a wide range of questions. 

I decided to move over to We Energies operations because I wanted to learn more about the work we do in the field and how we could help customers at their homes and businesses. Customer service is at the heart of everything we do at We Energies and helping others has always brought me joy.

What projects have you worked on that you're particularly proud of? What made them special?

I am so proud to be program director for our youth apprenticeship and internship program. In 2017, We Energies started introducing high school students to careers in energy. That first year, we recruited juniors as line mechanic and design apprentices at two Milwaukee Public School (MPS) high schools.

We have since expanded the program to include the entire MPS school district, as well as other public and private schools across Milwaukee County. We also added an apprenticeship to recruit future natural gas technicians.

These programs are an excellent opportunity for students who are not interested in a traditional four-year college degree — and a steppingstone to well-paying, in-demand careers.

Our high school interns and apprentices earn a paycheck and work full time over the summer alongside We Energies employees. Many choose to set aside money to help their families, purchase their own car or even buy their own home before their high school classmates have graduated college.

Since we began almost 10 years ago, dozens of students have successfully completed their apprenticeships and now work for We Energies full-time.

What are you working on currently that you're excited about?

I am delighted to serve as the chair of the Wisconsin Energy Workforce Consortium (WEWC). We’re partnering with technical schools across the state, other utilities and contractors to ensure that we can meet workforce needs for both the present and the future and have a bigger impact across the entire state.

What advice would you give to Wisconsin K-12 students as they try to decide their career paths?

My advice to Wisconsin K-12 students is to go where your heart leads you. There are a lot of opportunities out there, you just have to find them. It used to be common practice to encourage all kids to pursue a four-year college degree, but if that doesn’t interest you, a career in the trades can be just as successful.

It’s sad to see kids not fulfill a lifelong dream because they are only seeing black and white, when they could be seeing a world of colors and opportunities.