The IEEE’s Power & Energy Society (PES) has selected Jim Kelly, senior vice president of Southern California Edison’s (SCE) Transmission and Distribution Business Unit, as the recipient of its annual Leadership in Power Award. Kelly personally received the honor during the PES’s 2009 General Meeting, held July 26-30 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Kelly was recognized for his leadership in promoting and supporting the engineering profession. He was cited for extensive involvement with academic institutions such as California State University, Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, and the Don Bosco High School in Rosemead to encourage students to pursue careers in power engineering and to ensure those programs were relevant to today’s industry needs.

In addition, Kelly initiated the Engineer Celebration, which is now an annual event at SCE. Several IEEE meetings are co-sponsored by SCE and held at SCE headquarters with large attendance by engineers. Kelly often speaks at these meetings as the keynote speaker. He also co-sponsors the Professional Engineering License preparation review classes which are held at SCE every year and are offered at not charge to IEEE members. He was the keynote speaker at SCE’s Bring Your Children to Work Day and has motivated several children to pursue careers in engineering.