Stephanie Fleming joined NEEA in December 2007 as senior manager of the residential sector. She has 20 years of marketing experience, having worked as senior vice president of marketing for the National Geographic television channel, vice president of marketing with Time Warner Cable and the chief operating officer of an advertising agency that catered to cable television networks. She also was a product manager at Black and Decker in the consumer power tools division and worked as marketing manager for Bell Atlantic’s (now Verizon) first consumer dial-up Internet product.

“I am passionate about preserving our natural resources and worry about sustainability,” she said. “In coming to NEEA, I wanted to use my marketing and business experience to make a positive change.”

She landed in Portland four years ago, after leaving the East Coast and then backpacking for a year with her husband throughout India and Southeast Asia.

Fleming said her priority is to meet utility colleagues and public benefit administrators as soon as possible. “I want to hear first-hand what the needs are in the region and how we can work together,” she said.

Another goal is to make consumer behavior a major tenet in the region’s energy efficiency work. “I see this explosion in electronics like big screen TVs, set-top boxes and gaming,” she said. “We have to work all the angles to manage energy consumption and get consumers to be more aware of energy use.”

Fleming enjoys running, hiking, gardening and other outdoor activities the Northwest offers. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Hollins College in Virginia and her Master of Business Administration in marketing and finance from the University of Maryland.  

“Energy efficiency is important to me personally, and it’s a professional challenge to really think about how we change attitudes so that energy efficiency is an integral value in our culture,” she said. “How do we start a cultural revolution around energy efficiency?”