WING Core Value Awards
Core Values are important in any organization, the essence of the organization’s identity – its principles, beliefs and philosophies.
WING members embracing WING’s core values help to further its mission to promote the education, professional development, and advancement of women in the geothermal community. Each year, WING honors four members for embracing and living its four core values. Winners are awarded in a ceremony during the annual Geothermal Rising Conference in the U.S. each fall.
WING’s Core Value Awards are:
Courageous
- Be imaginative and ambitious; stimulate new ideas
- Use foresight and identify opportunities and challenges
- Challenge accepted truths and enter unfamiliar territory
- Make clear demands on each other and push for constructive change
- Understand and manage risk
Empowering
- Focus on strengths without micromanagement
- Connect the right people
- Champion and support others’ efforts and ideas
- Give recognition
- Contribute to a positive working environment
Open
- Be truthful and act with integrity
- Be curious, work together, and share experience
- Promote and value diversity
- Communicate in a precise way
- Give and accept constructive feedback
- Bring up ethical issues and challenges immediately
Caring
- Create safe work environments
- Be open minded and empathize with others’ situations
- Think beyond your borders; make the world your community
- Demonstrate social responsibility and contribute to sustainable development
Award Requirements
A nominee must be a current male or female WING member working in the geothermal industry. This can be in any capacity, e.g., science, engineering, regulatory, law, business.
Award Nominations
Nominators are required to submit a 500 word (max) essay describing how the nominee exemplifies one of the four core values, using examples to illustrate their point.
2023 Award Winners
2023
Basak Çimen
courageous
Başak Çimen is a distinguished expert in sustainable project management, legal compliance, and conquering challenges as a Project and Legal Process Manager in Türkiye. Basak Çimen, is luminary in the energy sector with 14 years of experience. She has a degree in International Relations and education in Engineering Management, showcasing her commitment to both the technical and business aspects of the industry. In her work she models effective project management, ensuring sustainability, legal compliance, and navigating complex regulatory landscapes. Her track record includes the successful commissioning of 212 MW. But she is not just about numbers; she’s a symbol of courage, determination, and breaking down barriers. In an industry where the odds were stacked against her, she emerged as one of the most influential women managers in the Turkish geothermal industry, proving that excellence knows no gender.
2023
Jerjes Porlles
empowering
Meet Jerjes Porlles, a Geothermal Reservoir Engineer with over 15 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, now at Teverra. He is more than a seasoned professional, his unwavering commitment to empowering others and fostering a culture of teamwork is truly commendable. He believes in the strength of diverse perspectives and actively encourages open communication, nurturing an environment where ideas flourish and every voice is heard. Jerjes apart has an inspiring leadership style, he focuses on strengths without micromanagement; he champions and supports the innovative ideas and efforts of his team. But his vision extends beyond the professional realm. He takes it upon himself to empower communities and local stakeholders involved in the development of geothermal projects, contributing to a more sustainable and prosperous world. Jerjes is not just an accomplished engineer; he’s also a loving father of two, and his wife is a Petroleum Engineer too!
2023
Roland N. Horne
open
Roland N. Horne is a global pioneer in geothermal and petroleum engineering and has received the Open Award for his unwavering commitment to integrity, knowledge sharing, diversity, precise communication, and ethical leadership throughout his career.
Dr. Horne is Thomas Davis Barrow Professor of Earth Sciences and Professor of Energy Resources Engineering at Stanford University. He was the Chairman of the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Stanford from 1995 to 2006, where he gained recognition for his groundbreaking work in well test interpretation, production optimization, and tracer analysis of fractured geothermal reservoirs. He served on the International Geothermal Association (IGA) Board in various capacities, including as its President from 2010 to 2013. He has also taken the helm as Technical Program Chairman for the World Geothermal Congress in multiple locations. His efforts have not only advanced the field of geothermal energy but have also promoted global collaboration and knowledge sharing.
What truly sets Dr. Horne apart is his dedication to nurturing the next generation of talent. Throughout his academic career, he has supervised the research of 60 PhD and 120 MS students, with around 60 specializing in geothermal topics. His commitment to sharing knowledge and promoting diversity within the academic community is exemplary! His dedication to truth, knowledge, diversity, and ethical leadership makes him a very worthy recipient of the Open Core Value.
2023
Dr. Cary Lindsey
caring
Dr. Cary Lindsey, a Research Scientist at the Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy at the University of Nevada, Reno shows dedication to creating safe work environments and fostering a sense of community that goes hand in hand with her research endeavors. Her work primarily revolves around statistical and geostatistical methods applied to geothermal exploration and assessment, as well as heat and fluid flow in porous media. Cary also delves into the world of unsupervised machine learning, with a singular goal in mind: to reduce risk in geothermal exploration and propel geothermal energy to the forefront of sustainable solutions. Her academic journey, marked by a PhD in geology, has been enriched by her participation in the 2012 National Geothermal Academy and her role as a past USGS Mendenhall Fellow. Cary’s commitment to her field is not limited to the laboratory; it’s a testament to her unwavering spirit and belief in the power of geothermal energy.
What sets Cary apart is her profound sense of caring for others and the environment. She embodies the ideals of the Caring Award by demonstrating social responsibility and contributing to sustainable development. Her research isn’t just about data and numbers; it’s about creating a better, safer, and more sustainable world for all of us. Her open-minded approach and empathetic nature shine through in her commitment to geothermal exploration. She isn’t just a scientist; she’s a force for positive change in the renewable energy landscape.
2022 Award Winners
2022
Sherri Christensen
courageous
Sherri has been an integral part of the success established at Cyrq’s Thermo No. 1 facility in Milford, UT. Sherri Christensen has helped run Cyrq’s Thermo plant since 2009. She has handled all the administrative needs of the plant and its staff, and is also responsible for the collection and distribution/report design of all operating data, all procurement activity, and is point person for developing the annual operating and capital expense budgets.
In her first meeting with plant personnel, she was curious and outspoken, wanting to know about vision, high level plans, and changes that would come. Later that day she said that she wanted to be a Plant Manager. These first interactions only hinted at her courageous nature and drive to excel.
2022
Elizabeth Soto Neira
empowering
Elizabeth is a geologist with the Geothermal Division of the Chilean Ministry of Energy. She has created a geothermal ecosystem between different governmental institutions and with the support of different international agencies for creating the geothermal-direct use industry in Chile. This has involved numerous aspects from organizing workshops, managing resources for initiatives, initiating heat pumps in public buildings, and holding training sessions.
She focuses on peoples’ strengths without micromanaging, champions others’ effort and ideas, provides recognition, and contributes to a positive working environment. These are all attributes of Empowering
2022
Jill Haizlip
open
Jill is geochemist and president of Geologica Geothermal Group. Over the last 5 years Jill has hired nearly a dozen young people. Jill and her team of senior geothermal geoscientists and engineers spend many hours each month training, coaching and mentoring them while working on actual exploration and development projects. She is a patient and observant teacher who is helping pave the way for their future success.
Jill channels her vast experience to illuminate imaginative new perspectives, fosters a collaborative company culture where tasks are delegated clearly and employees are consistently challenged to improve upon their own expertise by working together to develop creative solutions, and all opinions are valued.
Her openness to share her knowledge and experience with the rest of the community is encouraging to younger women geoscientists. She inspires people to be better geothermal geoscientists – she deserves a WING award and the Open award is a great fit!
2022
Béatrice Ledésert
caring
Beatrice Anne Ledesert is a full-time professor at the Department of Geosciences and Environment, CY Cergy Paris Université, France. She is the Sherlock Holmes of hydrothermal alteration in geothermal systems.
On projects, even with women who were working at different universities, she took time to discuss their results and make them progress at scientifical and personal levels. She is very generous to share her expertise with project partners whether she was responsible for that project or not. It’s a rare combination to have someone being very good as a human and being very good at what she does.
Beatrice is an inspiring example of what caring means.
Past Winners
2021
Phyllis Gathoni Mathenge
courageous
Phyllis Gathoni Mathenge is an award-winning Electrical Engineer, with eight years’ experience in the energy sector and currently working at the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) Kenya, East Africa as a Drilling Engineer. She holds a BSC in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Nairobi and an MA in Project Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi.
At GDC, Phyllis is a member of the Gender and disability mainstreaming committee and a gender Champion. She is also an Advisory Board member for Women for Sustainable Energy and Climate Action (W4SECA) Central Africa network in Cameroon, and the Kenya country ambassador for WING. She was the African Queen of Energy Professional Technical Award winner 2020.
2021
Dorman Purba
Empowering
Dorman is a Geothermal Consultant at PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (SMI) and Technical Director at ENERKA.
Dorman has worked in the energy industry for 17 years and has dedicated himself in contributing to Indonesia’s geothermal energy development since 2014. Having worked in 3 geothermal companies and being involved in more than 10 geothermal projects, Dorman realizes that Indonesia still needs more competent human resource to achieve its national geothermal targe.
To achieve this, he initiated a digital-based energy education platform that serves as a “playground” for geothermal enthusiasts to interact and share knowledge and experiences. The programs are open to all circles such as professionals, students, fresh graduates, academics, investors, and regulators. This platform started in 2020 and in less than a year has accumulated more than 4,000 people participating in approximately 100 geothermal educational events in various formats.
Video of Dorman’s award acceptance
2021
Cannur Bozkurt
open
Cannur Bozkurt has been involved in energy sector and growth from junior positions to management level since 2003. After 10 years in the oil industry, she joined Transmark Renewables, then JESDER. In 2018 she founded Armoni Geothermal Energy Consultancy Services, focused on Project Management in geothermal market.
Currently she is the Manager of TAQA Geothermal Center of Excellence, and her focus is developing capacity in TAQA in terms of geothermal science and technology to offer premium industry services. Cannur has a BC degree in Hydrogeoelogy Engineering and Graduate Diploma from IFP (Institution of French Petroleum) in Geosicence.
2021
Elizabeth Torio Henriquez
Caring
Elizabeth is a licensed geologist and a Filipina resident in El Salvador for 30 years now. She received her Diploma in Geothermal Energy Technology in New Zealand, where she met her husband, Jose Luis.
She has been working in LaGeo since 1998 mainly as a petrographer and borehole geologist. She specializes in hydrothermal alteration, Fluid Inclusion Studies, Geochemistry (water-rock interaction), Xray diffraction analysis, corrosion and scaling, and has published several papers on these topics.
She is also a professor of the diploma course given by LaGeo for Latin America yearly. She is a founding member and current ambassador of WING El Salvador.
2020
Jamie Beard
courageous
Jamie is the Executive Director of the Geothermal Entrepreneurship Organization at the University of Texas Austin, which is roughly a year old. Her organization made a huge splash in the summer of 2020 with the PIVOT 2020 panel sessions, aimed at pivoting oil and gas to geothermal. The main goal of this organization is to connect people in numerous different ways including networking, but also making connections with start ups and those with technical applicability between the two industries. She is working toward an understanding from the general public that geothermal can be done anywhere!
She has been a great inspiration to both men and women within the oil and gas/geothermal transition and has been described as both visionary and realistic for her forward thinking ambition for the geothermal community.
2020
Diana Adhiambo Macodawa
empowering
Diana has worked for the GDC in Kenya for 12 years and started off in a group of 70 engineers with only 2 other women. She credits her leadership at GDC for encouraging and empowering her early in her career to propel her forward and support her within the male dominated field. Last year, she was one of the pioneers who started the IEK-South Rift branch and as a member of the advocacy committee of IEK-South Rift, where she has encouraged young engineers to run for leadership positions and help influence policy changes.
As a co-worker, her colleagues always feel championed by Diana for their ideas and recognized for their hard work. They have noticed that she has a great amount of strength and presence in any room, but manages without micromanaging. She generally empowers her colleagues to achieve their goals and improve themselves at every turn.
Video of Diana’s award acceptance
2020
Esther Nyambura Njuguna
open
Esther is an engineer at the GDC in Kenya and is currently working on the direct use application of geothermal fluids from the Menengai geothermal field.
Esther embodies everything it means to be open. She is truthful, acts with integrity and shares her experiences with others readily. She is not afraid to bring up ethical issues, challenges them if necessary and is always striving for diversity in every way. “My greatest delight is knowing that I impact people positively, that I am truthful and I carry myself with a lot of integrity.”
Video of Esther’s award acceptance
2020
Málfríður Ómarsdóttir
caring
It is impossible to think of anyone more deserving than Málfríður Ómarsdóttir or Fríða. Fríða Ómarsdóttir is an environmental scientist at the UNESCO GRÓ Geothermal Training Programme in Iceland. She has a really down to earth and caring attitude which is what makes her an eligible candidate for the WING Caring Award. She makes sure to create a ‘home away from home’ for the Fellows who come for the training in Iceland. She takes time out from her busy schedule to give swimming lessons, ski lessons, Icelandic lessons, knitting lessons, as well as free haircuts to the Fellows. Thanks to her many of us can now save ourselves from drowning.
One can always come to her in case of any troubles in a foreign land. She also makes sure the Fellows learn about caring for the environment, recycling, and most important of all, gender equality, despite the fact that most of the fellows come from developing countries where gender equality is not an important topic. Thanks to her, many Fellows start to become conscious of the gender disparities in their own countries and try to do their best in order to change that.
She is the living example of compassion and selfless human being. It is no wonder that whichever country she visits, a warm welcome always awaits her.
2020
Andy Blair
Open-Caring-Empowering-Courageous
Andy Blair was the Global Chair for Women in Geothermal for 5 years and throughout those 5 years defined every aspect of the WING Core Values. We gave her a special award this year due to her representing all things WING. Every room she walks into, she brightens, every conversation she is in, she adds a strong, but thoughtful opinion. We, as the WING US team, felt motivated and empowered to take on the role of the Global Board because of Andy’s confidence in us and continue to seek her mentorship in our new role. She’s a great face for the WING cause and we appreciate all her efforts, and continued efforts, in this organization.
2019
Kunzes Dolma
Courageous
Kunzes is from Ladakh, one of the most remote and least developed areas in India. In the villages in her district, they have 2 hours of electricity per day. When she decided to register for engineering at the university in Punjab, she was told twice that she was in the wrong place. Being the strong woman that she is, she insisted until she was signed up as one of two women among 100 men in the engineering class. Kunzes finished her engineering degree and got a job at the Ladakh Renewable Energy Development Agency (LREDA), where – despite being the only female – she worked her way up to becoming a Senior Project Engineer.
Kunzes is an amazing mother of two girls who encouraged their mother to go to Iceland for her Master’s Degree at the United Nations University Geothermal Training Program (UNU-GTP). She grabs every possible opportunity to expand her knowledge for the benefit of her own community. As an important example, her project in Iceland focused on using geothermal to heat a remote school in her area, where the classroom is in an unheated building, and the children are often too cold to hold their pencils properly.
Kunzes continuously encourages other people to achieve their best. To help more women realize their dreams, she established WING in India (where she also serves as WING Ambassador). She is continuously looking for ambitious ways to advance and develop sustainable energy solutions for her region and for India as a whole. Thanks to Kunzesʼ efforts, ties between India and Iceland have been strengthened, leading to more Indians being accepted in UNU-GTP’s 6-month geothermal training course.
Kunzes was awarded the 2019 WING Courageous Value Award for her courage both in improving her own life, and also in improving the lives of her daughters, her peers, her region, and her country.
2019
Paul Siratovich
Empowering
Paul is an active and innovative WING Global Team Member who currently leads the 50% Male Membership program (currently at 25%) and the WINGman Special Task Force (WSTF), which he co-founded in 2017. He has undertaken extensive research to develop the WSTF Program, a set of presentations and tools that he has delivered in two countries to date (New Zealand and Chile). He continues to lead strategic and tactical planning to continue the roll-out of this important WING initiative.
Paul actively calls out inappropriate commentary and behaviors, and identifies opportunities to give women more of a voice in technical discussions. He mentors women through challenging situations and recruits other men in the geothermal industry to do the same (and, of course to join WING – at least 150 WINGmen have been recruited by Paul). As the Vice President of the New Zealand Geothermal Association, Paul has sought ways to increase female participation on the board and in NZGA’s events and activities, and is happy to report that 50% of presenters are female at the 2019 New Zealand Geothermal Workshop.
Paul was awarded the 2019 WING Empowering Core Value Award for his dedication to the empowerment of women in the geothermal industry. He not only truly believes in equitable treatment for women, but he is committed to achieving it; investing his time and energy in the pursuit of fairness. We appreciate his support, willingness, bravery and leadership, knowing that his continued effort is having a real and lasting positive impact on our community.
2019
Sean Keaney
Open
As one of the original members of the WINGman Special Task Force, Sean is an ardent WING supporter. Using his own experience as a guide (he’s been on a quest to work better with his female team members for many years), he communicates frequently on gender equity and equality issues within Mercury Energy. Sean is always willing to share the reasons why he began questioning the status quo and enacting change, and his methods for ensuring that everyone at work is treated fairly and justly.
Sean is committed to helping his female team members rise through the ranks of Mercury Energy and pushes hard to make sure that gender equality is front and center in the minds of his operational colleagues and consultants. He actively identifies gender-biased language in contractor’s work materials, and ensures that trainers and external contractors are made aware of issues of inappropriate language or behaviors.
Sean Keaney was awarded the 2019 WING Open Core Value Award for empowering female colleagues, challenging ‘business as usual’ attitudes, ensuring that diversity and inclusion is a key component of his own management style, and promoting WING’s message among his firm’s management, staff and contractors.
2019
Charis Wong
Caring
Charis is one of the humblest people you will ever meet, yet she would cross oceans for the causes she cares about, one of which is gender equality and women’s rights. One of the driving forces behind the inception of the WINGman Special Taskforce while she worked at Mercury Energy, she worked with a group of men to advance the goal of helping women succeed and be heard. This was a big step for Charis, one that has significantly increased her self-confidence.
About a year ago, Charis left her job at Mercury to work for Freeset (https://freesetglobal.com/) in Sonagachi, Kolkata, India. In comparison to many of us who are lucky enough to live in developed countries, she chose to live in an incredibly unsafe neighborhood with sub-standard conditions for one reason: to help women get out of the sex trade. Her ‘official’ role was to teach skills that would allow women to earn money outside of the sex trade; however, she was also a mentor, a friend, a shoulder to cry on, and a ‘sister’ to many of the women she met.
For the sacrifices that she made to take on this task that were nothing short of awe inspiring, Charis was awarded the 2019 Caring Core Value Award.
2018
Susan Petty
Courageous
Susan Petty, co-founder of AltaRock Energy, really stands out in her field.
Susan has spent her career challenging accepted truths in EGS and working to develop breakthrough energy technologies.
She has clarity in defining exactly what is needed – and what doesn’t work. That’s because she isn’t afraid to try new things – and not only fail, but share those failures with others to promote industry-wide learning.
Her successes are just as exciting. She and her team are constantly redefining what EGS looks like with their imaginative new ideas. They have figured out how to engineer permeability that boosts the output of under-performing wellfields and power plants and have developed and commercialized geothermal stimulations to increase the productivity of existing geothermal generation.
She leads one of the pioneering teams in the world – and the only in the U.S. – to actively pursue the next generation of EGS with her focus on supercritical EGS systems.
Because Susan Petty is a model of courage for others to follow, Susan Petty was awarded the 2018 WING Courageous Value Award.
2018
Dr. David Lopez
Empowering
Since Dr. Lopez took over the role of President, he has developed activities that encourage women empowerment in the electrical sector, and one of them is the unconditional support to the formation of WING El Salvador in June 2017.
He has believed in us, and empowers women in geothermal power plants to perform activities traditionally performed by men. Female participation in geothermal plants has grown by 20% since his arrival. He will seek to sign an agreement with El Salvador’s Ministry of Education to support WING women who have not finished high school, which will contribute to women empowerment.
He was the creator of Proyecto VIDA, the biggest reforestation project in the country, which consists in cultivating more than 6 million plants in the basins of influx rivers and in the areas of the geothermal power plants of the country. Proyecto VIDA has a policy that 70% of the jobs created must be performed by women. To this day, more than 3,000 direct jobs have been created by this project, changing the lives and empowering women from rural areas.
He has promoted the creation of specialised nurseries for the care of the children of LaGeo employees, and in this way contributed to WING women working with peace of mind, knowing that they have a place where their children are protected and stimulated.
Dr. David Lopez was awarded the 2018 WING Empowering Core Value Award for his work in empowering and advancing women in the geothermal community in El Salvador,
2018
Albert Genter
Open
Albert is behind a lot of successful collaborations and always focuses on the strengths and skills of the men and women on his team to get projects accomplished. He creates a positive and cooperative working environment where everybody can find a place and feel free to make their own decisions. He is attentive to suggestions and recognizes the successful performances of his team.
He transmits his knowledge but he is always open to technical and scientific inputs from his team.
He takes time to listen and considers the ideas, never forcing us to go in his direction. He makes science grow by giving us freedom to learn by ourselves. This way of working together is really fruitful, it allows us to be confident in our work.
Albert Genter was awarded the 2018 WING Open Core Value Award for the empowerment he has shown during the last 30 decades as well as his dedication and his optimism lead him as a key actor for development of deep geothermal energy in France and Europe.
2018
Nenny Saptadji
Caring
For the past 30 years, Ms. Nenny Saptadji has dedicated her life to the geothermal community. After graduating from Auckland University, New Zealand, she became the first woman lecturer in the Faculty of Mining and Petroleum Engineering that specializes in geothermal at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB). She became the students’ godmother, because she not only helps her students in academic life, but also in every aspect, such as funding, and even about relationships. As an example of her caring nature, she has helped numerous students gather funding to pay their tuition fees, some of whom have now become leaders in the geothermal industry. Nenny created not only the Geothermal Master Program in ITB, but also pioneered the self-awareness program. Because Nenny not only cares for her students, but also everyone who has the willingness to learn – and because she cares not only about the academic success, but also the personal health of her students, she was awarded the 2018 Caring Core Value Award.