Success Stories
Phil Kelly
After a successful career as an executive with two large companies in Western Maryland, Phil Kelly wanted to be his own boss. When the economic downturn derailed his plans, he contacted the Western Maryland Consortium (WMC) for help. He’s now a business owner, working in the fast-growing energy efficiency field.
In his first job after college, Kelly worked for Allegheny Power as a Residential Conservation Specialist. “That was my first exposure to energy and conservation,” he recalled. “I learned all about energy and heat transfer and even solar, way back then.” Fifteen years later, he left Allegheny Power for Citicorp Credit Services, where he was the Director of Public Affairs and Communications for Citicorp’s local credit card operation. ‘Although I enjoyed my time with Citicorp, I wanted to do something different,” so in 2007, at age 48, he left his executive position to join a small electrical construction company as operations manager, intending to learn the business and eventually purchase it when the owner retired. When the recession hit the construction industry hard, it was clear that the owner wouldn’t be retiring any time soon, nor could he afford to keep everyone on staff. Kelly had been researching opportunities in energy efficiency and renewable energy, so when he was eventually laid off, he had a plan.
“I’d never been a business owner and entrepreneur before, so I took a big leap” by starting a business, especially during a sour economy. Even with an MBA and several decades of solid work experience, he needed help to turn his plans into reality. So, in April 2009, he turned to the workforce investment system. Kelly knew about WMC through volunteer leadership positions he’d held over the years; he had chaired the Hagerstown-Washington County Chamber of Commerce and the local United Way Campaign.
“Back when I was forming my company, I had no income,” Kelly said. “But you can’t get started without the appropriate training. So I contacted Cathy Bergeman at the Western Maryland Consortium.”
As a displaced worker, Kelly qualified for retraining assistance. WMC paid for several technical training courses: Solar Success for Start-Ups, a CEU course through NABCEP (North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners), and Introduction to Wind Systems, through the Midwest Renewable Energy Association. Once he set up his company, Millennium 3 Energy (www.m3-energy.com), he was eligible for help from the Maryland Business Works Program, which subsidized two more courses – a retrofit lighting course, and a residential PV [photovoltaic] and wind generation systems course – that prepared him to pass NABCEP’s solar PV exam.
Today, Kelly is well on his way. “I have several very promising projects underway, and I am an active and qualified installer of solar PV energy systems. In this fast-growing industry, I learn something new every day. So, to stay knowledgeable and to gain customers’ confidence, I continue to seek training opportunities.”
Kelly is committed to helping Western Maryland get smarter about energy. He’s developed a PowerPoint presentation about the nation’s energy challenges that he has presented at the Chamber of Commerce and at various service clubs, and has been a guest speaker for Hagerstown Community College’s renewable energy degree program.
WMC’s Bergeman expects Kelly will eventually hire additional workers through the Consortium. And indeed, that is Kelly’s plan. Right now, he’s working with partner companies, but he predicts that “a year or two from now I’ll probably need people – someone to help in the office, and solar installers. They expect the solar installation business to grow 40 to 50 percent a year.”
“The best thing about the WMC folks was that they understood that I was a guy trying to start something new in the green energy field, and they knew that was a good thing, so they tried to find ways to help. They didn’t just drop me once I became a struggling new business – they continued to help. They responded better than almost any organization I’ve worked with in my new venture. WMC and the State’s workforce development team gave me just the right kind of support that the burgeoning renewable energy industry needs.”
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