Good morning,
everybody, and thank you for being here. You look amazing for an amazing day
to celebrate the official oath of office for the city's newest
general manager and CEO of Seattle City Light, Dawn Lindell. And again, thank you for for being here. These are always exciting times. I think many of you spent a... I want to recognize
Councilmember Tanya Woo here. Thank you for being here. Make sure there's no other elected here. I got to do the homework. As a City Light family, we know that there have been challenges not just for utility,
but in our entire city. And what you deliver to the residents
and employees and employers in the city are truly life
dependent, that they require your expertise
and your commitment to them. And you do that every single day. City Light does more than just deliver
energy to homes and businesses. They literally keep power
coming to our city, in our community and in in in a carbon neutral way, recognizing our commitment
to the environment, not just to the people in a way
that you value equity to make sure even the most underrepresented
or under served communities needs are met. Dawn Lindell,
after a thorough national search, clearly demonstrated their expertise
and their leadership and our vision to ensure quality, reliable
and affordable services to our residents and an ability
to accelerate our electrification efforts as we build healthy communities
today and in the future. As the next
General Manager and CEO of Seattle City Light I'm confident in your ability. Ms. Lindell , unconditionally. This organization,
I believe, much like our city, is at a pivotal,
pivotal time in our history. And I think I've been hearing nothing
but glowing things about you and your leadership style. A remarkable laugh and high energy,
but certainly the substantive knowledge and what it takes to run this
such a incredible utility. You have more than 25 years of experience,
of course, in the industry. You know how to focus on environmental sustainability
and collaboration and community. You have experience in technology,
innovation and disaster management. You clearly have a commitment
to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion programs. And as you well know, we had a thorough discussion
when I was examining who I wanted to head up this utility. Quite candidly, in the short time,
relatively short time you've been with the utility,
we've seen remarkable what I'll call just energy in these categories
I just described. You understand
customer service in advancing our climate and environmental stewardship priorities. And I close by saying that I can have more confidence
in you, Ms.. Lindell And it was clearly a pleasure
meeting your husband as well. And I see where you get your drive and energy from,
or maybe he gets it from... a power couple. And thank you for being, I think, a symbol
of our once shared love for it. So I'm very grateful that you've accepted
the position of leadership. And with that, I'm going to invite our deputy clerk, Amelia
Sanchez, to administer the oath of office. And the ceremonial pin
will be fixed by team member Mara Brewer. Come forward. To this. My raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I Don Lindell. I Don Lindell. Swear or affirm? Swear
that I possess all the qualifications. That I possess. All of the qualifications. Prescribed in the Seattle City. Charter. Prescribed in the Seattle City Charter. And the Seattle Municipal Code And the Seattle Municipal Code. For the position. For the position of. General Manager and Chief
Executive Officer. General Manager
and Chief Executive Officer Of Seattle City Light. O Seattle City light. That I will support the Constitution
of the United States. That I will support the Constitution
of the United States. The Constitution
of the State of Washington. The Constitution of the state of Washington. And the charter and ordinances. And the charter and ordinances. The City of Seattle. Of the City of Seattle. And that I will faithfully conduct myself. And that I will faithfully conduct myself. As general manager. As general manager.
Chief Executive Officer. And Chief
Executive Officer of Seattle City Light Thank you, all right. Thank you. Welcome. (applause) Well, thank you very much. And thanks very much, Mayor,
for having the confidence and the faith in me to nominate me. And thanks to city council for their vote of confidence, I'm grateful. So grateful, really so grateful
for the advice and the coaching on the many issues from Marco Lowe
and his staff from Dan Nolte over here and from the review panel
at Seattle City Light, as well as the many leaders of business
and nonprofits and environmental groups
whose support and vision they've been so willing to share with me
As I've spent my first few months here. We face a lot of challenge at this point
in this industry and certainly at city. City light excuse me, we've got clean energy goals,
which is absolutely what we wanted. It's the right direction
for this country to move. And those goals
and everyone trying to reach for those goals across the country
means that our costs for the kind of energy we want to buy
have have increased. Here electrification
is increasing our load as well. And so we need to spend some money to buy
those resources. We've got aging assets that have served us well
and it's time to invest in new assets. And we are already seeing some impacts
of climate change with the extreme weather
that we have seen over the past few years. I am excited to be able
to lead this organization to rise to those challenges through innovation
and through investment. We will build partnerships
with industry leaders, with environmental communities,
with nonprofits, and of course, with our customers
to create a clean energy future for Seattle
and the surrounding communities. We'll continue to incentivize conservation to help our customers
save some money along the way. Finally,
I just want to say thanks to my family. My mom is 86 and she is still a leader, insists
on driving all of her older friends who most are younger than she is
to keep those ladies safe. And she also weighs in still in politics
and in church matters and in her community
and makes a big difference. She came to the workforce in the 1950s
and she's part of that group of women who really started
to break through the ceiling, making it possible
for me to be here today. So I want to say thanks to her,
to my husband, Jay, whose leadership always inspires me,
and to my sons, Tyler and Eric, who, boy, they keep you on your toes. You know, you have the kids.
They keep you on your toes. But they've inspired me to really want
that clean energy future. And their tech savvy
and their creativity have also inspired me as we as your leader
and as we face together our future. I want to be a positive force
by leaning into our creative talents and unlocking our full innovative
potential, because that's what it's going to take to succeed
in these challenging times. Diversity of thought, respectful dialog. But that is what will help
to change our world. That is what will help us to come together
and ferret out those tough new ideas that we need to have as we reimagine how we generate, how we deliver, how we use
and how we recover energy. So I am so grateful to get to live in the Emerald City,
in this Evergreen State, and to be at the forefront
to work with you to safely create a sustainable, affordable
and reliable energy future. Thank you. (applause) Thank you, Don. And that
will conclude our official ceremony. But that doesn't mean you can't give her
a hug or a handshake after. Thank you very much for
being here. Have a great day.