Energy Manager of the Year Nominees

TEMA Awards in Excellence

The TEMA Awards in Excellence program recognizes and celebrates the outstanding achievements of energy professionals and organizations across the association. These prestigious awards honor individuals, teams, and organizations that demonstrate exceptional leadership, innovation, and dedication to advancing energy efficiency, sustainability, and best practices in the energy sector. The TEMA Awards in Excellence program serves as a platform to showcase exemplary projects, inspires continuous improvement, and fosters a collaborative community of energy professionals committed to building a more sustainable energy future.

Awards Election Committee:

Jeff Pulkinen - jpulkinen@dickinsonisd.org

Shauna Alderman, Member - sdibella@aisd.net

Malek Bekka, Member - mbekka@emaengineer.com

Michael Barnes - michael.barnes@cmta.com

2026 Energy Manager of the Year Nominees

TEMA wants to recognize an individual that exemplifies what it means to be a steward of energy management in the public sector. This award goes to someone who not only has strong technical understanding but someone who can navigate through all the challenges of an energy management program, getting buy-in from executive leadership, and establishing partners, while still implementing sound energy conservation strategies. This person exhibits outstanding moral character and conducts their business in a manner that defines professionalism.  

Melissa Crizer

Klein ISD

Summary of Achievements

Melissa Crizer, Energy Manager for Klein ISD, oversees a comprehensive energy management program organized across four strategic pillars. The district utilizes an active "Regulation" rather than a formal policy to allow for agile operational changes, supported by a diverse Energy Team of nearly 50 ambassadors, including district leaders and campus principals. Technical operations are data-driven, utilizing the Building Optimization Technologies platform for live meter monitoring and a dedicated commissioning agent who performs regular campus audits. Staff must adhere to strict guidelines, such as shutting down computers daily and maintaining temperature set-points of 68 F for heating and 74 F for cooling during occupied hours.

Financially, the department operates without a dedicated project budget, instead funding upgrades through incentives earned from programs like Commercial Load Management and Demand Response, which have totaled over $2.7 million to date. These funds support initiatives like LED lighting upgrades and irrigation controllers, and over $151,000 has been shared directly with participating campuses. Educational engagement is a priority, with Crizer conducting quarterly reports for administration, maintaining a transparent public website, and visiting elementary campuses to educate students on efficiency. As of the 2024–2025 period, the district managed approximately 9.68 million square feet with an Energy Use Index (EUI) of 39.34 and a utility cost intensity of $1.03 per square foot.

Supplemental Info

Mike Franco

Northside ISD

Summary of Achievements

Mike Franco, the Energy Manager for Northside ISD, has been nominated for Energy Manager of the Year for successfully building a robust conservation program from scratch over the last four years. Managing the fourth-largest district in Texas, he oversees approximately 130 campuses and 13,000 staff members across 355 square miles. Despite initial challenges and recent leadership changes at the superintendent level, Franco has leveraged industry resources to deliver significant financial and operational results for the district.

In 2025, his strategic initiatives led to the following achievements:

  • Financial Impact: Secured over $688,000 in energy efficiency rebates and participation incentives.

  • Demand Response Excellence: Achieved the highest incentives for Northside ISD by curtailing an average of 8 MW across daytime and evening programs.
  • Technical Oversight: Managed extensive maintenance, retrofits, and HVAC tune-ups in coordination with CLEAResult to get renovation projects back on track.
  • Proactive Monitoring: Installed pulse metering at most campuses to identify and address energy inefficiencies in real-time.
  • Cultural Leadership: Cultivated a culture of awareness by effectively communicating demand response days to campuses and encouraging the maintenance team to proactively identify equipment issues.

Supplemental Info

Jeff Pulkinen

Dickinson ISD

Summary of Achievements

I am nominating Jeff Pulkinen for Energy Manager of the Year because he exemplifies what this profession demands at its highest level: disciplined leadership, measurable performance, and commitment to developing others. He leads, by example, mentors the next generation of energy professionals, and has built a program that delivers sustained, data-verified savings year after year. His ability to align policy, operations, finance, and campus culture into a cohesive, results-driven energy management strategy sets the standard for our industry.

Summary of Achievements

The Dickinson ISD Energy Management Program, launched in June 2011 by Director Jeff Pulkinen, has established a robust culture of conservation that has saved the district over $12.5 million to date. Guided by a Board-adopted policy, the program utilizes a behavior-based approach where all staff and students are expected to be "energy savers". Key operational strategies include strict HVAC setpoints—typically 72 F for cooling and 68 F for heating—and comprehensive end-of-day shutdown checklists for classrooms and offices. To ensure compliance, the Energy Management Team conducts regular facility audits, providing immediate feedback via "Green" or "Red" notes and recognizing top-performing campuses through an annual Energy Excellence Awards program

The program’s success is underscored by significant quantitative achievements, including a 33.5% reduction in energy usage and a district-wide average ENERGY STAR score of 88. For the 2024-2025 fiscal year alone, the district achieved $1,121,902 in cost avoidance, maintaining a 28.7% annual avoidance rate. These financial gains are reinvested into educational priorities, further supported by long-term utility contracts that secure low electricity rates through 2034. Through transparent reporting to the Board of Trustees and the community, the department continues to meet its primary goal: ensuring that every dollar saved on energy is a dollar saved for education.

Supplemental Info

Summary of Achievements

Rezaur Rahman, the Energy Manager for San Jacinto College, has been nominated for the TEMA Energy Manager of the Year Award for transforming the institution's energy program from an operational function into a strategic, governance-driven initiative. His leadership in 2025 involved aligning a long-term energy and sustainability roadmap with institutional five-year goals and re-establishing the campus Energy Council to restore cross-functional accountability among facilities, finance, and academic stakeholders. Rahman personally oversaw a wide range of technical operations, including retro commissioning multiple buildings, optimizing central plant demand flow strategies through thermal storage tanks, and correcting control sequences for air handling units to reduce energy waste while maintaining occupant comfort. Beyond technical management, he fostered a culture of energy awareness by mentoring staff and interns, leading quarterly stakeholder meetings, and engaging students during Earth Day events with interactive quizzes and showcases of sustainability achievements.

The program’s success is supported by significant, verifiable performance data recorded between FY22 and FY25, including a 29% reduction in electricity usage and a 65% reduction in natural gas consumption. Despite a 10% increase in electricity rates in FY23, Rahman maintained strict fiscal discipline and stabilized the utility budget without requiring supplemental funding for either FY24 or FY25. He strategically reinvested identified savings into Building Automation System health improvements and controller upgrades, while also securing project funding through LoanStar SECO for LED lighting and mechanical optimizations. These comprehensive efforts resulted in a 35% reduction in total combined emissions intensity and a consistent decline in Energy Use Intensity (EUI) across the college's portfolio, with the district-wide average dropping from 105.24 to 66.85 kBTU/SQFT.

Supplemental Info