Four employees, all recent college graduates, are energizing their careers through E.ON's International Graduate Program, a training initiative that increases their technical skills and appreciation for E.ON's diverse people and cultures.

Known as "graduates," the employees are making their mark in power plants, corporate offices, electric substations and other settings around the company as they work to complete 16 to 18-month training regimen.

They include Nathan Hall, Karmen Martin, Shaina Steward and Renea Steele.

Together, they hold the distinction of being members of E.ON U.S.'s first round of graduates.

The initial program began in 2005 in Germany. E.ON U.S. joined the Graduate Program about a year ago to encourage outstanding college graduates to pursue their careers at the company. Hall and Steele began the program in September 2006 while Steward and Martin started in September of this year.

Graduates must complete four training rotations beginning with a home assignment followed by stints in other departments or across lines of business. The highlight is an international rotation which offers the adventure of living and working overseas. They also attend workshops abroad to focus on a variety of topics, such as project management and intercultural awareness.

Introducing E.ON U.S.'s first group of graduates...


Nathan Hall

Hall, who hails from Dayton, Ky., returned to the United States earlier this year after completing a four-month rotation at E.ON Ruhrgas in Essen, Germany, where he worked as a risk control analyst. He is currently completing his fourth rotation as an accounting analyst within the Natural Gas Trading department.

Hall looks back on his international rotation as an early hallmark in his career. In addition to increasing his professional skills, the experience included numerous side trips. And, in an interesting twist, he competed on the E.ON Ruhrgas basketball team at the E.ON Olympics earlier this year.

"Life outside of work was amazing," added Hall. "Seeing Michelangelo's sculpture, 'David' in Florence was one of the coolest experiences."

In the office, Hall forged solid contacts with his accounting counterparts in Essen, which will enhance his career at E.ON U.S. He also said that employees in Essen and the United States have a similar emphasis on teamwork.

"All of my colleagues were willing to help me with any questions or problems that I had," he said. "They really exemplified the OneE.ON behavior of teamwork."



Karmen Martin

Martin is fulfilling her first rotation within the Electrical Engineering and Planning Group, performing analyses on the electrical distribution system. An honors graduate from Louisville Male High School, she holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Hampton University, Hampton, VA.

"I've already gained a better understanding of our network and what is required to maintain its reliability," she said.

In addition, Martin has participated in a Graduate Program workshop in Germany, allowing her to work with an international team for the first time. She will again travel overseas in May 2008 to begin her four-month international rotation.

Martin learned about the Graduate Program from her Human Resources manager while completing her co-op requirement at E.ON U.S., which ran from 2004-06.

"I thought it was a great way to gain diverse working experiences within the company," she added. "It also allowed me to travel abroad, which was the biggest selling point."

The Louisville native said the Graduate Program offers an ideal start to her career.

"The graduate program has given me a broader perspective of E.ON and all the different market units," Martin said. "I'm glad that I was given the opportunity to be a part of it."



Shaina Steward

Steward is in her first rotation as well, serving as an electrical engineer at Mill Creek Station. She typically pours over the plant's blueprints to determine how to place more than 17,000 hazard labels on switchgears, motor control centers and other electric equipment inside and outside the plant.

Her duties also include learning plant operation procedures, and she's completing courses on electric utility systems and software applications such as Primedia, Drawing Management, Stellent and Maximo.

"I have a lot of respect for the people who work at Mill Creek," the Indianapolis native said. "I've had conversations with people who've been working here for 30 years, and they have a lot of knowledge to share."

Steward is up for the task, having graduated with honors from Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis. She also holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering with a minor in Spanish from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Steward has also completed a three-day workshop in Dusseldorf where she took in presentations on the world energy market, the fundamentals of natural gas supply and nuclear power among other subjects and exercises.

"I've only been working for three months yet I've traveled overseas and I've learned so much about the energy business," she said. "This program is helping me to be a well-rounded engineer, employee and individual."



Renea Steele

Steele holds a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Louisville and will pursue an M.B.A. at the University of Kentucky next fall.

She recently completed her third rotation, an international assignment at E.ON Netz in Bayreuth, Germany, which oversees E.ON's transmission grid. Steele worked on strategies and budgets for the maintenance and investment of more than 1,000 substations and developed a "best practice comparison" between the E.ON U.S. and E.ON Netz transmission maintenance strategies.

"I've learned to be much more outgoing, to explain things in detail and to ask questions. I've also come to appreciate flexibility," she said of her overseas experience.

Steele also had the advantage of observing OneE.ON Day as an American working in Germany, which added to the experience, she said.

"In Kentucky it's easy to forget that we have 77,000 co-workers on the other side of the Atlantic," she said. "It helped me to realize just how large of a company E.ON really is."

Her first rotation began with E.ON U.S.'s Substation Asset Management Group followed by an electrical engineering assignment at E.W. Brown generating station. She will complete her last rotation in late 2007 in Financial Planning & Controlling before returning to her role with the Substation Asset Management Group.

"The Graduate Program is an excellent developmental tool for recent college graduates," she said. "It exposes participants to multiple managerial styles and team environments. It also allows new employees to network with other individuals in the company whom they might otherwise never meet."