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Five questions with Jerry Williams

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By Topics | Data Management

Jerry Williams is a Project Manager for Environmental Sustainability at SAS.

What are you working on right now?
There is so much going on…. No two days are ever quite the same. Some of my priority projects include:

  • Balancing expectations of employees so passionate about stewardship while giving fair consideration to environmental and economic impacts.
  • Using our sustainability management solution SAS for Sustainability Management to calculate our 2008 global carbon footprint. Earlier this year, we completed our US-based 2007 footprint. The next steps include gap analysis of data, refining collection processes and rolling out globally.
  • Working with the Corporate Real Estate construction project team to get our 1 MW Solar Photovoltaic farm operational by December of 2008.
  • Helping our Facilities Services and Strategic Sourcing and Procurement departments get solar hot water systems installed on two buildings (T & G) before the end of this year.
  • Other projects include increasing employee participation in our recycling and conservation programs, keeping our internal Green Initiative website current and increasing eco-awareness through Internal and External Communications.

What are you reading?
I get so many FYI emails from friends who read interesting articles on the web and my Google alerts for environmental related topics. I enjoy reading everything from how to melt and recycle polystyrene, using dyes to increase efficiencies for solar PV panels, developing biofuel technology, to effectively using reclaimed water to operate cooling towers. Lately, I’ve been immersed in impending environmental legislation and the progression of Senate Bill 3, North Carolina’s renewable law. OK, enough with the geeking out stuff.

There’s reading time with my kids as well. Eco-friendly classics such as The Lorax by Dr. Seuss & The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein never grow old. I’m also reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. (In all my spare time)

Who did you talk to at lunch today and what did you talk about?
Today I spoke with a couple of folks from the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce Young Professional’s Network. SAS is hosting an Environmental Sustainability conference for them in November. It’s very encouraging and exciting to see young professionals passionate about changing business practices to become better stewards of the environment.

How do you see SAS impacting the average person's life in five years?
The evolution of the internet has raised the bar in terms of people’s access to data and their expectations for having answers at their fingertips. As people become more accustomed to getting information, the demand for data management and analytics will grow proportionately.

What do you do to unwind after a long day's work?
I love to get in a workout at our onsite gym. I also enjoy volleyball, basketball, golf or just getting out to piddle in the yard. Oh yeah… once in a while, a big win by my NC State football team.

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About Author

Alison Bolen

Editor of Blogs and Social Content

Alison Bolen is an editor at SAS, where she writes and edits content about analytics and emerging topics. Since starting at SAS in 1999, Alison has edited print publications, Web sites, e-newsletters, customer success stories and blogs. She has a bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism from Ohio University and a master’s degree in technical writing from North Carolina State University.

4 Comments

  1. Sheila Parry on

    Hey, I know sustainability has a lot to do with recycling but "just getting out to piddle in the yard"? Us Brits are really impressed that you go outside to pee - must make for a lot of nitrogen in your garden 😉

  2. Jerry Williams on

    Hi Sheila,
    Great observation. While I do take pride in how green my yard is from use of mostly "natural" additives....unfortunately, my bladder is not big enough to produce & broadcast an even distribution of nitrogen!
    My family is from the southern US & has always used "piddle" as an expression of just messing around. I think I need to call mom and ask her what she really meant when she said dad was piddling in the yard.....

  3. Suresh PAlakurthi on

    Jerry,

    Its good to see that SAS is leading in the energy and environmental sustainability efforts. Many corporations , often their Green Teams, volunteer peer groups etc., would like to simplify their process of lanuching on thier own by replicating/learning high levle details from other local entities that implemented. At our organization, informally we are looking into figuring out the cost benefit/ ROI for a PV system. Seems like you guys have figured this out for Cary, RaleighNC area and may be we can learn form you. would you volunteer to educate us? Please contact me Suresh Palakurthi.. you can look me up on Linked in or email back to the email above

    Thanks

    Suresh

    • Alison Bolen
      Alison Bolen on

      Hi Suresh & thanks for reaching out. We've forwarded your note to Jerry, and he's going to contact you directly. Best of luck with the green initiatives at Siemens!

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