Maneet Jain has been at City Light for 14 years but began his City career 23 years ago. “When I started working at the City, I was in the Parks department. I really enjoyed it; in fact, that’s where I met my wife!” Maneet shared. “Opportunity brought me to City Light. I wanted to apply my degree and there was room for growth.” Maneet is part of Transmission and Distribution Operations (T&D Ops.) where he manages two work groups: field operators and planning and scheduling.
Maneet was born and raised in Seattle. “My family lived in Licton Springs, right by the North Service Center,” Maneet said. “I have fond memories walking to the service center and paying the bill with my dad.” He graduated with a degree in business management from the University of Washington and lives in Edmonds with his wife Kelly and their two daughters, Meena and Nyla.
In this week’s (spot)Light, Maneet talks about his career at the City and family time.
“We’re a big Husky family. We go to lots of games and events – trying to breed that pride young! We keep busy on the weekends with all sorts of activities. There’s always something to do! I coach my daughter’s basketball team. We get outdoors and try new hikes. Our favorite getaway is the Oregon coast, particularly Manzanita and Cannon Beach. We love to hang there and just veg out. I also want to take them up to Skagit and check out that north loop.”
“My dad worked for Parks. He retired last year after 20+ years of service. I’ve always been around public service. I was part of the City’s summer youth employment program. I worked at the community centers and helped run the basketball and youth programs. I later moved on to grounds maintenance – that helped me pay for college! After that, I joined City Light’s Customer Care team where I worked for twelve years in different capacities. Things like credit and service representative (both electrical and customer), meter reading, technical metering operations, streetlights, LED engineering and capital improvement projects.”
“The last two years I’ve managed three groups in T&D Ops. The field operators at the System Operations Center are our first responders; the eyes and ears for our dispatchers. They let the dispatchers know what’s going on and troubleshoot things like flickering lights and car pole accidents. I also managed civil construction for the utility, both in the city and at our hydro facilities. Basically, any infrastructure that needs to be put in place. Lastly, I manage planning and scheduling. We plan and schedule work load, so we can meet our customers’ demands and expectations.”
“I fell into management. I attended UW as a civil engineering student but switched majors after taking a few business classes. I like being part of the solution, but I also like working with others and getting their perspective. I do a lot of that at City Light. I work with cross-functional teams and gather input from different backgrounds and disciplines. I really like our service work and problem solving. It’s been amazing to have had a variety of roles and responsibilities. I’ve enjoyed it. Not to mention, the camaraderie you build working with different people across the organization.”