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Seattle City (spot)Light: John LeCompte

John LeCompte has been with City Light for twelve and a half years. After spending nine years providing energy efficiency incentives for commercial and industrial customers, and the next two years working on emerging technologies, John was recently reassigned to the newly-formed Electrification and Strategic Technology Division. “We are focusing on bringing new technologies to City Light and its customer-owners with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and modernizing our grid so we can offer more sustainable, reliable, equitable and customer-centric services.” 

Originally from Seattle, John has also lived in Eastern Washington, Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Vermont and Boston. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from UW and a master’s in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University.  He is a licensed professional engineer, and holds certifications as a Certified Energy Manager, Certified Building Commissioning Professional, and Certified Measurement & Verification Professional.

In this week’s (spot)Light, John talks about his hobbies, his new work, and what he loves about City Light.

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“I currently live in West Seattle and I love the combination of a densifying suburb and sleepy semi-isolated neighborhood (more so now with the bridge issues), while all being within biking distance to work. I started practicing karate in 1983 and currently hold a 7th degree black belt in a peaceful, traditional Okinawan karate school- it really helps me frame life’s challenges as opportunities to grow my perspective and abilities. I also love Ultimate frisbee–a fantastic way to get a solid aerobic workout with good spirit, as well as rock climbing when I have the time!”

“I have worked in several areas of engineering and construction, having owned my own engineering company at one point, but City Light offered me the opportunity to give back to my home city. Most recently, my team has joined several other City Light employees in the Utility Next effort, a very focused mission to propose projects to get the economy rolling again in the aftermath of COVID-19. It’s very exciting, but all-consuming! In parallel to this work, I’m also serving as a shop steward to the members of PROTEC17, the largest union of City employees, where I am involved in efforts to improve employee morale and organization effectiveness through a collaborative approach. I feel I’m part of meaningful work in both of these roles, and I am honored to be working with teams of dedicated professionals working to help our city.”

“City Light offers the chance to be a part of significant work to rein in climate change, and I love that I can be a part of that alongside others who want to make a difference. Right now, I feel extremely lucky as a City employee to have continuity of work and income in this time of historic unemployment. We are able to use our position as a utility to prop up other struggling industries and people and this simple fact makes me feel grateful to City Light and responsible to my fellow Seattleites.”