History
History
The American Association of Blacks in Energy was founded in 1977 in response to America's growing energy crisis and the need for greater inclusion in energy policy discussions.
The decade of the 1970s is likely to be remembered as the period in America's post–World War II history when the nation first confronted the reality of its vulnerability to energy insecurity at the hands of a group of very small countries that were utterly without military power. The tremendous economic growth that occurred during the 1950s and 1960s had been fueled in large part by cheap and easily available energy supplies, from both domestic and foreign sources.
Seemingly overnight, the United States awakened to rapidly escalating prices for oil and natural gas. This, coupled with an abrupt shortage of these commodities, disrupted the entire U.S. economy. It was in the context of these growing concerns, and how the U.S. government undertook to respond to this energy crisis, that AABE came into being.
The idea of AABE was conceived by Clarke A. Watson of Denver, Colorado, sometime in the spring of 1977. Mr. Watson owned an energy consulting firm, Watson Associates, a division of Westland Companies. Watson was a bright, ambitious young man with big ideas, an engaging manner, and contacts at high levels in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Urban League. He was also acquainted with a few local and nationally known Black elected officials. Many oil and gas producers were very active in the Rocky Mountain area in the early 1970s, pursuing various projects to develop new energy resources to alleviate perceived shortages of oil and natural gas supplies.
Past Board Chairs
Current chair – Kevin Simmons (2024–2026), Deloitte, Atlanta Chapter
20th Chair – Richard Thigpen (2022–2024), Public Service Enterprise Group, New Jersey Chapter
19th Chair – Telisa Toliver (2018–2022), Chevron, Houston Chapter
18th Chair – Rose McKinney James (2016–2018), Energy Works, LLC, National Chapter
17th Chair – George A. Williams (2014–2016), PMI Energy Solutions, LLC, Chicago Chapter
16th Chair – Ralph Cleveland (2012–2014), Chartis, Atlanta Chapter
15th Chair – Daniel E. Packer (2010–2012), Natural Energy, LLC, Louisiana Chapter
14th Chair – Carolyn L. Green (2008–2010), Sunoco, Philadelphia Chapter
13th Chair – Wilton Cedeno (2006–2008), Con Edison, New York Metropolitan Area Chapter
12th Chair – Hilda Pinnix-Ragland (2004–2006), Progress Energy, North Carolina Chapter
11th Chair – Frank Johnson (2002–2004), CMS Electric & Gas, Michigan Chapter
10th Chair – Rufus P. Gladney (2000–2002), Consumers Energy, Michigan Chapter
9th Chair – Daniel E. Packer (1998–2000), Entergy-NO, Louisiana Chapter
8th Chair – Herman S. “Woody” Dorsey, Jr. (1996–1998), Con Edison, New York Metropolitan Area Chapter
7th Chair – Erskine E. Cade (1994–1996), Standard Oil of Ohio, Cleveland Chapter
6th Chair – Mary L. Boyd-Foy (1990–1992), Ebasco Services, New York Metropolitan Area Chapter
5th Chair – W. James Sams (1988–1990), Standard Oil of California, Northern California Chapter
4th Chair – (1986-1988)
3rd Chair – Robert E. Bates, Jr. (1982–1986), Mobil Oil, Washington DC Chapter
2nd Chair – Rufus McKinney (1980–1982), Southern California Gas, Southern California Chapter
1st Chair & Founder (Emeritus) – Clarke A. Watson (1977-1980), Watson Associates, Denver Area Chapter
1st Chair & Founder
Clarke A. Watson (1977–1980)
Watson Associates
Denver Area Chapter
AABE National Founder – Clarke A. Watson (1942 – 2003)
Clarke Watson, a prominent community activist in Denver for decades, passed away in 2003 of natural causes.
Watson, 61, was remembered as a sharp dresser, a sharp wit, and an irreverent thinker. His activism ranged from leading Denver’s Black Panther Party in the 1960s to working behind the scenes to groom minority college students for leadership roles in the energy industry. In 1987, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor.
Watson worked in the energy industry for decades, eventually starting his own consulting firm. He founded the American Association of Blacks in Energy in 1977 after hearing of a meeting of energy policymakers that then-President Jimmy Carter had called. No minorities were on the original guest list. “He was furious,” said Syl Morgan-Smith, a member of the national board of AABE. He said, “We blacks can talk about more than baseball and we consume energy, too.” He rented a suite in the infamous Watergate Hotel and convened the first meeting for AABE. “He chose the name because he wanted something that started with the letter ‘A,'” Morgan-Smith said. “He wanted us to be on top of any alphabetical list. His thinking was always that methodical and detailed, like that.”
