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Thank You to Our Veterans

This November 11 is Veteran’s Day – a time to say thank you to everyone who has served in the military to help protect and keep our nation secure. The team at National Grid Renewables would like to also recognize the significant contributions that veterans across the country have made to help lead the clean energy transition. In honor of this important day, the National Grid Renewables offices will be closed.

Meet the Veterans That Are Part of our National Grid Renewables Team!

John Strom

John Strom, PE

Senior Director, Engineering

Branch of Service: Army Reserves

Rank: Staff Sergeant

Job/Duty:

  • Current – Advanced Leaders Course Instructor
  • Prior – Motor Transport Operator

Years Served: 20 years (still active)

Deployed: Iraq, 2006-2007 and 2008-2009

John Strom joined National Grid Renewables in 2019 as a Project Engineering Manager. In this role, he was responsible for the engineering aspect of projects both in development and under construction. Today, John is a Senior Director of Engineering, overseeing the Engineering Team that is driving the engineering on our project portfolio.  In addition, he has served in the Army Reserves for almost 20 years and is currently serving as an instructor. During his time in the military, John was deployed twice to Iraq – once in 2006-2007 and again in 2008-2009. While there, he worked as a motor transport operator doing supply convoys and convoy security.

John grew up near Alexandria, MN and recently moved back there with his wife and three children.  He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and from MSCTC in Wadena, MN with a Construction Electrician Diploma. John is a registered Professional Engineer and a Master Electrician. 

We sat down with John to learn more about his service and experiences with the Army.

Q: What do you remember about your first days of service?

Mostly, I remember the culture shock. The military is its own world – it has its own customs and language. While it can be a shock, I will say that most people tend to adapt quickly – you don’t really have a choice in that.

John Strom
John Strom

Q: How do you think your experience and service has affected your life? How has it impacted your career with NG Renewables?

Two things come to mind: perspective and leadership. Regarding perspective, spending two years in Iraq and seeing how the people there live made me realize how lucky we are and how petty most of our problems are in this country. The military has also provided me with a lot of leadership opportunities and training that have helped shape me into who I am today.

Overall, I think the experience of working with people from all over the world, being pushed beyond what I thought I could do, and the training I have received, have all helped me become a better asset to my team.

I’m very appreciative to National Grid Renewables for being supportive of my Army Reserve duty!

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