March/April 2020

NSPE Today
How the PE License Can Power a Career

Missourian’s goal: “be the best engineer that I could be”

RON BLACK, P.E.

For many engineering students, the PE license is a vague, off-in-the-distance professional goal. If they’re lucky, they hear about the license from professors, but the true realization of its importance doesn’t hit until they reach the workplace.

NSPE member Ron Black, P.E., was one of those students. But the former electrical engineering student from the University of Missouri–Columbia now has the wisdom that comes with a 33-year (and counting) career. That wisdom comes with a different perspective and appreciation for the license, one he didn’t have in the mid-1980s.

Today, Black is supervising engineer for Ameren Missouri, which serves 1.2 million electric and 130,000 natural gas customers in central and eastern Missouri. Its service area covers 64 counties and more than 500 communities, including the greater St. Louis area.

As the company ramps up a $5.3 billion five-year smart energy capital investment plan, much of Black’s time is spent on electric line design work, managing the work product of external design consultants and meeting the company’s cost, quality, and schedule goals. The project includes installing 12,000 new utility poles for storm hardening as well as smart grid sensors and self-healing equipment.

Black, who served as the 2017–18 president of the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers and currently chairs MSPE’s Government Relations Committee, has some career advice for new PEs: “Be engaged.”

PE: How did you first learn about the importance of the PE license to your engineering career?

I took a job in electrical distribution engineering and moved to St. Louis in 1989, where I had responsibility for our medium-voltage distribution system and customer-support activities, including collaboration with our customer’s consultants related to electrical supply for new and expanding businesses. This was the first time in my professional career that I worked directly with licensed PEs on a regular basis and came to better understand our role and the importance of licensure and the Engineers’ Creed. They were an inspiration and had an influence on my development, motivating me to raise the bar related to professionalism and engagement. It was also about that time that my boss encouraged me to get involved in a professional organization to develop my leadership skills and expand my network, and I joined the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers’ St. Louis Chapter.

PE: When you were working directly with those PEs for the first time in your early career, what specifically did you learn from them about what it means to be a professional engineer?

The PEs that I worked with at Union Electric (now Ameren), the consultants previously mentioned, and other MSPE members had shown that they were committed to excellence in their trade and had taken the time and made the effort to obtain their engineering license. This commitment inspired me to be the best engineer that I could be.

PE: Once you earned your PE license, did you have new opportunities on the job? Did you feel like your standing improved within the company and among your technical colleagues?

Yes, absolutely! It is a requirement for the supervising engineer position that I aspired to obtain, and I did a few years after earning my license. We made a pretty big deal about that milestone achievement, and still do. Starting next year, I have the opportunity to coordinate our annual PE recognition ceremony at Ameren, where our leaders recognize new PEs with a nice luncheon and a gift.

PE: Will you have any words of advice for those new PEs who are just starting their careers as licensed professionals?

Be engaged. This was my slogan as president of MSPE and one that I use frequently when discussing licensure with colleagues. We have a limited time to make a difference—time goes by so quickly—so allocate your time wisely and don’t be caught sitting on the sidelines. Be involved and aware of what activities and options are available and follow your passion. Think about how you will make a difference. What legacy will you leave?