The U.S. WIN Champion award recognizes an individual who serves as a strong advocate, mentor, collaborator, and sponsor of women in the nuclear industry.
This award was established in 2021 to celebrate the executive advocates who openly support and empower women to achieve their professional goals. This award recognizes an individual who serves as a strong advocate, mentor, collaborator, and sponsor of women in the nuclear industry.
Awardees have demonstrated results in the following areas:
- Actively contributes to the advancement and development of women either inside or outside his/her own organization and publicly celebrates the work and accomplishments of females
- Supports the development of women and empowers them to engage and leverage their influence
- Promotes education, career development, and mentorship for women in his/her organization
- Supports initiatives or programs that enable development and advancement of women in the industry.
U.S. WIN Champion Awardee – Kelvin Henderson
We also would like to congratulate Kelvin Henderson, Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer for Duke Energy.
Kelvin has supported our Women in Nuclear since he was Site Vice President at Catawba Nuclear Station when the site chapter was initiated by holding a quarterly professional development and networking event. At the event, Kelvin provided the opening statement and has continued supporting the chapter by being a mentor and sponsor for many members throughout his time at Catawba.
His support has continued with promotions to Corporate Vice President, Senior Vice President, and Chief Nuclear Officer (CNO). As CNO, Kelvin has been committed to our Chapter’s success, ensuring we had representation at Region II and National Conferences even as other companies were limiting engagement.
Kelvin has been instrumental to the U.S. WIN NEXT program, nominating two of our members for the initial cohorts. These two nominations have resulted in NEXT20 graduations and promotions for both members to Plant Manager and then Site Vice President. Our NEXT23 nomination successfully completed the program and currently supports our Chapter as Management Sponsor.
After NEXT was established, an opportunity to address the needs of women in middle management presented itself in the NEXTUp program. Kelvin was supportive of the development of this program and provided a nomination from Duke Energy for the pilot cohort, currently underway.
Internal to Duke Energy, Kelvin has been an advocate of Amplify, a program designed to accelerate the development of high-performing, high-potential female leaders in the Nuclear Generation organization. Amplify supports our strategy to build a diverse, innovative, and engaging culture with a succession pipeline of female leaders. To date, Duke has sent over 70 women through this program.
Kelvin is a strong supporter of diversity and inclusion, as noted by his support of Amplify, NEXT, and NEXTUp. He was also instrumental in implementing the DEI Committee within U.S. WIN and is an Executive Sponsor. This new committee is designed to ensure members understand the components of DEI, have tools to support DEI at their companies, championing women being promoted to middle management, and foster a safe work environment for our LGBTQIA+ members and teammates.
Kelvin is an active and engaged member of the U.S. WIN Executive Advisory Council (EAC). This Council is comprised of executives in the nuclear industry who advocate for U.S. Women in Nuclear and provides strategic advice.
Previous Award WINners