Okefenoke REMC is pleased to announce Kane Lee has been promoted to Manager of Engineering. Kane succeeds Darren Crews, who was recently named OREMC’s Assistant General Manager. 

Kane has officially worked as an electrical engineer at OREMC for 11 years—hired in 2015 as a System Engineer, then becoming the Reliability Engineer leading workplan development and designing protection and control schemes. However, his first experience at OREMC began when he was in high school.

“I was infatuated with electricity as a young child,” Kane explains. “My dad was a lineman for Georgia Power, and I grew up wanting to understand what my dad was doing and how electricity worked. I’ve always wanted to be an electrical engineer.”

He got his first real taste of utility work as a junior in high school when he came to work at OREMC through the work-based learning program. “I worked in the Warehouse and with Darren. He would take me out with the apparatus guys to work on substation maintenance. Mind you, I was the gopher getting the parts and tools the technicians needed to complete their work,” Kane recalls, chuckling.

But it was that work during his junior and senior years of high school that instilled in him that keeping the lights on is not a one person show, and how rewarding it is to serve the community. Following his passion, he went to Georgia Southern to earn his degree in electrical engineering. During his second year of college, he worked full-time at OREMC with the apparatus team.

After graduation Kane formally launched his career at Georgia Power as a Test Engineer testing and verifying breaker verification schemes. “My job was to make sure everything in the substation was working correctly,” he says.

He continued to build on that experience when he happily returned to work at OREMC five years later. “Getting and keeping the lights on is our focus,” Kane insists. “We are driven by that mission—safety is always the priority—but from top to bottom we value our members.”

Adding to the work environment is the culture of OREMC. Kane explains, “It feels more like a family. We truly care about one another and are our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper.”

All of those things combined is what has prepared Kane for his next role as Manager of Engineering. Looking ahead he says work plan execution will be a bigger focus, as well as where and how OREMC invests in infrastructure, given the increasing demand for electricity locally and nationally. As far as what that means for OREMC and the utility industry in the future, Kane postulates, “Our industry and member needs are continually evolving, but I love solving challenges and figuring out how to make things work. I enjoy what I do and working with people I grew up with who have the same interests as me.”

“I am excited for Kane as he steps up to lead Okefenoke’s engineering team into the future,” states OREMC Assistant General Manager Darren Crews. “With his promotion Kane brings engineering experience, institutional knowledge and a dedication to provide the most reliable electric service possible, all of which are a tremendous asset to Okefenoke and our members.”

When he is not actively working to power the community, Kane relishes time spent with his best friend and wife, Grace, and their three children: Alora, age six; Ruth, age four; and Samson, age two. As a family they love spending time outdoors simply playing or four-wheeling. Kane also enjoys time with his church family at Bridge Church in Blackshear where he is also a Deacon.

Pictured (l-r): Kane, his daughters Ruth and Alora, wife Grace, and son Samson.