For most people who work at an electric cooperative, they’ll tell you it’s the opportunity to make an impact on their local community that drives them to show up each day with a sense of purpose. And for some, these are the places they’ve always called home. For Aaron Spencer, that’s especially true. He was born in the hospital that sits just behind the Jones-Onslow Electric Membership Corporation(JOEMC) offices, growing up in the shadow of the cooperative he now helps serve.

As the Vice President of Engineering for the Jacksonville, NC based cooperative, Spencer has the opportunity to help lead efforts that directly impact the community he grew up in.

“It’s been a great opportunity to give back to the community you were born and raised in,” said Spencer. “It’s something I don’t take for granted.”

Perfect timing

While most engineers can point to the moment or lesson that helped spark their fascination with the profession, Spencer’s path wasn’t quite so direct. In fact, all the way up until college, he was set on becoming a dentist.

But after a conversation with a family friend and a letter from East Carolina University inviting him to be part of its first engineering class, everything began to shift.

Opening the letter, Spencer wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Engineering had never been part of the plan. Yet the idea of being part of something brand new, helping shape the university’s first engineering class, was an exciting thought.

“It was a leap of faith,” said Spencer. “You only make a jump like that if you believe in something and you want to make it happen. I didn’t shy away from the challenge and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made.”

But even during his time at ECU, electrical engineering wasn’t on his mind. After a college internship, Spencer planned to pursue industrial engineering.

However, a change of heart led him to explore new opportunities, and just as his search began, a role in engineering opened up with JOEMC. Before long, the office that had stood just behind the hospital where he was born became the starting point of his professional journey.

Timing played a significant role in Spencer’s journey to JOEMC — from the arrival of that letter from ECU to the opening of a position with the cooperative. But, he says, timing only matters if you’ve put in the hard work and positioned yourself to seize the opportunity when it comes.

“I tell the engineers I work with, you’ve got to do everything possible to set yourself up for when an opportunity arrives,” said Spencer. “For me, the timing was so perfect that it felt lucky, but some of that luck comes from preparation.”

Making an impact through engineering

Spencer has worked his way up through the cooperative over the past 17 years to his current role of Vice President of Engineering, overseeing the work that ensures the reliable power that members count on each day.

He says one of his favorite parts of the job is innovating and finding new ways to improve the system. Utilizing tools like Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and other advanced technologies that provide real-time system monitoring and data analysis, Spencer and his team are able to identify potential issues more quickly, enhance reliability and proactively strengthen the cooperative’s infrastructure for the future.

“This work provides an opportunity to support the community and the place where I grew up,” Spencer said. “I love coming to work each day and having it be different in terms of what we’re working on. It also helps that I truly enjoy the people I work with and the relationships I’ve built. I call this area home, and the people at the cooperative feel like family.”

While his path to engineering and to Jones-Onslow EMC was not one he initially expected, Spencer now encourages students to explore both the field and the opportunity to work for an electric cooperative.

“As an engineer at a cooperative, you’re exposed to so many different things, and the learning opportunities are endless,” Spencer said. “Every day brings a new challenge, and every project has a real impact on the community you serve. For me, there is no better feeling than knowing the work you do truly matters and supports the community.”