O&R's Jon Hilowitz Named a 2022 Con Edison Top Award Winner
Jon Hilowitz, a seven-year Orange & Rockland (O&R) employee, has received Con Edison’s highest honor, the Living Our Values Award for 2022 (LOV Award).
Consolidated Edison, Inc., O&R’s parent company, created the LOV Award to recognize and honor the values and work ethic of outstanding employees who consistently serve as positive role models in the company and in the community.
O&R President and CEO Robert Sanchez said, “Jon is well-known at O&R and in the community as a tireless professional, a creative, thoughtful, problem solver and a caring, concerned and involved neighbor. We are very proud of him, and that his hard work and dedication have been recognized with this prestigious award.”
Hilowitz earned a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Syracuse University and a master’s degree in Global Energy Management from the University of Colorado.
He joined Orange & Rockland in 2015 as a program administrator responsible for developing and administering residential and commercial demand response programs in the company’s Customer Energy Services department.
Within three years of assuming leadership of the program, Hilowitz increased the demand response portfolio by more than 400% by leveraging existing relationships and dramatically increasing customer outreach and marketing. He also designed and implemented innovative clean energy programs in targeted regions that reduced immediate capital costs by deferring the need for new substation construction.
As a result of these and other successes, Hilowitz steadily advanced to positions of increasingly greater management responsibility and authority. Hilowitz currently serves as Section Manager for Customer Energy Services where he oversees the company’s energy efficiency and demand response portfolios in both its New York and New Jersey service areas.
As dedicated as he is to his work, Hilowitz also takes an active role in his community.
Hilowitz is working with his father Harv to house Afghan refugees who have arrived in the U.S. since its withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. Jon’s dad founded the Afghan Circle of the Hudson Valley in February to welcome, resettle and integrate these distressed people into the community. The Afghan Circle is an all-volunteer effort comprised mainly of retired professionals and others, all active in many community projects and organizations. To date, The Afghan Circle has raised enough money to provide two refugee families: adequate housing, furniture, food, clothing, housewares, health insurance, school for the child and English classes for the adults.
Hilowitz is a leader with strong analytical, technical, and interpersonal skills, who is recognized for his ability to exceed customers’ expectations. A born teacher, he is extraordinarily adept at simplifying even the most complex issues and concepts into everyday language to help customers more fully participate in the company’s energy efficiency programs. That ease in communicating enhances Hilowitz’ performance as a manager.
Hilowitz’ sharp communication powers also prove effective during major storm company mobilizations. When it’s “all-hands-on-deck”, he assumes a key role on the company’s Community Response Team (CRT). He serves as the company’s CRT point person in Sullivan County where he participates in the community’s emergency response efforts. He is well-regarded for his knowledge of the electric system, calm strength under high pressure and reliable effectiveness in helping deal with storm-related damage and electric service issues.
About Orange & Rockland
Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies. O&R is a regulated utility that provides electric service to approximately 300,000 customers in southeastern New York State (where its franchise name is Orange & Rockland) and northern New Jersey (where it’s Rockland Electric Company), and natural gas service to approximately 130,000 customers in New York.