Engineer From Brooklyn Wins Recognition For Achievements at Work & in the Community
A Con Edison engineer has earned recognition as an Outstanding Asian-American in Business for his contributions to keeping the company’s service reliable and his volunteer work in the community.
Zhao Feng (Jeff) Mah received the award last night from the Asian-American Business Development Center. That organization encourages the recognition of Asian-Americans and Asian-American businesses for their important roles in the economy.
Mah, who has worked for Con Edison since 2002, came to the United States from China at age 8 and has lived nearly all that time in Brooklyn. He grew up in Sunset Park and now makes his home in Williamsburg.
“I feel like this award is a tribute to the entire Con Edison team of women and men who come to work every day looking to make sure our customers have the best service possible,” Mah said. “I believe we all have opportunities to donate our time to help people who need a boost. I get great satisfaction out of those opportunities.”
Mah, 39, has served Con Edison customers in a number of roles the past two decades. He worked on making sure that businesses in Manhattan had the electric service they needed before opening. He also worked in the company’s Manhattan Electric Control Center, which dispatches crews to restore outages and respond to other emergencies.
Mah helped engineer and design upgrades to the company’s electric-delivery infrastructure to make the equipment more able to withstand the severe weather that climate change is bringing.
Con Edison started its storm fortification program following Hurricane Sandy. The work has included installing submersible equipment, placing walls and pumps at substations, putting up tougher poles and wiring, and placing smart switches on overhead lines.
Mah is particularly proud of his work in his current role in the Brooklyn-Queens Electric Operations Engineering group because he gets to serve the neighborhood where he grew up.
Mah said he is thankful that his journey from Canton, China took him to Sunset Park. That gave him the opportunity to interact with a diverse population while continuing to learn about his heritage from his parents and the large Chinese community in that neighborhood.
Mah considers himself fortunate to have received tutoring from local churches in English as a second language, scholarships from nonprofits, and guidance from the Chinese-American Planning Council, among others. That instilled in him an appreciation for helping others.
He has volunteered as a tax preparer for low-income and elderly New Yorkers and mentored youths through an organization called Breakthrough NY and as a member of the Cooper Union Alumni Association Council.
Mah lives with his wife, Jennie Mah, who is a director in the finance industry, their 4-year-old daughter, Colette, and their 13-year-old rescue dog. His parents and his younger brother also live in Brooklyn.
Mah has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from The Cooper Union and a master’s in business administration in finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. [NYSE: ED], one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues and $63 billion in assets. The utility delivers electricity, natural gas and steam, and serves 3.5 million customers in New York City and Westchester County. Through Consolidated Edison Inc.’s subsidiary, Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses, the company is the second largest solar developer in the United States and the seventh largest worldwide.