C. Dean Alford (BEE ’76) received the Engineer of the Year in Industry Award from the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers at the 2014 Georgia Engineers Week Awards Gala, held on February 14 at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center.

Alford is president and CEO of Allied Energy Services, based in Conyers, Ga., and is currently responsible for over $5 billion of energy projects in Central and North America. He has also served as co-chair of the Pine 2 Energy Coalition. Nationally known for his entrepreneurship and strategic planning expertise, Alford has developed six startup companies.

Prior to joining Allied, Alford was president and CEO of A&C Enercom, a full-service utility consulting firm that employed over 700 people with 31 offices nationwide. He founded A&C Enercom in 1978, and it grew to be one of the most respected utility service companies in the utility industry. He has also served as a consultant to the U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment on energy policy issues.

A proud “helluva engineer,” Alford serves on several boards at Georgia Tech and is a past chairman for the advisory boards of both the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the College of Engineering. He has also served as chair of the Board of Trustees for the Georgia Tech Alumni Association and was awarded the Dean Griffin Award for Community Service in 2001 and was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni in 1997. This year, he and his wife were inducted into the Hill Society, a prestigious association of alumni, corporations, foundations, and friends who are principal philanthropists of Georgia Tech.

Alford is currently a member of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, a body of volunteers that oversees the 31 colleges and universities that comprise the University System. The Board also has oversight of the Georgia Archives and the Georgia Public Library System. From 1983-1993, he was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, where he served as chair of the energy subcommittee, chair of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority oversight committee, and chair of the DeKalb and Rockdale County Legislative Delegation. He is active in many non-profit and charitable organizations in the City of Conyers-Rockdale County area.