NEW YORK, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ — U.S. Energy Savings Corp. announced that
Rebecca MacDonald, Founder and Executive Chair of parent company Energy Savings Income Fund, was named the 2009 International Horatio Alger Award Recipient. The
Horatio Alger Award is bestowed to individuals who overcome humble beginnings or adversity to achieve success and serve as outstanding role models to the international community.
“I am honored to receive this distinction,”
Rebecca MacDonald said. “My family instilled in me values of hard work and determination, and I hope that I am passing along the same values to my children and those with whom I work.”
Born into a modest family in Sarajevo in the former Yugoslavia, Ms. MacDonald lived with her family in an apartment of fewer than 500 square feet of living space. Even so, her parents instilled in her the importance of hard work and determination, and Ms. MacDonald excelled in school. But after graduating from medical school, Ms. MacDonald chose to expand her horizons beyond Belgrade. Speaking no English and with savings of only a few hundred dollars, MacDonald immigrated to Canada at age 22, where she worked as a secretary during the day and studied English at night.
While in Toronto, Ms. MacDonald saw a once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity in Canada’s deregulating energy industry, in 1989. She researched the buying and selling of natural gas, and then formed Energy Marketing, Inc. Her company, which she sold in 1995, became one of the largest natural gas retailers in Ontario.
“We are proud of Rebecca’s remarkable achievements; the
Horatio Alger Award only affirms what we have always known about her,” said
Ken Hartwick, President and CEO, Energy Savings Group. “Rebecca’s personal example of hard work, honesty and determination serves as a source of inspiration for us to put those values into practice every day.”
Later, in 1997, MacDonald founded the Energy Savings Income Fund, which now supplies about one million customers in Canada and the United States and is one of the largest retail energy companies in North America.
Just as she began to achieve business success with her first venture, Ms. MacDonald’s husband was killed in a car accident, which was devastating to her and her two children. Ms. MacDonald kept her focus on her children and her business, and in the same way that she achieved success as a student in Belgrade, continued to grow the energy company.
“Rebecca has demonstrated the qualities of hard work and perseverance and is self-taught — a true success story,” said
David L. Sokol, President of the Horatio Alger Association. “She will be an excellent representation of our International Award in Canada.”
U.S. Energy Savings Corp. continues to grow currently providing work for more than 500 people nationwide and providing energy to tens of thousands of residents. In New York State, the Company provides job opportunities for about 150 people.
MacDonald will be officially inducted as a Lifetime Horatio Alger Member on April 3, 2009 in Washington, DC. Ms. MacDonald will receive the International Horatio Alger Award, which is annually presented to a citizen of a country other than the United States.
A complete list of all of the Horatio Alger Members can be found at www.horatioalger.org/members.cfm.
About U.S. Energy Savings Corp.
U.S. Energy Savings Corp. is a member of the Energy Savings Group, one of North America’s leading electricity and natural gas retailers with offices in Illinois, Indiana, New York and Texas in the U.S. and Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec in Canada. Through its affiliates under its parent, Energy Savings Income Fund, a publicly traded Income Trust (TSX: SIF.UN), ESG provides over one million residential, small to mid-sized commercial and small industrial customers with the peace of mind that comes from knowing that they are protected from energy price volatility.
SOURCE U.S. Energy Savings Corp.
