Ms. Smith began her engineering career in the early 1990s in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she studied at Central Piedmont College. She started as an electrical designer and grew within each engineering firm she joined, advancing to process engineer, sales and marketing director, firm principal, director and engineering leader. Over more than three decades, she has built hands-on expertise in commercial electrical engineering, solar, battery energy storage (BESS) and electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure.
As a principal and co-owner of BK Consulting Engineering in Charlotte, Ms. Smith delivered commercial construction permit sets and electrical designs, including lighting, power, fire alarm, emergency and backup power, and primary service infrastructure. She managed client relationships and coordinated with architects, engineers and contractors from survey and design through commissioning. BK Consulting's work was recognized with an Eagle Award from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Excellence in Construction (EIC) program. Ms. Smith is also a LEED Accredited Professional.
During her ten years in Portland, Oregon, Ms. Smith focused on solar and BESS engineering. As Director of Process Engineering at Bright Planet Solar, she led the design department through rapid multi-state growth. She managed more than 30 designers and automated workflows that increased annual permit plan set production from about 2,500 to more than 19,000. She oversaw the production of more than 51,700 solar and clean energy permit plan sets, built a database of design requirements for more than 1,900 jurisdictions, and personally produced more than 2,000 plan sets. As Director of Operations for Rural Energy Development, she managed commercial and agricultural solar projects from development and utility interconnection through construction. After returning to Virginia, she led EV infrastructure engineering at Highland Fleets. There she directed medium-voltage design, created company engineering standards and templates, and managed external engineering partners and fabricators.
As Director of Operations for the Commercial Department at Wyssling Consulting, Ms. Smith brings experience from every stage of engineering delivery: designer, process manager, principal and engineering manager. She is responsible for organizing the commercial department, strengthening customer relationships, and putting in place the processes, quality control and templates that support efficient, high-quality delivery. Her leadership focuses on building structure, developing staff and giving teams clear, repeatable ways of working.
Sue's more than 30 years in the industry, broad technical range and record of building strong, scalable operations make her a valuable addition to the leadership team and a key contributor to the continued growth of Wyssling Consulting's commercial department.
