2016 40 Under 40: Elie Touma, PE, PMP, CEM, LEED AP, CC, 35

Senior Project Development Engineer, Pepco Energy Services, Arlington, Va. BE and ME Mechanical Engineering, Lebanese University/Faculty of Engineering, Roumieh, Lebanon MS Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of NYU

By Jack Smith, Content Manager, and Amara Rozgus, Editor-in-Chief May 16, 2016

Elie Touma, PE, PMP, CEM, LEED AP, CC, 35

Senior Project Development Engineer, Pepco Energy Services, Arlington, Va.

BE and ME Mechanical Engineering, Lebanese University/Faculty of Engineering, Roumieh, Lebanon

MS Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of NYU

After earning his degrees, Touma joined a midsize MEP-design consulting company in New York City, where he designed HVAC systems for buildings and facilities for 5 years. Then, he started working for Pepco Energy Services (PES) in Arlington, Va., as a project development engineer. After 2 years at PES, he was promoted to senior project development engineer. He leads, manages, and develops various projects and specializes in improving the efficiency of buildings. His projects involve demand-control ventilation, chiller/boiler-plant optimization, variable frequency drives, control optimization, building-envelope improvement, high-efficiency plumbing fixtures, lighting systems retrofits, variable air volume systems, heat pumps, geothermal systems, solar/photovoltaic systems, cogeneration, building energy modeling, and wind power. Touma is involved in professional and community outreach to young engineers to share and discuss lessons learned and innovative energy-saving technologies. He had set up a training program for a full year at PES, where he spent time training and mentoring junior engineers on HVAC-related topics. He is the vice president of membership of the Toastmasters Club at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He also participates in walks for AIDS and epilepsy, for fundraising and to spread awareness. Touma has been writing poetry since he was 8 years old. He published his first poetry book in 2013 and is working on two more-one of them in French. Touma is currently a teaching fellow volunteer at the GLN in Washington, D.C., teaching Arabic as a second language for graduate school students, mainly. He grew up watching and playing tennis. Living in the Washington, D.C., area allows him to watch the Citi Open tournament live, and he travels to New York for the U.S. Open tournament. He plays tennis at least once a week with friends, colleagues, or partners. He also enjoys cooking and baking. He mainly focuses on Middle Eastern cuisine-Lebanese food in particular. He plans to open a restaurant or a bakery after he retires.