Photo by James K. Holder II

Dean Alford’s curriculum vitae features a wealth of experience in the energy industry, a variety of roles in government, positions with a broad swath of charitable and civic organizations and several committee postings at Georgia Tech, from which he received an electrical engineering degree in 1976. To that list, Alford recently added one more item: Over the summer, he stepped in as chair of the Alumni Association Board of Trustees.

The first question for him, naturally, was “When do you find time to sleep?”

“I’ve been blessed with a lot of energy,” Alford said.

Though Alford was active in a variety of groups while a student at Tech, he said his commitment to involvement traces farther back.

“My dad worked for Georgia Power and was also the pastor of our church. He multitasked when multitasking wasn’t cool,” Alford said. “When I was a kid, I had to tag along with my dad. I joke that by the time I was 13 I had been to 100 funerals and made 300 hospital visits with him.”

Alford was a co-op at Georgia Power while at Tech and took a job with the company after graduating. Since then, he has founded six startup companies and now serves as president and CEO of Allied Energy Services, which is responsible for more than $5 billion of energy projects in Central and North America.

“I’ve been in the energy field my whole life,” he said. “It’s a very exciting industry. It’s also dynamic, and it can be scary.”

Alford has focused on bringing affordable and reliable energy to countries in the Caribbean and Central America. He said access to electricity is key to improving people’s quality of life and recruiting industries.

Though he served five terms as a representative in the Georgia General Assembly, Alford is perhaps best known for helping create the Miracle League, an organization that builds playing fields for children with physical and mental disabilities. After the Rockdale County Rotary Club raised $1 million for an initial field, the project gained widespread attention and expanded rapidly. Now, there are 225 Miracle League fields across the United States and overseas. The group has begun building additional playgrounds.

“I wish I could say I had a grand vision, but instead I had jumped on a bull, and I just did my best to ride it,” Alford said. “But that’s one of the most enjoyable things I’ve been involved with. We’ve been able to serve a lot of families, a lot of children.”

Alford has served on the State Board of Education and as chair of the Governor’s Education Finance Task Force. Recently he was appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal to serve on the Georgia Competitiveness Initiative. Its goal is to attract high-paying jobs to the state.

Alford received the Alumni Association’s Dean Griffin Award for Community Service in 2001 and was inducted into the Institute’s Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni in 1997. His son Chandler Alford, ME 09, is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Institute, and his nephew, Corey Alford, is a junior mechanical engineering student and member of the football team. His brother, Dan Alford, senior vice president and CFO of Allied, is also an alum of the electrical engineering program, class of 1983.

And now, as chair of the Alumni Association, Alford said he’s excited about playing a role in shaping Tech’s bright future.

“Tech, year after year, has climbed in the rankings and in its prestige,” he said. “It’s in a unique position to affect change both locally, nationally and internationally. But the issue isn’t just to find the solution, but to define the problem.”

To accomplish that, Alford said the Institute must be sure not to “let its technological and engineering strength become its weakness.” Because the issues facing the world are more than simply technological, they require multidisciplinary solutions, he said.

“But if there’s anybody in the world that has the potential to bring solutions of significance, Georgia Tech can do it,” he said.

In his role with the Alumni Association, Alford said the most important task is making sure that the association is effectively serving a changing alumni base. To that end, the Alumni Association will undergo a strategic analysis of its operations this year.

“We’re doing this to ensure that we’re not only doing things the right way but doing the right things,” Alford said. “We want to be a market leader, the standard by which others are measured.”

For someone who grew up idolizing Georgia Tech, the opportunity to serve as chair is humbling, Alford said.

“I’m in awe,” he said. “I’m like a kid in a candy store right now. The biggest thing I’m trying to do is to truly relax and enjoy it.”

While Alford has more than enough on his plate to keep himself busy, he said he does set aside time for fun.

“I love to bird hunt and water ski and snow ski,” he said. “My wife, Debbie, and I love to hike, we love to travel. I make a point to play as hard as I work. Recently we went to Costa Rica. I’m 57, and I learned to surf. I still like trying things I haven’t done before.”