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By all accounts, Luis Velez is the American dream. A first-generation Dominican and Puerto Rican American, Velez is the vice president and associate US general counsel for Lightsource BP, a developer and operator of large-scale solar energy projects like solar farms and energy storage. The company’s success caught the eye of BP, which acquired Lightsource in October 2024.
Growing up in Williamsburg, Velez recalls how his immigrant parents did everything they could to provide for their family and further his education. “My mom worked two jobs and went to school at night,” Velez says. “She worked so hard and cared so much about which schools she wanted me to attend, schools I could get into, even though we didn’t have any money.”
The first person in his family to attend college, Velez earned his BA from Amherst and his JD from Columbia. He says one of the greatest privileges of his life was mentoring a cousin who wound up attending NYU and practicing law. Velez knows what it means to set the right example for siblings and now for his son.
But there is an undercurrent to Velez’s story that may ring true for many first-generation Americans. Velez pushed himself to get into the right schools, to land jobs at the right corporate law firms, and to be a father his son can be proud of. The weight of expectations never lifted; it only shifted.
By late 2024, Velez needed to take a break. “I had been working myself hard, without looking around, for over twenty years,” Velez says. “I found myself starting to take business personally, and not in a good way. I needed to reset, and so I chose to take a few months away from work.”
He knows it’s not an opportunity afforded to everyone, and his gratitude to his employer is readily evident. But the attorney, who had just entered his fifth decade, needed time to recalibrate and take stock.
Velez spent a lot of time with his son, developed a meditation practice, and finally focused on taking care of himself. He knew he needed to stop pushing so hard and start understanding why he was pushing so hard.
“I look back on so many years of trying to earn, first to show my family that I had made the right choices and then to provide for my own family,” the VP says. “I needed to learn to be more present, to be here even as I look toward the future. It’s a paradox. You try to establish a wider perspective, but you also try to live in the moment.”
For so many Americans, especially children of immigrants, one set of pressures easily replaces another. Velez says his son is growing up in a fundamentally different situation than he did. What does remain the same for Velez is a profound sense of duty to his family and to his calling.
As Velez returns to Lightsource, the company is undergoing its own profound evolution. The renewable energy company has now been fully acquired by BP, one of the largest fossil fuel companies on earth.
“It’s an interesting proposition, because the culture at Lightsource is what has made it such an incredible place,” Velez explains. “But BP has been around for 158 years. That’s a culture that is obviously doing something right. We’ll find a way to balance those cultures and keep what has worked best here.”
This balancing act between corporate cultures mirrors Velez’s own career—one that has consistently been rooted in a deep commitment to conservation and renewable energy. Velez believes strongly in the renewable energy sector and its potential to create positive change in the world. After a little time off, the VP has found a renewed passion for all the things that matter most to him.
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