USEA | United States Energy Association - Oil & Gas https://usea.org/energy-category/oil-gas Oil and gas play a critical role in the global energy and transportation sectors.  The industry is typically classified in three sectors: upstream, midstream and downstream.  Find out more about USEA's work with our members and partners here. en Women In Energy: Julia Hamm https://usea.org/article/women-energy-julia-hamm <div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><h2>Women In Energy: Julia Hamm</h2></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">August 12th, 2019</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt" xml:lang="EN"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a">The Women in Energy series is a joint project between USEA and USAID that was developed out of USEA’s Engendering Utilities Partnership, a program funded by USAID to improve gender policies and gender outcomes at their respective organizations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p><span style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a"><img alt="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" src="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" style="width:624px; height:104px" /></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt" xml:lang="EN"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a">Every month we feature a woman who has shown exemplary leadership and showcase her story. The women among you come from diverse backgrounds and roles and bring a unique perspective to gender equality within the energy sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <div class="media media-element-container media-default"> <div id="file-9580" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg"> <h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/julia-hamm-headshotjpg">Julia Hamm Headshot.jpg</a></h2> <div class="content"> <img height="2000" width="1333" style="width: 200px; height: 300px;" class="media-element file-default" src="https://usea.org/sites/default/files/Julia%20Hamm%20Headshot.jpg" alt="" /> </div> </div> </div> <p> </p> <p>Julia is a visionary non-profit leader at the center of the transformation underway in the electric power sector​ to a clean and modern energy future​.  For the past 20 years she has been advising and collaborating with utilities, solution providers and government agencies on business models, grid modernization, and clean energy policies, strategies and programs.</p> <p>Julia guides and oversees all of SEPA’s research, education, and collaboration activities for its 1,100 member companies.  ​She has led the organization through significant expansion in recent years, including rebranding from the Solar Electric Power Association to the Smart Electric Power Alliance, and merging with both the Association for Demand Response and Smart Grid (ADS) and Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP).</p> <p>Prior to joining SEPA, Julia worked for ICF International where she supported EPA’s implementation of the ENERGY STAR program.  Julia – a graduate of Cornell University – walks the talk, living in a PV powered energy efficient home in Northern Virginia.</p> <p> </p> <p>*Neither USEA nor USAID alters the substance of the responses from the women featured. The answers are their own.</p> <p><b><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%">Women in Energy Interview Questions</span></span></u></b></p> <div> <p><strong>1.</strong> <strong>How have your education and career path led you to where you are now?</strong></p> <p>"I entered college as a Natural Resources major, but quickly realized after just one semester that I wasn’t cut out to be a science major (Bio 101 for science majors, I learned, is much harder than Bio 101 for non-science majors!). I made the switch to Business Management &amp; Marketing, which immediately felt like a much more natural fit for me. So perhaps you might think it’s not surprising that I ended up using my business and marketing skills to help the energy industry with the clean energy transition, which is so closely aligned with my original Natural Resources major. In reality, however, I landed in the energy industry by accident, answering an ad in the Washington Post for an entry level marketing position without knowing until I arrived at the interview that the focus would be working on energy issues.</p> <p>That ad was placed by the consulting company that was managing SEPA back in 1999. So my career with SEPA actually began 20 years ago. In the early 2000s I left for 20 months to go to ICF where I helped manufacturers of energy efficient products use the ENERGY STAR label for marketing purposes. Then in late 2003 the SEPA Board of Directors came to me and asked me to return to run the organization.</p> <p>Little did I know then the success I would have in growing a tiny one-person non-profit with 100 utility members into a 50-person organization with over 1,200 members including 725 utilities."</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>2. Over the course of your career, have you witnessed changes in the sector that have launched more women into leadership positions?</strong></p> <p>"There is no doubt that there are far more women in leadership positions today than when I started my career. In fact, I remember the first time I hosted a CEO dinner at the EEI Annual Convention in 2007. There were 30 CEOs in the room, and I was the only woman. Today, there are so many fantastic female CEOs and executives across the utility industry and the power sector more broadly.</p> <p>When my career started, increasing the diversity of the workforce did not seem to be a priority, but that has changed.  Most companies have diversity goals and programs. Leaders are evaluated based on how well they are able to diversify their teams.</p> <p>Today there are also many great forums for women to network with each other and to learn how to advance their careers. There are non-profits dedicated to this mission. And just about every energy industry conference has a part of the program dedicated to discussing diversity and to helping advance the careers of females."</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>3. Technology is transforming the traditional utility business model into a more modern interactive grid. Some utilities view this transformation as an opportunity to focus on change management and diversity. Research provides compelling evidence that inclusion and diversity unlock innovation and drives better business performance. What, if anything, is your organization doing to attract, retain, and promote more women into senior management positions to respond to the dramatic industry transformation?</strong></p> <p>"SEPA’s mission is focused on the transformation underway and making sure it is a smart, thoughtful one.  We are fortunate. We don’t have a problem attracting, retaining and promoting women into management positions. I think that is because of our culture and the values we live by. At our core we are about facilitating collaboration within the industry, which means we are highly collaborative internally as well. Women seem to be attracted by and to excel in collaborative environments. We also live and breathe “balance” as one of our corporate values. From a non-profit standpoint that means we look at every issue from multiple perspectives and weigh all considerations. From a staff standpoint, it means we take work/life balance very seriously."</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>4. Are talented women within your organization making it to top leadership positions? Why/why not?</strong></p> <p>"Absolutely. Of our nine top positions within the organization, five are filled by women. The reason is that they are the individuals with the right skill sets and expertise to deliver on SEPA’s mission and objectives."</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>5. Companies that embrace diversity outperform their competitors. What type of diversity programs does your organization have in place to mentor future women leaders?  How does your organization measure and report gender diversity? Is the data publicly available?</strong></p> <p>"SEPA is still a relatively small organization with 50 employees, so we don’t have a formal diversity program. However, each employee has a meaningful allotment of funds for professional development each year which allows all employees, whether female or male, to enhance the knowledge and skills that will allow them to propel their career forward.</p> <p>Our gender diversity split is almost exactly 50/50 so it seems as though we are doing well!  While we are not an organization that is focused on a singular technology, we do participate and report our data annually in the Solar Industry Diversity Study."</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>6. What actions should the energy and electricity sector be focused on to accelerate change, increase diversity, and foster a better gender balance in the boardroom?</strong></p> <p>"I believe it’s all about intentionality. Set diversity targets and then actively seek out qualified female candidates. Ultimately any business needs to select the right person for the job regardless of gender, but don’t be satisfied if you are making your selection from a pool of all-male candidates without having made a serious effort to find equally qualified female candidates to consider."</p> <p> </p> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-event-speakers field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related Profile:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/profile/julia-hamm">Julia Hamm</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Energy Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/all">All</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/coal">Coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/distribution">Distribution</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/energy-efficiency">Energy Efficiency</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/generation">Generation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/nuclear">Nuclear</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/oil-gas">Oil &amp; Gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/renewable-energy">Renewable Energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/transmission">Transmission</a></div></div></div><ul class="links list-inline"><li class="service-links-linkedin-share-button first"><a href="https://usea.org/article/women-energy-julia-hamm" title="Share on Linkedin" class="service-links-linkedin-share-button" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Linkedin Share Button</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-twitter-widget"><a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-julia-hamm&amp;count=none&amp;via=USEnergyAssn&amp;text=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Julia%20Hamm&amp;counturl=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-julia-hamm" class="twitter-share-button service-links-twitter-widget" title="Tweet This" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Tweet Widget</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-facebook last"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-julia-hamm&amp;t=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Julia%20Hamm" title="Share on Facebook." class="service-links-facebook" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://usea.org/sites/all/modules/service_links/images/facebook.png" alt="Facebook" /></a></li> </ul> Mon, 12 Aug 2019 19:49:59 +0000 jswanson 2817 at https://usea.org https://usea.org/article/women-energy-julia-hamm#comments Women In Energy: Bentina C. Terry https://usea.org/article/women-energy-bentina-c-terry <div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><h2>Women In Energy: Bentina C. Terry</h2></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">June 10th, 2019</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt" xml:lang="EN"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a">The Women in Energy series is a joint project between USEA and USAID that was developed out of USEA’s Engendering Utilities Partnership, a program funded by USAID to improve gender policies and gender outcomes at their respective organizations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p><span style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a"><img alt="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" src="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" style="width:624px; height:104px" /></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt" xml:lang="EN"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a">Every month we feature a woman who has shown exemplary leadership and showcase her story. The women among you come from diverse backgrounds and roles and bring a unique perspective to gender equality within the energy sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <div class="media media-element-container media-default"> <div id="file-9345" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg"> <h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/bentina-terry-professional-photojpg">Bentina Terry- Professional Photo.jpg</a></h2> <div class="content"> <img height="640" width="457" style="width: 300px; height: 420px;" class="media-element file-default" src="https://usea.org/sites/default/files/profiles/photos/Bentina%20Terry-%20Professional%20Photo.jpg" alt="" /> </div> </div> </div> <p>Bentina C. Terry is Senior Vice President for Northwest Region for Georgia Power. In this role, Bentina is responsible for the company's operations, sales, customer service, economic and community development, and external affairs activities for 1.4 million customers across metro Atlanta and the northwest corner of the state.</p> <p>Bentina is actively involved in the community and feels fortunate to work for a company that has a passion for the communities it serves. She serves on the board of directors for the Midtown Alliance, Posse Foundation, Atlanta Police Foundation, the Atlanta Beltline Partnership, and the Atlanta Women’s Foundation. She is also on the advisory council for the BB&amp;T Open. In 2017, she graduated from Atlanta Regional Commission’s Leadership Institute and has been named one of Atlanta Business League’s 100 Most Influential Women.</p> <p>Bentina has had a diverse career with Southern Company, beginning in 2001 at Georgia Power. She has worked at Georgia Power, Gulf Power, and Southern Nuclear Operating Company, all Southern Company subsidiaries. In her career, she has been responsible for many different areas of the company including External Affairs, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Community and Economic Development, Corporate Communications, Sales and Marketing, Customer Service, Compliance and Ethics, Corporate Services and aspects of Power Delivery. She also served as General Counsel of Southern Nuclear. Bentina began her career practicing law with Troutman Sanders law firm in Atlanta and also served as the Associate General Counsel at Progress Energy in Raleigh, NC prior to coming to Southern Company.</p> <p>A native of Fayetteville, N.C., Bentina holds a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Michigan Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in English from North Carolina State University. She is a member of the North Carolina State Bar and the Georgia State Bar, Leadership Atlanta, Leadership North Carolina, Leadership Florida, the International Women’s Forum and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She has received various awards and recognitions for her contribution to the state of Florida and northwest Florida including being named one of Influence Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in Florida Politics (2015), 850 Magazine’s Pinnacle Award (2014), Florida Chamber Foundation’s Chair Award (2014), the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce’s Community Leader of the Year (2013), and one of the Florida Diversity Council’s Most Powerful and Influential Women (2012). She has been selected as a member of the “IN Power List” recognizing the top 100 most powerful and influential people in greater Pensacola area for seven consecutive years (2009-2016) and was named #1 in April 2016. She was also an International Women’s Forum (IWF) Fellow in 2012.</p> <p>She is married to Antonio Terry and they have one dog, Bubba.</p> <p> </p> <p>*Neither USEA nor USAID alters the substance of the responses from the women featured. The answers are their own.</p> <p><b><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%">Women in Energy Interview Questions</span></span></u></b></p> <div> <p><strong>1. How have your education and career path led you to where you are now?</strong></p> <div class="WordSection1"> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-top:.45pt; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; margin-left:0in">“I wish I could say that it was planned. Early in my career, I was blessed to have mentors and sponsors who invested in me. That coupled with being open to new opportunities and leveraging opportunities that came along during various roles lead me to my current position. I've always valued relationships and seen how being engaged with a diverse network of people can be helpful for my career. To sum it up, it's really been a combination of job performance, understanding the value of relationships and being willing to take a chance in jobs that were different from my education and experiences together that have led me to where I am today.”</p> </div> <p> </p> <p><strong>2. Over the course of your career, have you witnessed changes in the sector that have launched more women into leadership positions?</strong></p> <p>“When I first started in the utility sector, I couldn’t name any female CEOs. Now, the names of giants such as Susan Story, who was our first female CEO of a Southern Company operating subsidiary; Kim Greene, current president at Southern Company Gas; and Kathy Hill, who was the first African-American female officer at Georgia Power, are all women on whose shoulders I stand.</p> <p>In 2019, there are more women in executive leadership roles. But, our industry still hasn’t reached its full potential even though we are seeing more women move into the CEO ranks, I believe that over time we'll continue to see women in increasingly more senior and more diverse roles in the utility sector.</p> </div> <p>I’m a strong believer that women in our industry need to see women in prominent leadership roles, so they understand anything is possible and that they, too, can aspire to achieve the same. By that same token, I think that men need to see women in executive roles. So, they can start identifying women on their teams who have the potential to lead within the company, so they can fully understand that women can lead and how we lead. But more importantly, women need to be in a diversity of positions because our voices are important, and we need to engage in the conversation.</p> <div> <p>We need diversity in our ranks regardless of whether it’s gender or sexual orientation or economic status or background. Diversity makes us a better company because outside of these walls the people we serve are diverse. If we live in a silo without diversity, we can't possibly serve our customers to the degree that they deserve.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>3. Technology is transforming the traditional utility business model into a more modern interactive grid. Some utilities view this transformation as an opportunity to focus on change management and diversity. Research provides compelling evidence that inclusion and diversity unlock innovation and drives better business performance. What, if anything, is your organization doing to attract, retain, and promote more women into senior management positions to respond to the dramatic industry transformation?</strong></p> <p>“Diversity and inclusion are just good business. It’s true, if you want to be more innovative, you need more minds at the table that think differently. We have to challenge the assumptions and beliefs that some people harbor about women that delay their pursuit of a company’s top leadership roles.</p> <p>That also means, we must be intentional about recruiting women to come into our industry. Once they’re in, we have to provide them with the support networks that they need. It takes men and women supporting and removing the barriers to ensure not only a woman’s success but also the success of any employee.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>4. Are talented women within your organization making it to top leadership positions? Why/why not?</strong></p> <p>The short answer is yes – could we be doing better? Definitely. We need to get more women in the industry and we need to support them when once inside.</p> <p>At Georgia Power we have been focused on diversity and inclusion for the last 20 years and we are seeing it in our leadership representation. A key study, recently conducted by <a href="https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-energy-gas-mining-oil/https:/www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-energy-gas-mining-oil/">Catalyst</a>, shows that women make up 22% of senior management in the utility industry in North America. In comparison, our company numbers were higher than the industry benchmark. We’re proud of these numbers because they are not an accident, they are a result of purposeful efforts on behalf of our company’s leadership.</p> </div> <p>Again, do we have more work to do? Yes. However, Georgia Power remains focused on ensuring that our talented women employees build strong networks and gain the development experiences necessary to advance.</p> <div> <p>We are committed as an organization to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To help create this environment, employees and leaders are required to attend unconscious bias training and all leaders have a Diversity &amp; Inclusion goal in their personal performance plan. In addition, we encourage men to be intentional in expanding their informal mentoring (to women) and creating inclusive environments on their teams.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>5. Companies that embrace diversity outperform their competitors. What type of diversity programs does your organization have in place to mentor future women leaders? How does your organization measure and report gender diversity? Is the data publicly available?</strong></p> <p>“Georgia Power has several programs that support the development of future women leaders. Intentional Networking, which is geared primarily towards high potential women, is designed for leaders to get-to-know and invest in our talent while providing participants with business and leadership insights and exposure to senior leaders. Another program, LINKS, helps women, minorities, and new hires connect with leaders who help to expand participant’s networks and assist them in navigating the culture as they progress in their careers.</p> <p>Our Technical Women in Georgia (TWIG) Employee Resource Group hosts workshops and discussions aimed at fostering skills for professional growth. Through MAGIC (Mentoring a Girl in Construction) Camp, TWIG members help develop strong future women leaders and propel young girls’ interest in STEM.</p> <p>For more experienced leaders, we offer an internal development program that enhances their leadership skills, provides networking opportunities with senior leaders and peers, and builds capacity for developing talent within their organizations.</p> <p>Georgia Power invests in several external women-focused development programs for all levels of employees up to, and including, executives. One, Signature, supports and fast-tracks women executives through development of key leadership and business skills. We support women leaders in attending various industry-related development programs that provide an opportunity to engage in open dialogue with accomplished women leaders, identify strategies for elevating women in the energy industry and participate in unique networking and learning opportunities.</p> <p>Several times throughout the year, female officers host senior female leaders in a Student of the Business event that allows for networking and learning about the business.”</p> </div> <p> </p> <p><strong>6. What actions should the energy and electricity sector be focused on to accelerate change, increase diversity, and foster a better gender balance in the boardroom?</strong></p> <p>“We must be intentional about attracting women into our sector at a very young age. The sooner we start them on a path to leadership the more likely they are to join companies like Georgia Power. Therefore, the presence of strong women in the boardroom is a necessity if you want a truly diverse company. Women in the board room help to ensure that our company is thinking about the effects of the decisions it makes and the potential impacts on the entire workforce. As a leader in the utility industry, we are responsible for serving all our customers. To carry out that mission, we need to have a board that reflects our customer base.”</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-event-speakers field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related Profile:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/profile/bentina-c-terry">Bentina C. Terry</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Energy Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/all">All</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/coal">Coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/distribution">Distribution</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/energy-efficiency">Energy Efficiency</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/generation">Generation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/nuclear">Nuclear</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/oil-gas">Oil &amp; Gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/renewable-energy">Renewable Energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/transmission">Transmission</a></div></div></div><ul class="links list-inline"><li class="service-links-linkedin-share-button first"><a href="https://usea.org/article/women-energy-bentina-c-terry" title="Share on Linkedin" class="service-links-linkedin-share-button" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Linkedin Share Button</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-twitter-widget"><a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-bentina-c-terry&amp;count=none&amp;via=USEnergyAssn&amp;text=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Bentina%20C.%20Terry&amp;counturl=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-bentina-c-terry" class="twitter-share-button service-links-twitter-widget" title="Tweet This" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Tweet Widget</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-facebook last"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-bentina-c-terry&amp;t=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Bentina%20C.%20Terry" title="Share on Facebook." class="service-links-facebook" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://usea.org/sites/all/modules/service_links/images/facebook.png" alt="Facebook" /></a></li> </ul> Mon, 10 Jun 2019 17:33:56 +0000 twilliams 2759 at https://usea.org https://usea.org/article/women-energy-bentina-c-terry#comments Women In Energy: Casiopea Ramirez Melgar https://usea.org/article/women-energy-casiopea-ramirez-melgar <div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><h2>Women In Energy: Casiopea Ramirez Melgar</h2></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">May 3rd, 2019</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt" xml:lang="EN"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a">The Women in Energy series is a joint project between USEA and USAID that was developed out of USEA’s Engendering Utilities Partnership, a program funded by USAID to improve gender policies and gender outcomes at their respective organizations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p><span style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a"><img alt="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" src="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" style="width:624px; height:104px" /></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt" xml:lang="EN"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a">Every month we feature a woman who has shown exemplary leadership and showcase her story. The women among you come from diverse backgrounds and roles and bring a unique perspective to gender equality within the energy sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <div class="media media-element-container media-default"> <div id="file-9172" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg"> <h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/cr-resizedjpg-0">CR resized.jpg</a></h2> <div class="content"> <img height="379" width="306" class="media-element file-default" src="https://usea.org/sites/default/files/CR%20resized_0.jpg" alt="" /> </div> </div> </div> <p>Casiopea Ramires Melgar is an expert in renewable energy and climate change with 14+ years’ international experience in the electricity sector. Casiopea has collaborated with different private and public initiatives to promote competitive electricity markets through public policies fostering renewable energy in Mexico and Central America, including renewable potential studies, regulatory advocacy, climate change mitigation programs and market analysis.</p> <p>Currently, Casiopea is the Managing Partner of Fresh Energy Consulting, a consulting firm specialized in strategy, commercialization and regulatory services for renewable energy. Before joining Fresh Energy, she held managing positions in some of the main international energy utilities in Mexico, such as Global Power Generation, the electricity company of Naturgy (former Gas Natural Fenosa) where she was the Deputy Director of the Electric Business; AES Corporation, as Regulation and Markets Manager for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and Enel Green Power, as Regional Regulatory Manager for Mexico and Central America, positions where she was responsible for the regulatory advocacy and positioning of the company, market and competitors analysis, commercial strategy and institutional relationship management with authorities and sectorial associations.</p> <p>Casiopea holds a Bs in International Affairs and a Master in Geopolitics. In March 2015, she was appointed as the Member of the Electricity Advisory Board, of the Mexican Energy Regulator (CRE) for a 3 year term.</p> <p> </p> <p>*Neither USEA nor USAID alters the substance of the responses from the women featured. The answers are their own.</p> <p><b><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%">Women in Energy Interview Questions</span></span></u></b></p> <p><strong>1. How have your education and career path led you to where you are now?</strong></p> <p>I was one of the first non-engineer women involved in renewable energy back in 2005, when I started working for a consultancy firm dedicated to promoting sustainable projects and climate change mitigation programs in Mexico and Central America.</p> <p>My academic background is more oriented to economics and politics, as I have a Bs in International Affairs, so it was not directly related to the energy sector. Curiously, it was the languages that got me into this world. I studied different languages during college (French, English, Portuguese and even Russian) and it was these additional skills that opened the opportunity to climate change programs, as it was a mechanism sponsored by the UN and speaking different languages was a differentiating factor for young professionals.</p> <p>Even though as a non-engineer, I needed to study harder and longer to be up to date with technical developments of the renewables and emission reduction technologies, it was mentorship what really made a difference for me. I was fortunate to always have peers and bosses supporting me to gain more experience and guiding me through the responsibilities of my different jobs. Since the beginning of my career, I had the opportunity to work closely with the top management of the companies I worked for, which gave me the best training process I could have aimed for, and these experiences gave me the chance to have a comprehensive understanding of the business. So, after a few years in this industry, I’m often called the “female honorary engineer of the team”.</p> <p>Now that I think about how everything happened, I realized that I always had the support of a leader in the organization which helped me not only to gain more experience, but above all, to be confident in an environment mainly dominated by male engineers.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>2. Over the course of your career, have you witnessed changes in the sector that have launched more women into leadership positions?</strong></p> <p>Definitely. For many years, I used to be the only woman or one of the very few in meetings, trainings, even in conferences and sectorial events. 14 years ago women were rarely seen in this sector, and specially in leadership positions. But it was not necessarily because there were not women at all involved in these activities, it was basically lack of exposure both within the companies and the sector.</p> <p>During my first years, I had problems finding female leaders to follow or look at in the electricity sector in Mexico. It was until 2012 when a woman was appointed as Undersecretary of Electricity in the Energy Ministry, that I realized that very few women reach those positions. For many years it was kind of normal not to see women around business meetings. It is still a problem not explicitly addressed, but once you make it visible, people recognize there are not enough women involved in decision making processes and leadership positions and that is not right. But what’s next?</p> <p>Last year, an initiative called Expert Voice (Voz Experta) was launched by a group of women experts in energy with the aim of making visible all the female experts in the energy sector in events, forums, spaces to have female voices heard and included in the debate. Voz Experta has worked not only to make the gender balance a priority for events in the sector, but more importantly as a professional network of 100+ female energy experts with 10+years of experience and holding leadership positions, creating a community of professionals working together for the energy sector and promoting gender balance spaces. With professional exposure, new professional opportunities will appear. But opportunities are not the only critical aspect to create a balanced gender environment, we need to provide equal remuneration and evaluation policies to secure women participation in the long term.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>3. Technology is transforming the traditional utility business model into a more modern interactive grid. Some utilities view this transformation as an opportunity to focus on change management and diversity. Research provides compelling evidence that inclusion and diversity unlock innovation and drives better business performance. What, if anything, is your organization doing to attract, retain, and promote more women into senior management positions to respond to the dramatic industry transformation?</strong></p> <p>We are a small company but our goals are very clear in terms of creating a top professional team, retain the best talent and promote them according to their abilities and potential. Our policy is simple: gender neutral selection process, gender neutral evaluation for promotion, gender neutral remuneration. Currently our Partner structure is 50/50.</p> <p>I’ve experienced gender policies in other companies where quotas were implemented with little success. Companies that realized their female participation was too low or basically inexistent, decided suddenly that all the new positions should only be covered by women. This strategy does not work as it an example of discrimination and does not encourage candidates to be the most suitable for the positions. As a result, the opposite effect in the organizations is achieved, instead of valuing their professional background and skills, colleagues see these new employees as pink quota only.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>4. Are talented women within your organization making it to top leadership positions? Why/why not?</strong></p> <p>Yes, as mentioned previously, our current Partner structure is 50/50. We value experience, professional background, but above all the abilities and potential to make the company grow. This has nothing to do with gender.</p> <p>At the end, talented women should be recognized and valued because of their professional capabilities independently of their reproductive willingness. Many companies limit women’s professional growth because of their age being afraid one will leave the company if becoming pregnant or won’t come back to work after giving birth, or even worse, that if one has kids, then your professional abilities becomes affected. Motherhood is a personal choice and should not be an obstacle when hiring/promoting female professionals. I believe that if the organizations provide gender neutral policies in terms of remuneration, promotion opportunities and a proper work-life balance, we would see more women organically growing within the companies.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>5. What actions should the energy and electricity sector be focused on to accelerate change, increase diversity, and foster a better gender balance in the boardroom?</strong></p> <p>I have been approached many times by young female professionals after a conference or event saying they are proud and excited to finally see a woman in energy events and that is encouraging for them to see we (women) can actually <span style="font-size:12px;">reach those positions. It is incredible, we are 50% of the world’s population and we are not “seen”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12px;">Let’s present the sector as an opportunity for all professional backgrounds and gender neutral. Energy/electricity is not only produced by engineers, the sector needs lawyers, economists, social workers, finance experts, human resources, etc etc. We need to encourage women to be involved in this sector, despite of the male-engineer prejudice. And don’t </span>forget that engineers can also be women.</p> <p>Making the problem visible, calling it by its name, helps bringing awareness and actions to be implemented. Just by asking why there are no women in your management/organization helps to start addressing the problem. Then showing there are valuable and experienced women presents them as ideal candidates to be considered for top positions.</p> <p>Gender quotas are not formally implemented in Mexico, but social pressure is helping to address the problem. Not enough though, so networking and sponsoring are playing an important role for helping women face gender barriers to reach top positions in the energy sector.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-event-speakers field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related Profile:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/profile/casiopea-ramirez-melgar">Casiopea Ramirez Melgar</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Energy Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/all">All</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/coal">Coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/distribution">Distribution</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/energy-efficiency">Energy Efficiency</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/generation">Generation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/nuclear">Nuclear</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/oil-gas">Oil &amp; Gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/renewable-energy">Renewable Energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/transmission">Transmission</a></div></div></div><ul class="links list-inline"><li class="service-links-linkedin-share-button first"><a href="https://usea.org/article/women-energy-casiopea-ramirez-melgar" title="Share on Linkedin" class="service-links-linkedin-share-button" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Linkedin Share Button</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-twitter-widget"><a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-casiopea-ramirez-melgar&amp;count=none&amp;via=USEnergyAssn&amp;text=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Casiopea%20Ramirez%20Melgar&amp;counturl=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-casiopea-ramirez-melgar" class="twitter-share-button service-links-twitter-widget" title="Tweet This" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Tweet Widget</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-facebook last"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-casiopea-ramirez-melgar&amp;t=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Casiopea%20Ramirez%20Melgar" title="Share on Facebook." class="service-links-facebook" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://usea.org/sites/all/modules/service_links/images/facebook.png" alt="Facebook" /></a></li> </ul> Fri, 03 May 2019 18:58:35 +0000 twilliams 2719 at https://usea.org https://usea.org/article/women-energy-casiopea-ramirez-melgar#comments Women In Energy: Jacqui Nelson https://usea.org/article/women-energy-jacqui-nelson <div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><h2>Women In Energy: Jacqui Nelson</h2></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">April 4th, 2019</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt" xml:lang="EN"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a">The Women in Energy series is a joint project between USEA and USAID that was developed out of USEA’s Engendering Utilities Partnership, a program funded by USAID to improve gender policies and gender outcomes at their respective organizations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p><span style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a"><img alt="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" src="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" style="width:624px; height:104px" /></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt" xml:lang="EN"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a">Every month we feature a woman who has shown exemplary leadership and showcase her story. The women among you come from diverse backgrounds and roles and bring a unique perspective to gender equality within the energy sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <div class="media media-element-container media-default"> <div id="file-9127" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg"> <h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/cropped-jacqui-nelsonjpg">cropped Jacqui Nelson.jpg</a></h2> <div class="content"> <img title="Jacqui Nelson" height="629" width="620" style="width: 310px; height: 315px;" class="media-element file-default" src="https://usea.org/sites/default/files/cropped%20Jacqui%20Nelson.jpg" alt="" /> </div> </div> </div> <p>Jacqui Nelson is the General Manager Operations at Contact Energy, Ltd. In this role, she is accountable for key operational performance metrics such as safety records, improving plant reliability, reducing cost base, increasing generation volumes, and improving employee engagement. She is a key leader within the Generation &amp; Development business unit which is responsible for delivering 80% of Contact’s EBITDAF and is accountable for the financial management of the company’s largest cost budget.</p> <p>Jacqui Nelson graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Otago University and is a member of INFINZ, the Institute of Directors, and Global Women Associates.</p> <p> </p> <p>*Neither USEA nor USAID alters the substance of the responses from the women featured. The answers are their own.</p> <p><span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Women In Energy Interview Questions</strong></span></p> <h4><strong>1. How have your education and career path led you to where you are now?</strong></h4> <p>Interestingly, my education (a degree in chemistry) has had less bearing on where I am today than other drivers. What has been more influential is a constant desire to learn new skills and look for opportunities where I can apply them in ways that enable me to have fun and add value.</p> <p>One thing that hasn’t changed is how I approach things. I’ve always backed myself, grasped opportunities as they present themselves and been open to challenge. I have my parents to thank for that. They were quietly encouraging of whatever I undertook and never questioned my capability or the path I’d chosen. I believe support is crucial to helping women realise their full potential and I’m a firm believer in the power of ‘women supporting women’.</p> <p>I think it’s important not to have a fixed mindset about where your education might lead you. As an example, when I graduated from university with my degree in chemistry in my early 20s, the first job I applied for was as an Economist in a bank. Surprisingly, I got an interview. While I was turned down for the economist job, the bank liked my attitude, and instead offered me a job in international banking. Since then my career has been a constantly iterative process of developing different skills, putting them to good use, connecting with different people and trying new things.</p> <p>At the bank I progressed through a variety of roles in the markets division from foreign exchange dealer until I became Manager of Domestic Markets – a far cry from my days studying chemistry. Up for a new challenge I then spent nine years working as a treasury advisor for Airways New Zealand before joining Contact as its Corporate Treasurer.</p> <p>I have a real passion for developing people and finding innovative solutions to improve and optimise the areas for which I have responsibility for, and for making them safe, inclusive and enjoyable places for the people who work in them. I’ve been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to do this in a diverse range of roles here at Contact, including as Treasurer, Head of Land, Environment and Consenting, Head of Electricity Markets, and now as General Manager Operations.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>2. Over the course of your career, have you witnessed changes in the sector that have launched more women into leadership positions?</strong></p> <p>Absolutely. We have an incredible legacy here in New Zealand when it comes to gender equality, which has made many of the changes I’ve witnessed in the sector possible.</p> <p>I feel very privileged to have been brought up in a country that has been championing gender equality and equal opportunity since 1893, when New Zealand women were the first in the world to win the right to vote. Today we have a legal framework that gives women full and equal rights and a society where women feature at the highest levels of our government and judiciary. We have had three female Prime Ministers, of whom one is in office today, two female Chief Justices and three female Governors-General.  This has provided a great foundation on which to improve gender equality at all levels and ensure that ‘equal opportunity’ exists alongside ‘equal rights’ for all women in New Zealand, especially for our ethnic and migrant women where there is still much work to be done.</p> <p>In the sector I have witnessed a shift away from a technical focus on leadership roles to appointments made on strategic and people management capability, greater transparency of diversity metrics and improved female participation at an industry level. As an example there were 10 participants at the Women in Engineering and Technology Conference back in 2015, and this year there were close to 150. For our industry this is an awesome result.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>3. Technology is transforming the traditional utility business model into a more modern interactive grid. Some utilities view this transformation as an opportunity to focus on change management and diversity. Research provides compelling evidence that inclusion and diversity unlock innovation and drive better business performance. What, if anything, is your organisation doing to attract, retain and promote more women into senior management positions to respond to dramatic industry transformation?</strong></p> <p>Technology is certainly having profound impacts on our industry as an enabler for transformation, although I like to think of it as ‘evolution’. At Contact it’s enabling our people, our plants and our business operations to be more innovative and responsive to change.</p> <p>Interactive grids, virtual power plants and distributed energy systems are where technology is taking the electricity system, but technology is also playing a much wider role for us by creating new opportunities for our people. The interactive maintenance work-management systems, mobile-based technical inspections, and sensor and IOT (Internet of Things) based systems we’re developing are helping our steam-field technicians to manage data better, leading to better decision-making.</p> <p>We are also harnessing technology to enable greater diversity, provide a flexible workplace, break down siloes and create a more connected workforce. I think it is important to note that when I talk about diversity at Contact, I’m referring to diversity of thought. We’re trying to drive diversity at all levels (eg ethnicity, age, background and skills), as well as gender, and technology is helping us do that by enabling us to tap in to our human energy to make change management more seamless.</p> <p>Alongside enhanced parental leave provisions, another thing we’ve set up here is Contact Flex, which recognises the importance of work flexibility to the health and wellbeing of our people. Contact Flex offers a range of flexible working options, including one that recognises the importance of flexibility to mothers returning to work from parental leave, and it’s helping us to retain more of our female workforce. We have also enabled Skype on people’s desktops to provide even more flexibility to stay connected and work from home. Our approach to flexible working is designed to ensure that we retain those employees for whom a traditional approach to working hours or workplaces may not fit.</p> <p>We also provide opportunities for our leaders to attend specific industry events, such as Women in Engineering, Women in Technology and Women in Digital. These events provide forums for our people to connect with other leaders, share ideas and collaborate on important themes such as addressing the gender imbalance in technology, technical and engineering roles.</p> <p>Another thing we’ve used technology for is collaboration. One example is an online tool that we’ve developed, which lets everyone in our business pitch improvement ideas, raise challenges, seek help and contribute to ideas raised by other people. It’s been a great way to break down hierarchies, improve diversity of thought and empower our people to lead change.</p> <p>Most recently we reviewed our talent acquisition model and replaced it with a new model that has an explicit focus on diversity at all stages of the recruitment process. We’ve been through an exercise of reviewing the language we use in our recruitment advertisements to make it more inclusive, and our candidate shortlisting will see us remove names from CVs to completely rule out gender (and other) bias.</p> <p> </p> <h4><strong>4. Are talented women within your organisation making it to top leadership positions? Why/Why not?</strong></h4> <p>Women hold a number of top leadership positions at a corporate level across Finance and Risk (67%), Customer (42%), Governance (80%) and People and Safety (50%). Altogether, women hold 40% of senior management positions across the organisation.</p> <p>It’s fair to say that we’ve got a lot more work to do, especially in the operations side of our business, where 12% of our workforce is female and women represent 21% of senior management roles.</p> <p>This is due, in part, to the low uptake of women into engineering degrees and the narrow perception amongst our young women of what opportunities exist in the sector. Right now, the pipeline of talent is not coming through. So, in addition to ensuring gender diversity at senior management level, we also need to tell more stories about what is possible to encourage greater uptake of women into engineering degrees.</p> <p>Shifting perceptions requires effort on all fronts. Universities are looking at better communication opportunities while organisations that employ engineers, including ours, are actively working to support them. Here are some of the things we’re doing to encourage more women into leadership positions and to build the pipeline:</p> <p>Encouraging more women into leadership positions</p> <ul> <li>Contact is a founding member of Engineering New Zealand’s Diversity Agenda, which recognises that while other professions have increased their proportions of women, in the engineering industry women remain significantly underrepresented at senior levels. This is true for operations more generally. The Diversity Agenda is about driving change in New Zealand’s engineering and architecture firms and has a goal of getting 20% more women into engineering and architecture roles by 2021.</li> <li>We are also a supporting partner of Global Women, whose purpose is to increase diversity in leadership in New Zealand.</li> <li>Our Chief Executive is part of Champions for Change – a group of 53 leading CEOs and chairs, each with a personal mission to accelerate inclusive and diverse leadership in our workplaces.</li> </ul> <p>Building the pipeline</p> <ul> <li>At our Te Rapa power station, Rachelle Meijer, one of our female engineers represents us in an initiative called the Secondary School Employer Partnership, which connects employers from a range of sectors with year 9 and 10 students. As part of the initiative she has partnered with a local girls’ college to run in-school classes on electricity generation and talk to the students about her career path. We also host the girls at the power station to give them first-hand experience of what it’s like to work there.</li> <li>At our Clyde power station, Jen McLean, one of our female electrical generation technicians, hosts around 30 girls at the site for a day each year through an initiative called Girls with Hi-Vis. The purpose of the initiative, run by Connexis (a local infrastructure industry training organisation), is to highlight opportunities for women in trades and in technical roles in the industry.</li> <li>We are also a member of WING (Women in Geothermal), which is a global movement aimed at the promotion, education, professional development and advancement of women operating in the sector. One of our geothermal chemists, Abbie Dean, was the New Zealand Ambassador for WING in 2016 and led a campaign aimed at recruiting men. As part of writing WING’s five-year vision, Abbie set the goal of having 50% male membership, out of a target of 1500 members, by 2020. Part of Abbie’s involvement with WING is to promote the many technically brilliant women in our sector doing inspiring things as leaders.</li> </ul> <p><strong>5. Companies that embrace diversity outperform their competitors. What types of diversity programme does your organisation have in place to mentor future women leaders? How does your organisation measure and report on gender diversity? Is the data publicly available?</strong></p> <p>We know that companies with gender-diverse workforces deliver better commercial results. At its most basic, Contact is committed to ensuring that there are equal opportunities for all current and future employees. Our female employees earn on average 97% of the average salary of male employees in the same salary band, and we were ranked first in the 2017 Thomson Reuters Diversity &amp; Inclusion Index.</p> <p>In terms of our diversity programmes:</p> <ul> <li>we have a formal diversity and inclusion policy</li> <li>we report our diversity figures (gender, ethnicity and age data as well gender pay ratios) each year in our Annual Report</li> <li>we have one of the most diverse Boards of Directors among New Zealand-listed companies, having equal gender representation in FY18. This year three out of our seven Board members are female</li> <li>we operate Contact Flex to offer a range of flexible working options. This helps us to retain talent and create a more inclusive and diverse workplace</li> <li>we have been awarded the Rainbow Tick, a New Zealand mark of confidence for organisations that complete a diversity and inclusion certification process. The process tests whether a workplace understands, values and welcomes sexual and gender diversity.</li> </ul> <p>We’re proud of these achievements but also recognise that they are milestones on a journey to make diversity and inclusion a self-sustaining behaviour within our organisation.</p> <h4><strong>6. What actions should the energy and electricity sector be focused on to accelerate change, increase diversity and foster a better gender balance in the boardroom?</strong></h4> <p>I think we need to do more to listen and respond to what our female workforce is telling us they need to feel supported.</p> <p>Last year Contact hosted the New Zealand Geothermal Workshop at our Wairākei site. I was privileged to present alongside New Zealand’s Minister of Energy and Resources, Megan Woods, who spoke passionately about the economic sense behind achieving gender equality in the sector, and how it’s not just a moral issue.</p> <p>I shared my experience of asking our women across our business unit how I could support them more effectively, and more generally how we can better support each other. There was consensus that we’re doing some things really well but we have a very wide range of how our people feel supported. Generally our female workforce don’t want gender difference to exist in the workplace, and that everyone (irrespective of gender) wants to be accepted, feel included and valued.</p> <p>I heard that we need to have more courageous conversations and call out behaviours that are obstructive to an equal and inclusive workplace as they happen and a real need to equip our people with the skills to do this in a safe way. While we’ve come a long way, I think we can do more to encourage internal movement within our businesses to bring different ideas forward and create a stimulating and engaging workplace.</p> <p>Ultimately, we need to equip our people, especially women, to be courageous leaders and lead the way for younger generations. In the past couple of years we’ve increased our investment in leader development and mentoring through programmes that have shifted our focus from a rules-based culture to one of empowerment and collaboration. We know that implementing these things has helped our women to build confidence and take on new opportunities.</p> <p>Lastly, we need to demonstrate how exciting and diverse a career in Operations can be and continue to promote the value women in the industry bring.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-event-speakers field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related Profile:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/profile/jacqui-nelson">Jacqui Nelson</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Energy Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/all">All</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/coal">Coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/distribution">Distribution</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/energy-efficiency">Energy Efficiency</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/generation">Generation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/nuclear">Nuclear</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/oil-gas">Oil &amp; Gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/renewable-energy">Renewable Energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/transmission">Transmission</a></div></div></div><ul class="links list-inline"><li class="service-links-linkedin-share-button first"><a href="https://usea.org/article/women-energy-jacqui-nelson" title="Share on Linkedin" class="service-links-linkedin-share-button" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Linkedin Share Button</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-twitter-widget"><a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-jacqui-nelson&amp;count=none&amp;via=USEnergyAssn&amp;text=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Jacqui%20Nelson&amp;counturl=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-jacqui-nelson" class="twitter-share-button service-links-twitter-widget" title="Tweet This" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Tweet Widget</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-facebook last"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-jacqui-nelson&amp;t=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Jacqui%20Nelson" title="Share on Facebook." class="service-links-facebook" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://usea.org/sites/all/modules/service_links/images/facebook.png" alt="Facebook" /></a></li> </ul> Thu, 04 Apr 2019 18:17:13 +0000 twilliams 2703 at https://usea.org https://usea.org/article/women-energy-jacqui-nelson#comments Women In Energy: Merribel Ayres https://usea.org/article/women-energy-merribel-ayres <div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><h2>Women In Energy: Merribel Ayres</h2></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">February 19th, 2019</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt" xml:lang="EN"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a">The Women in Energy series is a joint project between USEA and USAID that was developed out of USEA’s Engendering Utilities Partnership, a program funded by USAID to improve gender policies and gender outcomes at their respective organizations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p><span style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a"><img alt="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" src="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" style="width:624px; height:104px" /></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt" xml:lang="EN"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a">Every month we feature a woman who has shown exemplary leadership and showcase her story. The women among you come from diverse backgrounds and roles and bring a unique perspective to gender equality within the energy sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p style="margin-left:-.25pt"> </p><div class="media media-element-container media-default"> <div id="file-2773" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg"> <h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/2773">Merribel Ayres.jpg</a></h2> <div class="content"> <img class="media-element file-default" src="https://usea.org/sites/default/files/Speakers/Merribel%20Ayres.jpg" alt="" /> </div> </div> </div> <p style="margin-left:-.25pt">Merribel Ayres, Principal of Lighthouse Consulting Group, has been a leader in the Washington business and political communities for three decades. Founded in 1996, Lighthouse celebrates 23 years in 2019. The firm’s concentration is on energy and environmental business/policy strategies which advance and achieve client goals.</p> <p style="margin-left:-.25pt">Ms. Ayres has been a central player in the energy transition—with both utilities and their industrial &amp; commercial customers. Her in-depth background with leading energy businesses (their investors and stakeholders) enables her to provide a critical perspective for Clients and Boards, both as an Adviser and Director.</p> <p style="margin-left:-.25pt">Her experience is comprehensive within the energy sector and related technologies (e.g. natural gas, coal, oil, nuclear, renewables, electric grid modernization). She is recognized for her expertise in Climate/Carbon and related Energy System strategies. She has a track record in brokering agreements and partnerships among stakeholders (business, government &amp; NGO). In addition to Lighthouse’s political advocacy services, Ms. Ayres provides high-level advisory and strategic management services to CEOs and senior leadership teams.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="color:#7f7f7f">  *Neither USEA nor USAID alters the substance of the responses from the women featured. The answers are their own.</span></span></span></i></p> <p><b><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%">Women in Energy Interview Questions</span></span></u></b></p> <p class="rteindent1"><b>1.  How have your education and career path led you to where you are now?</b> <span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">In most unusual ways! My undergraduate background was in English and Irish Literature, French and Philosophy. Yet, people often ask me if I am lawyer—probably because of strong analytic and communications skills! I started my career as a journalist which helped sharpen my writing abilities—an important asset throughout my career. Over time, I was able to take advantage of focused executive programs and seminars at several top institutions, including the Wharton School of Business, the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School. I started my firm, Lighthouse Consulting Group, 23 years ago after heading a power industry trade group which relied on outside lawyers, lobbyist and PR firms. I realized that the energy sector needed/needs advisors who understand the business, know the relevant policymakers and stakeholders, can help shape strategy and communicate effectively. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p class="rteindent1">2. <b>Over the course of your career, have you witnessed changes in the sector that have launched more women into leadership positions?</b> <span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">The big game-changer in my view is that more women are preparing for careers in engineering, business, law, finance and computer science. If you look at the women CEO’s in the electric sector, you will invariably find academic and professional credentials such as these.</span></span></span></p> <p class="rteindent1"> </p> <p class="rteindent1"><b>3. Technology is transforming the traditional utility business model into a more modern interactive grid. Some utilities view this transformation as an opportunity to focus on change management and diversity. Research provides compelling evidence that inclusion and diversity unlock innovation and drives better business performance. What, if anything, is your organization doing to attract, retain, and promote more women into senior management positions to respond to the dramatic industry transformation?</b> <span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">While my own firm is intentionally small, I often serve in a C-Suite advisory role with large companies and am able to counsel clients on the importance of having of diversity in the leadership team. But I also stress that diversity of experience, perspective and outlook is as important as diversity in gender, ethnicity and race. Among my CEO client base, it has been gratifying to see heightened awareness in focused recruiting of women on Boards and in executive positions.</span></span></span></p> <p class="rteindent1"> </p> <p class="rteindent1"><b>4. Are talented women within your organization making it to top leadership positions? Why/why not?</b> <span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">I had the pleasure on serving as a Director for CMS Energy in Michigan for several years and watched a new 2011 recruit from a neighboring utility—with a background in Industrial Engineering and Management—quickly demonstrate her abilities in a variety of operational roles throughout the company. Five years later, in 2016, Patricia (Patti) Poppe was named Chief Executive and has moved CMS Energy into the forefront of the utility industry for innovation and strategy, particularly in serving large customer clean energy requirements.</span></span></span></p> <p class="rteindent1"> </p> <p class="rteindent1"><b>5. Companies that embrace diversity outperform their competitors. What type of diversity programs does your organization have in place to mentor future women leaders?  How does your organization measure and report gender diversity? Is the data publicly available?</b> <span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">(NOT APPLICABLE)</span></p> <p class="rteindent1"> </p> <p class="rteindent1"><b>6. What actions should the energy and electricity sector be focused on to accelerate change, increase diversity, and foster a better gender balance in the boardroom?</b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif"> As a consultant, I have been privileged to work with many leading companies and organizations over the years and have refined my own “8-Points of Good-to-Great Cultures:” </span></span></span></p> <p class="rteindent2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">1) Avoid silos and siloed thinking, </span></span></span></p> <p class="rteindent2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">2) Work across the boundaries in teams, </span></span></span></p> <p class="rteindent2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">3) Stress performance and accountability, </span></span></span></p> <p class="rteindent2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">4) Know your own (and your organization’s) blind spots, </span></span></span></p> <p class="rteindent2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">5) Validate your assumptions with internal and external stakeholders, </span></span></span></p> <p class="rteindent2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">6) Stay grounded in the truth of the situation, </span></span></span></p> <p class="rteindent2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">7) Speak plainly, and </span></span></span></p> <p class="rteindent2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">8) Take pride in humility (<i>me last vs. me first</i>). </span></span></span></p> <p class="rteindent1"> </p> <p class="rteindent1"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">Companies whose DNA incorporates these principles tend to cultivate a diverse work force and do well in both driving and adapting to change!</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-event-speakers field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related Profile:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/profile/merribel-s-ayres">Merribel S. Ayres</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Energy Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/all">All</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/coal">Coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/distribution">Distribution</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/energy-efficiency">Energy Efficiency</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/generation">Generation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/nuclear">Nuclear</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/oil-gas">Oil &amp; Gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/renewable-energy">Renewable Energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/transmission">Transmission</a></div></div></div><ul class="links list-inline"><li class="service-links-linkedin-share-button first"><a href="https://usea.org/article/women-energy-merribel-ayres" title="Share on Linkedin" class="service-links-linkedin-share-button" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Linkedin Share Button</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-twitter-widget"><a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-merribel-ayres&amp;count=none&amp;via=USEnergyAssn&amp;text=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Merribel%20Ayres&amp;counturl=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-merribel-ayres" class="twitter-share-button service-links-twitter-widget" title="Tweet This" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Tweet Widget</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-facebook last"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-merribel-ayres&amp;t=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Merribel%20Ayres" title="Share on Facebook." class="service-links-facebook" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://usea.org/sites/all/modules/service_links/images/facebook.png" alt="Facebook" /></a></li> </ul> Tue, 19 Feb 2019 15:36:51 +0000 twilliams 2672 at https://usea.org https://usea.org/article/women-energy-merribel-ayres#comments Women In Energy: Minaxi Garg https://usea.org/article/women-energy-minaxi-garg <div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><h2>Women In Energy: Minaxi Garg</h2></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">January 18th, 2019</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt" xml:lang="EN"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a">The Women in Energy series is a joint project between USEA and USAID that was developed out of USEA’s Engendering Utilities Partnership, a program funded by USAID to improve gender policies and gender outcomes at their respective organizations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p><span style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a"><img alt="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" src="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" style="width:624px; height:104px" /></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt" xml:lang="EN"><span style="font-family:&quot;Open Sans&quot;"><span style="color:#6a6a6a">Every month we feature a woman who has shown exemplary leadership and showcase her story. The women among you come from diverse backgrounds and roles and bring a unique perspective to gender equality within the energy sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <p style="margin-left:-.25pt"> </p><div class="media media-element-container media-default media-float-left"> <div id="file-8927" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg"> <h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/minaxi-photo-resizejpg">minaxi photo resize.jpg</a></h2> <div class="content"> <img height="412" width="271" style="float: left; width: 271px; height: 412px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" class="media-element file-default" src="https://usea.org/sites/default/files/minaxi%20photo%20resize.jpg" alt="" /> </div> </div> </div> <p>Minaxi Garg is the Chief General Manager at Power System Operation Corporation (POSOCO), in-charge of the Renewables Energy Sources, Corporate Planning, C&amp;M Department at NLDC, Power System Operation Corporation (POSOCO) as well as Secretary, FOLD and Coordinator    of the Integrated Management System. She is also responsible for capacity building of personnel in Load Dispatch Centers including State Load    Dispatch Centers under Greening the Grid Project &amp; Green Energy Corridor Schemes in areas related to increased penetration of renewable energy in the energy mix, RECs and Energy Saving Certificates Scheme.</p> <p style="margin-left:-.25pt">Minaxi Garg graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree in 1983 from the Delhi College of Engineering, New Delhi. Her career spans stints    with an architectural company, India’s Oil &amp; Natural Gas Commission, National Thermal Power Corporation, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.(POWERGRID), and POSOCO.</p> <p style="margin-left:-.25pt">Ms. Garg has been actively associated with the framing of Regulations and their implementation on the Indian Electricity Grid Code;                  Forecasting, Scheduling and Imbalance settlement of wind &amp; solar; Power Markets; Inter State Open Access; Renewable Energy Certificates  (RECs); provisions for variable renewable energy (vRE); Renewable Energy Management Centre; Deviation Settlement Mechanism; Ancillary  Services, etc. and subsequent amendments, and  also activities under Forum of Load Despatchers (FOLD).</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="color:#7f7f7f">  *Neither USEA nor USAID alters the substance of the responses from the women featured. The answers are their own.</span></span></span></i></p> <p>  <u>Women In Energy Interview Questions</u></p> <p>  1. <b>How have your education and career path led you to where you are now?</b></p> <p style="text-align:justify">  Presently, I’m working in Power System Operation Corporation Ltd. (POSOCO) as Chief General Manager. Prior to that I have worked with     Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd. (NTPC Ltd.) and Oil and Natural Gas Commission (now ONGC Ltd.).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">I’d like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to my mother who, despite challenging circumstances, encouraged me to focus on my education and also to my teachers who believed in my abilities and potential. It’s because of these strong role models and mentors I had as a young girl that I developed an ambition and desire to be financially independent.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">I consider myself fortunate to have received my education at a premier institution of India’s capital city of New Delhi, i.e. Lady Irwin Higher Secondary School and Delhi College of Engineering (DCE). Besides a formal education in Engineering, I also did a Management course and was awarded a Specialized Diploma in Management.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">At the time of joining the engineering course, in my college, there were only five female engineering students in the entire college. My entering batch of 1979 in DCE had three times as many females. Although the sudden increase in female population was certainly a welcome change for the male students, there was still a long way to go. The subsequent years saw more influx of female students.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">After graduation, upon joining a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) in the Oil Sector, and later switching to other CPSEs in the Power Sector, I was the only female in my department for many years. It had its own challenges including gender bias. Today, there is a huge improvement in the number of females working in technical fields but there is still much left to be desired. It is a pleasure to watch the confident millennials joining the workforce poised with grace, armed with technical skills and an enthusiasm to learn.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:black">During the past 35 years of my career, various roles and responsibilities have been assigned to me and have led me to gain rich experience in Electricity Grid Operation, Electricity Markets including Renewable Energy Certificates &amp; Energy Saving Certificates, Integration of Renewable Energy Sources, Energy Efficiency, Domestic and International Procurement, Human Resources (including my being a capacity building resource person), Disaster Management, ISO Certification, etc. I’m also Secretary of Forum of Load Dispatchers (i.e. System Operators) Secretariat which comprises of all System Operators of India. I’m a coordinator for activities related to Greening the Grid Project and Green Energy Corridor Scheme, presiding Chairperson of Internal Complaints Committee for prevention of sexual harassment at work, etc.</span></p> <p>2. <b>Over the course of your career, have you witnessed changes in the sector that have launched more women into leadership positions?</b></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Yes, there has been a sea change in the attitude towards women. As a society, more women are joining the technical workforce. The increase in number of women participating in the sector has compelled leaders to design and tailor make women friendly work environments. This has facilitated women to balance work and life and be more on the frontline at work. Progressive policies like longer maternity leave of 6 months, paternity leave of 15 days to support spouse, sabbatical of up to 2 years for mothers with young children, have been introduced which were non-existent earlier. Policies also provide for study leave for higher education. Employees including women are nominated to leadership programs in premiere academic institutes in India and abroad.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">3. <b>Technology is transforming the traditional utility business model into a more modern interactive grid. Some utilities view this transformation as an opportunity to focus on change management and diversity. Research provides compelling evidence that inclusion and diversity unlock innovation and drives better business performance. What, if anything, is your organization doing to attract, retain, and promote more women into senior management positions to respond to the dramatic industry transformation?</b></p> <p style="text-align:justify">POSOCO Power System Awards (PPSA) have been instituted in our organization to promote Research and Development in related fields by giving recognition and award to post graduate and PhD students. It is heartening to note that many women applicants have also received these awards. The system operator field being a unique and highly specialized one, our organization has entered into Industry academia collaborations. These steps provide exposure to students on the functioning of POSOCO and about the area of expertise required.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">POSOCO has introduced progressive policies to make workplaces more women friendly. Women are being promoted to leadership/ senior management positions. POSOCO has a woman as one of the members of Board of Directors.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">POSOCO has a very positive, safe and favorable work environment. Training/ capacity building programs related to operational requirement, competency, behavioral, management, prevention of sexual harassment, etc. have been devised and operationalized. Management advocates and demonstrates zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment related cases. Level playing field exists for women employees. Top Management believes in open door policy and is readily approachable to all employees.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">4. <b>Are talented women within your organization making it to top leadership positions? Why/why not?</b></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Yes. Some of the facilitating factors include steps such as empowerment by top management, mentoring by seniors.</p> <p>5. <b>Companies that embrace diversity outperform their competitors. What type of diversity programs does your organization have in place to mentor future women leaders?  How does your organization measure and report gender diversity? Is the data publicly available?</b></p> <p>POSOCO has an internal system of preparing and reporting unit-wise gender diversity ratios. Our organization monitors the gender diversity within POSOCO and being a government company shares this information with stakeholders. The gender diversity percentage ratio of women is comparatively good compared to other Indian Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).</p> <p>Further, the Government of India, recognizing the importance of gender diversity, has directed CPSEs to ensure level playing field for women employees.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">6. <b>What actions should the energy and electricity sector be focused on to accelerate change, increase diversity, and foster a better gender balance in the boardroom?</b></p> <p style="text-align:justify">A number of factors play a role in gender imbalance existing in the sector, especially in the leadership role. The number of technically qualified women at the entry level in the organizations is very low. Despite having formal technical education from premier institutions and developing expertise in the energy sector, many women tend to drop out of the workforce after having children as they can’t afford a full- time job for the sake of raising their children and securing their good future. In this context, organizations must support policies that make motherhood and work compatible and are balanced. The job continuity of women in technical streams will definitely increase diversity and facilitate their entry in the Boardrooms.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Further, commitment of top management to achieve the goal of improving gender diversity can play an important role including implementation of creation of inclusive work culture, providing equal opportunities, overcoming counterproductive bias, empowerment, skill up-gradation, mentoring and career counselling of women workforce at all levels so as to improve their participation and contribution to the growth of the organization.</p> <p> </p> <p style="margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-event-speakers field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related Profile:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/profile/minaxi-garg">Minaxi Garg</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Energy Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/all">All</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/coal">Coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/distribution">Distribution</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/energy-efficiency">Energy Efficiency</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/generation">Generation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/nuclear">Nuclear</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/oil-gas">Oil &amp; Gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/renewable-energy">Renewable Energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/transmission">Transmission</a></div></div></div><ul class="links list-inline"><li class="service-links-linkedin-share-button first"><a href="https://usea.org/article/women-energy-minaxi-garg" title="Share on Linkedin" class="service-links-linkedin-share-button" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Linkedin Share Button</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-twitter-widget"><a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-minaxi-garg&amp;count=none&amp;via=USEnergyAssn&amp;text=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Minaxi%20Garg&amp;counturl=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-minaxi-garg" class="twitter-share-button service-links-twitter-widget" title="Tweet This" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Tweet Widget</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-facebook last"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-minaxi-garg&amp;t=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Minaxi%20Garg" title="Share on Facebook." class="service-links-facebook" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://usea.org/sites/all/modules/service_links/images/facebook.png" alt="Facebook" /></a></li> </ul> Fri, 18 Jan 2019 14:16:08 +0000 twilliams 2653 at https://usea.org https://usea.org/article/women-energy-minaxi-garg#comments Women In Energy: Linda Breathitt https://usea.org/article/women-energy-linda-breathitt <div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><h2>Women In Energy: Linda Breathitt</h2></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">December 3rd, 2018</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Women in Energy series is a joint project between USEA and USAID that was developed out of USEA’s Engendering Utilities Partnership, a program funded by USAID to improve gender policies and gender outcomes at their respective organizations.</p> <hr /> <p>                            <img alt="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" src="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <div class="media media-element-container media-default media-float-left"> <div id="file-8808" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg"> <h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/linda-photojpg">Linda photo.jpg</a></h2> <div class="content"> <img height="1200" width="853" style="height: 211px; width: 150px; float: left; margin: 2px;" class="media-element file-default" src="https://usea.org/sites/default/files/profiles/photos/Linda%20photo.jpg" alt="" /> </div> </div> </div> <p>Linda Key Breathitt has devoted her career to public policy and energy.  Appointed by President Bill Clinton she served as Commissioner to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 1997 thru 2002. She was appointed to the Kentucky Public Commission in 1993 and became Chairman of the KPSC in 1996 and served until her confirmation to FERC.   In 2012 she was appointed a second time to the KPSC and served for 2 years. Her career included serving as Director of the Commonwealth of Kentucky Washington DC Office from 1980 to 1993.  After departing FERC she was a member of the international law firm of Thelen Reid in Washington DC.</p> <p>Linda returned to her home state of Kentucky in 2008.  She has served on the Board of Directors of Delta Natural Gas, and a number of non-profits in her community including Lex Arts, the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Kentucky, the Henry Clay Foundation, and the Bluegrass and Technical College Foundation Board.</p> <p>Linda has been an active participant in many international energy symposiums and partnerships through the United States Energy Association and the United States Agency for International Development. She graduated from the University of Kentucky and attended a certificate program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.</p> <p> </p> <p><em>*Neither USEA nor USAID alters the substance of the responses from the women featured. The answers are their own</em></p> <p> </p> <p>Women In Energy Interview Questions</p> <p><b>How have your education and career path led you to where you are now?</b></p> <p>I credit my education to great teachers and a curiosity to learn, explore and seek interesting opportunities in my career choices. knew early on that public service would provide a way to participate in the world at large and make a meaningful difference. Having been involved in many international conferences and energy partnerships see women involved in leadership and decision-making rolls at increasing levels.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Over the course of your career, have you witnessed changes in the sector that have launched more women into leadership positions?</strong></p> <p>I have witnessed many changes along the way in the field of energy and energy regulation. When I was first appointed to the KY Public Service Commission in 1993 and at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 1997 there had only been a few women appointed at the Commissioner level. Since then have seen a rise in female executives in the utilities including the CEO level and women appointees at state commissions all over the U.S. While this is heartwarming to me there still is much room for advancement in meaningful jobs that women hold in the energy industry.</p> <p> </p> <p><b>Technology is transforming the traditional utility business model into a more modern interactive grid. Some utilities see the transformation as an opportunity to morph their teams as well because of a correlation between an increase in diversity and an increase in quality, and innovation. What, if anything is your organization doing to attract, retain, and promote more women into senior management positions to respond to the dramatic industry transformation?</b></p> <p>Technology is key to transforming many sectors in the energy field. I have seen it especially in energy efficiency programs, safety protocols in field work and inspections and especially renewable energy advancements such at wind and solar. At the state government PSC level I think it is a bit harder to deploy technology to advance women’s roles in the more traditional jobs of regulatory work such as economic analysis, legal review of cases and rate design.  I believe this is true at the federal government level as well.  I think advancements for women will continue to make gains in the areas of careers at RTO’s, federal labs, utility companies while keeping a continued focus on training and diversity programs that provide opportunities for women to grow.</p> <p> </p> <p><b>Are talented women within your organization making it to top leadership positions? Why/why not?</b></p> <p>I am a strong believer in mentorship.  Organizations such as NARUC, Women In Energy and conferences geared to women in energy provide valuable ways to meet and mentor women in regulatory and the energy industry jobs. During my many international travels to participate in regulatory partnerships through USAID and USEA I made an effort to connect with women from other countries. These were valuable opportunities to share common experiences and challenges in working in traditional male dominated fields.  I’m not sure who enjoyed the interactions the most, but I certainly did.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Companies that embrace diversity outperform their competitors. What type of diversity programs does your organization have in place to mentor future women leaders? How </strong><strong>does</strong><strong> your organization measure and report gender diversity? Is the data publicly available?</strong></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">I believe diversity and inclusion is key to any successful organization. Just as important are programs that train, retain and value a diverse workforce both in government and in the private sector. During my career span have witnessed improvements in diversity hiring but not as much as I’d like to see. Both times served at the KY PSC there was no formal measure for reporting gender diversity and data. would certainly like to see more improvement in diversity hiring in both civil service and executive appointments.</p> <p> </p> <p><b>What actions should the energy and electricity sector be focused on to accelerate change, increase diversity, and foster a better gender balance in the boardroom?</b></p> <p>Another important aspect of contribution to the energy industry is through service on corporate boards.  As more and more companies seek qualified women to serve to boards I believe there will be an ever-increasing pool of great female candidates with valuable experience and leadership skills to lend. Still there is a big gap to overcome when it comes to corporate boards.  This past September, Forbes Magazine published an article by Jill Griffin that said …” unlike some European countries, the United States doesn't mandate female representation on company boards. Majority of companies in the S&amp;P 500 have at least one woman on their boards, but only 25% have more than two, according to a study from PwC. We can do better than that. There are many highly qualified women out there who would be terrific board members. We should give them that opportunity”.  The energy industry should take notice and include more women on their boards.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-event-speakers field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related Profile:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/profile/linda-breathitt">Linda Breathitt</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Energy Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/all">All</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/coal">Coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/distribution">Distribution</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/energy-efficiency">Energy Efficiency</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/generation">Generation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/nuclear">Nuclear</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/oil-gas">Oil &amp; Gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/renewable-energy">Renewable Energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/transmission">Transmission</a></div></div></div><ul class="links list-inline"><li class="service-links-linkedin-share-button first"><a href="https://usea.org/article/women-energy-linda-breathitt" title="Share on Linkedin" class="service-links-linkedin-share-button" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Linkedin Share Button</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-twitter-widget"><a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-linda-breathitt&amp;count=none&amp;via=USEnergyAssn&amp;text=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Linda%20Breathitt&amp;counturl=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-linda-breathitt" class="twitter-share-button service-links-twitter-widget" title="Tweet This" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Tweet Widget</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-facebook last"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-linda-breathitt&amp;t=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Linda%20Breathitt" title="Share on Facebook." class="service-links-facebook" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://usea.org/sites/all/modules/service_links/images/facebook.png" alt="Facebook" /></a></li> </ul> Mon, 03 Dec 2018 20:27:47 +0000 tlee 2638 at https://usea.org https://usea.org/article/women-energy-linda-breathitt#comments Women In Energy: Majida Mourad https://usea.org/article/women-energy-majida-mourad <div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><h2>Women In Energy: Majida Mourad </h2></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">November 5th, 2018</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Women in Energy series is a joint project between USEA and USAID that was developed out of USEA’s Engendering Utilities Partnership, a program funded by USAID to improve gender policies and gender outcomes at their respective organizations.</p> <hr /> <p>                            <img alt="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" src="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <div class="media media-element-container media-default media-float-left"> <div id="file-8712" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg"> <h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/majida-mourad_headshotjpg-1">Majida Mourad_Headshot.jpg</a></h2> <div class="content"> <img height="284" width="250" style="width: 210px; height: 239px; margin: 3px; float: left;" class="media-element file-default" src="https://usea.org/sites/default/files/Majida%20Mourad_Headshot_1.jpg" alt="" /> </div> </div> </div> <p>Majida Mourad is the Vice President of Government Relations at Tellurian Inc.  Ms. Mourad served as Vice President of Government Relations at Cheniere Energy, President of Abraham &amp; Roetzel LLC, and Partner of The Abraham Group LLC, a strategic consulting firm focused on the international energy sector.</p> <p>Prior to joining The Abraham Group, Ms. Mourad served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy from January 2001 until February 2005. During that time Ms. Mourad focused on the United States Department of Energy international relations in the Middle East, Australia, Russia and a host of European and Asian countries. In this role, Ms. Mourad traveled extensively on behalf of the Department and on DOE delegations to the North American Initiative, the G8 Energy Ministerial Conferences, the Western Hemispheric and US-African Energy Ministerial Conferences as well as numerous other DOE initiatives. In addition, she performed key Department assignments with the International Energy Agency, International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Energy Forum. She also served as one of the Department’s senior officials for the Liquefied Natural Gas Summit, the International Partnership for a Hydrogen Economy and the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum.</p> <p>In 1999, she served in the Senate for U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham from Michigan. Ms. Mourad began her career in the legislative field in 1996 with Congressman Sonny Bono, and later to his successor, Congresswoman Mary Bono. </p> <p>Ms. Mourad currently serves as a National Capital Trustee of the Boys and Girls Club.  She is also a member of the National Energy Resources Organization Board. </p> <p> </p> <p><em>*Neither USEA nor USAID alters the substance of the responses from the women featured. The answers are their own</em></p> <p> </p> <p>Women In Energy Interview Questions</p> <p><b>How have your education and career path led you to where you are now?</b></p> <p>When I first came to Washington, I had no intention of entering the energy field. I started off, as so many do, working on Capitol Hill and trying to grasp how the town worked. Something I learned very early on is that it is imperative to like who you are working for. I have had the great fortune of working for wonderful people who have served as mentors and helped guide me through my career.</p> <p>One of those individuals is former United States Senator and Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham. I worked with Secretary Abraham while he served in the Senate; He is the one who brought me into the energy world when he offered me a position at the Department of Energy when he was named Secretary.  Working at the Department of Energy was a wonderful experience; I got a unique perspective and understanding of the international energy market. Later, Secretary Abraham and I started The Abraham Group, an energy consulting firm. I continued to work on energy regulatory and government affairs matters, project assessment, and business development in the international market. I valued my time working with Secretary Abraham and he certainly helped shape my understanding of the energy sector. One of the energy leaders I got to know while at the Department of Energy and then The Abraham Group was Charif Souki, founder of Cheniere and Tellurian. Charif Souki is a natural born leader and someone I admire for his innovation in the energy sector. When I started with Charif, we worked for Cheniere, which he founded.  Cheniere was the first in the United States to have an LNG export facility permitted in the lower 48. Mr. Souki eventually left the company and founded Tellurian, another LNG company with even bigger LNG project aspirations. Recently I was given the opportunity to join the team at Tellurian and I am very pleased that I did. I have found success in my career by finding the right people to work for and sticking with them. Fortunately, in my case, it has translated into an incredibly fulfilling career.<span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Cambria&quot;,serif">  </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Over the course of your career, have you witnessed changes in the sector that have launched more women into leadership positions?</strong></p> <p>I think that there is more receptivity to women holding leadership roles in energy although not as strong as it could be.  Several women now serve on the boards of public energy companies and both Sempra and Occidental Petroleum, for example, have had women as CEO’s.  The company I work for now, Tellurian, has a woman as its CEO, Meg Gentle.  </p> <p> </p> <p><b>Technology is transforming the traditional utility business model into a more modern interactive grid. Some utilities see the transformation as an opportunity to morph their teams as well because of a correlation between an increase in diversity and an increase in quality, and innovation. What, if anything is your organization doing to attract, retain, and promote more women into senior management positions to respond to the dramatic industry transformation?</b></p> <p>Tellurian we are very fortunate to employ a diverse workforce. In fact, based on our knowledge of other publicly traded energy companies, we have a higher percentage of senior executives who are women than our peers in the industry. Our CEO, Meg Gentle, believes in hiring the best and brightest as evidenced in the significant number of females with STEM and technology backgrounds who work at Tellurian. Our focus on hiring the best for the job has resulted in a diverse workforce and a unique model that we are working to execute.</p> <p> </p> <p><b>Are talented women within your organization making it to top leadership positions? Why/why not?</b></p> <p>Absolutely. Luckily, I work for a company with great leadership that looks to promote and recognize hard work, giving everyone, including women, plenty of opportunities to succeed at Tellurian. In addition, we are led by an accomplished and talented CEO, Meg Gentle, so we have a wonderful role model at the helm.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Companies that embrace diversity outperform their competitors. What type of diversity programs does your organization have in place to mentor future women leaders? How </strong><strong>does</strong><strong> your organization measure and report gender diversity? Is the data publicly available?</strong></p> <p>At Tellurian, we hire the best candidate for the job and this has worked well for us when it comes to gender diversity.  In fact, 40% of our current workforce are women who are of diverse backgrounds, skills and are from diverse countries of origin.  We have a global business model, so diversity in our workplace is a given.  Tellurian is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on gender, origin or persuasion.  We hire, mentor and develop the best professionals for every job and feel that diversity in our workplace is a competitive advantage.   </p> <p> </p> <p><b>What actions should the energy and electricity sector be focused on to accelerate change, increase diversity, and foster a better gender balance in the boardroom?</b></p> <p>I believe we should support early learning for children in all STEM fields, including energy.  Early exposure to the range of possibilities can be tremendously powerful and a motivator for children to excel. We must feed the industry’s talent pipeline early in order to make real change. We just started the Tellurian intern program and I am excited to see the impact of that in the coming years.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-event-speakers field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related Profile:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/profile/majida-mourad">Majida Mourad</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Energy Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/all">All</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/coal">Coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/distribution">Distribution</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/energy-efficiency">Energy Efficiency</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/generation">Generation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/nuclear">Nuclear</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/oil-gas">Oil &amp; Gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/renewable-energy">Renewable Energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/transmission">Transmission</a></div></div></div><ul class="links list-inline"><li class="service-links-linkedin-share-button first"><a href="https://usea.org/article/women-energy-majida-mourad" title="Share on Linkedin" class="service-links-linkedin-share-button" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Linkedin Share Button</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-twitter-widget"><a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-majida-mourad&amp;count=none&amp;via=USEnergyAssn&amp;text=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Majida%20Mourad%20&amp;counturl=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-majida-mourad" class="twitter-share-button service-links-twitter-widget" title="Tweet This" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Tweet Widget</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-facebook last"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-majida-mourad&amp;t=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Majida%20Mourad%20" title="Share on Facebook." class="service-links-facebook" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://usea.org/sites/all/modules/service_links/images/facebook.png" alt="Facebook" /></a></li> </ul> Mon, 05 Nov 2018 21:47:44 +0000 tlee 2602 at https://usea.org https://usea.org/article/women-energy-majida-mourad#comments Women In Energy: Proscovia Njuki https://usea.org/article/women-energy-proscovia-njuki <div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><h2>Women In Energy: Proscovia Njuki</h2></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">October 1st, 2018</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Women in Energy series is a joint project between USEA and USAID that was developed out of USEA’s Engendering Utilities Partnership, a program funded by USAID to improve gender policies and gender outcomes at their respective organizations.</p> <hr /> <p>                            <img alt="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" src="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" /></p> <div class="media media-element-container media-default media-float-left"> <div id="file-8441" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg"> <h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/proscovia-njuki">Proscovia Njuki </a></h2> <div class="content"> <img style="width: 125px; height: 119px; margin: 2px; float: left;" class="media-element file-default" src="https://usea.org/sites/default/files/IMG_4797.jpg" width="284" height="293" alt="" /> </div> </div> </div> <p>  I hold a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Electrical Engineering from Nairobi University - Kenya, and I am a registered engineer with the Uganda Engineers Registration Board (ERB), and also a member of the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE) where I served on the Executive Council for two years. Nairobi University was an unforgettable experience, and a giant step in my life, where I was one woman in a class of 40 engineering students and graduated in 1974 to become the first woman engineer in Uganda and probably in East Africa.</p> <p>I was employed by Uganda Government, in the Department of Information for 28 years; and voluntarily retired from public service at the level of Commissioner for Uganda Television. In 1989, together with a few other women engineers and scientists we organised and founded the Association of Women Engineers Technicians and Scientists in Uganda (WETSU), whose mission is to promote girls’ and women's participation in engineering, scientific and technological education and work so as to enhance development and uplift the status of women.</p> <p>After retiring from public service, I had an opportunity to serve as Ag. Executive Director of the Gender Advisory Board of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (GAB/UNCSTD), for two and a half years.</p> <p>In November 2013, I was appointed as a member of Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd. (UEGCL) Board, for a three years term, during which time I was the Chair for the Technical Committee.</p> <p>In January 2017, I was appointed as Chairperson for the Board of Directors that provides oversight supervision to ensure continued performance improvement of Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd., whose mandate is to establish, acquire, maintain, and operate electricity generation facilities and to promote Research and Development in the electricity generation sector while running the Company on sound business principles.</p> <p><em>*Neither USEA nor USAID alters the substance of the responses from the women featured. The answers are their own</em></p> <p> </p> <p>Women In Energy Interview Questions</p> <p><b>How have your education and career path led you to where you are now?</b></p> <p>I graduated from the University of Nairobi in 1974, with a Bachelor of Science, Honors degree, in Electrical Engineering; emerging as the first woman to attain an engineering degree in Uganda. My employment was mainly within Government, where I had the opportunity to train, acquire skills and gain experience in management and leadership. I am Registered Engineer and member of the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE) and served as a member of UIPE Executive Council for two years.</p> <p>In November 2013, I was appointed as a member of the Board of Directors of Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd. (UEGCL) for a three years term, during which time I was the Chair for the Technical Committee. I was subsequently appointed as Chairperson for the Board of Directors in January 2017.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Over the course of your career, have you witnessed changes in the sector that have launched more women into leadership positions?</strong></p> <p>Reflecting on the time I joined employment, there has been tremendous improvement in women’s involvement in engineering and leadership generally. A number of changes have happened in the energy sector, particularly the electricity sub-sector. The key changes were the unbundling of Uganda Electricity Board (UEB) leading to creation of three Government entities namely Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL), Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) and Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL); and the formulation of a Legal and Regulatory Framework, in addition to the creation of a number of Boards to oversee these Government Entities.</p> <p>These changes have seen women take up leadership positions, where within the energy sector the top position is held by a woman Minister in charge of Energy and Mineral Development, and CEO of the Energy Regulatory Authority is also a woman. The seven member Board of Directors of UEGCL which I chair, has three women, representing 43% of the total Board membership. Additionally in the oil sector, the Boards of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda and the National Oil Company have about a 42% representation of women. This is a good indicator of positive change, but must be sustained and improved. Gender diversity and inclusion is a key aspect at UEGCL. The employment of women currently stands at 34% from about 25% in 2015. Within Top Management, 27% of the staff are women and all effort is being made to increase this percentage. The overall statistics of women managers against the male counter parts stands at 32%.</p> <p> </p> <p><b>Technology is transforming the traditional utility business model into a more modern interactive grid. Some utilities see the transformation as an opportunity to morph their teams as well because of a correlation between an increase in diversity and an increase in quality, and innovation. What, if anything is your organization doing to attract, retain, and promote more women into senior management positions to respond to the dramatic industry transformation?</b></p> <p>UEGCL is an equal opportunity employer as clearly enshrined its employment policies which include amongst others, recruitment, retention, Talent Management, and succession planning.</p> <p>We aim to integrate these policies into our organization strategies, while we acknowledge that these policies are primarily aimed at all potential employees. We do understand that women have been slow in getting into this sector and we are sensitive to the fact that women have certain obligations and circumstances which require more support for them to thrive in the workplace. We are currently reviewing these policies to make provisions to attract and retain more women into the Company.</p> <p>Our capacity development program is intended to bring out the best in our staff and enhance talent management at UEGCL. Women are given equal opportunity to enhance their careers through a variety of skills strengthening and leadership development training. Through these trainings, supported by mentorship and coaching, we hope to see more women at the top.</p> <p> </p> <p><b>Are talented women within your organization making it to top leadership positions? Why/why not?</b></p> <p>Without sounding vain, the three women on our Board of Directors bring a lot of valuable knowledge in engineering, economics, management and administration into the Company. We also currently have women heading the functions of Business Performance, Risk, as well as Human Resource and Administration. Additionally, we have a fairly good number of talented women at middle Management level who are potential successors at the top Management Level. UEGCL as a Company, puts a lot of emphasis on capability, regardless of gender.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Companies that embrace diversity outperform their competitors. What type of diversity programs does your organization have in place to mentor future women leaders? How </strong><strong>does</strong><strong> your organization measure and report gender diversity? Is the data publicly available?</strong></p> <p><span style="background:white"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"> </span></span>From the perspective of the organization, judging by the increasing number of women in the organization are equal opportunity policies have been fairly effective. As a first step, it is important to encourage women to join the organization, it is from this pool of women that we can begin to mentor future leaders. Presently, we do measure gender diversity but we do not formally report on it.  </p> <p>As an organization, we have encouraged all our female engineers to register to become certified and professional engineers with the Uganda Institute of Professional Engineers (UIPE) and the Engineers Registration Board (ERB), and the Company has supported this cause through sponsorship for training as well as the registration process.</p> <p> </p> <p><b>What actions should the energy and electricity sector be focused on to accelerate change, increase diversity, and foster a better gender balance in the boardroom?</b></p> <p><span style="background:white"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"> </span></span>Article 21(I) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda provides overall legal framework for the Uganda Gender Policy, and Gender Mainstreaming is a Government framework initiative for redressing gender imbalances.</p> <p>However, there is a need to strengthen and ensure the effectiveness of processes that advocates for Gender mainstreaming in the energy sector in line with the Uganda Gender Policy. This would be a conscious approach to take into account gender equality concerns in all policy, program, administrative and financial activities as well as organizational structures and procedures in the sector, to finally achieve the goal of gender equality within the organization including the boardroom.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-event-speakers field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related Profile:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/profile/proscovia-magaret-njuki">Proscovia Magaret Njuki</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Energy Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/all">All</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/coal">Coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/distribution">Distribution</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/energy-efficiency">Energy Efficiency</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/generation">Generation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/nuclear">Nuclear</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/oil-gas">Oil &amp; Gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/renewable-energy">Renewable Energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/transmission">Transmission</a></div></div></div><ul class="links list-inline"><li class="service-links-linkedin-share-button first"><a href="https://usea.org/article/women-energy-proscovia-njuki" title="Share on Linkedin" class="service-links-linkedin-share-button" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Linkedin Share Button</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-twitter-widget"><a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-proscovia-njuki&amp;count=none&amp;via=USEnergyAssn&amp;text=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Proscovia%20Njuki&amp;counturl=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-proscovia-njuki" class="twitter-share-button service-links-twitter-widget" title="Tweet This" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Tweet Widget</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-facebook last"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-proscovia-njuki&amp;t=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Proscovia%20Njuki" title="Share on Facebook." class="service-links-facebook" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://usea.org/sites/all/modules/service_links/images/facebook.png" alt="Facebook" /></a></li> </ul> Mon, 01 Oct 2018 19:22:47 +0000 tlee 2572 at https://usea.org https://usea.org/article/women-energy-proscovia-njuki#comments Women In Energy: Maria Nohemi Arboleda Arango https://usea.org/article/women-energy-maria-nohemi-arboleda-arango <div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><h2>Women In Energy: Maria Nohemi Arboleda Arango</h2></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">September 11th, 2018</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Women in Energy series is a joint project between USEA and USAID that was developed out of USEA’s Engendering Utilities Partnership, a program funded by USAID to improve gender policies and gender outcomes at their respective organizations.</p> <hr /> <p>                            <img alt="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" src="https://www.usea.org/sites/default/files/DSO%20Logo%20with%20Usaid-Usea_0.jpg" /></p> <div class="media media-element-container media-default media-float-left"> <div id="file-8427" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg"> <h2 class="element-invisible"><a href="/file/head-shot_vjpg">head shot_v.jpg</a></h2> <div class="content"> <img height="1200" width="1028" style="height: 175px; width: 150px; float: left; margin-right: 2px; margin-left: 2px;" class="media-element file-default" src="https://usea.org/sites/default/files/profiles/photos/head%20shot_v.jpg" alt="" /> </div> </div> </div> <p>She is CEO of XM, operator of the Interconnected System and Power Exchange of Colombia. She is president of CIGRÉ Colombia (the International Council on Large Electric Systems). From her academic career, the main emphasis is that she is an Electrical Engineer from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, with a master's degree and specialization in Electric Transmission and Distribution Engineering from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín. María Nohemi, a connoisseur of the Colombian electricity sector, with more than 25 years of experience in planning and operating electrical power systems, energy planning and wholesale energy market transactions. Her long professional career, her human qualities, her values, her natural leadership and her technical knowledge manage to inspire the people with whom she works. She joined the company as a student in practice, later she joined the Planning Office, specifically in the Transmission Planning Section, that area for her was his main school since even now she declares himself with the "heart of a planner". After that, she worked in Energy Planning, in which she had the opportunity to approach planning from an integral point of view. Finally, she had the opportunity to know how the Wholesale Energy Market works thanks to his participation in the Operation and Market Management Department. She has contributed great knowledge to the company, occupying positions such as Director of Market Transactions, Director of Commercial Transactions and Director of Operational Planning at ISA. For more than 5 years she was the manager of the National Dispatch Center of XM and two years ago she was the first woman CEO of XM.</p> <p>*Neither USEA nor USAID alters the substance of the responses from the women featured. The answers are their own.</p> <p>Women In Energy Interview Questions</p> <p><b>How have your education and career path led you to where you are now?</b></p> <p>To me, electrical engineering is a giant world, a universe of knowledge I fell in love with and still love. This passion makes me work with enthusiasm and dedication and face adversity by learning from it.  Fortunately, I work in a sector where changes are experienced permanently, and innovation is part of everyday life; a sector with ample opportunities for professional growth. I have made a career in the ISA business group, which I joined as an intern, holding various positions until reaching the one I currently occupy as the general manager of XM. My philosophy was always to give the best of me, regardless of the position I had.  They have not only been individual achievements, I have also been lucky to find people who have supported me, who have contributed to my training and who have been the best teammates. The road travelled fills me with pride because I am increasingly convinced of the relevance of the work we do at XM to the country, the great commitment we have with the Colombians, and how fortunate I am to be able to play a part in the development of Colombia and a sector in which knowledge and cutting-edge technology are a constant theme. Every one of us is responsible to ourselves and society for contributing from our knowledge and experiences to transforming reality and making way for the new generations of talented professionals like many at XM. For all this, I firmly believe that fulfilling dreams is an act of will.</p> <p><strong>Over the course of your career, have you witnessed changes in the sector that have launched more women into leadership positions?</strong></p> <p>In recent years I have seen changes in the position of women in the workplace, not only in the electricity sector but also in the labor context of the country and the world. Currently, as revealed by Mercer in its When Women Thrive research, out of the total management positions in Colombia, 20 % are held by women, a figure that, although still low, shows a significant growth in the last 10 years. The presence of women in leadership positions has permeated the energy sector, a traditionally male-dominated industry; in this sense, one of the most relevant changes is the greater participation of women in the formulation of and decision-making on energy policies and the transformation of the sector. At present, women are part of the companies and institutions of the energy chain, fulfilling technical, specialized and leadership roles, which is also reflected in a clear tendency to bridge the gender wage gap. Moreover, global trends such as flexible hours, teleworking, mobility, and the increasingly strong involvement of ICTs allow greater integrality, work-life balance, and steady professional development.</p> <p> </p> <p><b>Technology is transforming the traditional utility business model into a more modern interactive grid. Some utilities see the transformation as an opportunity to morph their teams as well because of a correlation between an increase in diversity and an increase in quality, and innovation. What, if anything is your organization doing to attract, retain, and promote more women into senior management positions to respond to the dramatic industry transformation?</b></p> <p>The ISA group, of which XM is an affiliate, fully intends to attract, promote and retain the best talent by strengthening a culture in which innovation and diversity are visible in day-to-day management and the decisions we make.  An example of this commitment is that two years ago I was appointed the general manager of XM, which is very relevant if we consider that, according to a recent study by the firm KPMG (Revista Dinero, January 3, 2018), of the total number of women working in Colombia, only 7 % occupy a senior management position. In addition, 70 % of XM’s expanded management committee is made up of female talent, something very rare in the sector. 75 % of management positions offered in the last year have been filled by women after a rigorous selection process. XM is a company open to gender equity and whose reality distorts false beliefs of relating the energy sector to a predominantly male-dominated field. In fact, there are more and more women enrolled in technical programs such as electrical engineering whose talent, and not their status as women, make them worthy of holding positions of great responsibility.</p> <p>In this regard, I am very pleased to see the growing awareness and appreciation of the complementarity of skills between genders and their positive impact on collective performance. This is lived daily at XM, a highly technical company with a large technological component, which makes it a very good example of a condition that we want to continue radiating within our stakeholders to promote a culture of gender equity.</p> <p> </p> <p><b>Are talented women within your organization making it to top leadership positions? Why/why not?</b></p> <p>Of the total leadership positions of the company, 53 % are occupied by female staff, out of which a large percentage has made a career within the organization. XM has performance management programs that allow us to observe good individual results and detect key talent.  Additionally, we have a leadership program through which we strengthen skills in the staff to advance in the construction of the adaptive, transformative, model leadership style we promote. At XM, it is the integrality of technical and human competencies that makes men or women worthy of occupying positions of great responsibility, as it actually happens. To me, true inclusion and equity means respecting the conditions of everyone, in terms of gender, sexual condition, ethnic group or religious belief. All this ensures the complementarity of skills, perspectives and approaches, not only creating value for the company, but also comprehensively building the future of the sector.</p> <p><strong>Companies that embrace diversity outperform their competitors. What type of diversity programs does your organization have in place to mentor future women leaders? How </strong><strong>does</strong><strong> your organization measure and report gender diversity? Is the data publicly available?</strong></p> <p><span style="background:white"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"> </span></span>Our selection process is open to diversity. Proof of this is that our calls are available in portals and social media seeking to reach all audiences, with profile criteria that accommodate all types of professionals. XM is permanently visited by university students who want to see the National Dispatch Center and understand what we do in the sector. They can spend time with professionals from all areas coming from different regions of the country and see the contribution of women in key positions such as the operation of the National Interconnected System and the Energy Market Management. In addition, 67 % of apprentices and interns that the company currently has are women.</p> <p>We are also working on how to increasingly strengthen social inclusion, not only focusing on gender balance but also including other minorities (individuals with disabilities or different sexual orientation or from other ethnic groups and nationalities), which allows us to build and innovate from interdisciplinarity and diversity of approach. Information about the structure of our human team and its share by gender is published annually in our sustainable management report, which is available to all at <a href="http://informesanuales.xm.com.co/SitePages/Default.aspx">http://informesanuales.xm.com.co/SitePages/Default.aspx</a></p> <p><b>What actions should the energy and electricity sector be focused on to accelerate change, increase diversity, and foster a better gender balance in the boardroom?</b></p> <p><span style="background:white"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"> </span></span>Some of the actions that I believe contribute to fostering a balance in boards are:</p> <ul> <li>Promoting from the industry the enrollment in programs related to the energy and electricity sector, approaching educational institutions and, especially, groups of young women.</li> <li>Making working conditions more flexible and taking advantage of new technologies to make participation in the sector more attractive to new generations.</li> <li>Supporting the training and development of talents through scholarships, exchanges, mentoring or internships to strengthen their leadership and be an example for new generations.</li> </ul> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-event-speakers field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related Profile:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/profile/mar%C3%ADa-nohemi-arboleda-arango">María Nohemi Arboleda Arango </a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-categories field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Energy Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/all">All</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/coal">Coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/distribution">Distribution</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/energy-efficiency">Energy Efficiency</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/generation">Generation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/nuclear">Nuclear</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/oil-gas">Oil &amp; Gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/energy-category/renewable-energy">Renewable Energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/energy-category/transmission">Transmission</a></div></div></div><ul class="links list-inline"><li class="service-links-linkedin-share-button first"><a href="https://usea.org/article/women-energy-maria-nohemi-arboleda-arango" title="Share on Linkedin" class="service-links-linkedin-share-button" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Linkedin Share Button</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-twitter-widget"><a href="http://twitter.com/share?url=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-maria-nohemi-arboleda-arango&amp;count=none&amp;via=USEnergyAssn&amp;text=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Maria%20Nohemi%20Arboleda%20Arango&amp;counturl=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-maria-nohemi-arboleda-arango" class="twitter-share-button service-links-twitter-widget" title="Tweet This" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="element-invisible">Tweet Widget</span></a></li> <li class="service-links-facebook last"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A//usea.org/article/women-energy-maria-nohemi-arboleda-arango&amp;t=Women%20In%20Energy%3A%20Maria%20Nohemi%20Arboleda%20Arango" title="Share on Facebook." class="service-links-facebook" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://usea.org/sites/all/modules/service_links/images/facebook.png" alt="Facebook" /></a></li> </ul> Tue, 11 Sep 2018 18:09:18 +0000 tlee 2563 at https://usea.org https://usea.org/article/women-energy-maria-nohemi-arboleda-arango#comments