Strategy & Planning

Michele O'Connell, Orange and Rockland Utilities

Women's History Month

“My responsibility is to balance affordability with reliability and flexibility, and renewable resources play an important role in helping us do that. They support system reliability and can help manage costs for customers.”

Tracey LeBeau, WAPA

Women's History Month

“If I have a core takeaway, it’s that if this is not the beginning of a transmission renaissance, I am not sure what is. It is an exciting time to be in this industry and we have a lot of work to do to gear up to build systems that make sense for the rest of this century.”

Maria Korsnick, Nuclear Energy Institute

Women's History Month

“When people believe in the mission, they bring their best efforts. Nuclear provides reliable, carbon-free electricity every day. The people behind that work deserve leadership that recognizes their commitment and provides confidence in where we are headed.”

Sonia Kastner, Pano AI

Women's History Month

“If you approach this space with a ‘move fast and break things’ mindset, you will fail. Our philosophy is to move fast and not break things. Values matter. A culture driven purely by profit will not resonate with customers responsible for public safety and critical infrastructure.”

Neva Espinoza, EPRI

Women's History Month

“At EPRI, we often talk about our role in powering prosperity while protecting the planet. That phrase captures the challenge well, and it is a balance I think about constantly as a leader.”

Judy Chang, FERC

Women's History Month

“For the first time, the majority of Commissioners here are women. Each Commissioner brings a different background and perspective, and that diversity is incredibly valuable given the scale and complexity of the challenges we are facing.”

Vittoria Bellissimo, CanREA

Women's History Month

“We live in what feels like an endlessly unprecedented time. You have to meet people where they are. You do not always know what someone has experienced or what they have read that day, and that uncertainty can weigh heavily on teams.”

Michele Beck, Utah Office of Consumer Services

Women's History Month

“I look for people who are mission-driven and who take satisfaction in serving the public interest. When a case does not go the way we hoped, we do not treat it as a simple loss. We debrief and ask whether we made a difference.”

Hannah Bascom, Uplight

Women's History Month

“Across North America and globally, grids are facing sustained demand growth, tighter capacity margins, rising costs, and more extreme weather. Utilities do not have the luxury of time or the ability to rely on the status quo.”

Doseke Akporiaye, WRISE

Women's History Month

“Conversations around affordability, reliability, and new technologies can become polarized. But most people want the same things: dependable service, reasonable costs, and systems that support long-term economic growth.”