Looking Forward
Pat Vincent-Collawn is the CEO of PNM Resources.
Recently, Navigant's Jan Vrins and PUF's Steve Mitnick talked with seven inspiring utility CEOs — all women — about their experience as leaders, their advice to today's rising stars (particularly those that are young women), and their company's challenges as they transform their organizations to navigate the energy transition, address climate change, and redefine our industry.
PUF: Talk about your experience as a woman CEO.
Pat Vincent-Collawn: I have been lucky in life. I was raised in a military family and I didn't realize until I got to college that there were things you weren't supposed to be able to do because you were female. I had three stepbrothers and we all split the chores inside and outside.
As a female CEO, in general, the skills that women have better than men are empathy, consensus building, and relationship building.
I believe that is where a lot of this industry is going. It used to be either engineering or finance dominated and now it's about partnerships, it's about working with the regulators, it's about working with your stakeholders.
I know some men that are very good at those skills and there are some women that may not be as good, but those kinds of skills that I'm lucky to have, were helpful. And I also have been lucky that I've had great mentors that were men. Wayne Brunetti, former CEO at Xcel Energy, and Jeff Sterba, former CEO of PNM Resources.