And Best of the Rest
Steve Mitnick has authored four books on the economics, history, and people of the utilities industries. While in the consulting practice leadership of McKinsey & Co. and Marsh & McLennan, he advised utility leaders. He led a transmission development company and was a New York Governor’s chief energy advisor. Mitnick was an expert witness appearing before utility regulatory commissions of six states, D.C., FERC, and in Canada, and taught microeconomics, macroeconomics, and statistics at Georgetown University.
A team of seven at Avangrid was selected by Public Utilities Fortnightly for this year's Lewis Latimer Top Innovator Award in Design. Led by CIO Carl Young and the Director for IT Architecture, Digital and Innovation, Mansur Ali Mohammed, the team created three virtual meta worlds to simulate cybersecurity events. Latimer, who played a major role in making electric lighting practical, would have appreciated the inventiveness.
A team of three at CenterPoint Energy was selected for this year's Edith Clarke Top Innovator Award in Reliability. Led by the VP for Grid Transformation and Investment Strategy, Eric Easton, the team developed a substation protection and control system to better stand up to high-impact low-frequency events with components that can be supplied by multiple diverse vendors. Clarke, who made long-distance transmission resilient in the early twentieth century, would have been impressed.