Course Topics

Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution

Skip Collier - Professional Training Systems, Inc.

• Basics of generation, transmission, and distribution, including electrical terminology, equipment, construction, and operating theory

Natural Gas Production, Transmission, and Delivery

Richard Moore 

• Basics of natural gas production, transmission, and distribution, including essential equipment and its operation

New Nuclear 

Piyush Sabharwall - Idaho National Laboratory

• Fundamentals of nuclear energy
• Latest research and development on creating nuclear reactors that are safer and more economical

Utility Accounting and Financial Reporting — How Utilities Make Money

Julie Desimone - Moss-Adams 

• Basic accounting concepts
• What the financial statements communicate and how they are used
• Cost management and how to know when you are making money

Financial Management and Capital Markets

Brandon Lohse - Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation

• Value creation and the cost of capital/money
• Financial policy development and accessing capital
• Financial quality and credit ratings
• Perspective of a utility sector investment manager

Regulation and Rate Making

Ric Gale

• Rate making process including revenue requirements, cost allocation, and rate design
• How rate mechanisms are used in general rate cases

Utility Legislative and Regulatory Advocacy — Understanding the Big Picture 

Evelyn Robinson - PJM Interconnection

• Responsibility of legislators, state regulators, and FERC
• Customer preferences and the tension between stable prices and reliable services
• State's rights vs. federal rights

Experience Change: Accelerate and Realize Strategies, Initiatives, and Solutions

Lyall Samaroden - ExperiencePoint

• Quickly turn powerful ideas and solutions into reality
• Speak and act with a common language
• Align and engage stakeholders around new ways of doing things
• Build a highly engaged culture of execution

Effective Stakeholder Engagement

Katharine Bond - Iliox Advisors

• Understanding the needs and issues of your stakeholders
• Best practices in effective outreach and engagement to build collaboration

Customer Experience

Roy Barnes - Blue Space Consulting 

• Customer experience design and management 
• Integrate the customer experience into product and service design
• Identify and communicate the customer experience ROI

Strategic Leadership in the Natural Gas Industry

Christine Cowsert Chapman - Pacific Gas and Electric Company; Dan Lapato - American Gas Association; Natasha Siores - NW Natural

• Utility industry perspective on improving safety, managing risk, and driving continuous improvement
• How current events affect natural gas operations, business strategy, and practices 

Mini-versity

John Soltau - Vizient, Inc. 

• Knowledge share across EEC cohort on topics of interest

Inclusive Leadership: Understanding and Managing Unconscious Bias

Scott Horton and Melanie Miller - Delta Concepts Consulting

• Creating personal learning and practical leadership skills to manage, lead, and contribute to a diverse and inclusive environment 

Strategic Trends in Consumer Engagement

Greg Guthridge - EY Power and Utilities Advisory Practice

• How technology advances are powering new ways to engage
• Managing information for competitive advantage
• Building innovative products and services
• How nontraditional players are challenging the utility business model

Fuel Diversity: Integrated Resource Planning

Scott Kinney - Avista 

• Trends in generation and the changing fuel mix
• How to manage fuel diversity
• Integrated resource planning process

Trends in Energy Security

Charles Durant - Oak Ridge National Laboratory

• Areas of greatest vulnerability and who is in charge of overseeing physical protections of the grid
• Strategies to detect and deflect attacks on critical utility infrastructure systems
• Challenges in building up the resiliency of our infrastructure to withstand disruptions

Power Supply Planning

Masood Ahmad - Platte River Power Authority

• challenges of operating and coordinating a more complex grid with emerging technologies, distributed resources, and a focus on engaging customers
• balancing supply and demand in a dynamic and complex system
• enabling more flexibility, adaptability, and responsiveness

Reliability: Advanced Grid Planning and Operations

Dana Cabbell - Southern California Edison

• Where the smart grid evolution is on the road to optimization
• Implementing new uses for the customer and integrating into operations
• Integrating renewables, advanced AMI, distributed generation, and storage

Environmental Collaboration

Ralph Cavanagh

• Removing unintended regulatory barriers to increase utilities' capacity to invest in environmental solutions
• Making energy efficiency and renewable energy a profit center
• Creating diversified, environmentally responsible electric and gas resource portfolios to ensure more reliable and affordable service for customers
• Impact of federal environmental legislation on the utility industry

Experience Innovation: Design Thinking Simulation

Lyall Samaroden - ExperiencePoint

• Human centered design and balancing analysis with intuition
• Terms, techniques, and thought patterns of successful innovators

Energy Industry and the Environment - Shaping the Future

David Owens

• How public policy, emerging technologies, and changing customer needs and expectations are transforming the energy industry
• Major trends reshaping the utility industry

CEO Panel - Pathways to the Future

David Anderson - NW Natural; John Haarlow - Snohomish County PUD; Jason Thackston - Avista Corp.

• Identifying and prioritizing key success factors
• Scenario planning for the future impacts of today's management decisions
• Aligning corporate strategy across diverse stakeholder interests

Vision of the Future

Dave Harkness

• Transferring new knowledge to your team and organization
• Leveraging the EEC learning experience and alumni network
• Staying connected with your cohort and the EEC leadership team

Strategic Sustainability: Integrating Policy, Climate Science, and Resilience

Morgan Scott - Electric Power Research Institute

• Understanding the impact of climate risk on investors, consumers, and regulation
• How utilities are managing the impacts of climate risk and positioning themselves for a future of increased load on a weather dependent system

ESG Panel - Building A Foundation for Future Financial and Sustainable Growth

Cristina McQuistion - OGE Energy Corp.; Morgan Scott - Electric Power Research Institute; William Sultemeier - OGE Energy Corp.; Jason Thackston - Avista Corp.

• How organizational core values guide ESG strategy
• Balancing the needs and expectations of stakeholders
• Tailoring ESG goals to the unique characteristics of your customers, location, and company