Being a leader is about more than just knowing electrons. It’s about showing up every day ready to set the pace and tone for your team—this episode is the playbook for doing just that.

Today on Piloting the Future, Kim & Lee tackle the idea of influence beyond authority—how energy leaders are becoming change champions, no matter their titles, budgets, or team sizes.

We’ve got two experts leading the charge: Jody Allison (VP of Customer Transformation at Xcel Energy) & Brandy Bolden (Chief Customer Officer at SMUD).

Jody and Brandy are serving up an insightful look at how they drive change in their orgs—managing ambiguity, driving strategic efforts, leveraging AI as a teammate, finding the value prop in customer expectations, winning community support, getting comfortable with risk, navigating authenticity vs. reality…and so much more.

This conversation is a great listen for anyone eager to learn how to navigate the non-technical aspects of their jobs (because those matter, a lot). 

Want to know what leadership in the modern utility world looks like? Hit play.

Learn more about Utility2030 here: https://www.utility2030.org/leadership

How to be an energy leader—no matter your job title

When we look to the future of the electric utility industry, what do we see?

Better data. More efficiencies. Smarter grids. Simpler asset management. At least—that’s what we’re all hoping for. 

To make it happen? It’s all about location, location, location. And that’s where GIS comes in: Moving into the future of power, GIS will be instrumental in challenging the status quo, improving utilities’ understanding of where things are (from outages to assets to customers), leveling up what regulatory compliance really means, and breaking down siloes across the power org.

Today on our finale of The GISt, we hear from Dr. Comfort Manyame, director of geospatial R&D at EMPACT Engineering and an expert in GIS for nearly 30 years. Dr. Manyame covers it all, from the intersection of GIS and AI to the skillset of the next generation of remarkable power professionals. 

Accessible GIS is the key to bringing this industry into its next era. Today, we’re talking about how that happens, who stands to benefit the most, and where we’re headed next.

Moving beyond the map: How GIS takes utility leaders from reactive to proactive

The U.S. electric grid is under historic pressure. Record-breaking demand from electrification, AI, and data centers is colliding with extreme weather and aging infrastructure, while policy fights and project cancellations stall the very transmission projects needed to strengthen reliability. For utility leaders, the question isn’t if these stresses will hit home — it’s how quickly and how prepared they’ll be when they do.

In this episode of Power Perspectives Podcast, host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester sit down with Christina Hayes, Executive Director of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid, to unpack why transmission is the backbone of the energy transition — and why utilities can’t afford to ignore it. Christina shares insights from ACEG’s latest research and publications, breaks down the permitting roadblocks, and offers practical guidance on what CEOs and decision-makers must know to navigate this make-or-break moment for the grid.

Key Links
Sign up for the Energy Central Daily Newsletter: energycentral.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Energy Central Post for this episode: https://www.energycentral.com/podcasts/post/why-transmission-could-save-or-sink-the-energy-transition-91bMwgXGfiaqbmF

Video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XUCjBs16qNI

Ask a Question to Our Future Guests: Do you have a burning question for the utility executives and energy industry thought leaders that we feature each week on Power Perspectives? Leave us a message here for your chance to be featured in an upcoming episode: www.speakpipe.com/EnergyCentralPodcast

Fewer New Miles: Strategic Industries Held Back by Slow Pace of Transmission: https://cleanenergygrid.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/ACEG_Grid-Strategies_Fewer-New-Miles-2025_Rev-1.pdf

Large-Scale Transmission Deployment Saves Consumers Money: https://cleanenergygrid.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/GS_Transmission-Deployment-Saves-Consumers-Money_vf.pdf

Resource Adequacy Value Of Interregional Transmission: https://cleanenergygrid.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/250610_RAValueInterregionalTx_Corrections.pdf

Why transmission could save (or sink) the energy transition

Move fast and break things? Not at utilities. More like move slowly and keep the lights on.

Utilities have a reputation for being slow to innovate and adapt. Where does that come from? Well…they’re highly regulated, they’re used to financing investments with a guaranteed rate of return, and they’re on the hook for BIG bills if innovation goes south.

All those realities contribute to the capital bias in energy—the inefficient phenomenon in which traditionally regulated utilities are incentivized to favor capital-intensive investments over cost-effective operational expenses (read: tech advancements). Simply put? More trillion-dollar poles and lines, fewer million-dollar demand response programs, for example.

It’s not a permanent problem, though. Utilities can get faster in meeting the demand moment…and today on Piloting the Future, we explore exactly how they’re going to keep pace with the hyperscalers outspending them on innovation by leaps and bounds.

Today’s guests: Dr. Elizabeth Cook, VP of Technical Strategy at AEIC, and Ken Silverstein, Senior Contributor at Forbes. They join Kim and Lee in a deeply insightful, forward-thinking conversation about breaking through gridlock by overcoming this capital bias to determine who will own the power future: utilities...or Big Tech?

Don’t miss this first episode of our Gridlocked miniseries—building the grid of the future requires taking some risks…safely. And this week, we’re exploring how that becomes possible.

Who will power the AI future?

Wildfires are no longer just a seasonal threat — they’re a year-round crisis reshaping the way utilities must plan and operate. With billions in damages each year and mounting regulatory and reputational risks, utilities are under intense pressure to respond faster, smarter, and more proactively to protect both the grid and the communities they serve. The challenge: most control rooms aren’t equipped with the integration and situational awareness needed to act decisively in the heat of the moment.

In this episode of Power Perspectives, podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester are joined by Dan Lysaker, Director of Product Design at AspenTech Digital Grid Management, to explore how advanced distribution management solutions (ADMS) can provide the real-time visibility and control utilities desperately need. Dan shares lessons learned from utilities in wildfire-prone regions, explains the value of integrating fire data into a single operational view, and discusses how utilities worldwide are rethinking resilience strategies. 

If you’re a utility decision-maker looking to harden your grid against tomorrow’s wildfire threats, this conversation is a must-listen.

Key Links
Sign up for the Energy Central Daily Newsletter: energycentral.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Energy Central Post for this episode: https://www.energycentral.com/podcasts/post/utilities-are-fighting-wildfires-with-data-FgCr1EknTFrnIOy

Video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1hDmfegC_i4

Dan Lysaker on Energy Central: https://www.energycentral.com/member/sldMU0QXZ6

AspenTech on Energy Central: https://www.energycentral.com/aspentech

Ask a Question to Our Future Guests: Do you have a burning question for the utility executives and energy industry thought leaders that we feature each week on Power Perspectives? Leave us a message here for your chance to be featured in an upcoming episode: www.speakpipe.com/EnergyCentralPodcast

Utilities are fighting wildfires with...data?

Utilities are known for spending, but not always where it counts. In fact, hyperscalers in Big Tech outspend utilities by 10x when it comes to critical R&D.

So as we move into the data center-dominated future, how will utilities learn to spend on innovation and navigate challenges from scope to timeline to transparency? Our mission on today’s episode is to figure that out.

We’re bringing in three venerated experts from across the industry: Erik Helland, Commissioner at the Iowa Utility Commission; Jason Wild, CEO of Wild Innovation & Strategy Excellence; and Mike Smith, Principal, KLN Group. 

Together, these three paint an optimistic (and realistic) picture of where utilities can bend to avoid breaking as the battle for ownership of this AI-driven future heats up.

A handful of key ideas from this conversation loaded with real-world utility examples? “If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough,” Erik says. Jason explains the role of human behavior in tech adaptation. Mike walks through the juxtaposition of utilities’ intense focus on operational excellence and their need to innovate—which can sometimes get messy.

By the end of this episode, you’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of the utility innovation bias, plus key learnings about the roles all of us can play, from regulators to utility leaders to ratepayers.

Innovation doesn’t have to be a scary word. We’re giving it a new definition today on Piloting the Future.

Can utilities keep up with Big Tech innovation?

The power grid is under historic strain. Electricity demand is climbing, climate impacts are intensifying, and the clean energy transition is accelerating. Despite this well agreed upon urgency, new infrastructure projects keep getting stuck in permitting delays, siting disputes, and interconnection backlogs. For the nation’s more than 2,000 public power utilities, in particular, these roadblocks hit especially hard. Communities can’t afford to wait years for the infrastructure that keeps the lights on and rates affordable.

In this episode of Power Perspectives, host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester chat with Scott Corwin, President & CEO of the American Public Power Association (APPA). Scott breaks down why permitting reform is a make-or-break issue for public power, where solutions are emerging, and what “smart permitting reform” could look like to balance speed, reliability, affordability, and community engagement.

Whether you’re in the utility C-suite, working on grid infrastructure in the field, or contributing to the policy debates unfolding in D.C., this episode offers a crucial public power perspective on one of the most urgent issues shaping our energy future.

Key Links
Sign up for the Energy Central Daily Newsletter: energycentral.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Energy Central Post for this episode: https://www.energycentral.com/podcasts/post/permitting-delays-are-breaking-the-grid-here-s-one-ceo-s-fix-LA3mRBl28CvqHfB

Video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tvK39wCwmgA

Ask a Question to Our Future Guests: Do you have a burning question for the utility executives and energy industry thought leaders that we feature each week on Power Perspectives? Leave us a message here for your chance to be featured in an upcoming episode: www.speakpipe.com/EnergyCentralPodcast

Permitting delays are breaking the grid. Here’s one CEO’s fix

Welcome to a new show from Energy Central: The Watt & Why, hosted by Mike Smith.

What might happen to the electricity grid if we don’t make a change soon? Americans may lose 817 hours of power (34 days) per year by 2030…but that doesn’t have to happen.

So: What’s the solution to a grid under major stress from extreme weather, concentrated large load demand, and aging infrastructure? It’s all about reliability—taking big swings for a big payoff.

Today on Energy Central’s brand new podcast, The Watt & Why, host Mike Smith gets reliability solutions from an industry vet: John McDonald, IEEE Life Fellow and longtime grid expert.

Together, Mike and John explore 1) how this reliability crisis differs from those of the past 2) how utility leaders can invest in the right systems and functionality to make outsized impacts on reliability and 3) what generation mix makes the most sense for utilities optimizing for reliability. 

Reliability is front of mind for all of us. This episode is a masterclass on making the grid really, truly work for us.

Have an idea for a future episode from Energy Central? Email our head of content, Kinsey: kinsey@smoothmedia.co
Sign up for the Energy Central Daily Newsletter: energycentral.beehiiv.com/subscribe

A 50-year utility vet's reliability wakeup call for the industry

Aging infrastructure, surging demand from electrification and data centers, and rising customer expectations are reshaping the way utilities operate. For PSE&G, New Jersey’s largest electric and gas utility, the challenge is clear: how do you modernize the grid for a stormier, more digital future while keeping affordability and safety front and center?

In this episode of Power Perspectives, PSE&G President and COO Kim Hanemann joins podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester to share how her decades of experience—from restoring power after Superstorm Sandy to spearheading grid modernization—are guiding the company’s path forward. The conversation touches on everything from the generation deficit in the PJM region to rethinking what resilience means in the wake of extreme weather events to the debate over whether utilities should be owning generation again. 

If you want an inside look at how one of America’s most influential utilities is tackling today’s energy transition challenges while preparing for tomorrow, you won’t want to miss this discussion.

Key Links
Sign up for the Energy Central Daily Newsletter: energycentral.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Energy Central Post for this episode: https://www.energycentral.com/podcasts/post/from-superstorm-sandy-to-data-center-growth-how-this-utility-president-7ePusUF5zADLKgB

Video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/p2Qg9bZwH98

Ask a Question to Our Future Guests: Do you have a burning question for the utility executives and energy industry thought leaders that we feature each week on Power Perspectives? Leave us a message here for your chance to be featured in an upcoming episode: www.speakpipe.com/EnergyCentralPodcast

From Superstorm Sandy to data centers: How PSE&G is hardening the grid, w/ COO Kim Hanemann

Did you know: Companies with above-average diversity in their leadership teams report 19% higher revenue from innovation.

But still, women account for just 22% of jobs in the energy sector. And in leadership? Women represent only 15% of senior management team members.

So how can we get more women in leadership roles at utilities? Today on Piloting the Future, Kim and Lee hear insightful POVs from Tamara Grose, VP of Client Success at VertexOne and WEA Board Member, and Lindsey Margiotta-Lane, COO of CleanSky Energy and WEA Founding Board Member.

This episode is packed with tips & tricks for utility leaders and newer professionals alike, from operationalizing innovation to building community.

Leadership is core to the future of the utility industry—and this episode is a perfect conversation starter to make that leadership stronger, more innovative, and more resilient.

The one exec strategy that leads to more utility innovation

Welcome to the Energy Central Podcast Network—your ultimate resource for the biggest ideas, boldest perspectives, and best insights from across the electric power industry.

We publish…

Power Perspectives. From CEOs of major utilities to founders of energy tech startups pushing the envelope, Power Perspectives curates the news, thought leaders, and big picture conversations most important to modern power professionals—every week on Tuesdays.

The Watt & Why. Dive deep into utility business strategies, straight from the minds of the leaders deciding what comes next. Host Mike Smith leverages his own decades of power utility industry experience and leadership to get to the bottom of what inspires, drives, and challenges utility decision makers.

Piloting the Future. Hosts Kim Gergen and Lee Krevat go deep with the leaders, innovators, and forward thinkers responsible for not just imagining where our power future is headed…but building it day by day.

The GISt. This action-packed limited series demystifies the rapidly evolving world of Geographic Information Systems through focused, expert-led deep dives into the most future-defining GIS topics.

And there’s even more to come.

Energy Central is a community where 250K electric power professionals share, learn, and connect in a collaborative environment. Want to join in? Visit www.EnergyCentral.com to register for free.

Utilities are fighting wildfires with...data?

Energy Central

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