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

Next Generation Nuclear

Ross Snuggerud - NuScale Power

• 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; Paul Kjellander 

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

Legal and Regulatory Advocacy — Understanding the Big Picture

Kristin Munsch - Commonwealth Edison Company; Patrick Reinhart - CenterPoint Energy; Evelyn Robinson - PJM Interconnection

• Role industry advocacy plays in informing and shaping public policy
• Responsibility of legislators, state regulators, and FERC
• Customer preferences and the tension between stable prices and reliable services
• State's rights vs. federal rights

Managing Grid Operations

Brian Johnson - University of Idaho

• Challenges of operating and coordinating a more complex grid with more information, distributed resources, and customer expectations
• Balancing supply and demand in a dynamic and complex system 
• Enabling more flexibility, adaptability, and responsiveness 

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

Safety Culture

Bo Hanchey - Idaho Power

• Creating a culture of safety that goes beyond protocols, training, and equipment
• Committing to safety excellence that improves safety performance, operational effectiveness, and business performance

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 Change Leadership

Roger Woodworth - Mindset Matters

• How leadership behavior influences organizational culture
• Gain personal insights about how "who you are" affects "how you are" as a leader
• Systems thinking in developing a pro-active strategic response
• Develop personal commitments and plans to be a high impact leader

Strategic Leadership in the Natural Gas Industry

Christine Cowsert Chapmen - Pacific Gas and Electric Company; Dan Kirschner - Northwest Gas Association; Dan Lapato - American Gas Association

• Industry wide perspective on natural gas abundance, new demand, emissions, infrastructure replacement, and the future of energy policy
• Operational and regulatory differences between managing electric and natural gas delivery systems

Strategic Human Resources

Bryan Cox – Avista

• Energy industry challenges and the impact on the workforce
• Digital workforce
• Culture, engagement, and employee experience
• Talent crisis
• Workforce of the future

Regulatory Strategy

Noel Black - Southern Company

• How the regulatory model supports, or does not support, the changing industry
• How regulatory strategy supports corporate strategy
• Current issues, including rooftop solar, extreme weather, EV infrastructure, decarbonization

Stakeholder Engagement 

Faith McKenna; Sayuri Yamada - Kizuna Strategies

• Understanding the language of our stakeholders
• Employing effective advocacy tools and messaging to build collaboration

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

Cristina McQuistion - OGE Energy Corp.; Jason Thackston - Avista Corp. 

• How organizational core values guide ESG strategy
• Balancing the needs and expectations of stakeholders while maintaining a focus on core values over the long term
• Tailoring ESG goals to the unique characteristics of your customer needs, geographic location, and company size

Customer Transformation for the Energy Transition

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

Wholesale Power Markets

Aubrey Johnson - Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO)

• Generation sources in the regional and national mix
• RTO market overview
• Fundamental design features of locational marginal pricing and financial transmission rights
• Where RTO markets are going 

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

Energy Storage 

Vince Sprenkle - Pacific Northwest National Lab

• Resource flexibility and reliability trends

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 

Data Analytics

Mo Al-Ahmar - Southern California Edison; Tim Fairchild - SAS; Lee Ragsdale - North Carolina's Electric Cooperative; Johnny Whitfield - OGE Energy Corp.

• Using predictive analytics for risk prioritization
• How energy companies are using big data to appeal more directly to what customers want
• How big data is transforming the energy industry
• Machine learning and AI 

Decarbonization of the Gas Grid

Kristine Wiley - GTI Energy

• Big picture look at economy-wide decarbonization
• Energy storage and resiliency
• System decarbonization levers—methane emissions reduction, energy efficiency, renewable natural gas, and hydrogen

ESG—Balancing Stakeholder Objectives and Creating Long Term Value

Debra McCoy - Bain & Company

• Understanding the future focus of ESG and a company’s non-financial risks and opportunities
• Landscape, trends, and the future
• Risk management

Electrification of Transportation

Jamie Dunckley - Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI); Andrew Higgins - CPS Energy 

• National perspective on where we are today—sales, infrastructure, and vehicle trends
• Challenges and opportunities for utilities

Corporate Strategy

Jesse Langston

• How an industry creates a context for corporate strategy
• Role and responsibility of the main decision makers in the forming and implementation of corporate strategy while balancing competing interests
• Consensus-driven strategy development

Experience Innovation: Design Thinking Simulation

Lyall Samaroden - ExperiencePoint

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

The Energy Industry - Key Issues Shaping the Transformation 

Lisa Grow, IDACORP, Inc. and Idaho Power

• Increased decarbonization
• Aging infrastructure
• Transmission reforms
• Federal-State regulatory issues
• New competitors and emerging technologies
• Cyber and physical security
• Changing customer preferences and behaviors

CEO Panel - Pathways to the Future

David Anderson - NW Natural; Brian Bird - NorthWestern Energy; David Owens - Da'VAS, LLC 

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

Strategic Partnerships

David Harkness

• Leveraging strategic partnerships to deliver value to customers
• Responding to digital innovations
• Core competencies for collaboration