EET&D: Describe your role and how you came to work in the industry.

MB: As the senior executive vice president and chief legal officer, I oversee the Enterprise Services of OATI, which includes administrative support, proposals, finance, compliance, communications and human resources. If you think of OATI as a table, I consider my divisions as the legs – we support the areas of the company that support customers – the things our customers see and experience. Underneath, though, there needs to be a very solid foundation so those teams can do their work. It’s important to me that we’re a strong base for the organization – like sturdy legs for a table.

I began working in this industry in 1995. when I started with the company. I helped early on when the organization was just getting off the ground, and I did all kinds of things, including procuring office furniture. Eventually, they needed a receptionist. Then, there was recruiting, payroll and onboarding. My role grew and changed as the company did. As I learned more about the energy industry, I understood why the mission was so important.

One of the things I brought to the company early on is that I’m not an engineer. I’m not a computer scientist. Obviously, those skills were fundamental to our business, but we also needed people who could see things differently and manage the other parts of the business.

EET&D: What was one of your greatest challenges early in your career?

MB: I had two big challenges. The first was trying to balance the demands of working while raising a family. When the business started, I had three young children. This was a growing business – it was difficult. My kids needed time and attention, as did OATI. I had to keep several balls in the air all at once. While there has been some progress, nearly 30 later, women are, unfortunately, still having to navigate this.

The other challenge was positioning the company for success. About three years in, we knew we were going to be successful. Most businesses fail, so once we understood the organization was going to be successful, we had to prepare for growth at a rate that most companies never experience. Our growth rate was very high. It was a challenge to know exactly how to grow efficiently and effectively, always keeping in mind our customers.

At the root of assessing whether or not we were going to be successful was the fact that OATI was doing things in new ways that had never been done before. We were doing cloud hosting before anyone knew what the cloud was. We challenged the status quo in terms of infrastructure, responsiveness and customer service. Many of our services were so novel and so ahead of the industry that it took those three years for people to even understand what we were doing and that it was needed.

EET&D: What do you consider to be the most significant industry trends?

MB: More than any time in the past 30 years, and certainly even since electricity was understood, I think people are just beginning to appreciate how important electricity is in our lives.

We’ve all been turning light switches on, and nobody thinks about it. We just assume electricity will be there when we need and want it. But so much of our lives depend on electricity now, in ways they never have before. Imagine how we’d get through our days without power. We wouldn’t last long.

Now, there’s an even greater demand on the horizon – the electrification of transportation. Soon, for many of us, the car we get around in will also demand electric energy. People really don’t understand what that’s going to require of the grid and the generation of power. There is a huge gap in understanding how much more electricity we’re all going to need and where that energy is going to come from.

Awareness is increasing in part because of recent natural events. For example, the big freeze down in Texas a couple of years ago, when people did not have electricity for days. Or, in California, with all of the recent wildfires. People notice when they don’t have power. Without massive change, we’re going to see more events like those affecting more people. I think people are beginning to understand it. I think that natural catastrophes and the momentum of EVs have changed people’s perspectives dramatically. It’s going to require a shift in public perception to truly move the needle. I think we’re getting there.

EET&D: What are you currently working on that interests or excites you?

MB: Today, I’m interested in how to solve resource problems. These problems are probably some of the largest issues that restrict any industry from really moving forward with innovation. The United States is no longer a leader in producing power systems engineers.

It’s very hard to find power system engineers. It’s even harder to find people with PH.D.'s in power systems engineering. The problems faced by utilities and the problems on the grid are very, very difficult to understand. You need people with advanced education to help solve the problems. And you also need people who are passionate about energy to become engaged in the business of energy.

EET&D: What technology has had the greatest impact on the electric grid?

MB: I would say electric vehicles and the impact of having to charge them. Utilities and organizations are beginning to understand how they can use the batteries in cars to help solve problems on the grid – V2G. So, I think those technologies are really important.

Security at the distribution level involving distributed energy resources also needs to be addressed. At the wholesale level, things are very, very secure. We have a lot of requirements that everyone understands and abides by. But, when you get down to the distributed resource level, we have different states, each with different requirements because, within the state, it’s the public utilities group that sets the standards. So, if you have all 50 states saying something different, you have potentially a nightmare.

At some point, we need a set of commonalities. Each state could have particular nuances, but we all have to agree that there is a minimum condition of what cyber security looks like across the board. It doesn’t matter where you are or who you are; this is what we have to do – which is to protect the integrity of the nation.

EET&D: Do you see the industry becoming more or less accepting of women in leadership positions?

MB: I think that the opportunity for women in the industry has never been better. Anecdotally, I see this every year at our annual energy conference, and it used to be predominantly male, like 90%. Today, our energy conference is 50% male and female. I anticipate that soon it’s going to increase to 60% female, and then, 75% female.

And the industry has become much more open to women in leadership positions. One only has to look at where women are at the top of the industry - like Caroline Winn, head of San Diego Gas & Electric, which is a critically important utility. Another example is Southwest Power Pool, a large energy market, which is led by Barbara Sugg. There are many more examples as well. These are knowledgeable, highly experienced women, who have been in the industry for they’re powerful and they make very sound decisions.

There has never been a more interesting or important time to pay attention to energy. Electricity has powered our lives for the past century, and will even power more of our lives as we move forward. The choices we make about how that electricity is going to be generated will impact how we as individuals, how you and I, are impacted in our daily lives.