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 

• 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 

• 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

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 Leadership in the Natural Gas Industry 

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

Strategic Human Resources 

• 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 

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

• 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

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

Wholesale Power Markets 

• 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

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 

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  

Next Gen Technologies 

• Zero carbon sources of energy
• Connected home devices and the next wave of demand response
• Automation enables new capabilities

Environmental Collaboration

• 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  

• 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 

• 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 

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

Climate Impact: Stakeholders, Resilience, Affordability, and Risk

• How utilities are managing climate impact across diverse stakeholders
• How utilities are positioning themselves for the future