Utilities depend on decisive leadership to modernize infrastructure without compromising reliability, compliance, or customer trust. Across the sector, women in utilities are guiding that transition with measurable discipline, translating strategy into execution under regulatory oversight and operational complexity.
These professionals are strengthening how capital plans align with reliability metrics, how governance withstands scrutiny, and how digital modernization remains accountable to performance standards. Their leadership shapes infrastructure outcomes that regulators, customers, and boards can quantify.
Here are the leadership signals that consistently separate progress from plans:
- Capital allocation tied to reliability metrics
- Governance integrity under regulatory oversight
- Operational performance measured and repeatable
- Structured digital execution with risk controls
- Resilience investments validated through recovery data
- Transparency that strengthens public trust
In this blog post, you will meet 25 women in utilities whose leadership advances modernization, reinforces resilience, elevates governance standards, and protects customer trust across critical infrastructure, setting measurable benchmarks for performance, accountability, and long-term sector stability.
Angela Peart
As Director at AMPLIFY NOW and one of the founders of Womens Utilities Network, Angela Peart has strengthened how the utility sector communicates, collaborates, and governs. Her career across infrastructure and strategic communications supports executive teams in aligning modernization priorities with stakeholder trust. Through WUN, she has built a cross-industry platform advancing representation, leadership development, and accountability across regulated energy environments.
Angie Needle
With a background in strategic leadership at Cadent, Dr Angela Needle brings long-range planning discipline to regulated gas infrastructure. As one of the founders of Womens Utilities Network, she connects policy, transition strategy, and operational delivery. Her work ensures that decarbonization, resilience, and regulatory compliance remain grounded in executable plans that utilities can implement without compromising reliability.
Ashley Baptiste
Ashley Baptiste plays a central role in shaping the utility innovation ecosystem through her leadership at Utility Events. She convenes utility executives, technology leaders, and policymakers around operational performance, grid modernization, and digital transformation. By structuring high-impact industry forums, she strengthens cross-sector collaboration and accelerates knowledge exchange that supports measurable modernization across regulated utilities.
Bethany Owen
Bethany Owen serves as Chair, President, and Chief Executive Officer of ALLETE, guiding the company’s strategy across electric utility operations and clean energy investments. With extensive leadership experience in finance and corporate governance, she has strengthened disciplined capital allocation and long-term infrastructure planning. Her work advances grid modernization and renewable integration while maintaining reliability and regulatory accountability across the Upper Midwest.
Briana Kobor
Briana Kobor is Head of Energy Market Innovation at Google, where she leads the development of products and market frameworks aimed at accelerating electricity system decarbonization to support the company’s global operations. With more than 17 years in the energy sector, including regulatory consulting and nonprofit policy work, she brings deep expertise in energy markets, regulation, and system design, advancing practical pathways toward more resilient, lower-carbon power systems.
Caroline Winn
Leading San Diego Gas & Electric, Caroline Winn oversees 4,700 employees and more than $2B in annual capital investment. She architected one of the nation’s most comprehensive wildfire mitigation programs and transformed customer service operations while modernizing supply chain systems. Her engineering background underpins a leadership style focused on safety, resilience, and disciplined infrastructure execution.
Diane Leopold
During her tenure as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Dominion Energy, Diane Leopold guided electric and gas operations across multiple states. She oversaw generation, transmission, and distribution systems while strengthening safety performance and investment discipline. Her leadership demonstrated how large utilities modernize complex asset portfolios while maintaining regulatory confidence and operational stability.
Gillian Wright
At SoCalGas, Gillian Wright leads customer and operational functions serving millions across California. Her leadership strengthens affordability programs, service reliability, and operational support systems. By aligning customer engagement with regulatory accountability and infrastructure performance, she reinforces how trust and transparency are essential pillars of modernization within large-scale gas utility operations.
Hayley Monks
As Managing Director at Echo and one of the founders of Womens Utilities Network, Hayley Monks has driven customer service and operational transformation across utility environments. Her work centers on measurable service performance, digital enablement, and consistent delivery standards. Through WUN, she promotes inclusive leadership while advancing operational models that protect customer confidence.
Janelle N. Coleman
Janelle N. Coleman leads corporate philanthropy and community engagement at American Electric Power, overseeing $30M in annual community investments across 11 states. She shapes enterprise-wide diversity and inclusion strategy in partnership with executive leadership and reports on human capital outcomes to the board. Her work strengthens community trust, workforce culture, and brand accountability across AEP’s 17,000-employee service footprint.
Jeanne Jones
As Chief Financial Officer of Exelon, Jeanne Jones oversees financial strategy, capital planning, and enterprise risk management for one of the nation’s largest energy delivery companies. Her leadership strengthens regulatory transparency and investment discipline, ensuring modernization programs align with affordability and measurable system performance across multi-state utility operations.
Jill Rodning
Within Xcel Energy, Jill Rodning leads digital modernization efforts that connect business priorities with technology execution. Through Agile delivery and iterative MVP implementation, her teams have automated high-risk manual processes and generated significant cost savings. Her approach demonstrates how disciplined portfolio management and digital innovation can improve reliability while reducing operational risk.
Jo Butlin
Bringing extensive board and commercial leadership experience, Jo Butlin supports utilities in balancing governance integrity with modernization ambition. As one of the founders of Womens Utilities Network, she advances executive dialogue across infrastructure sectors. Her perspective emphasizes measurable efficiency, disciplined transformation, and strategic oversight in highly regulated environments.
Kim Greene
As Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Georgia Power, Kim Greene leads service to 2.7 million customers. With over 30 years across engineering, operations, finance, and executive leadership, and executive leadership at Southern Company and Tennessee Valley Authority, she has guided large-scale infrastructure investments while maintaining safety and reliability. Her career reflects cross-functional leadership that bridges technical depth with enterprise strategy.
Kimberly Harriman
Kimberly Harriman brings deep regulatory and public policy expertise to the utility sector through her executive leadership at Avangrid and her appointment to the NYSERDA Board. Her work strengthens alignment between state energy strategy, infrastructure investment, and regulatory accountability. By connecting policy development with operational execution, she advances disciplined modernization that supports grid reliability, affordability, and long-term energy transition objectives.
Lisa M. Barton
President and Chief Executive Officer of Alliant Energy, Lisa M. Barton leads electric and gas operations serving customers across Iowa and Wisconsin. With decades of utility leadership experience, she has advanced infrastructure investment, grid reliability, and customer-focused modernization. Her work strengthens operational performance and disciplined capital planning while supporting affordability and long-term system resilience across regulated energy markets.
Lynn Good
Over more than a decade leading Duke Energy, Lynn Good has directed billions in infrastructure investment while reshaping the company’s generation portfolio and strengthening operational governance. Her leadership underscores disciplined capital deployment, reliability improvement, and long-term transition planning, ensuring modernization remains accountable to customers and regulators.
Maria Pope
As President and Chief Executive Officer of Portland General Electric, Maria Pope has advanced grid modernization and clean energy integration while maintaining reliability across Oregon’s service territory. Her leadership balances decarbonization commitments with infrastructure resilience and customer affordability, reinforcing the need for measurable execution in evolving policy landscapes.
Nicola Shaw
Nicola Shaw is Chief Executive of Yorkshire Water, where she leads one of the UK’s largest water utilities and oversees long-term infrastructure investment, environmental performance, and regulatory delivery. Previously an Executive Director at National Grid, she played a key role in shaping transmission planning and regulatory reform across the UK energy system. Her leadership reflects deep expertise in infrastructure governance, system planning, and disciplined modernization across regulated utilities.
Patti Poppe
Since becoming CEO of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Patti Poppe has prioritized operational reform, wildfire risk reduction, and cultural transformation within one of the nation’s most complex utilities. Her leadership has strengthened safety systems, enhanced governance oversight, and rebuilt public confidence through transparent performance metrics and disciplined infrastructure management.
Rebecca Kujawa
Rebecca Kujawa led NextEra Energy, directing $15–$20B in annual capital investment across renewables, storage, natural gas, nuclear, and transmission infrastructure. Managing a 7,400-person organization and delivering $3.1B in annual adjusted net income, she has strategically expanded the portfolio to meet rising demand while reinforcing grid reliability and operational excellence.
Rebecca Sedler
Rebecca Sedler brings expertise across energy markets and infrastructure investment, helping utilities navigate interconnected regulatory and commercial environments. As one of the founders of Womens Utilities Network, she strengthens sector collaboration and leadership visibility. Her perspective highlights governance alignment and performance transparency as foundations for credible modernization.
Susan Gray
As President and Chief Executive Officer of Tucson Electric Power and UniSource Energy Services, Susan Gray leads regulated electric and gas utilities serving communities across Arizona. Her leadership emphasizes disciplined capital investment, grid reliability, and customer service performance. By aligning infrastructure planning with regional growth and regulatory accountability, she advances resilient, long-term energy systems in the Southwest.
Susan Hardwick
As President and Chief Executive Officer of American Water, Susan Hardwick leads the largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility in the United States. Her leadership emphasizes disciplined capital planning, regulatory compliance, and public health protection, ensuring water infrastructure modernization supports long-term reliability and community trust.
Yukari Saegusa
As Chief Financial Officer of Con Edison, Yukari Saegusa oversees capital planning and enterprise risk management for one of the country’s most complex urban utility systems. Her leadership reinforces financial transparency and disciplined infrastructure investment, supporting modernization efforts that maintain affordability and high reliability standards.
Women in utilities setting measurable industry standards
The women in utilities featured throughout this article exemplify disciplined, accountable leadership at a time when execution matters more than ambition. They allocate capital with precision, strengthen operational reliability, uphold regulatory integrity, and protect customer trust through measurable performance, not broad promises. Their leadership sets the benchmark for how modernization should be governed and delivered.
As utilities manage rising system complexity and long-term transition planning, leadership depth becomes infrastructure in itself. The women in utilities highlighted here are not simply participating in industry change, they are defining how modernization is executed, validated, and sustained across regulated environments.
Their impact extends beyond individual companies. Each demonstrates how modernization becomes measurable and represents a standard of leadership that strengthens the entire sector, raising expectations for transparency, reliability, and operational discipline.