GTM Grid Edge Focus: Utility Leadership in Managing a Crisis

Patti Poppe is President and Chief Executive Officer of Jackson, Michigan based CMS Energy and its principal subsidiary, Consumers Energy, Michigan’s largest utility and the nation’s fourth largest combination utility. Consumers Energy provides electricity and natural gas to 6.7 million of Michigan’s 10 million Lower Peninsula residents. She was elected to this position in July 2016.

Poppe held a variety of automotive management positions and served as power plant director at Detroit, Michigan based DTE Energy before returning to her hometown of Jackson to join Consumers Energy in 2011.

Poppe earned a master’s degree in management from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and received a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in industrial engineering from Purdue University.

As President and Chief Executive Officer, Poppe has focused on connecting the company more closely with its customers and adapting lean operating system principles throughout the utility. She also has led the company’s commitment to a triple bottom line in service of people, the planet and prosperity. At a time of unprecedented change in the energy industry, Poppe has helped to uniquely position CMS Energy and Consumers Energy into a clean and lean company able to act as a world class performer delivering hometown service.

Maria Pope is president and CEO of Portland General Electric, Oregon’s largest electric company.

Pope joined PGE in 2009 as chief financial officer and treasurer. She also oversaw the company’s power generation facilities, wholesale power marketing and long-term resource strategy as senior vice president of Power Supply, Operations and Resource Strategy. From 2006 to 2008, she was a member of PGE’s board of directors.

Prior to PGE, Pope was CFO of Mentor Graphics Corporation. She also held senior operating and finance positions within the forest products and consumer products industries. She began her career in banking with Morgan Stanley.

Pope serves on the Oregon Global Warming Commission. Her other board and commission activities include The Nature Conservancy, Electric Power Research Institute and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Pope is an alumna of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and earned her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.

A more than 34-year veteran of CenterPoint Energy and predecessor companies, Kenneth (Kenny) is the company’s senior vice president of Electric Operations, Technology Operations and chief integration officer. In this role, he is responsible for leading electric transmission, distribution, electric engineering and power delivery solutions in the greater Houston area, as well as Corporate Safety and Technical Training. Kenny also oversees Customer & Business Technology, Infrastructure and Competitive Services, Operational Technology and Markets groups in the Technology Operations organization. In addition, he continues to lead CenterPoint Energy and Vectren Corporation’s integration implementation into one company: CenterPoint Energy. This includes process improvement, change leadership, the technology integration management office, and strategic sourcing and purchasing.

Prior to this role, Kenny was CenterPoint Energy’s integration co-lead with Vectren. Before that, he had financial and operational responsibility of the company’s electric utility, which consists of a 5,000 square-mile service territory and power delivery to homes and businesses in the Houston metropolitan area. He also led the deployment of the company’s smart grid system, which includes the installation of smart meters and intelligent grid technology.

Kenny is currently president of the Southeast Electrical Exchange board of directors. He serves on the boards of Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Research Advisory Council at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Advisory Board at Texas A&M Smart Grid Coalition and the Engineering Leadership Board at the University of Houston. He is also former chair of March of Dimes in Houston and prior board member of the Greater Houston Chapter of the American Red Cross.

He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Houston. He also received an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) degree from Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. Kenny is a registered engineer in the State of Texas.

Julian is a staff writer at Greentech Media, where he reports on energy storage and other clean energy sectors. He also has experience covering clean transportation, state and federal energy policy, and climate adaptation. Previously, Julian reported for CityLab at The Atlantic and conducted grant-funded climate change reporting in Bangladesh. He graduated from Duke University with a B.A. in political science.