Jennifer Williams, President of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro

Jennifer is the President of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, a Nalcor Energy Company. Prior to her role as President, she also served as NL Hydro’s Vice President of Production, as well as General Manager of Production and Manager of Regulatory Engineering. Before joining NL Hydro, Jennifer accumulated a diverse range of experience working at both Newfoundland Power and St. John’s International Airport Authority. She has a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, is a previous member of the Board of Directors of the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Newfoundland and Labrador (PEGNL), as well as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and Fellow of Engineers Canada.

Jumping into the Energy Sector

Upon graduating from her Bachelor of Civil Engineering at Memorial University, Jennifer kicked off her career as an engineer at a private distribution utility. The company was undertaking a construction project where they would be building a new hydroelectric plant. The possibility of working on a project of this nature appealed to Jennifer, and she took the job.

Fast forward a few years, and Jennifer had the opportunity to take on various roles within the organization. These included working with hydrology, dam safety, as well as supervisory roles in both the distribution and generation sides of the company. After almost 13 years at the company, Jennifer opted to leave for a new experience at the St. John’s International Airport Authority. Following her time in the aviation sector, Jennifer opted to come back to the energy industry and take on a role at Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, where she has been for the past six years, and now holds the title of President of the company.

Balancing Responsibilities

NL Hydro powers over 200 communities across the province, so it comes as no surprise that the Presidential role encompasses many different responsibilities. Currently, Jennifer’s main goal for the organization is to meet its legislative mandate of providing “reasonably safe and adequate and just service” to its consumers. On the one hand, this means ensuring that her employees are safe in their responsibilities so that they can deliver their best work. On the other hand, this means attending to customer expectations about NL Hydro reliability.

Something Jennifer (and by extent, NL Hydro) is currently working on is a reassessment of operating and planning standards. She describes how it is critical that the organization continue to explore expectations and possibilities in the delivery of electrical service For instance, NL Hydro is directly engaging with customers and asking them what they expect in terms of reliability. By inviting customers into the conversation, NL Hydro has been able to make better decisions that are informed by their customers’ expectations.

Jennifer also stressed the importance of balancing cost, reliability and accountability. She explained how you can engineer the best and most reliable systems, but if the costs are inappropriate, then alternate solutions must be considered. To achieve this delicate balance, one of the most important things she suggests is to listen to what is going on at the community-level, province-wide, and even throughout the country. For instance, NL Hydro has been facing and continues to face pressure from its consumers to reduce costs. Keeping in mind the balance that the company must maintain, Jennifer is approaching the situation using new change management approaches, which are fundamentally rooted in the consultation of stakeholders, starting within the company. Jennifer remarked that “if you don’t understand the effects that an initiative will have on the people it’s impacting; the planned benefits are going to fail.” According to Prosci – an industry leader in change management – initiatives that employ excellent change management tactics are six times as likely to succeed than with poor change management. Overall, Jennifer believes that taking experiences from the past, and listening to inputs from customers, have not only driven the organization forward, but also helped ensure that it is being kept accountable.

Find what you Love

When Jennifer was asked about the best way to learn and stay updated about the industry, she emphasized the importance of truly enjoying the work that you do. Jennifer is very committed to the organization and to the province, and as a result, learns a lot by paying attention to not only the energy industry, but also by finding connections and parallels with her real-world experiences.

Though she does not prescribe to a particular motto, Jennifer recently heard this motto and it rang true for how she has been leading “continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection,” and she continues to strive for improvement both individually and for the organization. Jennifer’s mother acted as an excellent role model, by instilling in her the importance of perseverance and resilience, especially in the face of adversity.

These traits were especially important as Jennifer navigated her early years as an engineer in a male-dominated industry, and as she moved up the ranks in the organization. Earlier in her career, she was told that she could not be both a good mom and a good CEO. And, after having children, an executive leader also mentioned in passing that there was hope that she was done having children now. Though these comments still sit in the back of her mind and sometimes cause self-doubt, Jennifer works hard to ensure she does not pass these messages on to those she leads and she is grateful that she can now work to change the culture and provide a positive and valuable experience for her employees. She notes that she draws most of her strength from not wanting to let others within the organization or those in her province down, and she draws strength from having a strong support system; these are key to pushing forward and overcoming barriers.

Quick Tip: Don’t Underestimate Communication

Though she has an engineering degree and works in a technical industry, Jennifer emphasized that communication skills are absolutely essential in order to create meaningful change. She explains how there is room to grow in building a community wide base of people with technical knowledge who also have the ability to clearly and actively communicate. Practically, she urges everyone to regularly train by communicating verbally on any topic, especially with people you do not know well.