[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Thanks for allowing UAI to feature you in our July Member Spotlight, @Jordan. It has been such a pleasure to work with you while you were with BG&E and now with Entergy. I love seeing your growth and success in the utility analytics industry and thank you for your leadership on the Grid Analytics Community leadership team.

Cheers!

     Leslie​

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 07-01-2022 11:22
From: Kevin Praet
Subject: July (2022) Member Spotlight: Jordan Pino (Entergy)

@Jordan is an active UAI member and provides outstanding influence and contributions to the UAI community through any of our multiple channels, including, but not limited to engagement on UAI Connect, volunteering with UAI, involvement and/or leadership in monthly Community Conversations, and/or speaking at UAI events, plus so much more. As thanks, we are featuring him in the UAI Member Spotlight. Jordan Pino is Manager – Data Science at Entergy where he manages a team of Data Scientists and contractors across four analytics “pods”. Before joining Entergy, he was a Principal Data Scientist at Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E) where he worked in the grid space on descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive models.

 

Kevin: How did you get into the utility analytics industry?

Jordan: I have always had an interest in the utility industry and the effects of weather on the power infrastructure system. As a child, growing up in Louisiana, I was exposed to numerous tropical systems and severe thunderstorms. During these events, widespread power outages would occur. I was constantly checking outage maps, wondering why certain areas lost power and others didn’t, how long until it would come back, and so on. So, it’s no accident that I ended up in this industry.

 

Kevin: What project have you enjoyed working on most in your career?

Jordan: I would say I really enjoyed developing power outage models during graduate school for FirstEnergy and American Electric Power (AEP). Those projects first introduced me to the utility-analytics world back in 2016. I also enjoy finding ways to incorporate weather data into any analytic use case, especially since it has a major impact. Another rewarding project was one involving predicting vehicular pole hits at Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E).

 

Kevin: What has been your biggest professional challenge and how did you work through it?

Jordan: I would say convincing utilities to adopt “advanced” analytics. Many times, there is a misconception that analytics involves mostly Power BI dashboards or reports. There is a wealth of data available at utilities that can be harnessed to create predictive and prescriptive models.

 

Kevin: If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice before entering the utility analytics industry, what would it be?

Jordan: I would say to my younger self to remain flexible. Not all projects have the flash you’d expect or want. It’s all about what the business wants and what can save time, money, and energy. Process improvement use cases are also vital because they help someone complete a task more efficiently. I’d also say to not be afraid to take a chance and throw some ideas out there. You never know how an idea will be received until you try.

 

Kevin: What would you like to talk to fellow colleagues and members about in UAI Connect? Or, what issues or topics would you like to see more discussions on in UAI Connect?

Jordan: I have already submitted an inquiry about expectation management in the industry when it comes to analytics. I am always curious as to how others are communicating to their leadership that models are not “the” answer, but a tool used as data-driven decision support. Many times, analytics is packaged into a shiny box and presented to leadership. Then, when it comes time to release those models, they do not perform perfectly. This leaves us in the analytics world defending our work. However, no model is perfect and setting a clear expectation beforehand is of great help.

 

Kevin: Thank you so much for sharing with us and for being a highly engaged member of UAI!

Do you have any final thoughts, ideas, or comments you would like to share with your fellow UAI members?

Jordan: I would say to be active here! It’s a great place to meet others, engage, and find new ideas and friends.

​

——————————
Kevin Praet
Membership Coordinator
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
Boulder CO
315-440-3033
——————————