[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Hi @Ben, I do recommend setting up a new discussion post on this topic of “Probabilistic Determination” in Ask Your Network, so it doesn’t get lost in the “Introduce Yourself” thread.

Thanks!

     Leslie​

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 04-28-2021 08:01
From: Ben Ettlinger
Subject: Introduce Yourself

Here at NYPA we do not do distribution, only generation and transmission. So we have no pole, just transmission towers. But the topic of probabilistic determination is fascinating. I’d like to hear what other utilities are are doing with probabilistic determination. Leslie and Kevin if this is the wrong place for a discussion can we set up a new thread for it?

 

Ben

 

Ben Ettlinger

IT Data Analytics Architect

123 Main St.

White Plains, NY 10601

914-681-6496 | Ben.Ettlinger@nypa.gov

http://www.nypa.gov

 

Original Message:
Sent: 4/27/2021 4:48:00 PM
From: Jordan Pino
Subject: RE: Introduce Yourself

Hi Ron,

Thanks for the question! We developed a probabilistic model that predicts pole hits caused by vehicles. By pole hit “risk”, we mean the probabilistic model coupled with a criticality score we’ve developed based on pole attachments.

I’d be happy to chat more if you have time!

Thanks,

Jordan

——————————
Jordan Pino
Sr. Data Scientist
Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E)
Baltimore MD
——————————

Original Message:
Sent: 04-27-2021 15:08
From: Ron Capute
Subject: Introduce Yourself

Thanks for the intro.  Your work experience is quite interesting.  Perhaps I am not familiar with the terminology – what exactly is “pole hit risk”?

——————————
Ron Capute
Sr Project Manager
Florida Power & Light
Jupiter FL
5619043273

Original Message:
Sent: 04-26-2021 07:48
From: Jordan Pino
Subject: Introduce Yourself

Good morning,

My name is Jordan Pino and I am currently a Senior Data Scientist at Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E) where I work within the smart grid & innovation sector (e.g. grid, unmanned aerial systems, data analytics, and research and development) on data analytics solutions. Specifically, I focus on the development storm-impact models for BG&E’s system to be used as decision-support tools coupled with the development of machine learning models to enhance BG&E’s system performance and hardening efforts. Past work focused on extensive storm-impact modeling for other utility companies (e.g. American Electric Power, FirstEnergy, and Southern Company), and model development within the insurance and finance sectors. Highly skilled in machine learning, data mining, big data, and data visualization.

I have a wide range of experience in data science within the utility sector and enjoy working with all data related to it. Past use cases include: storm-impact modeling, damage models, labor hour models, pole hit risk, and vegetation management.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or ideas to share.

Thanks,

Jordan

——————————
Jordan Pino
Sr. Data Scientist
Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E)
Baltimore MD

Original Message:
Sent: 03-18-2020 10:38
From: Leslie Cook
Subject: Introduce Yourself

Hello UAI Members,

I’m excited to try something new on UAI’s Member-Only Community. I want to not only make this forum a place for work and professional connections to take place on a daily basis, a place to ask each other questions, find answers and exchange knowledge and share information, I want to make it a fun environment to help us all de-stress, get to know each other a little better, and build bonds and friendships of a lifetime.

One of the coolest things about the UAI community is seeing members make connections with one another-it’s incredible to watch personal and professional relationship and friendships begin, grow, evolve, and last. The more relationships that are built between us and the more we get to know each other, the more valuable our work exchanges will become. We open up, we share more, we learn more and we all become so much better together!

Our community gets bigger every day. Many of you already know one another, while others are brand-new faces. I feel like it’s time that we (both new members and established ones) take a little time to introduce ourselves.

• Share your name
• Where you’re from
• How long you’ve worked in utility analytics
• I also encourage you to share non-invasive personal tidbits about yourself, i.e. what you like to do for fun, your hobbies, your pet peeves, or even your favorite memes, of course keeping it in good taste. Share things that will help us all get to know you better

I think it is important to have a little fun while we work and enjoy each other’s company. Please, use the UAI Member-Only Community as a place to work hard and play hard, enjoy, laugh, and have some fun.

I’ll kick us off, and please know you can include as much or little detail in your introduction. I’m wordy, so I went all out:

I’m Leslie, UAI’s membership & digital engagement manager. I’ve been with UAI for almost five months and I’m passionate about connecting members who share similar interests and challenges, and providing them with benefits, experiences, and tools they need to solve their problems and improve their organizations. I enthusiastically joined UAI to help improve and evolve the UAI membership value, as well as manage UAI’s collection of Communities. I am a strategic program director, dynamic business leader, and expert facilitator with over 20 years of experience. To learn even more about my professional work or to connect with me, visit my profile on UAI’s member-only site or LinkedIn. Please reach out to me directly at any time if you have questions or need anything from UAI. I can be reached at lcook@endeavorb2b.com or 646-693-5965.

I’m a Texas girl at heart, born and raised in a small town in north Texas, and then I headed out west to graduate from Texas Tech University (Go Red Raiders!). After school I moved to Colorado and I’ve lived all along the front range for the last 22 years, settling in Denver for the last six years, and I still have a Texas accent (You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can’t take the Texas accent out of the girl!). I’ve been married to my best friend from high school for 17 years, and we have two amazingly intelligent miniature Australian Shepherds, Indio and Charley, who keep us busy.

When I’m not working, I can be found traveling the world. We have been to 11 countries so far and we hope to continue to expand our adventures. I also like to leverage my high attention to detail and project management skills when dabbling in home remodeling and interior design. I come up with crazy design schemes and my patient husband implements my ideas, doing all the skilled and hard labor work. We are now close to the end of a complete remodel of our 1952 house. I cannot wait to be done with this project that has taken us about three years to complete…I can almost see the light!

I am truly excited to get to know ALL UAI’s members, so please reply to this discussion post to introduce yourself. Give a little of yourself and you will be surprised at how much you get in return through your valuable, purpose-built relationships via UAI.

Like I said, I have only been with UAI for about five months, but I’m already having so much fun and learning a lot from all of you! We have a lot of positive updates coming soon and we are evolving, with your input, to better meet your needs and goals, and I can’t wait to share these things with you. You must stay tuned into UAI’s Member-Only Community to learn more within the next few months. We will also be announcing some new things and some updates during the unique and exciting event we have coming in June 2020, UA Summit Reimagined!

Introduce yourself, learn more about others, and connect through UAI!

Stay safe and healthy,

     Leslie

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
646-693-5965, lcook@endeavorb2b.com
——————————

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Thanks for introducing yourself, @Jordan! It is nice to learn more about you.

Cheers,

     Leslie​​

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 04-26-2021 07:48
From: Jordan Pino
Subject: Introduce Yourself

Good morning,

My name is Jordan Pino and I am currently a Senior Data Scientist at Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E) where I work within the smart grid & innovation sector (e.g. grid, unmanned aerial systems, data analytics, and research and development) on data analytics solutions. Specifically, I focus on the development storm-impact models for BG&E’s system to be used as decision-support tools coupled with the development of machine learning models to enhance BG&E’s system performance and hardening efforts. Past work focused on extensive storm-impact modeling for other utility companies (e.g. American Electric Power, FirstEnergy, and Southern Company), and model development within the insurance and finance sectors. Highly skilled in machine learning, data mining, big data, and data visualization.

I have a wide range of experience in data science within the utility sector and enjoy working with all data related to it. Past use cases include: storm-impact modeling, damage models, labor hour models, pole hit risk, and vegetation management.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or ideas to share.

Thanks,

Jordan

——————————
Jordan Pino
Sr. Data Scientist
Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E)
Baltimore MD
——————————

Original Message:
Sent: 03-18-2020 10:38
From: Leslie Cook
Subject: Introduce Yourself

Hello UAI Members,

I’m excited to try something new on UAI’s Member-Only Community. I want to not only make this forum a place for work and professional connections to take place on a daily basis, a place to ask each other questions, find answers and exchange knowledge and share information, I want to make it a fun environment to help us all de-stress, get to know each other a little better, and build bonds and friendships of a lifetime.

One of the coolest things about the UAI community is seeing members make connections with one another-it’s incredible to watch personal and professional relationship and friendships begin, grow, evolve, and last. The more relationships that are built between us and the more we get to know each other, the more valuable our work exchanges will become. We open up, we share more, we learn more and we all become so much better together!

Our community gets bigger every day. Many of you already know one another, while others are brand-new faces. I feel like it’s time that we (both new members and established ones) take a little time to introduce ourselves.

• Share your name
• Where you’re from
• How long you’ve worked in utility analytics
• I also encourage you to share non-invasive personal tidbits about yourself, i.e. what you like to do for fun, your hobbies, your pet peeves, or even your favorite memes, of course keeping it in good taste. Share things that will help us all get to know you better

I think it is important to have a little fun while we work and enjoy each other’s company. Please, use the UAI Member-Only Community as a place to work hard and play hard, enjoy, laugh, and have some fun.

I’ll kick us off, and please know you can include as much or little detail in your introduction. I’m wordy, so I went all out:

I’m Leslie, UAI’s membership & digital engagement manager. I’ve been with UAI for almost five months and I’m passionate about connecting members who share similar interests and challenges, and providing them with benefits, experiences, and tools they need to solve their problems and improve their organizations. I enthusiastically joined UAI to help improve and evolve the UAI membership value, as well as manage UAI’s collection of Communities. I am a strategic program director, dynamic business leader, and expert facilitator with over 20 years of experience. To learn even more about my professional work or to connect with me, visit my profile on UAI’s member-only site or LinkedIn. Please reach out to me directly at any time if you have questions or need anything from UAI. I can be reached at lcook@endeavorb2b.com or 646-693-5965.

I’m a Texas girl at heart, born and raised in a small town in north Texas, and then I headed out west to graduate from Texas Tech University (Go Red Raiders!). After school I moved to Colorado and I’ve lived all along the front range for the last 22 years, settling in Denver for the last six years, and I still have a Texas accent (You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can’t take the Texas accent out of the girl!). I’ve been married to my best friend from high school for 17 years, and we have two amazingly intelligent miniature Australian Shepherds, Indio and Charley, who keep us busy.

When I’m not working, I can be found traveling the world. We have been to 11 countries so far and we hope to continue to expand our adventures. I also like to leverage my high attention to detail and project management skills when dabbling in home remodeling and interior design. I come up with crazy design schemes and my patient husband implements my ideas, doing all the skilled and hard labor work. We are now close to the end of a complete remodel of our 1952 house. I cannot wait to be done with this project that has taken us about three years to complete…I can almost see the light!

I am truly excited to get to know ALL UAI’s members, so please reply to this discussion post to introduce yourself. Give a little of yourself and you will be surprised at how much you get in return through your valuable, purpose-built relationships via UAI.

Like I said, I have only been with UAI for about five months, but I’m already having so much fun and learning a lot from all of you! We have a lot of positive updates coming soon and we are evolving, with your input, to better meet your needs and goals, and I can’t wait to share these things with you. You must stay tuned into UAI’s Member-Only Community to learn more within the next few months. We will also be announcing some new things and some updates during the unique and exciting event we have coming in June 2020, UA Summit Reimagined!

Introduce yourself, learn more about others, and connect through UAI!

Stay safe and healthy,

     Leslie

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
646-693-5965, lcook@endeavorb2b.com
——————————

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Hello UAI Data Science Community Members,

As a reminder, before arriving to Tuesday’s (4/20/21) Data Science Community Conversation, you can take the online poll to submit your answers in advance of the meeting. If you don’t have time to take the poll it in advance, no worries! You will be able to take it in real-time during the Community Conversation. We will be sharing pre-recorded and real-time results of the poll during Tuesday’s Community Conversation. Read my original post to understand why it is important to complete the poll. 

We have 284 Data Science Community Members, so I would like to get 50 of you to complete the poll to get a 20% response rate. Currently, we have 12 members that have taken the poll…thank you!  

Find other options below to take the poll:

1. Go online and use the code as follows:
   • Go to http://www.menti.com to take the Data Science Community poll”>www.menti.com
   • Enter code: 1883 4561
2. QR Code: 

Thanks to all!

      Leslie

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 04-12-2021 15:43
From: Leslie Cook
Subject: Pre-work for Next Tuesday’s, April 20 Data Science Community Conversation

Hello UAI Data Science Community Members,

We are excited about next Tuesday’s Data Science Community Conversation taking place on April 20, 2021 at 1:00 pm CT. During this Community meeting, we will be working with you to help plan for the 2021 and 2022 Data Science Community Conversations to understand your challenges, successes, the models and use cases your working on, and the topics you would like to hear discussed during future Community meetings. By sharing this information, you will help set us up to better plan future presentations and collaborative conversations that align with your needs. Before arriving to next Tuesday’s Data Science Community Conversation, you can take the online poll to submit your answers in advance of the meeting. If you don’t have time to take the poll it in advance, no worries! You will be able to take it in real-time during the Community Conversation. We will be sharing pre-record and real-time results of the poll during Tuesday’s Community Conversation. See you online!

We have 284 Data Science Community Members, so I would like to get 50 of you to complete the poll to get a 20% response rate. 

Find other options below to take the poll:

1. Go online and use the code as follows:
   • Go to http://www.menti.com to take the Data Science Community poll”>http://www.menti.com
   • Enter code: 1883 4561
2. QR Code: 

Thanks to all!

      Leslie

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Hello UAI Members,

Thank you all so much for taking the short series of UAI surveys that we published during March and April in an effort to continuously improve the UAI membership experience. This is your final call to take the last survey in the series, which will help us learn more about your engagement on UAI Connect. This survey will take approximately 4 minutes to complete. 

Take the final survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/D6WX87H

Your input is important to us and we sincerely appreciate your feedback and time spent taking our surveys.

Thank you! 

     
     Leslie

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Hello UAI Members,

We look forward to the UAI Analytics All-Stars webcast taking place this Wednesday, April 14, 2021 at 1:00 PM ET. Please register before Wednesday at https://utilityanalytics.com/webinar/webinar-analytics-all-stars!

UAI, in collaboration with our founding award sponsor, Bidgely, is excited to showcase innovations from the 2020 UAI Excellence Award winners through this engaging webinar. These winners have demonstrated leadership, innovation, and excellence in utility analytics – and now they’re sharing their expertise, accomplishments related to their winning nominations, and lessons learned.

Join UAI on April 14, 2021 at 1:00 PM ET (11:00 AM MT) to celebrate these utility analytics all-stars and learn about their journey within utility analytics. You will hear from…

• 2020 Analytics Ambassador: Amelia Badders, Director of Enterprise Advanced Analytics – CPS Energy
• 2020 Best Innovative Utility Analytics Team: SoCalGas, represented by David Baron, Director, Performance Mgmt & Org Strategy
• 2020 Best Utility Analytics Leader: Christine Wisniewski, Vice President Operations Performance – Consumers Energy
• 2020 Best Utility Analytics Professional: Ioannis (Yannis) Katsanos, Manager, Data Science – Exelon Utilities
• 2020 Community Engagement Award, Most Engaged Individual Member: Travis Metcalfe, Strategy, Innovation, and Engagement Manager – Tacoma Power
• 2020 Community Engagement Award, Most Engaged Utility Member: Evergy, represented by Eddy Halter, Sr Director Enterprise Business Analytics
• 2020 Founding Award Partner: Bidgely, represented by Abhay Gupta, Founder & CEO

REGISTER TODAY!

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 03-30-2021 17:24
From: Leslie Cook
Subject: WEBINAR: Analytics All-Stars

Hello UAI Members,

Please join us for our Analytics All-Stars webcast taking place on April 14, 2021 at 1:00 PM ET. Learn more below and register today at https://utilityanalytics.com/webinar/webinar-analytics-all-stars!

WEBINAR: Analytics All-Stars
April 14, 2021 @ 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT

The Utility Analytics Institute (UAI), in collaboration with our founding award sponsor, Bidgely, is excited to showcase innovations from the 2020 UAI Excellence Award winners through this engaging webinar. These winners have demonstrated leadership, innovation, and excellence in utility analytics – and now they’re sharing their expertise, accomplishments related to their winning nominations, and lessons learned.

Join UAI on April 14, 2021 at 1:00 PM ET (11:00 AM MT) to celebrate these utility analytics all-stars and learn about their journey within utility analytics. You will hear from…

• 2020 Analytics Ambassador: Amelia Badders, Director of Enterprise Advanced Analytics – CPS Energy
• 2020 Best Innovative Utility Analytics Team: SoCalGas, represented by David Baron, Director, Performance Mgmt & Org Strategy
• 2020 Best Utility Analytics Leader: Christine Wisniewski, Vice President Operations Performance – Consumers Energy
• 2020 Best Utility Analytics Professional: Ioannis (Yannis) Katsanos, Manager, Data Science – Exelon Utilities
• 2020 Community Engagement Award, Most Engaged Individual Member: Travis Metcalfe, Strategy, Innovation, and Engagement Manager – Tacoma Power
• 2020 Community Engagement Award, Most Engaged Utility Member: Evergy, represented by Eddy Halter, Sr Director Enterprise Business Analytics
• 2020 Founding Award Partner: Bidgely, represented by Abhay Gupta, Founder & CEO

REGISTER TODAY!

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Hello UAI Members,

Please join us for next week’s Analytics All-Stars webcast taking place on April 14, 2021 at 1:00 PM ET. Learn more and register today at https://utilityanalytics.com/webinar/webinar-analytics-all-stars!

The Utility Analytics Institute (UAI), in collaboration with our founding award sponsor, Bidgely, is excited to showcase innovations from the 2020 UAI Excellence Award winners through this engaging webinar. These winners have demonstrated leadership, innovation, and excellence in utility analytics – and now they’re sharing their expertise, accomplishments related to their winning nominations, and lessons learned.

Join UAI on April 14, 2021 at 1:00 PM ET (11:00 AM MT) to celebrate these utility analytics all-stars and learn about their journey within utility analytics. You will hear from…

• 2020 Analytics Ambassador: Amelia Badders, Director of Enterprise Advanced Analytics – CPS Energy
• 2020 Best Innovative Utility Analytics Team: SoCalGas, represented by David Baron, Director, Performance Mgmt & Org Strategy
• 2020 Best Utility Analytics Leader: Christine Wisniewski, Vice President Operations Performance – Consumers Energy
• 2020 Best Utility Analytics Professional: Ioannis (Yannis) Katsanos, Manager, Data Science – Exelon Utilities
• 2020 Community Engagement Award, Most Engaged Individual Member: Travis Metcalfe, Strategy, Innovation, and Engagement Manager – Tacoma Power
• 2020 Community Engagement Award, Most Engaged Utility Member: Evergy, represented by Eddy Halter, Sr Director Enterprise Business Analytics
• 2020 Founding Award Partner: Bidgely, represented by Abhay Gupta, Founder & CEO

REGISTER TODAY!

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Hello UAI Members,

In an effort to continuously improve the UAI membership experience, we have developed a series of short surveys. Please remember to take the last survey in the series to help us learn more about your engagement on UAI Connect. This survey will take approximately 4 minutes to complete. 

TAKE THE UAI CONNECT ENGAGEMENT SURVEY at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/D6WX87H

Your input is important to us and we sincerely appreciate your feedback and time spent taking our surveys.

Thank you!

     Leslie 

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Thanks so much for taking the survey, Ben! I appreciate your input. 

Cheers!

     Leslie

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 04-05-2021 16:05
From: Ben Ettlinger
Subject: Please Take Utility Analytics 101 Training Survey Today!

I took it this morning as I was out last week. It’s a great idea. We really need more people training in analytrics. I just met about an hour ago with Tableau on leveraging it’s Python R etc. extensions. We need more citizen data scientist to able able to leverage the tools.

 

ben

 

Original Message:
Sent: 4/5/2021 4:00:00 PM
From: Leslie Cook
Subject: Please Take Utility Analytics 101 Training Survey Today!

Hello UAI EAC Members,

Thanks again for attending the EAC meeting on Wednesday last week!  During this meeting, we discussed an important future initiative: UAI Utility Analytics 101 training. We had an excellent conversation about this training course and thank you all for your input. We still need more input!  We’ve had only 20 EAC members take the Utility Analytics 101 training survey and would like feedback from a much larger percentage of you. If you have not already, please take the survey today to provide feedback! The survey can be found at forms.office.com/r/d6vQZxD5py. Thank you!

For those that did not make it to the March 31 EAC meeting, you can listen to the recording and download the slide deck in the EAC Library on UAI Connect.

TAKE THE SURVEY!

Thanks so much! 

     Leslie

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

I loved reading your interview, @Travis, especially how you got into the utility analytics industry. Thanks for sharing your story with the UAI members!

Cheers,

     Leslie ​

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 04-01-2021 11:52
From: Kevin Praet
Subject: April 2021 Member Spotlight: Travis Metcalfe (Tacoma Power)

Travis Metcalfe is an active UAI member and provides outstanding influence and contributions to the UAI community through many different channels, including, but not limited to engagement on UAI Connect, volunteering with UAI, involvement and leadership in monthly Community Conversations, and speaking at UAI events, plus so much more. Travis was also selected as the winner of our 2020 Community Engagement Award – Most Engaged Individual  and helped champion our new award series this past year. As thanks, we are featuring him in the UAI Member Spotlight. Travis has been an employee with Tacoma Power for 19 years and has filled many different roles during that time. In his current role he manages Tacoma Power’s Strategy, Innovation, and Engagement workgroup. He oversees the Training, Development & Apprentice Programs, Strategy & Performance Analytics, and Strategic People Programs within Tacoma Power’s Shared Services section.

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

Member: My interest in utility analytics actually began long before I joined Tacoma Power. In 2002, I graduated with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics, and launched my career, working full time in the software industry following graduation. After a short time in the software industry, I wasn’t sure the position I was in was I wanted to do long-term. I was also commuting several hours each day and began trying to find something closer to home. A family member suggested I consider the utility industry, and at the time, Tacoma Power was looking for a SCADA Engineer. I loved how this first job blended my software and hardware skills as we retrofitted our distribution substations with remote terminal units, and gave our dispatchers the ability to control our substations remotely. From my very first job in the utility industry, I have always been keenly fascinated with the underlying data and information behind the scenes. I have been in the analyst role, as well as the decision-making role, and now find myself working a lot with senior leaders across our organization. We have been sitting on a mountain of data for a long time and for the last several years, I have been working with them to bring that data to the forefront of our decision-making at all levels of the organization.

 

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

Member: That is such a hard question for me to answer. I am the type of person that puts a lot into whatever I am working on and have had the opportunity to work on some really cool projects. There are three things that I love doing in and through my work:

1. Delivering an end product that is completely different from what people have expected or experienced previously.
2. Transforming complicated things into something that is easier to understand and approachable for everyone.
3. Helping others succeed in achieving their goals.

I have seen all of these things come together a few times in my career. On one such occasion, I remember a Board Member pulling me aside after a presentation of the results and sharing how they felt our team’s project was truly transformational and changed their perspective. Seeing how the many different skills from our team came together to deliver such an incredible result still inspires me every time I think about it.

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

Member: I always used to imagine I would face these incredible technical challenges and it would require spending large amounts of time trying to develop solutions. In reality, the technical challenges have rarely been insurmountable. I am fortunate to work with some brilliant people and when we put our heads together, we are almost always able to come up with solutions to whatever the problem might be.  

I am sure many can relate to the sentiment that some of the biggest challenges and obstacles are related to culture, misalignment of priority, individual pride, and conflicting passions. The more I move away from an individual contributor role into leading groups and teams, the more I become aware of the impact that these challenges have on our work. I know how difficult it can be to stand up to a senior leader that refuses to admit when they have made a mistake or to watch as someone carries out behaviors that hurt others in pursuit of their own desires.

In reality, we rarely have all the information we need to fully understand the impact of our decisions and it is critical that we connect with and actively listen to the people who are directly involved or impacted. If we want to achieve truly great outcomes, we have to be willing to collaborate and lead with humility that allows us to put aside our own desires and selfish interests. I am incredibly grateful and humbled at the insights that have been shared with me while I am still so young in my career. They have made me a better leader and have given me the courage to lead in such a way that I can have a more positive impact on others.

 

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?

Member: Don’t be too scared or stubborn to ask for help. The most fun I have had at work is when I have been able to do things with others that share my passion and excitement. After all, what’s the worst someone can say when you ask them for help? “No.” “Not right now.” “Maybe some other time.” On the other hand, if they say yes, you have an opportunity to learn something new and produce something better than if you were going to do it by yourself.

 

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?

Member: One thing our team is really digging into right now is bringing data into our decision-making, and using that data to prioritize work across the utility. We are building a framework for corporate performance management by starting with our strategic objectives and then moving on to some of our more operational areas. I have witnessed several people incorrectly equate analytics with the creation of a dashboard or some kind of visualization. What we are attempting to do is transform the way we approach our work and perhaps even how we think about what is most important. Publishing data and making it available to others is a great first step, but I would love to know, what are some ways you have found to utilize a visualization as a means of transforming the way you do your work?

 

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?

Member: Thank you to the staff at UAI for providing such a great means of connecting with likeminded, passionate peers! I miss the chance to see many of you at conferences or to sit down with a cup of coffee and connect over the work we are doing. I welcome opportunities to share and learn from anyone that is interested in doing so. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me personally or to post your topics in the forums. I really enjoy seeing all the different projects each utility is working on!

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

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Hello UAI Members,

Please remember to take this next survey to help us learn about your satisfaction with UAI Connect:https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XNK2SSL. It will take less than 2-minutes to complete. 

Thank you for taking time to complete this survey!

Cheers!

     Leslie

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 03-16-2021 09:48
From: Leslie Cook
Subject: Please Take 2 Minutes to Complete a UAI Connect Satisfaction Survey

Hello UAI Members,

In an effort to continuously improve the UAI membership experience, we have developed a series of short surveys. We are breaking it up into different surveys, so each takes only 2-minutes or less to complete.

Please take this next survey in the series to help us learn about your satisfaction with UAI Connect: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XNK2SSL. 

Thank you for taking time to complete this survey!

Cheers!

     Leslie

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Hello UAI Members,

Please remember to take our 1-minute, 1-question survey to rank networking happy hour discussion topics for UA Summit!

In preparation for our upcoming UA Summit 2021, UAI wants your feedback on discussion topics that will guide the conversation during the networking happy hours.

Thanks for your input!

     Leslie

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Good Morning, UAI Members!

It has been about a month since we announced the Call for Nominations for the 2021 UAI Excellence Awards, so we wanted to send a friendly reminder! Learn more, see last year’s winners, and nominate individuals and teams for the awards at https://utilityanalytics.com/awards.

The UAI Excellence Awards is an opportunity for you to recognize the individuals and teams within your organization that are doing some innovative things within utility analytics. You may have a utility analytics professional or leader that are shining stars within your team…don’t let this opportunity pass you by to tell them they are amazing! Perhaps your team has accomplished some innovative work that has saved your utility resources and added value to the business…nominate them for the Best Innovative Utility Analytics Team award. 

Remember, the deadline to submit your nominations is June 30, 2021!  

Use the above nomination form to express your intent to apply for or nominate someone for a UAI Excellence Award. Perhaps you have questions about the award or need help with completing the nomination form for the award. Complete this form and the UAI team will reach out to you to provide help and support. Otherwise, please complete your full official nomination form for each award online at http://www.UtilityAnalytics.com/Awards.

Mark your calendars with the June 30 deadline! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

     Leslie

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Hello Natural Gas Analytics Community Members,

LAST CALL to take the Natural Gas Analytics Community Poll! We will close this poll on Friday, March 5.


We are ALMOST to our goal! We have a total of 18 responses on the poll. We would like to receive a total of 28 responses to reach a 20% response rate. 

Why should you take the survey?  We want to step-up our game during the monthly Natural Gas Analytics Community Conversations by delivering content that more closely matches your needs and interests. In order to do this, we need your input! Please take the Natural Gas Analytics Community Poll to help us plan and build content for the 2021 Natural Gas Analytics Community. 

Directions to take the poll:
1.) Go to http://www.menti.com to take the poll
2.) Enter code 42 91 65 2
3.) Answer the questions in the poll as it relates to natural gas analytics within your utility

You can see our original request here for more detail. Please take a few moments out of your day, before Friday, March 5, to take the Natural Gas Analytics Community Poll!  

Thank you all so much for playing an active role in helping make this Community a valuable experience!

Cheers!

@Leslie and @Kevin (UAI Team) and your Natural Gas Analytics Community Leadership Team: @David, @Zac, @Kaleb, @Catherine
​​​​​​​​

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 02-24-2021 12:55
From: Leslie Cook
Subject: Help Us Step Up Our Game! We Need 17 Natural Gas Members to take our Poll

Hello Natural Gas Analytics Community Members,

We are getting closer to our goal! We added 6 more survey responses over the last week for a total of 17 responses. We need 11 more Natural Gas Analytics Community members to take the survey to reach a 20% response rate. We will close this poll on Friday, March 5.

Why should you take the survey?  We want to step-up our game during the monthly Natural Gas Analytics Community Conversations by delivering content that more closely matches your needs and interests. In order to do this, we need your input! Please take the Natural Gas Analytics Community Poll to help us plan and build content for the 2021 Natural Gas Analytics Community. Once we close the poll, we will share the results.

Directions to take the poll:
1.) Go to http://www.menti.com to take the poll
2.) Enter code 42 91 65 2
3.) Answer the questions in the poll as it relates to natural gas analytics within your utility

You can see our original request here for more detail. Please take a few moments out of your day to take the Natural Gas Analytics Community Poll!  

Thank you all so much for playing an active role in helping make this Community a valuable experience!

Cheers!

@Leslie and @Kevin (UAI Team) and your Natural Gas Analytics Community Leadership Team: @David, @Zac, @Kaleb, @Catherine
​​​​​​​​

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————

Original Message:
Sent: 02-18-2021 09:56
From: Leslie Cook
Subject: Help Us Step Up Our Game! We Need 17 Natural Gas Members to take our Poll

Good Morning Natural Gas Analytics Community Members!

We want to step-up our game during the monthly Natural Gas Analytics Community Conversations by delivering content that more closely matches your needs and interests. In order to do this, we need your input! Please take the Natural Gas Analytics Community Poll to help us plan and build content for the 2021 Natural Gas Analytics Community. Once we close the poll, we will share the results.

To help step up our game, I have a challenge for you! We currently have 140 Natural Gas Analytics Community Members. We need at least 28 members to take this poll to reach a 20% response rate. We currently have 11 members that took the poll yesterday (2/17/21) during the Community Conversation. A shout out and thank you to everyone that participated in yesterday’s session. It was great to get to know you better and receive your input and active participation! For those that didn’t make it to our session yesterday, GAME ON! We are 17 poll responses away from our goal!  

Directions to take the poll:
1.) Go to http://www.menti.com to take the poll
2.) Enter code 42 91 65 2
3.) Answer the questions in the poll as it relates to natural gas analytics within your utility

This poll is designed to help us understand your natural gas analytics maturity level (we want to help you level up, so we need a baseline), successes, challenges, and use cases and discussion topics of interest. With your direct input through this poll, we can better plan content for the 2021 Natural Gas Analytics Community Conversations that is timely, relevant, and valuable to you. Please don’t miss this opportunity to play a part in adding value to our monthly conversations!

Please take a few moments out of your day to take the Natural Gas Analytics Community Poll!  

Thank you all so much for playing an active role in helping make this Community a valuable experience!

Cheers!

@Leslie and @Kevin (UAI Team) and your Natural Gas Analytics Community Leadership Team: @David, @Zac, @Kaleb, @Catherine
​​​​​​​​

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@endeavorb2b.com
——————————

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Hello UAI Members — I wanted to reply to this post on “Power Quality – Outage Prediction” from 5 days ago to see if you have feedback or thoughts on the topic. I noticed this thread was unanswered, so if you missed it the first time I hope circling it back to the top will help you see it and reply to your fellow member. 

@Brian — I’m not sure if the following sessions are exactly what you are looking for, but we do have a few webinars, Community Conversations, and past event content on UAI Connect on the topic of Outage Prediction. I have provided links below to the content in order of newest to oldest content. If you find that you don’t have access to any of these items due to them being in a specific Community, let me know and I’ll make sure you gain access. You can also search “outage prediction” on UAI Connect to find a few other items. I hope this helps! 

• Grid Analytics Community: Applying Machine Learning for Outage Predictions 
• Data Science Community: Outage Restoration Prediction with Machine Learning 
• Webinar: Outage Prediction Using Machine Learning from CPS Energy: 
• Past Event Content: Weather Related Outage/Impact Prediction for Utilities 

Thank you!

     Leslie
​​

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 02-25-2021 16:54
From: Brian Thompson
Subject: Power Quality – Outage Prediction

Hey all UAI members.   Our teams are working on new capabilities to predict power outages and loose neutrals with a focus on first level transformers utilizing AMI data.  We would hope to scale into outage predictions for the larger network but currently are trying to keep things simple.

Have any of you had the opportunity to successfully implement such a program.  If so what are the results?    Would be very interested to speak to any of you in the community that may already have experience with this.   Hope you all are doing well after the cold weather if you had to deal with that in your respective territories and appreciate the feedback that this community always has for these kinds of questions.

——————————
Brian Thompson
Entergy
——————————

[Leslie Cook (Adm)]

Hello UAI Members,

Please remember to take our membership experience survey today at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2RDN7N3! It literally only takes two minutes to complete. 

In an effort to continuously improve the UAI membership experience, we have developed a short 2-minute survey to learn how you want to engage with UAI and the types of content you’re interested in receiving.

We sincerely appreciate your input.

Thanks!

     Leslie

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 02-24-2021 09:52
From: Leslie Cook
Subject: Please Take 2 Minutes to Complete A Membership Experience Survey

Hello UAI Members,

In an effort to continuously improve the UAI membership experience, we have developed a short 2-minute survey to learn how you want to engage with UAI and the types of content you’re interested in receiving.

Please take the survey today at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2RDN7N3!

This is the first in a series of membership experience surveys you will receive over the next month. It is our goal to keep each survey short and sweet, so you can provide valuable feedback and do it within 2 minutes or less.

We sincerely appreciate your input.

Thanks!

     Leslie

——————————
Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@utilityanalytics.com
——————————