Nine Finalists Selected for the Annual UAI Excellence Awards
UAI Awards Honor Individuals, Teams, and Organizations Leading the Way in Utility Analytics!
UAI, the only organization dedicated to enabling utility transformation through analytics, in collaboration with the awards sponsor, Bidgely, announces finalists for its 2021 UAI Excellence Awards. UAI honors the best in the utility analytics profession, recognizing the individuals, teams, and organizations that have achieved and maintained excellence through innovation.
2021 UAI Excellence Awards winners will be announced during the virtual UA Week 2021, taking place December 8-9, 2021, online. To learn more about the UAI Excellence Awards visit https://utilityanalytics.com/awards.
Awards that will be announced during the 2021 UA Week include:
- Best Innovative Utility Analytics Team
- Best Utility Analytics Leader
- Best Utility Analytics Professional
- Analytics Ambassador Award
- Community Engagement Awards
- Most Engaged Individual Member
- Most Engaged Utility Member
UAI will also unveil the Top 25 Thought Leaders in Utility Analytics!
Three prestigious awards that are presented at UA Week – Best Innovative Utility Analytics Team, Best Utility Analytics Leader, and Best Utility Analytics Professional – include a multi-phase judging process. Other UAI awards – Analytics Ambassador, Community Engagement, and the Top 25 Thought Leaders in Utility Analytics – Include a committee selection process and/or engagement scoring. All UAI Excellence Awards are specifically dedicated to the analytics segment of utilities.
Best Innovative Utility Analytics Team recognizes teams that have set and achieved the highest standards of excellence in utility analytics for problem solving in innovative ways and take the time to instill that culture in their employees. The 2021 finalists are:
- Duke Energy, Duke Energy’s MADLab
- Exelon Utilities, Customer Analytics
- Tennessee Valley Authority, Enterprise Analytics
Best Utility Analytics Leader acknowledges and honors a utility analytics leader who has excelled at supporting any or all analytics work within their utility and who most clearly demonstrates the ability to serve and advance analytics within the utility industry. The 2021 finalists are:
- Andrew Braeger, Utility Data Engineering Manager – Tacoma Power
- Tom Hobbib, Software Development Manager, Group Product Owner – Sempra Energy Utilities
- Tanya Mathur, Manager, Enterprise Analytics – Tennessee Valley Authority
Best Utility Analytics Professional recognizes the utility analytics industry’s top professional who possess the knowledge, skills, experience, passion, and business acumen required to provide consistent, quality, and innovative effort that is directly relevant to the utility analytics industry. The 2021 finalists are:
- Dre Barabin, System Programmer II – New Braunfels Utilities
- Joselle Abagat Barnett, Senior Data Analyst – Santee Cooper
- Matt Halloran, Products & Services Manager – Avista
A blue-ribbon panel of judges engaged in a rigorous selection process to identify the most deserving finalists for the three aforementioned award categories. These award finalists will now step into phase two judging for a personal interview with our judges who will then select the winner in each award category. Comprised of utility analytics professionals and long-time industry experts, phase one and phase two judges are tasked with selecting leading individuals, teams, and organizations.
“We want to thank our judges for their time and support, as well as their commitment to this process,” says Leslie Cook, UAI Membership & Engagement Manager.
2021 UAI Excellence Award Volunteer Judges:
- Derin Bluhm, CTO – Grant PUD
- David Baron, Director, Performance Mgmt & Org Strategy – SoCalGas
- Jill Feblowitz, President, Feblowitz Energy Consulting
- Eddy Halter, Sr. Director, Enterprise Analytics – Evergy
- Ioannis Katsanos, Manager, Data Science – Exelon Utilities
- Vitha Krishnamurthy, Lead -Business Intelligence – Enbridge Gas Inc.
- Travis Metcalfe, Manager, Strategy, Innovation, Engagement – Tacoma Power
- Arun Schipse, Manager of Data Sciences – CPS Energy
- Nolan Steiner, Manager, Data Strategy – Avista
- Christine Wisniewski, Vice President, Operations Performance – Consumers Energy
“We want to congratulate all of the UAI award finalists for their commitment to excellence through innovation and elevating the utility analytics profession,” says Gina Weber, UAI Managing Director. “The UAI awards provide the industry’s finest with a sense of prominence and accomplishment—and this year’s exemplary crop of finalists leaves our judges with much to deliberate before announcing the winners at our annual UA Week event.”
“Now more than ever, utilities are harnessing the power of analytics to tackle their clean energy commitments, build enduring brands, and provide reliable and personalized service at scale. We’re thrilled to celebrate these pioneers and our fellow community of utility analytics leaders,” says Abhay Gupta, Bidgely CEO.
To learn more about the UAI Excellence Awards visit https://utilityanalytics.com/awards and to see the exciting announcement of our 2021 UAI Excellence Awards winners, register for the Virtual 2021 UA Week at https://www.utilityanalyticsweek.com/.
