Excellence in Women’s Development
Recognizing diversity and inclusion in the energy industry!
Energetic Women wishes to give special recognition to a company for their leadership and commitment to diversity and inclusion in the utility industry. The company recognized by this award valiantly champions diversity and inclusion efforts and meets the following criteria:
- Member of MEA Energy Association (MEA) for 3 years or greater (non-consecutive)
- Representation via attendance to the Energetic Women Conference for 3 years or greater (non-consecutive)
- Provides resources and tools tailored to assist women in excelling in non-traditional roles that includes engineering and operations
- Active talent management and development organization(s) that facilitates initiatives that encourages and supports women to pursue non-traditional roles that includes engineering and operations
- Achieves their internal diversity and inclusion goals targeted to increase the selection and retention of diverse candidates at the levels of middle management and above
- Supports Employee Resource Groups within their company to assist with diversity and inclusion goals
Nominations are closed. Check back in late 2023 to make a nomination for next year’s award.
Excellence in Women's Development Award Winning Companies
- DTE Energy
2022 Honoree
Diane Antishin, vice president of HR & chief DEI officer and Ben Felton, senior vice president – energy supply, both with DTE Energy, accepted the award at the 14th Annual Energetic Women Conference. DTE Energy, celebrates and leverages diverse backgrounds and perspectives. DTE understands that diverse representation in the workforce begins with attracting and retaining a diverse talent pool. DTE focuses on recruiting women, people of color, veterans, and individuals with disabilities through strong partnerships with the Society of Women Engineers, Women of Color in STEM Conference, National Black MBA Conference, and other organizations.
DTE knows that investing in the development of women for leadership roles requires ongoing education, growth opportunities, mentorship and time. Through use of focused tools and resources for women at every level, the company has placed capable women in key roles at DTE.
- Burns & McDonnell
2021 Honoree
Renita Mollman, chief administrative officer, Burns & McDonnell accepted the award at the 13th Annual Energetic Women Conference: A Virtual Experience. Burns & McDonnell was recently named one of Forbes’ Best Employers for Diversity — a list based on results from an independent survey that looked at a representative sample of 60,000 employees working for companies employing at least 1,000 people in their U.S. operations. Questions included topics of age, gender equality, ethnicity, disability, LGBTQA+ and general diversity. They are proud to be among some of the most well-known brands in the U.S. and recognized for their efforts to create an inclusive workforce for all.
Burns & McDonnell is committed to empowering their female engineers by connecting them with meaningful opportunities to advance their careers. Whether it is their mentor program, professional development opportunities or their Professional Women’s Exchange (PWE), they provide the tools and resources necessary to help them realize and reach their career goals.
- Consumers Energy
2019 Honoree
Sarah Rossi and Mary Palkovich of Consumers Energy accepted the award at the 12th Annual Energetic Women Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. Consumers Energy is a strong advocate for promoting and retaining women in their company. Their CEO, Patti Poppe, is one of only 25 female CEOs of a Fortune 500 company. Their Board of Directors is made up of nearly 50% women, and they proudly have eight other female officers in the company.
Consumers Energy is dedicated to employing a diverse and inclusive workforce and creating an environment where every worker can be their best and authentic self. As such, Consumers Energy has made a concerted effort to create a diverse talent pipeline and consistently bring women and minorities to the table for strategic leadership and problem solving.
The company has strong partnerships and aligns themselves with external organizations, career fairs, and college visits in order to increase the number of women in the pipeline for engineering and operations positions. Historically, women have made up a small percentage of the workforce in linework, and this trend is true for Consumers Energy. In an effort to attract women into this rewarding career, they have created a female lineworker scholarship.
- CenterPoint Energy
2018 Honoree
Ashley Babcock (center), Energetic Women Leadership Team, presents Shachella James (left) & Beverley Melchisedech (right) with the Excellence in Women’s Development Award for CenterPoint Energy. CenterPoint Energy’s focus on workforce diversity and respect is reflected in their Women in Leadership (WIL) Advisory Council. The Council was established in 2011 to increase female leadership development within all organizational areas of CenterPoint Energy, including operations and engineering. Recently, the WIL Advisory Council started a ‘Pipeline to Purposeful Leadership’ that provides opportunities to educate women on feeling confident in their pursuit of leadership and management positions.
CenterPoint Energy offers a variety of internal professional growth programs and opportunities to bring female leaders and employees together to foster discussion, networking and relationship building. Support and funding, at the corporate level, of these highly attended programs is a testament to the company’s commitment to diversity. The result is a significant increase in female leaders, specifically in engineering and operations.
- NiSource
2017 Honoree
NiSource fosters a culture of Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) every day. Their success depends on being open to new ways of thinking that can make them a better community partner and a stronger company. NiSource embraces a four-part I&D strategy that focuses on- providing resources and support for employees by enhancing Employee Resource Groups (ERG) to provide development opportunities and cultural awareness;
- providing Inclusive Leadership Training to all senior leaders and measuring the success through an innovative “Inclusive Index”;
- accelerating the development of existing diverse workforce through nationally recognized programs; and
- enhancing efforts to drive diverse talent acquisition through prioritizing outreach to diverse candidate pools.