Leadership Conference for Women in Energy

Twenty percent. It is a number that tells us where we are, but it does not tell the full story of the talent, expertise, and leadership potential within this industry.

Women represent approximately 20% of the energy leadership, but their contributions, expertise, and leadership impact extend far beyond a number. This opening address will explore how expanding access to leadership opportunities, sponsorship, and visibility can help the industry tap into the full potential of its talent. As the energy sector faces unprecedented transformation, the future will depend on leaders who bring different perspectives, experiences, and approaches to solving complex challenges. The conversation moves beyond representation alone. How to build an industry where every female leader has the opportunity to make a 100% impact?

What happens when your expertise, leadership philosophy, and decision-making remain the same, but the way others perceive you changes?

After decades leading as a utility executive, Christine Hallquist transitioned and became one of the first openly transgender leaders in the energy industry. Having led as both a man and a woman, she offers a rare perspective on credibility, influence, executive presence, and authentic leadership.

In this powerful opening keynote, Christine shares lessons from leading through change, exploring how trust is built, how perceptions shape leadership, and what every leader can do to lead with greater courage, resilience, and impact.

Leadership is often defined by the decisions that are the hardest to make: when priorities conflict, information is incomplete, and every option comes with consequences. This candid conversation explores the realities of making difficult choices in complex energy environments, moving beyond success stories to examine the judgment, resilience, and accountability required when there is no perfect path forward.

Key Discussion Points:

• Knowing when to say no despite organizational, political, or stakeholder pressure
• Balancing regulatory expectations, business priorities, and operational realities
• Making timely decisions while managing risk and uncertainty
• Lessons learned from decisions that challenged assumptions or did not go as planned

Leadership Crossroads Exercise

Participants will evaluate a real-world leadership dilemma, weigh competing priorities, and discuss the trade-offs behind difficult decisions.

The most successful energy projects are built on more than technical expertise. Today’s complex infrastructure initiatives depend on relationships grounded in trust, mutual respect, collaboration, and shared purpose.

In this candid conversation, Dominion Energy leader Laura Meadows and ERM Partner Jon Berkin will explore the professional partnership they have built through years of collaboration across organizations and perspectives. Together, they will share lessons learned about building trust, influencing without authority, navigating challenges, and achieving meaningful outcomes.

Participants will gain practical leadership insights into how authentic partnerships, mentorship, advocacy, and mutual support can drive project success, foster professional growth, and create a lasting impact for organizations, teams, and individuals.

Discussion Points:

• Building trust through authentic relationships
• Creating successful partnerships across organizations
• Leading and influencing without formal authority
• Leveraging diverse perspectives to achieve better outcomes
• Mentorship, advocacy, and professional growth
• Lessons learned from long-term client-consultant partnerships

In high-pressure industries, leaders are often expected to be the strong one, the person who delivers results, supports the team, and keeps moving forward no matter the challenge. But what happens when resilience becomes a habit of simply carrying more?

In this candid personal story, Cindy Edwards, President, shares her leadership journey and the lessons learned from navigating demanding environments. She explores the difference between true resilience and constant endurance, the expectations placed on leaders, and how redefining strength can create a more authentic and sustainable path to leadership.

Is your message the problem... or how others hear it? Leaders are often told to communicate with confidence, but effective communication requires more than delivering a message. It requires understanding how that message will be received. In this practical and thought-provoking session, Anna Zimmermann shares how she uses AI to adapt communication for different audiences while remaining authentic to her own voice. Through real-world examples and actionable techniques, participants will learn how to use AI to improve clarity, build trust, navigate difficult conversations, and communicate more effectively across diverse personality styles, generations, and communication preferences.

Key Themes & Takeaways

• The goal isn't to change your message. The goal is to help people receive your message.
• Don't second-guess your message. Learn how to adapt it.
• Learn how AI can help leaders communicate more effectively while remaining authentic to their own voice.
• Adapt communication for different personality styles, generations, communication preferences, and levels of technical expertise.
• Use AI to translate technical language into plain language and vice versa.
• Deliver difficult feedback, encourage accountability, and navigate challenging conversations with greater confidence and clarity.
• Write more effective AI prompts that improve communication outcomes and strengthen workplace relationships.

Great leaders do not just lead through moments of success. Rather, they build organizations capable of sustained performance over time. This session explores what it takes to motivate teams through complex, multi-year initiatives, create strong succession pipelines, and foster a culture where people can constructively challenge each other while remaining deeply connected as a team.

Interactive piece: Through interactive role-playing exercises and team-building activities, participants will practice real-world leadership skills they can apply with their own teams.

Leadership is often defined by how we respond when circumstances change. In this personal leadership session, the speakers share thier journey navigating career transitions, leading high-performing teams, and adapting strategies in an increasingly complex energy environment. Drawing from real-life experience leading community engagement efforts for large infrastructure projects, navigating evolving regulatory environments, and managing multi-generational teams, she will discuss how leaders can build trust and keep teams moving forward when expectations are high and the path ahead is uncertain.

Key Discussion Points:

• Navigating career changes, unexpected opportunities, and defining moments
• Building relationships and mentorship networks that support career acceleration
• Leading high-performing, multi-generational teams
• Balancing community expectations, affordability, reliability, and infrastructure needs
• Adapting leadership approaches as priorities, regulations, and circumstances evolve

Interactive Element: The Leadership Turning Point
In groups, participants reflect on a defining moment in their own careers: a change, challenge, or unexpected opportunity and identify the leadership skills that helped them navigate it.

The session would explore how leaders can connect people, processes, and departments to create a seamless cross-team and customer experience. It would also highlight the role of Voice of the Customer (VOC), empathy, and cross-functional collaboration in breaking down silos and driving better outcomes for both customers and employees.

Key Discussion Points:

• Understanding why customers experience organizations differently than they are structured internally.
• Leveraging Voice of the Customer insights to improve collaboration and decision-making.
• Developing leadership skills that bridge departments and align teams around shared outcomes.
• Using empathy as a strategic tool to improve customer and employee experiences.
• Identifying actionable ways to break down silos and create a more connected organization.