Embracing Innovative Culture
Steve Mitnick is Editor-in-Chief of Public Utilities Fortnightly and President of Lines Up, Inc.
Among the nominations of seventy-one individuals or teams of individuals for Fortnightly Top Innovator 2018 were a half dozen executives who seem to fit into another category. These half dozen execs are not just innovative, but they have inspired whole organizations to embrace an innovative culture. So we thought to celebrate them, and that's what my purpose is here, in this column.
The half dozen are — demographically — three utility CEOs, two utility VPs, and an association EVP. The five utilities represented include two investor-owned utilities, two public power utilities and one cooperative utility. Two of the utilities are based in the southwest, two in the midwest and one in the northeast.
Ben Fowke is CEO of Xcel Energy and though his company name would place him last alphabetically, his own name places him first. The pages of Public Utilities Fortnightly have often highlighted Fowke, particularly for leading the industry's charge in renewable generation, wind power especially.