The Smart Grid's Three Most Powerful Women
By Jesse Berst
Apr 6, 2010 - 12:09:21 PM

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It is no secret that the Smart Grid sector is populated mostly by men. (As to age and appearance, I will just say that most of us are "seasoned" and highly unlikely to be recruited for a Calvin Klein underwear ad.)

 

Over the last year, however, at least three women have moved into positions of substantial authority at companies with substantial market strength. If you don't know them yet, you should. Arriving as they have during this crossroads phase, they are making decisions and deals that will profoundly affect the sector for years.

 

Below are three mini profiles and links to more information. Use the comment form to nominate others for our Power List. In alphabetical order:

 

Sharon Allan, Accenture -- North America Smart Grid practice lead.  Imagine the Unsinkable Molly Brown. Now imagine her after three cups of coffee. Allan came to Accenture in May of 2009, after seven years at Elster and stints with ABB and IBM. Combine her deep industry knowledge, her walk-through-walls determination, and her 14x7 workstyle, and you'll understand why she has already transformed Accenture's Smart Grid team. Current focus: Deepening the team's technical strength (already substantial but often underappreciated because of the parent company’s reputation as business process gurus).

 

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Laura Ipsen, Cisco -- Senior Vice President and General Manager, Smart Grid. Ipsen took charge of Cisco's Smart Grid division last year. She retains a Capitol Hill sheen from her previous stint managing the Global Policy and Government Affairs division. (She also chairs Cisco’s EcoBoard, which sets company-wide green strategies.) At this year’s Distributech conference, I kept hearing both men and women say "isn't Laura Ipsen great!?" That's when I realized she shares a gift with the Bill Clintons of the world. Call it the ability to make people feel noticed. Current focus: lining up partners for Cisco's push to dominate the Smart Grid’s communications and networking infrastructure.

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Lorie Wigle, Intel -- General Manager, Eco-Technology Program Office; President, Climate Savers Computing Initiative. I don’t know Wigle as well as the other two, but I do know Intel. She recently took on the hard job of pulling together a coherent Smart Grid strategy across all of Intel’s diverse and divergent divisions. It is a job that requires the ability to influence without having ultimate hire-and-fire authority. At other companies, they might call this herding cats. At Intel, it's more like herding velociraptors. Current focus: priming the pump and funding pilot programs to make sure the Smart Grid is built from the ground up with Intel inside.

 

Who did I leave out? Please nominate others we should all know about using the Talk Back comment form below.

 

You might also be interested in …

Intel's Smart Grid Ambitions: A Swift Kick in the Apps

New Cisco Initiatives Underscore Arrival of Smart Grid as Platform

The Smart Grid Vision from Cisco (video)

Accenture: Intelligent City Network Promotes Smart Grid Strategies

Helping Xcel Energy Achieve High Performance with a Revolutionary and Sustainable Smart Grid Solution (Accenture case study / pdf)

 

Related SGN resources …

Smart Grid Key Players

Smart Grid Technologies

Smart Grid Strategy

 

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